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ClipMate 4 - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

(For 5.x related issues, see the 5.x faq)

First of all:

We've tested ClipMate with Windows98, and have not encountered any difficulties other than buggy video drivers. So we now state that ClipMate 4.5.2 runs fine under Windows95, Windows98, and NT4.
If ClipMate freezes during start-up, it's likely a bad video driver - see the web site of your video card manufacturer for an updated driver.

Networking and Administrative Issues

(We've split this off into another page)

Printing

I just installed v4.5, and it doesn't print graphics properly on my HP Laserjet 5si.

Misc.

Is ClipMate Year-2000 Compliant?
Will ClipMate run with NT 4.0?
ClipMate causes NT to not shut down properly.
Mailing List - How to subscribe?
Mailing List - How to change my address?
How did I ever get along without ClipMate?

Downloading, Installation & Upgrading

How do I download ClipMate / What do I do with it once I've downloaded it?

On the download page, you'll see various links for the program. Find the correct version for your platform that says "Self-Extracting Executable". That means that you just run the thing once you've downloaded it, and it installs itself.

If you have Internet Explorer, just click on the link.

If you have Netscape, then you may want to hold down on the SHIFT key as you click on the link, so that you can specify where the file goes - otherwise Netscape will decide for you - you don't want that.

In either case, you should now have a dialog box asking where you want to download the file to. Pick a directory on your hard drive for the file to go into.

Side Trip: Do yourself a big favor and create a directory on your hard drive called "download". For example, C:\download. Then, always choose that directory to donwload to. That way, you'll never be wondering where those files went to. Also, it makes it easy to clean up after your downloads.

After the file finishes downloading, find the file on the hard drive with "My Computer" or File Manager. (Now you see why we recommend having a separate "download" directory!) Double-Click to start the installation. It asks you some questions - you can let them all default - that's what we recommend. That's It!

I'm a registered user, upgrading from 4.x to 4.5. Where are the "registered" files? All I see are the shareware files on the download page.

There is no difference between the shareware (evaluation) versions and the registered versions. It's your key that makes the difference. Just download the shareware version, install over the old copy, and you'll be all set. Your key isn't wiped out by the installation.

I'm a registered user, and see a newer version on your web site - can I download it?

Yes, once you're a registered user for ClipMate 4, you can use any newer 4.x version - just download, and install right over the top of what you already have. ClipMate will even preserve your registration key, so that you don't need to re-enter it.

I'm trying to install v4.5, and the installer says something about a DLL that's meant for NT (I'm on Windows95). What's Up With That?

Some appliation has upgraded the CTL3D32.DLL on your system, and our installer is being a little too picky about checking. Since ClipMate doesn't install ANY version of that DLL, this error is harmless - and you can proceed with the install. To our knowledge, that DLL doesn't hurt anything.

We changed the installation for 4.5.2 to not rely on that DLL, so it won't bother you in v4.5.2.

Should I uninstall the old version before installing a newer version?

No - there is no need to remove an old version, as long as it's ClipMate 4.anything. Just install the new one into the same directory.

Uninstall Problems - It Can't Find UNINSTALL.EXE

Version 4.20 (which was widely distributed on SHAREWARE.COM) was missing the UNINSTALL.EXE file. This was an oversight, and we apologize for any inconvenience that this caused.

You can download the missing file here.

Just save into your ClipMate directory (default would be \program files\clipmt40) and run it. This will remove the files created at installation time. To remove any data files created after installation, see Uninstall Problems - It Doesn't Remove Everything.

Moving to a new PC, New Hard Drive, or reformatted hard drive.

These are all the same issue - you need to re-install because you just bought a new PC, or some disaster happened to your hard drive and you're need to start over - but in either case, you need to bring your old data to the new installation.

To move ClipMate to a new system, perform the following:

Install ClipMate from v4.5, which can be downloaded from our website..
Run once, which will create a new, empty data directory in \program files\clipmt40\data
If you have a registered license, enter your registration key under the Help | "Enter Registration Key" menu option. If you can't find your key, check here.
Exit ClipMate (shut it down.)
For each collection that you want to move to the new PC or Hard Drive, Copy or move the corresponding folder from the old data directory to the new one. The old data directory should be the directory called "data" beneath where it was previously installed, such as C:\program files\clipmt40\data.
Note: We're assuming that you know how to copy folders using My Computer or Explorer.
Note2: The copy could be done within the PC if it's to a new drive, or from one PC to another via floppies, ZIP drive, LAN, Tape, etc..
Start ClipMate, and make sure your data is all there.

