Contact Us
- The documentation provides many step-by-step tutorials on how to get the most out of PhraseExpress.
- Do have a question about "expired maintenance"?
- Your license key and invoice for online purchases can be found on the shop service page.
- "99%" of the inquiries we receive daily are already addressed in the shop/licensing FAQ or technical FAQ.
- The free iOS App and desktop freeware version are provided without charge and do not come with personal support.
- For installation support and custom programming consultation, please visit our consulting service page.
How may we assist you?
First Aid
PhraseExpress does not launch automatically with the computer
Make sure to enable the option to have PhraseExpress launched with the system:
Toggle the setting off and back on to make sure that Windows apply the setting and press the OK button.
If PhraseExpress doesn't launch regardless of this option, it could be that a “security” program (such as an “Antivirus” or “AntiSpyware” software) may block PhraseExpress from launching as it may misinterpret it as a "keylogger". Please check the setting of any such "security" software.
Check general tips to solve problems with starting applications under Windows 10 (Google search).
How to solve Excel error "Picture is too large and will be truncated"?
Solution for error "pexkey.dll too old"
If you receive the error "pexkey.dll too old" on program launch, a software update or a re-installation over an existing PhraseExpress installation seem to have gone wrong.
Solution:
- Uninstall PhraseExpress (No worries. Phrases won't be deleted and you can keep your settings).
- Reboot computer. Don't miss this step.
- Reinstall PhraseExpress
Where is the global Variable Manager?
The Variable Manager introduced in PhraseExpress v14 has been removed in PhraseExpress v15 to provide more functionality.
When the phrase file is loaded for the first time, PhraseExpress v15 converts your global variables into regular phrases, which are stored in a new phrase folder "Variables".
You can then drag these phrases into any phrase for use as before.
Benefits:
- Previously, any user could modify or even delete the global variables without access rights restrictions. The earlier variables now stored as regular phrases can now be access restricted.
- Variables can now also be restricted to certain programs.
- The variables now stored as text blocks can be used with all other PhraseExpress functions (Search, Find and Replace, etc.)
PhraseExpress forgets settings or the license key registration
The PhraseExpress client stores the settings in the user application data folder "%appdata%\PhraseExpress\" in file "config.xml"
Potential issues if settings are reset to default values or altered:
- PhraseExpress was not properly shut-down after settings change. To make sure, that settings are written to the computer storage, exit the PhraseExpress client after making the setting change or license key registration.
- PhraseExpress could not save or load file onto the hard disk because of access restriction applied to the config file.
- A 3rd party backup solution blocked access to the file at the time of writing or reading the file.
- A 3rd party sync service restored an earlier version of the configuration file (that doesn’t carry the settings change).
- The config file is not available at startup of PhraseExpress, e.g. if your Windows application data folders are not stored locally but on a network drive which may not be not present at the time PhraseExpress is started.
- You have changed your Windows user name or you switched to a Microsoft Account based identification for Windows log-on.
Please monitor the modified date stamp of above configuration files to investigate the potential cause.
PhraseExpress prompts for a password
If PhraseExpress prompts for a password and if you are 100% sure, that you never applied a password protection, either someone else entered a password or the phrase file may be corrupt.
In most cases, this can happen, if the computer has been reset, switched off or crashed while PhraseExpress was still busy writing the file.
Don't panic! PhraseExpress creates backups and you can easily restore previous versions of your phrase file.
To avoid this situation in the future:
- Make sure, that PhraseExpress can finish writing all files when the program is shut-down.
- Never switch off the computer while it is powering down.
How to disable "suppressed autotext" notifications?
Autotext replacements are suppressed if you press a specific hotkey directly after typing an autotext.
For example, the autotext "FBI" wouldn't be expanded to "Federal Bureau of Investigation" if you press the autotext suppression hotkey directly after entering the autotext. This gives you a case-by-case choice to have the autotext being executed as needed.
The (customizable) default hotkey is pressing 2x SHIFT. Unfortunately, it seems to be easily entered by accident.
Solution: Open PhraseExpress settings, switch to section "hotkeys" and select another hotkey or delete the hotkey association if you don't need this feature:
WYSIWYG form controls are too tiny
Phrases with WYSIWYG form controls contain the display resolution information (DPI) which may be incompatible for modern high-resolution displays.
Solution: You would need to re-create the WYSIWYG form elements to have them auto-adapt with your actual display resolution.
Main program window does not appear
If the main program window does not show via the PhraseExpress taskbar icon, Windows may have placed it outside the visible desktop area.
Solution: Use the keyboard shortcut WIN- PfeilAuf or WIN- PfeilLinks/Rechts
It may be necessary to close and restart PhraseExpress.
Certain characters or accent marks cannot be entered anymore
Accented characters are letters that are entered by sequentially pressing multiple keys on your keyboard, such as á, é, í, ó, ú, ü, ñ, ¿, ¡
If setting the OS to a specific language, make sure that the keyboard settings matches the input language. For example, if the language is set to Dutch, then configure the keyboard setting to "United States-International keyboard for Dutch".
If using PhraseExpress along with other applications with keyboard input detection (called "keyboard hooks"), such as AutoHotkey, Intellitype, etc, accented characters cannot be processed correctly because of interference of those programs.
Solution: Do not run multiple such programs simultaneously.
The Clipboard Manager does not show up
Possible causes:
- Clipboard memory has been deactivated. Solution: Activate the clipboard memory.
- The Clipboard Manager is restricted to specific programs. Solution: Adjust the program restriction settings
- The shortcut key assignment has been removed/deleted/changed. Solution: Assign the desired key combination to the clipboard memory:
- The clipboard is empty. Then it is not displayed. Solution: Fill the clipboard with text.
- Another application is using the key combination for other purposes. Solution: Resolve the conflict.
Resolve "Allow full access"
If you are repeatedly prompted to grant "full access" for the PhraseExpress 3rd party keyboard, try following these steps:
- Remove PhraseExpress from your device.
- Reinstall the App: Go to the App Store, find the keyboard app, and reinstall it.
- Enable Full Access:
- Go to Settings » General » Keyboard » Keyboards
- Tap on the PhraseExpress keyboard you reinstalled.
- Toggle "Allow Full Access" to on.
- Ensure iOS is updated to the latest versions. Sometimes, updates contain bug fixes that can resolve such issues.
- After enabling full access, restart your iPhone or iPad.