Blog: WhizFolders, Articles and tips

In case you don’t know, you can copy the paid version of WhizFolders to a portable drive by using the Tools menu on the main window of WhizFolders. This feature has been available since version 6.1 and has been further improved in the new version 6.3 under beta testing.

Better keep your documents in another folder on the portable drive: I recommend that you always keep your WhizFolder documents on a separate folder on the portable drive. For example, if you made a target folder X:\whizfolders to keep the portable copy of WhizFolders, put your documents in X:\mydocs. This way, your documents will not be affected even if you reinstall the portable copy in another folder to solve the occasional file permission problems as described below.

Occasional file permission problems: During this portable copy operation (or when running WhizFolders from the portable drive) an occasional problem comes due to file and folder permissions of the target folder, especially on Windows Vista or later. Here are some clues on fixing this problem.

Make sure that you are using a portable key: When you go to make a portable copy for the first time, it asks for a special license key. This should be the portable key obtained from the self-service web site support.whizfolders.com from the special portable key section. You shouldn’t use your regular purchase key for this as it will give a permission error in versions earlier than 6.3.4.

Try to fix the permissions: In Windows Explorer, right-click on the folder that keeps the portable copy and try to fix the permissions so that anyone can write to it. Do the same for the files within that portable copy folder.

Make a fresh portable copy: If the above is too difficult for you, make a fresh portable copy of WhizFolders. You can even make the portable copy on your hard disk in some temporary folder and then copy the whole folder to the portable drive.

CAUTION: Do not delete your old portable folder as it may have your WhizFolder documents in it. Better move your documents to a separate folder on your portable drive before you delete your old portable copy. You may need to open your moved documents on the portable drive again by using the File–Open menu.

Better update to the latest version 6.3 (in beta testing) before making the above fresh copy: This version improves the portable operation and the improvements are listed on the new features page of version 6.3.

Finally, what is the best way to update the WhizFolders program on your portable copy? If you know that it is a minor update, you can simply copy the whizfolders exe to the portable location and replace the old copy. But if it is a major version change, for example, from version 6.1 to 6.3 where the portable feature has changed, it is better to make a fresh folder and then copy over your own documents from the old location, unless you have put them in a separate folder as recommended above.

If there is any confusion, please send your questions so that this documentation can be improved.

I want to send a document to my friend for comments. But she won’t be able to open this document, as she doesn’t have Whizfolders.  Must I copy and paste my contents in a word document, and then email it to her for editing? Isn’t there an easy way to get my Whizfolder document translated into a word document?

A direct export to Word documents is not possible. But there are easy alternatives depending on whether you want your friend to Edit the notes or just to View them.

Notes that can be edited:

1. RTF File: Click on the menu File–Save an Rtf copy and send her the RTF file. She can view and edit it in Wordpad or Word.
    
2. Word Outline RTF File: Select all the topics (edit–select all) and export to Word Outline format by the Tools menu’s Export choices. This again is an RTF file in an outline format that can be seen and edited in Word.

Once this RTF file is edited, you will need to manually make the changes in original topics by copy, paste.

Notes for Viewing only:

1. eBook: Convert your document into a self-running EXE file (called WhizBook in WhizFolders version 6.1) by the Tools menu, and send her the EXE file. In case, her email software does not accept EXEs as attachments, send a ZIP file. She can simply run that EXE file to see the document. You can try it yourself to see how it looks.
    
2. Viewer: Send her the .wzfolder file directly and tell her to download the freeware viewer http://whizfolders.com/viewer/ to see it.

In a future version, we are going to improve the viewer so that comments can be attached to the notes.

Update: This article is old. A newer article on this feature is available:
http://whizfolders.com/blog/index.php/2010/01/04/portable-software/

Old article:
WhizFolders 6.1 has a new menu operation on the Tools menu that allows you to copy WhizFolders to a portable (USB) drive. However, it needs a portable key which you can get from the special support web site support.whizfolders.com. Once copied this way, WhizFolders runs from the USB drive and overcomes most of the limitations mentioned in an earlier article: Running WhizFolders from a USB drive

A few features do not work when running this way, for example, the spelling-checker.

Does WhizFolders use the registry of the computer the USB drive? It only uses the current user area of the registry temporarily. Actually, it loads your settings from the usb drive into registry and when exiting, stores the settings back to the usb drive and then deletes that part of the registry. This works fine except on Windows Vista where it can’t use the features to restore and store from the usb drive. In that case, it leaves your settings on the computer. If you want it to be able to restore, store and delete the registry on Windows Vista then you must run it as administrator. In a future version, we will even remove this requirement to use the registry temporarily.

Question: Can I keep all of my notes on two computers? How is that accomplished?

The WhizFolder document files (.wzfolder) are like any other documents that you can copy to any computer and use them there. You need to install WhizFolders on both the computers. Our single-user license allows you to use WhizFolders on many computers provided you are the only user.

But if you are talking about Synchronizing your notes, that is not possible yet. In that case, you are better off keeping the notes on a portable USB drive. But remember, USB writes are not reliable and the documents can get corrupted. Hence, it is better to keep regular backup copies of your notes.

