Instant Database

DropDown Lists

Formatting

Miscellaneous

Q. I don’t see a Pathagoras icon on my desktop or in the listing of programs in my start menu. How do I start the program?

A. You actually don’t start Pathagoras, you just start Word. When you are in Word, Pathagoras is automatically running. (Pathagoras is a Word add-in and runs from within Word. It has no ‘stand-alone’ capacity.)

Q. After I installed Pathagoras, Word takes longer to load than before. Why?

A. To make it do what it is supposed to do, Pathagoras has to set quite a few switches, read a couple of text files, and assign values to quite a few variables (like every other program in your computer does). It takes just a bit more time to do this when you first load Word. Once loaded, you should see no performance speed issues.

We hope that the slightly longer start time is well offset by the time savings you will experience in locating, saving moving and deleting files and in building and personalizing documents.

Q. All of the sudden, Pathagoras has disappeared. The toolbar is gone and none of the hotkeys work. What happened?

A. This is a rare, but easily fixable issue. It most frequently occurs when you load another 'add-in' program which runs along side of Pathagoras. These new programs sometime shut down 'sister' add-ins.

Click here for the fix in Word2003 and earlier versions.     Click here for the fix in Word2007

Q. When I press the <Alt-G> key (or any of the other HotKeys) nothing happens. Why?

A. On some installations, the Alt-G combination does not register. Perhaps it is assigned by another add-in to trigger another program which loads after Pathagoras loads. Regardless, there are two solutions which you might try. (If one works you need not try the other.) Both require that you start from a blank document.

Solution I:

(1) Click the Pathagoras dropdown menu.
(2) Click the HotKeys tab.
(3) Click each of the buttons at the left of the form and accept the defaults ('G' for 'G'et/'D' for 'D'atabase/'S'canning (GotForms)/'N'umbering). (Note: You do not have to accept the defaults. You can assign any letter to any function you wish. Just remember to substitute your letter choices in place of the standard letters when you run across them in the instruction.)
(4) Close the screen. Exit Word and reenter. Press <Alt-G> or <Alt-D> to test.

Solution II:

If you have not assigned other hotkeys to other functions (and most people have not), and if the above does not provide a permanent solution. you should try clearing the current keyboard assignments which may have become locked.

(1)Click Tools
(2) Click "Customize"
(3) Click the "Keyboard" button at the bottom of the new form.
(4) Click "ReSet All" and say okay. Close the form.
That clears all of the HotKey references set in Word. Sometimes that is all that is needed to restore Pathagoras' hotkey functionality. Sometimes you must repeat steps 1 thru 4 in Solution 1.

Q. When I press <Alt-G> for an on screen recall, I only get a copy of the document, not the actual document. Why?

A. That is on purpose. <Alt-G> is a document assembly function. It inserts documents, glossary terms, etc. into the current document. It does not open the original document. To recall (as opposed to insert a copy of) an original document, an additional key is required, but it is still easy: use <Ctrl-Alt-G>.

Q. I would like to perform 'keyword' searches in order to find the best document for my needs. I note that you do not offer that feature. Why not?

A. In a word, "Google" (and all of the other absolutely terrific desktop search engines that are on the market). These products do it for you. They are free or can be obtained at a nominal cost. Pathagoras cannot possibly compete with the search power of these standalone tools. For this same reason, we also don't add a PDF maker to our product. Almost everyone has one already. And if you don't, the cost of a new one is small. Pathagoras simply cannot improve upon what the market is producing (and improving upon) daily.

Q. I am trying to save a term to a glossary using Term Works! but I am receiving a 'File is Read Only' message. What do I do?

A.  If the glossary you selected has been opened as 'Read Only' (or has it 'Read Only' attribute set to 'on'), Pathagoras will not be able to save to it until the 'Read Only' attribute has been removed. You must remove the attribute before certain actions involving writing to the file can be accomplished.

   Pathagoras cannot unset the 'Read Only' attribute for you. You must manually do so.

   Sometimes the reset can be done simply by re-opening the glossary and, when prompted, saying 'No' to the question 'Do you wish to reopen this file as Read Only.'

   Other times a more 'physical' approach must be made. From a Word or Windows navigation window, locate the file and right click on it. Select 'Properties' from the menu. Uncheck the Read Only attribute.

   If the above does not work, see your system administrator.

   An alternative to removing the attribute is to copy the original document to a new document using 'Save As'. (This technique may be required if the Read Only attribute appears 'locked' in place.) Name the new document with a slightly different name (perhaps the old name with one letter added to it). Navigate to the folder and delete the original and then rename the copy to that of the original.

