- Before contacting support, please read the manual that contains many useful tips about how to use PhraseExpress in general.
- If you have trouble with (unwanted) text replacements, please read the trouble-shooting section of the manual.
- If you are using the free edition for personal use and if get a commercial-use detection warning, please find additional information here.
- If you upgraded to the latest version as a customer and if you get the commercial use detection warning, please purchase a license key upgrade and register your new installation for commercial use.
- Please do not post license key related questions to the support forum. Please send us an email and include your license key.
Please note that we may not be able to answer your question if you do not follow these very important requirements:
- Please make sure to use the latest program version. Your current installation's version number is shown in the title bar of the PhraseExpress main window. The latest version can be downloaded here.
- Please do not post any technical question if using an out-of-date version. Install and try the latest version before posting a support request as the software is continuosly improved and your problem may have been solved in the mean time.
- Before posting a technical problem, please browse/search the forum for existing solutions and answered questions first. Avoid double-posting of the same question.
- Make sure that you can reproduce the issue and provide a detailed step-by-step instruction. If we can't reproduce the problem, we will not be able to help.
- If applicable, please add a debugging log to your posting (see below).
- If a phenomen or bug is difficult to describe, create a video of your screen. We suggest to you to use the free screen recorder http://jingproject.com.
- Please check any "security" application such as antivirus scanners or Antispyware programs: These may disable PhraseExpress' keyboard hook function which is required to monitor your keyboard input.
- Make individual postings for each issue or feature request. Please do not mix different issues in one posting.
- Use a descriptive title for your posting. "I have problems" is not very helpful. Better would be "Can't open configuration".
Please always include the following information:
- Your PhraseExpress installation's version number!
- Operating system (Windows XP, Vista, 7, 32 or 64-Bit, etc.)
- Which operating system language and keyboard layout language is configured?
- The target application where you try to paste into (Outlook 2003? Word 2007?)
- How you do paste a phrase (using a hotkey, autotext or the pop-up menu)?
- Would the problem also appear if you close all other programs and background tasks?
- Would the problem also happen if you try Notepad as the target application?
- We recommend to add your system information in your posting signature. Example: AMD 3GHZ, 4GB RAM, Win 7, 32-Bit
PhraseExpress Debug Mode
PhraseExpress can be launched in a special diagnostic mode. This mode records any action (keystrokes, program focus change and internal actions) into a time-stamped log file. This file will be located on your Windows Desktop in a folder named "Debug_PhraseExpress". The log file helps us to figure out what happens inside your computer.
Step-by-step procedure:
- Launch PhraseExpress in debug mode by clicking Start -> Programs -> PhraseExpress -> PhraseExpress Debug Mode (Video Tutorial).
- Reproduce the problem and exit PhraseExpress.
- PhraseExpress created the debug file "Debug_PhraseExpress_xx-xx-xxxx_xx.xx.txt". You can now review/edit this file in any text editor to remove any potentially confidential information as all your keyboard input is logged while PhraseExpress is running in debug mode.
- Attach the debug file to your posting or send the file to pex@phraseexpress.com including a link to your forum posting.
Do not use the debug mode by default in everyday use.The logging increases CPU load and may slow down PhraseExpress over time because the program needs to append information about every keystroke to the debug file. The file can get big quickly. This may cause erratic Autotext behavior.
About this forum
- This forum is no discussion board but for technical support only. In order to keep it compact and easy to browse, we reserve the right to edit or remove postings, e.g. advertisement, specific issues which only arise in very special situations/setups and which have no relevance for the general audience, non-technical support related postings, rants, personal opinions and posting with inappropriate language.
- Please only post technical inquiries. We always appreciate to hear your personal feedback, comments, complaints, licensing or sales related questions via email.
- We kindly ask for your understanding that the free support offering is limited to trouble-shooting bugs and to provide help for basic use. If you require extended macro programming support, please purchase a support ticket.