Registration

I'm a registered user, and I need to move my ClipMate to a new computer (or a home computer, or a laptop, etc..) and can't find my key.

If you have a user's manual, look inside the front cover. Otherwise, on the machine where it's already registered, look in the \windows\clipmt40.ini file. It's listed under:

[clipmt40]
Name=xxx
RegistrationNumber=xxx

I just registered - do I have to re-install from the disk that you sent me?

No - the files here on our WWW site contain the same program that is on the disk that we send you when you register. The only exception is that the diskette contains both the 16 and 32-bit versions, while here on the internet, you only download the version that you need.

When you enter your personalized Registration Key, it turns the software from "Evaluation" mode to "Registered" mode, meaning that the "Nag" screens will lie dormant on the hard drive, and all features will be enabled. There is no reason to re-install, unless you have a newer version. By the way, newer versions of 4.x can always be installed over the top of existing 4.x versions.

I just registered - but it still says "Short Term" at the top!!!

The "Short Term" that appears in ClipMate's title bar isn't referring to whether or not you're registered or not. It's simply telling you that the Collection titled "Short Term" is currentlly loaded. To see if you're registered, check the About Box. If it says that it's licensed to you, then it's running in Registered Mode - otherwise it's running as an Evaluation.

I'm upgrading to Windows95 or NT from Windows 3.1. Do I have to buy ClipMate again?

No - once you're a registered user for ClipMate 4, you can use any 4.x version - and the platform doesn't matter. You just use whichever software suits your platform.

As you upgrade, you'll want to re-download ClipMate, and re-install it. If you don't know where your registration key is, look in your old Windows directory for the clipmt40.ini file. It's right in there, listed as RegistrationNumber=xxxx

I can't find my registration key.

If you reformat your hard disk, change computers, get a new laptop, etc., you'll need to re-enter your registration key, after you re-install ClipMate. No problem. First, get the latest copy from our web site - don't worry, the shareware version is the same as the registered version - it's the key that makes the difference.

If you don't have your key handy, try these places:

If you have a User's Manual, it's inside the front cover.
We may have Emailed the key to you - check your Email
Is it on the hard drive of your other computer? Look in \windows\clipmt40.ini

If not, then send a note to sales@thornsoft.com and request your key to be re-sent. Be sure to include your full name, full shipping address, and any other information that'll help us look you up, such as your customer ID if you know it, the Email address or Shipping address that you would have used at the time that you ordered, etc..

To enter the key: Run ClipMate, and dismiss any "nag" screens that come up. From the Help Menu, select "Enter Registration Key". And enter your key, along with the name as provided with the key.

Operation (How does it work? why doesn't it work? etc.)

The grapic items are numbered - how do I reset the numbers?

You don't have to ever worry about those numbers. They are just the "serial number" of the items, which allows the item to be related to its corresponding data files. This number will increment forever, within a collection. You can't ever reset it to zero, and you don't ever have to, because it won't run out until 2^32 which is over 4 billion. We figure with normal usage, it would take 10,000 years before you're in trouble.

Note that each collection maintains a separate counter, so you could create a new collection, and move items into it, to get back to zero. If you really want to.

Why is it part of the title? It's better than titling them "graphic", "graphic", "graphic".

Also, every item has a serial number - even the text items. You can see the number in the Magnify Window.

I just installed v4.5.1, and now ClipMate won't stay on top.

Fixed in v4.5.2

I just installed v4.5, and the first time that I bring it up from the system tray, it doesn't come up "all the way".

There is an apparent incompatibility with the systray, the Auto-Hide option, and "run minimized". If you disable Auto-Hide (which normally hides ClipMate if it doesn't have focus) then this will be cured, also if you don't have it initially launch as "run minimized". We're working on the fix.

What is the best way to arrange my various Windows? (a.k.a. I want to see the Magnify and Picker Windows together. a.k.a. Why isn't there a Magnify button on the Picker Toolbar?)

You need to arrange your windows so that when one of them is open, that it doesn't cover up the others. For example, you should arrange your Magnify Window so that when you open it, it doesn't cover up the Main Window. And it certainly shouldn't be full-screen.

