Sorcerer Software Users Newsletter Issue 0403 Welcome to our monthly newsletter, covering the latest updates, tips and user questions about our software programs. If you have an issue or question you would like to see addressed in a future newsletter, either by me or by your fellow users, please email me and I'll include it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 31, 2004 CONTENTS: 1. The Abacus 2. Envelope Printer 3. Commentary on solar power (what...?) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Abacus http://www.TheAbacus.biz Here's the kind of email that strikes terror into the heart of every software developer (and user!): "I'm having problems getting an invoice made. When I click on invoice my word document opens and then a box comes up and says 'External exception E06D7363'." This message appeared out of the blue when Vickie, who had been using Abacus SE for quite some time, tried to create an invoice from an Abacus log file. She had no trouble counting documents and saving the line count results to a log file, but the above disaster struck every time she tried to create an invoice. The good news is that after a few emails back and forth, Vickie called me and we solved the problem in about 5 minutes. But this case is illustrative of a problem that I have been preaching about for years: You must periodically back up your global template, also known as the file 'normal.dot'. Let me explain. External Exceptions occur when something catastrophically bad has happened. We don't ever want to see them. The External Exception 'E06D7363' occurs when something is wrong with Word. Typically, it is due to corruption of the 'normal.dot' file. This file is used to store certain Word settings, such as toolbar, macros, and autotext entries. But for reasons unknown to me, it can become easily corrupted, especially when Word and Word documents are closed incorrectly. The solution to this problem, and the solution to this External Exception, is to simply delete the 'normal.dot' file. But you can see where this is leading. If you do so, you will lose everything that you have saved in your 'normal.dot' file. So what's a person to do? Equally simple: Just periodically back up your 'normal.dot' file. The good news is that the Word add-in version of Abacus (version 3.0) creates backup copies of 'normal.dot' automatically. (Please see the Abacus 'Readme' file for more details about this.) But with Abacus SE, you must back up this file yourself. Here are the steps to do so: 1. Start Word and on the menu, click on "Tools->Options->File Locations". 2. On the "File Locations" page, examine the entry "User Templates". To the right of it you will see a directory path. This path tells you where the 'normal.dot' file is stored. A typical path may look something like this: c:\program files\microsoft office\office\templates Write down the path that you see for your version of Word. 3. Close Word and start either My Computer or Windows Explorer. 4. Click your way to the directory that you wrote down. Ultimately, this will get you to the directory (folder) where 'normal.dot' is located. 5. When you get to 'normal.dot', copy it. You can do so by clicking on it and pressing "Ctrl-C" or by clicking on "Edit->Copy" from the menu. 6. Now create or navigate to the directory where you want to keep this backup copy. You could save it, for example, in a directory named something like this: c:\program files\microsoft office\backup If such a folder doesn't exist, just create it. 7. Once you have navigated to your backup directory, press the keys "Ctrl-V" or on the menu click on "Edit->Paste" to paste the 'normal.dot' file into this directory. Now if you ever need to use this backup copy of 'normal.dot', just follow the above steps in reverse. Copy your backup 'normal.dot' to the directory that Word uses to store the current 'normal.dot' file, overwriting it in the process. (Alternatively, you could just delete or rename the current version of 'normal.dot'. I usually recommend renaming it to 'normal.001' -- just in case.) Your backup copy of 'normal.dot' should have your Word settings, such as macros, autotext entries, etc. You can save yourself a lot of future headaches by spending 5 minutes once a month making a backup copy of your 'normal.dot' file! One more note, on an unrelated subject. I have received reports of users having trouble installing Abacus on computers using the new Word 2003. This is because previous versions of the Abacus installation program didn't know there was such a version of Word. The latest update -- now available from our web site -- is aware of Word 2003, so if you choose to upgrade to Word 2003, and need to install Abacus, it should go smoothly. The current version 3.0 Abacus build is 040214. If you have an earlier build of version 3.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the Word "add-in" version. To get your Abacus version and build number, start Abacus and click on the copyright message at the bottom of the main screen. The current Abacus SE build is 030914. If you have an earlier build of Abacus SE/4.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the freestanding version. To get your build number, start Abacus and click on "Help- >About". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Envelope Printer http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/envelope.htm If you read the above section on the Abacus -- or even if you didn't -- you can see I'm on a backup kick this month. This also applies to the Envelope Printer, which creates database files that are critical to operation of the program. These files should also be backed up. Let me walk you through what you need to know about backing up the program and its files. The program and all of its files should be located in the folder: c:\envelope unless you originally installed it elsewhere. No files are placed in the Windows directory or in any other bizarre places with the exception of the program's UnInstall, which I hope you never need to use. The program itself is a file named "envelope.exe". When you upgrade to a new version or a new build, this is the file that gets replaced. (Sometimes we also update the Help file, which is named "envelope.hlp". But the program works just fine even without the Help file.) If you want to backup the program for safety's sake, this is the program file you want. But even if you don't back it up, you can always download the latest version of this file from our web site. Which leads us to your data files. These are the files you really need to be concerned about, because these are the files that hold your addresses and return addresses. Let's go through them one at a time. In version 7.0 of the program, the addresses are always kept in a data file that uses the 'ep7' extension, such as 'envelope.ep7'. The default address database - - the main database, and probably the only address database for many users -- is in fact named 'envelope.ep7'. But you can create as many address databases as you want. They will always have the 'ep7' extension. So to backup your address databases, just go to your Envelope Printer folder ("c:\envelope") and copy every file that has the 'ep7' extension. The return address database system works a bit differently. There is only one database, and it is named 'Return.add' (clever, n'est pas?). To back up this database, just copy it along with your address ('ep7') databases. Where you copy these databases is not terribly important to the program. It is important only to you. Make sure you back them up to a folder you will remember. Personally, I think it's best to back them up to a floppy disk which you can then label as being the Envelope Printer backup disk. The files easily fit on a floppy, floppies are cheap, and if your computer crashes (or even is stolen), you will have the data stored safely on a floppy. The only flaw in this scheme is that many computer makers are now eliminating floppy disk drives from their new offerings. So I leave this dilemma in your hands. Just remember to back up. The current Envelope Printer build is 040125 of version 7.0. If you have an earlier build or version, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For years I have been looking at using photovoltaic solar cells for production of electricity for residential use. Specifically, for my residential use. It's a big up front expense, but on the other hand: 1. There are virtually no moving parts 2. There is no air, water, or noise pollution 3. With a 25 year warranty, it eventually pays for itself 4. It lowers (or eliminates!) the electric bill If you're not clear on what I'm talking about, let me 'splain. Solar cells (which are just large silicon panels) use sunlight to produce electricity. Or as one of the solar panel manufacturers says: "Electricity doesn't grow on trees. It falls from the sky." Sunlight strikes the solar panels, producing electricity. The electricity is then converted from DC to AC so that it can be used in your house. If you produce more than you use, the excess is then sold back to the electric company (at least in California it is). Armed with my research, I had a solar panel system installed a few months ago. Now that we're having lots of sun here in California, I enjoy going out to my electric meter in the afternoon and watch it spin backwards as I sell electricity to Pacific Gas and Electric. You're perhaps wondering what the point of all this is. And perhaps there is no point. I just wanted to write about it. But if you find this interesting at all, next month I'm going to tell you what it all has to do with another major California industry: the Wine business. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all, folks. Look for our next newsletter in about 4 weeks... -- Bill bill@sorcerersoftware.com Sorcerer Software http://www.sorcerersoftware.com To read all the old newsletters, go to: http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/archives.htm To be removed from our mailing list, send me an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.