Q. I know that there are clauses in the book I have selected in the Libraries & Books screen that are not appearing in the Clause Selection Screen. Where did they go?

A. Two possibilities:

Q. I moved my glossary/folder of clauses to a new location. What steps do I need to take to make sure that Pathagoras will recognize the new location?

A. You need to make sure that the various pointers registered by Pathagoras when you originally shelved the book now all point to the new location. See the discussion under 'Moving a Book.'

Q.  My DropDown Lists have disappeared. Where did they go?

A. Activity in Word will sometimes cause DropDown Lists to hide themselves among the other 'hidden' toolbars.

Re-display the DropDown Lists by right-clicking in the 'grey-area' of the toolbar section of the screen. A long list of the available toolbars will appear. Click "Term Lists" and (if it exists) "Term Lists2" to restore them.

Q.  My DropDown Lists show only 'prefix/suffix' style Name of my documents How can I get them to display the more descriptive Subjects?

A. Scroll down to the near the bottom of the list. Click the "<<Show Subjs>> entry. This is in the nature of a toggle button, so you can go back and forth with the displays.

Q.  My DropDown Lists no longer accurately shows the current content of the folder is represents. How can I update it?

A. Scroll down to the near the bottom of the list. Click the "<<Refresh>> entry.  The complete folder (or glossary) listing will quickly appear in your List.

 

Q. There are extra paragraph markers inserted between the items that I have inserted.  How can I prevent this?

A. The source documents probably have an extra (and unnecessary) paragraph marker at the end. Open each and remove any unnecessary paragraph markers at the foot of the source document. Note: Word demands a paragraph mark at the very end of every document, so you cannot remove it.

To prevent any paragraph marks from appearing between elements that you want to be a 'continuous, single line, list,' make sure that you select the 'Linear' as opposed to 'Stacked' choice in the Clause Selection screen.

Q. When I build a document or insert a term, the formatting of the inserted material is different from its formatting in the original source document. Why is this happening?

A. This is a 'Microsoft styles' behavior and is a necessary consequence of the way that Microsoft has programmed Word. "The receiving document always controls a conflict." The conflict is (almost always) that a style name in the source document matches that in the receiving document, but the styles themselves are not identical. The style of the receiving document will control. See Styles for the two main solutions.

 

Q. When I scan my document for variables, it Pathagoras doesn't process the variables in the document's headers and footers. Why?

A. Scanning in headers, footers, text-boxes and other non-"main document" locations is an optional process. (Explanation is provided below.)

To enable scanning in non-main document locations, check the box labeled "Scan in Headers, etc." just below the Scan button on the Instant Database screen.

(Scanning in non-"main document" locations slows the replacement process down considerably in long documents, or a document with many variables (more that 30 +/-)). If you are working with a long document, or one with many variables, and you sense this 'drag,' uncheck the box if you know that there are no variables in those locations.)

Q. I have lots of variables. The replacement process seems to drag a bit and flash a lot. Any way to speed it up?

A. Yes. Try two things. (1) If you have not headers or footers or text boxes which contain variables, turn off the "Scan in Headers, etc." checkbox found just below the Scan button on the Instant Database screen. (2) Perform the replacements with Word turned "off." This is done by checking the small, unmarked, practically hidden box to the upper right of the Next>> button on the IDB screen. When you press Next>>, Word will disappear while all of the substitutions are being made. Caveat: make sure that the process runs with 'screen-on' before trying it with 'screen-off.' If an error occurs, you may not be able to recover.

Q. I am not able to read the entire variable name (or the replacement value). Is there any way to make the fields wider?

A. Yes. In the lower right hand side of the IDB screen is an left and right pointing arrow. Click it to make the screen, and its primary elements, wider.

Q. I have lots of variables and want to get to the last page of variables. Is there a way to do so without turning the pages one at a time?

A. Yes. Shift-click the right arrow next to the page numbers at the top of the screen. (And if you are near the end and want to go to the beginning, Shift-click the left arrow.) Except for the extreme positions, however, you will have to turn individual pages.

Q. I have a multiple choice variable that I want to take on different values when it appears in different locations within my document. Is there a way for this to happen?

A. Each variable must be distinct in order for Pathagoras (and Word) to know that you want it to represent different things in different locations.

This is easy to do for a single element variable. Just change the name, or at the very least, append a simple number or other character at the end. E/g/. "[Variable1]", "[Variable2]", "[Variable3]" etc.

With multiple choice variables, append the '@' sign and a distinguishing single character or single digit number. E.g, "[Red/Blue/Green@A]", "[Red/Blue/Green@B]", "[Red/Blue/Green@C]", etc. (The '@' sign prevents the distinguishing character or number from being appended to the last of the multiple choice elements.)

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