Frequently asked questions

• How can I make a back-up (a copy) of my ContactKeeper data?
  All the information you insert in ContactKeeper are stored in one database file, this file is stored by default in the folder "My Documents" and is called "ContactKeeper.mdb". The only thing you need to do is make a copy of this file.
  
  The full location of this file is also in the status bar at the bottom of ContactKeeper, when the database file is open. You can make a copy of the database file from within ContactKeeper via the menu "Database" -> "Copy...". Or you can send a copy of the database as an e-mail via the menu "Database" -> "E-mail...".
  
  I advice to regularly make a copy of the database file on a floppy disk, cd-r, usb-stick, internet location,...somewhere outside your computer, in case your computer should crash. You can open this file with the "Open" button in ContactKeeper when you install ContactKeeper again on a new computer for example.
• I have lost my ContactKeeper database, is there still anything I can do?
  I you have lost your ContactKeeper database due to a computer crash or by formatting, and if you do not have a back-up, then you can always try the freeware program PC Inspector File Recovery 4.0 to recover your lost database file.
  Website: http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm
  Download: http://download.pcinspector.de/pci_filerecovery.exe
• I get an error on "Microsoft Jet" or "MDAC" or I can not open or create a database.
  ContactKeeper requires Microsoft Jet and MDAC (Microsoft Data Access Components), on the following page you find what to do if it is missing:
  http://www.macropool.com/en/download/mdac.html
  
  If you get an MDAC or Microsoft Jet error or you can not open your database anymore (after installing a Windows-update) using Windows XP then you should follow the instructions of the following article:
  http://www.macropool.com/en/download/mdac_xp_sp2.html
• Can I use a ContactKeeper database in a network?
  Yes, this is possible if you share the ContactKeeper database on a network.
  You can share the database file by putting it in a shared folder on the "server PC",and then you have to install ContactKeeper on each "client PC".
  * Share a folder (for example name the folder "contactkeeper" on the pc that is mostly "on", let's call that PC the "server".
  * In that shared folder create (with ContactKeeper) a database file called "ContactKeeper.mdb" in this example.
  * Then on each client PC you install ContactKeeper and you open that file by selecting it, the path to the database file will look like: "\\servername\sharedfoldername\ContactKeeper.mdb".
  
  The database can be opened by multiple users at the same time. Settings of the program, like "language" and so on, are stored localy in the register of each client PC where ContactKeeper runs on. So person 1 can for example set on his computer the language to Greek and person 2 can set it to English.
• Can I print address-labels from ContactKeeper?
  ContactKeeper hasn't a function to make envelopes or labels directly but you can import the ContactKeeper database in Word to create labels or evenlopes, here is an article about it:
  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP051871341033.aspx
  
  * In Microsoft Word you go to the menu "Tools" -> "Mail Merge..."
  * You click on the button "Create" and next on "Mailing Labels..."
  * You choose "Active Window" to make it in the actual document or "New Main Document" to make a new blank document.
  * In the main window again you click on the button "Get Data" and next on "Open Data Source..."
  * Below next to "Files of type:" you choose "MS Access Databases" and then you can browse to your ContactKeeper database (ContactKeeper.mdb) and open it. (I just discover that Microsoft Access needs to be installed too.)
  * In the next Window you see the tables that are in the ContactKeeper database, you have to select the table "Person" and then you click "Ok".
  * You will see a message with the button "Set Up Main Document", you have to click on that.
  * In the next window you select the format of your labels and then you click "Ok".
  * In the next window you click on the button "Insert Merge Field" and you insert the fields "Firstname", "Lastname" and "Address" and you put a space between the fields untill you have something like this for example:
  «Firstname» «Lastname»
  «Address»
  * If you are done with that you can click "Ok" to return to the main screen of the wizard, there you hit the button "Merge..."
  * After you have done that you should have your names and addresses on labels."
• I don't get the Birthday reminder to work (and/or every time I start ContactKeeper it opens the wrong database).
  Make sure you configure the right database that should be opened by default when ContactKeeper starts, you can configure this in the menu "Options" -> "Default database".
• I want the "Birthday reminder" to start every day at a specific time without having to restart my computer.
  This is possible by using the "Sheduled tasks" function, wich you can find in the folder "Control Panel" in Windows. When you start the wizard, you select the program "Birthday reminder" from the list.
  See also: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308569
  or http://www.iopus.com/guides/winscheduler.htm
• Why does ContactKeeper makes a connection to the internet at start-up?
  When the function "Check version" in the menu "Options" is checked, then ContactKeeper will request the contents of the following textfile: http://www.vani.be/contactkeeper/info/latestversion.txt
  The version numbers will be compared and a message will be shown when there is a newer version available.
• How can I define my own color style for the birthday calendar or the (x)html export function?
  You can make your own style sheet for the calendar and for the function export to (x)html.
  
  You can find the style sheets in the program folder, mostly this is::
  - For the calendar: "C:\Program Files\ContactKeeper\Calendar"
  - For the (x)html: "C:\Program Files\ContactKeeper\Css"
  
  Let's make as an example an own style for the calendar:
  * Inside the folder "Calendar" you take a copy of the file "Orange.css" and you name the copy "MyStyle.css".
  * Next you open the file "MyStyle.css in notepad, inside that file you will find color codes, for example next to "color:" and "background-color:".
  You can change the color codes by replacing it by the name of a color, you can choose a color name from the following list:
  http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/html_colornames.asp
  * After that you save the file "MyStyle.css" and when you open the calendar in ContactKeeper, at the top you choose the style "MyStyle" to see the result.