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TOP TEN QUESTIONS

The Top Ten Technical Support Questions

Please read through these notes to see if they answer your question. There is also additional information on other issues in our website Frequently Asked Questions section:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/resource/faq.html

If you still have questions or are having difficulty we will be happy to provide additional technical support, but please take the time to describe your problem in detail. Contacting us to say that our product “doesn’t work” or that “it won’t let me open the files” are too general to provide a basis for us to try to help you.

For continued support, please provide information on which of our products you are having trouble with, how you purchased it (download or physical product) which embroidery software program you are using, which embroidery machine you have, and any error messages you are receiving.

We are happy to provide technical support for our own products but do not provide support for embroidery software programs sold by other companies, embroidery machines, or basic computer skills.

OVERVIEW
We offer our designs by download from our website to your computer, and also as packaged products on Mini CD's (Monogram Sets, LetterBits) or CDs (Collections, “Project Corner”, Big Name Dropper)

All of our products require installation to your computer, and include an Installation Wizard. The procedure is simple, and progresses through a series of installation screens. You will know the installation has been completed when you see a screen that says that the designs have been successfully installed.

If you want to preview the installation process:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/resource/install/install00.html

TOP 10 TECHNICAL SUPPORT QUESTIONS

1. I CAN’T OPEN THE DESIGNS

Did you run the installation wizard and install the designs to your computer?

If you try to open the installation file with your embroidery software program, or put one of our Mini-CDs or CDs directly into your embroidery machine you will not be successful.

The designs need to be installed - double-click on the downloaded file icon, or follow the directions on the product label to start the included Installation Wizard.

2. FOLLOWING A SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION, I CAN’T OPEN THE FILES THROUGH “MY COMPUTER” OR “WINDOWS EXPLORER”

The design files that are installed to your computer are just like any other stock design of a dog or a car, but in this case they are letters of the alphabet.

Unlike applications or programs (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, etc.) which create start-up icons and entries under Programs on your computer, files need an application in order to open and view them.

If you add new files to your computer, then on first-use open My Computer or Windows Explorer and double-click on one of the files, you will see a Windows screen which asks you to select an application for these files from a list. Most embroidery software programs (e.g. PE Design, Viking Customizing Plus, Embird, etc.) will not appear on this list.

You are seeing this screen because your computer doesn’t yet “associate” a particular software application with these files. In effect, the computer is telling you “I have no idea what do you want me to do next.”

You will not encounter this problem if you open your embroidery software program first, then use it to open one of the designs by going to “File”, then to “Open”. Your embroidery software program is now “associated” with our files, so in future if you use My Computer or Windows Explorer and double-click on one of the files your computer will automatically launch the embroidery software program and display the design.

3. I CAN’T FIND THE FILE THAT I DOWNLOADED FROM YOUR WEBSITE

We get calls and emails from customers who report that they purchased something from our website, and that Our site sent the design “somewhere” on their computer and now they can’t find it.

We don’t control the location for downloaded files on your computer - you do. When you initiate a download from our website you will see a screen that tells you where the file will be going. Your computer will choose the location that you used for your last download from the internet. If this isn’t where you want our installation to go you can choose a different location.

If you have downloaded a file from our website and cannot remember where it went, you can easily find it by going to Start, then searching for the filename. Our filenames start with a five-digit number, then a dash, then four more numbers (e.g. 04102-0603) You will find the filename listed in the confirmation email that was sent to you immediately after your website purchase.

If you cannot find the file it may be simpler to go back to our website and redownload your purchase, which you can do for 30 days without additional cost, and for 2 years if you purchased the optional Extended Download Service. Use the Customer Service link

You will need your order number - listed in the confirmation email that you received immediately after purchase - and your password.

4. I CAN’T DOWNLOAD MY PURCHASE FROM YOUR WEBSITE TO A FLOPPY DISK

Regardless of the product, all of our website download files are a single installation file. They cannot be split across multiple diskettes, and although some of our individual letter purchases have small file sizes, many exceed 1.44mb, which is the capacity of a standard diskette.

For this reason, we recommend that you download your internet purchases to your desktop or somewhere on your computer’s harddrive, then start the Installation Wizard from that location. Following the installation you can copy this file to a different location as a backup copy (recommended) or delete the installation (.exe) file.

5. THE INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, BUT I CAN’T OPEN THE FILES WITH MY EMBROIDERY SOFTWARE PROGRAM

Following a Welcome Screen and a Licensing Agreement, the Installation Wizard shows a screen that asks you to choose from a list of 7 embroidery formats (Note: the Installation Wizard writes a file to your computer’s Registry, so on subsequent installations of our products you may not see this screen because your computer remembers the format that you chose in the past.)

Did you choose the correct format?