Also, a common problem is that the Magnify Window has somehow blown itself up to be "full-screen", even though the window isn't "Maximized". This used to happen sometimes if the window WAS maximized at shutdown, and the size paramaters were saved to disk - making it full-screen, when viewed as a "normal" (non-maxed) window. We removed the Min/Max buttons to avoid this in the future, but here's how to cure it:

Click 'n drag on the titlebar, moving it about an inch down, and to the left. This will expose the upper-right corner. Click 'n drag on that, to SHRINK the window - shrink it to the center of the screen. Now you can move it into position, and can then size any of the edges or corners.

I have the System Tray Icon option enabled, but the regular icon shows up in the Windows95 Task Bar as well. Why is that?

This was common in ClipMate 4.0, if you were running a lot of programs at startup, or if you were running Norton Navigator. We've fixed this in v4.2, but you need to set the "Startup Delay" to around 4 seconds - see this option in User Preferences, "Advanced" tab.

How can I change the title of an item?

Under the Edit Menu, there is an option to Change Item Title (Ctrl+T). Also, in the Magnify Window, you can edit the title directly. Also, in Magnify, there is a feature where you can select some text, then press the TITLE button, to make a title out of what you've selected.

Note - the problem is still plaguing v4.5 - we're working on a fix. You'll notice the taskbar icon appearing from time-to-time, and then going away again.

How can I edit an item?

Text items may be edited in the Magnify Window. As soon as the Magnify Window loses focus, it places the newly-edited item back onto the clipboard.

I have the "Beep" turned on, but I don't get a beep. Why?

Windows95 - look in Control Panel | Sounds. ClipMate uses the sound called "Default Sound". Make sure that sound is enabled. We may add custom sounds in the future - lots of people request this.

4.2 Update: you can now assign any .WAV file to ClipMate events!

Some of the dialog boxes have an unreadable font, like WingDings or something. What's going on?

4.0: It is likely that the ARIAL font has been lost or corrupted. Many of ClipMate's dialog boxes use the Arial font (not Arial Black or Arial Narrow - just plain Arial). Restore the font from your Windows95 System CD.
Or, on some systems, there is a font collision with programs written in Delphi. Nobody seems to know why, but it affects about 1% of machines. There is no fix for 4.0, but...

4.2: You can pick a font to use, in the event that the default font won't display. You can pick the font in the User Preferences dialog (from the Config menu). It's on the "Advanced" tab, which is the 3rd one on that dialog. Since you can't see what it looks like, we have reproduced it for you here.

Note: This is a handy way for Asian users to have Asian fonts throughout ClipMate. Set it to a common system font in your country. For Japan, use: MS P Gothic

How can I make ClipMate start minimized at startup?

Rather than having a (non-standard) internal setting for this, ClipMate pays attention to the setting of the shortcut icon in the startup folder (or Program Manager group, if you're on Windows 3.11).

You need to edit the properties of the shortcut icon. So, from your Start Menu, select Settings, TaskBar & Start Menu, Start Menu Programs (tab), Advanced. Then drill down to the Programs, and then Startup. You'll see the shortcut for ClipMate. Give it a right-click, and select Properties. Then from the next dialog, find the "run" option, and set it to "Minimized".

Trouble With Particular Applications

When I copy from Outlook Express, line-breaks aren't preserved!

There is a bug in OE that drops line-breaks between paragraphs. It isn't ClipMate's fault. One of our users asked Microsoft, and this is what was posted to Usenet:

Newsgroups: microsoft.public.inetexplorer.ie4.outlookexpress
Date: November 24, 1997 3:35 PM
Subject: Re: preserving line breaks between grafs

That is a known bug in the HTML engine used by OE. To workaround
it, type a space character in the original "blank" line.

I'm having trouble with WordPerfect - Help!

Version 4.26 should solve most timing problems with WordPerfect. We've found that the "WordPerfect 7.0 Data" format will retain the font/table/alignment characteristics, and won't cause problems during copying, as WordPerfect Text and Rich Text Format sometimes can.

Some users have reported an error saying something about conversion/filter DLL not present when pasting into WP8. This seems to be when you copy from an app that supports Rich Text Format, such as Wordpad, Outlook, IE4, etc.. If you close ClipMate, and experiment, you'll see that it's not ClipMate's fault - it's an incomplete install of WP8. We recommend that you re-install WP8, and make sure you include the format converter for Rich Text Format.