WhizFolders now has an in-built backup feature that allows you to keep multiple copies of a document in a backup folder. A backup button is provided, and you can also set it up to backup automatically when a document is closed. You can set up a backup folder on each computer so that when you use the Backup feature in WhizFolders, it will copy your documents from the USB drive to your preferred backup folder on that computer. This way, you can recover your data from either PC in case of a corruption.

If you prefer, you can also use Windows Explorer or any other software tool to copy your files to a safe backup destination. The WhizFolder documents (.wzfolder) are like any other files and can be copied easily. Each .wzfolder file keeps many of your notes inside it. There are no other file types involved.

Update, Feb 11, 2008: The folllowing information is for version 6.0.8 or earlier. The newer WhizFolders 6.1 does support this in a better way. See the article WhizFolders on a portable drive.

Lately, many users have asked this question about running WhizFolders from a portable usb drive.

Yes, you can certainly use the paid version from a USB drive. But there are limitations as mentioned below.

Instructions: Simply copy the files from WhizFolders “Program files” location to a folder on your USB drive. Avoid copying the file UNINS*.EXE as there is nothing to uninstall when on move. You can also put the WhizFolder documents that you want to carry, in the same or a different folder on that drive.

When you plug in the usb drive to any computer, you can run the exe file for WhizFolders on that computer by double-clicking on it in the Windows Explorer window. You can also make desktop shortcuts as described below. However, there would be certain limitations on using WhizFolders from a portable drive as given in the following list.

Limitations:

1. First time when you run WhizFolders on a new computer, it will ask for the license codes. There is a way to avoid that too but we only tell that to the paid users, and only if they ask for it.
2. WhizFolders will use the registry area and document settings area on that computer as usual. So if it is your own computer, it is OK. But if it is a corporate computer, you might need to remove these settings at some point. If you ever require that, please do ask us for the procedure. We might even make a utility program if enough users ask for it.
3. You will have to redo all your settings on each computer you move to (but only once).
4. Even the main window’s document list will be kept separate on each computer and will work as long as the drive letter for the USB does not change on that computer. So, the first time you run WhizFolders on a computer, this main list will be empty. You will need to use File–Open to open your WhizFolder documents which are not in the list.
5. If the USB drive letter changes on that computer from a pervious run, you won’t be able to open files from the main window list. But you can always open them by File-Open.
6. If the drive letter does not change each time you plug in the usb to that computer, you can even make a desktop shortcut to run WhizFolders on that computer by right-dragging the EXE file to the desktop and “create shortcut” on that menu. You can also make desktop shortcuts to open specific documents by Tools menu on the document window. But remember, these shortcuts won’t work if the drive letter assigned to the USB changes when you plug it in later.
7. The spelling-checker will not work.
8. Take a regular backup: Please take a regular backup of your documents, especially if you kept them on the usb drive because files can become corrupted on usb drives. The backup feature in WhizFolders is quite useful. You can have a backup folder in each computer that it will remember by itself. Then, just clicking on a backup button in the document window can copy that document to the backup folder. There are features in backup to store N copies each day! You can even set up a document to do a back up when it closes. This option is available in File Options of that document.You can even use Windows Explorer to do a backup copy of the documents if that is more convenient.

Here is a summary of the main points in short:

• If a document does not appear in the main window list or does not open from the main window list, use File–Open to open it and it will add itself to the list.
• Make desktop shortcuts to the documents as described. They will work as long as the drive letter remains same for the usb drive on that computer.
• Do a regular back up copy of your documents using WhizFolders backup features. You can even use Windows Explorer to do a backup copy of the documents if that is more convenient.

Question: I use Whizfolders and love it. My problem is that I can have it either at home or at work. My home computer is a desktop and the work computer is a laptop. At the moment my Whizfolders is on my home computer and I have an evaluation copy on my laptop. It is invaluable and as a teacher, I do most of the work at home but need to access all the ideas and plans at work. Is there a way to do this or do I have to purchase another copy? If I do this, how can I share the folders between both computers or copy them across?

As for your first question, no, you don’t need to purchase a second copy. You can use your license on the laptop too as long as you are the only user using it on both machines. Just download a paid version installer from the special web site support.whizfolders.com and use it on the laptop to install.

Your second question: You can copy your .wzfolder document files to the laptop to use them at work. But, you will have to remember to update a file from one computer to another when you make changes. There is no automated syncing available for that.

If you do not understand where the document files are and how to copy them, please see the sections, Document Locations and Managing Documents to understand them better.

Sharing the documents over LAN or through USB, Flash drives: You may also decide to keep the documents always on the laptop and use them over the LAN from your desktop. If you do that, remember that LAN writes are not very reliable in Windows and there might be a data loss at times if the data is not flushed out properly. Same thing is true when you use flash or USB drives. In both these cases, you must take regular backups of your documents.

Use the new Backup feature: In any case, it would be a good idea to use the backup feature in the new WhizFolders to keep a regular backup copy of your documents, both at work and at home. It allows you to even keep multiple copies of a document, separate for each day.