We get technical support messages from customers who breeze through the installation procedure, clicking “Next” as quickly as possible without reading any of the screens and wonder why the designs are installed in .csd format when they wanted something else (Answer: ..csd is the first of the 7 formats, listed alphabetically, and will be the format installed if a different format isn’t selected)

We also hear from customers who have no idea what format they need and have chosen one at random.

The question of embroidery formats is a virtual nightmare for design companies and embroiderers alike. In recent years the number of embroidery formats has grown past 20, propelled primarily by home embroidery machine manufacturers, many of whom introduce a new format (or license an existing commercial embroidery format) each time they introduce a new machine. There is little if any technical difference between them, and in the rare instance where a new format adds a technical improvement - for example, the ability to split large commercial designs into smaller parts for home machines with small hoops - the improvements don’t affect our designs.

We support 7 different formats. Since some home machines use existing commercial formats, it’s important to know which format you need. We have a list of our 7 supported formats and recommended formats for various machines:

7 Formats

If you have chosen the wrong format during installation we can provide instructions for reversing the previous installation.

6. THE INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, AND THE CORRECT FORMAT WAS CHOSEN, BUT THE FILES CAN’T BE OPENED WITH MY EMBROIDERY SOFTWARE PROGRAM

With your embroidery software program open and running, if you go to “File”, then to “Open” you will notice a drop down-menu (a small downward-facing arrow on the right of the line just below the box for Filename) that allows you to choose the File Type.

Are you looking for the correct File Type (format) ?

If this choice is set to look for .pes format and you are trying to find .exp format files your designs will seem to have “disappeared.”

7. I CAN OPEN AN INDIVIDUAL DESIGN, BUT I CAN’T COMBINE ADDITIONAL DESIGNS - THE FIRST ONE DISAPPEARS AND IS REPLACED BY THE SECOND ONE

You are attempting to “merge” or “combine” more than one design into a new combination. If you go to “File” then to “Open” you will always get only one design onscreen.

This is because the function to add an additional design to the screen has a different name. Unfortunately, there is no common terminology from one embroidery software program to the next. Some call this “Merge”, some “Insert”, “Import”, and some require you to copy and paste.

We have a Tutorials section on our website for some software programs:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/tutorials/index.html

If we don’t have a tutorial for your software, consult the manual or help files, or ask the company that you bought your embroidery software from to explain this procedure to you.

8. I WANT TO ENLARGE (OR REDUCE) THE SIZE OF THE DESIGN

All embroidery designs (including ours) can be resized. Resizing requires special software, or is a feature of a digitizing and editing program. There are at least a dozen inexpensive stand-alone resizing programs, so resizing designs can easily be accomplished as you require it. We do not offer a resizing service.

9. I SAW THE INSTALLATION WIZARD SCREEN THAT SAID THE INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, BUT WHEN I GO TO THE CORRECT INSTALLATION LOCATION AND LOOK FOR THE DESIGNS, ALL I SEE IS A FILE CALLED “NOTES”

Our Big Name Dropper products, and our CD Collections, have larger installation file sizes. If your computer freezes (too many other applications open and running ?) or if you interrupt the installation midway it is possible to end up only with the Notes for these products. Subsequent attempts to install won’t solve this problem without first removing the incorrect installation and the Registry information.

To remove the previous installation, go to “Start” , then to “Control Panel” and choose “Add/Remove Programs.” Find the product on the list, and proceed to remove the previous installation.

Once the previous installation is removed, reinstall from the original media (downloaded file or CD)

10. MY COMPUTER CRASHED AND I LOST THE FILES THAT I PURCHASED

We strongly recommend that everyone back-up their data - there are reasonably-priced external hard drives and back-up software that make this process painless and can be set to automatically back-up data overnight, etc. Restoring all of your applucations, data, and preferences is significantly more trouble than backing up what you have now.

If you have the original Mini-CDs or CDs of our products, or the original installation (.exe) file that you purchased and downloaded from our website, you can easily reinstall the designs.

Website download purchases can be redownloaded for up to 30 days - up to 2 years if you purchased the Extended Download Service.

This added protection can be purchased retroactively for only $ 4.99. For physical products purchased at trade shows or by mail-order from our website, we offer a replacement option for the same cost, plus shipping and handling for the replacement product.

You will need documentation on your original purchase.

DIDN’T FIND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTION ?

There is additional information on these and other issues in the FAQ section on our website:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/resource/faq.html

Feedback or Questions about "TOP TEN QUESTIONS" (1)

Is this for machines only? I don't have an embroidery machine, but would like patterns for hand embroidery

EmbroideryArts Support answers:

We sell digitized designs for computerized home and commercial embroidery machines. Our designs are not available as patterns or in any other form.

--Posted by: Pam Hatkowski at January 10, 2005 07:01 PM