Why doesn't ClipMate copy from Quicken?

We had to turn off support for Quicken, as it continuously throws garbage on the clipboard. The Quicken Calculator puts something on the clipboad every time you hit the '+' or '=' keys, which quickly fills ClipMate with useless trash. And since the calculator isn't a separate application from the main Quicken, we can't differentiate between the two. If a future version of Quicken comes out, that doesn't abuse the clipboard, we'll turn it back on.

UPDATE: In ClipMate 5, you can copy from Quicken. If you find (as we did) that the reams of calculator garbage make it desirable to turn off Quicken support, then you can do so in the Application Profile.

Why is ClipMate so slow copying from Word97?

Word97 seems to be very "busy" immediately following the copy, which robs CPU time away from ClipMate. ClipMate also has a lot to do following the copy - identifying who copied, what formats are available, what formats to keep, and to discard. And then, of course, it must grab the data. Since Word is using many CPU cycles, ClipMate appears to respond slowly.

We're working on a solution to this.

ClipMate Can't copy from Hebrew Word97

There is a problem in the Application Profile logic - we're working on a fix. Udpated Feb 23, 1999

Misc

Is ClipMate Year-2000 Compliant?

We have tested ClipMate 4.2 and above, for compliance with Year-2000. There are no problems that we have encountered, nor do we forsee any. ClipMate only uses date logic for two things: Purging old data, and when running in Evaluation mode, it uses date logic to determine whether or not to "nag" the user.

Our testing has consisted of running the clock forward on our test environment to simulate crossing the 1999/2000 boundary, and there is no adverse affect.

Here are the answers to a common "checklist" of questions:

ClipMate Year2000 (Y2K) Compliance

System or Product Name: ClipMate for Window, ClipMate for Windows95/NT v4.2, v4.5, v5.0

System or Product Model Numbers: v4.2, v4.5, v5.0

What effect do date and/or time changes have on these products?
Data purging is controlled by age. Registration reminder screens are controlled by the elapsed time since original installation.

What measures have you taken to ensure that these products will be compliant with Y2K?
Programming has been done using long date formats, which are unaffected by the 2000 boundary. While the timestamp appears as a 2-digit year when viewed in the program (to save screen space), it is indeed stored in a long date format. In ClipMate 5, the date is also represented in long format on the screen.

What testing and analysis has been done with respect to Y2K?
We have tested various scenarios (installed before 2000, installed after 2000, paying particular attention to installation dates within 30 days of 1/1/2000) and have found no abnormalities.

Are you in a position to verify your products compliance with Y2K?
To the best of our knowlege, current versions of ClipMate are Y2K compliant. We have tested it extensively, and have found no problems with Y2K.

Will ClipMate run with NT 4.0?

Sure!

Older versions (before v4.26) had trouble with NTFS drives that were compressed. V4.26 fixes this, so make sure you're up to date. ClipMate 5 is fine on NT.

ClipMate 4 causes NT Shutdown problems.

The System Tray in ClipMate 4.x can cause NT to not shut down properly, if ClipMate is minimized to the tray. WE HAVE FIXED THIS IN CLIPMATE 5.

If you need to run ClipMate 4 on NT, then don't use the system tray option.

How did I ever get along without ClipMate?

Good Question! We often ask ourselves the same thing. Before ClipMate, you likely worked much harder, without accomplishing as much. Now you're much more productive, so you deserve a big raise.

Printing

I just installed v4.5, and it doesn't print graphics properly on my HP Laserjet 5si.

There is some problem with the printer driver, and HP has fixed it:

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/software/lj622en.exe.html

Another trick that you can use is to install an alternate driver for an HP Laserjet III. You can set it up as another printer (going to the same device) and install as a laserjet III. Then everything will work just fine.

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ClipMate 4 - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

First of all:

Downloading, Installation & Upgrading

Registration Key Questions (Lost, transferring, new PC, etc.)

Operation (How does it work? why doesn't it work? etc.)

Trouble With Particular Applications

Printing

Misc.

Downloading, Installation & Upgrading

Registration

Operation (How does it work? why doesn't it work? etc.)

Trouble With Particular Applications

Misc

Printing