*****OPiE 2.0 for Microsoft Office Readme.txt file***** Thank you for downloading OPiE 2.0 Office Places Editor for Microsoft Office! PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING OPiE 2.0 ***** Legal Mumbo Jumbo: ************* This application is offered as is without warranty. Please use this application at your own risk. At the time this application was developed it was free of any defects and viruses. It was scanned before upload to the server with Norton Anti-virus 2003 and was extensively tested on four different Windows platforms all using Microsoft Office 2000/XP (The platforms are - Windows 98SE, NT 4.0-sp6a, 2000-sp2 and XP-sp1) This software has NOT been tested on the Office 2003 platform, although there really shouldn't be any problems with it. If you discover an issue please let me know just so I can update the readme file until I can get a fix written. I will not and cannot be held resposible for any issues this application may cause to your PC or it's softwares. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. ******************************************* Yuck...Now that that garbage is out of the way: This application is specifically designed for Office 2000 through 2003 Only. Please be sure before you install this product that one of the Microsoft Office products below is installed on your computer. ***** REQUIREMENTS ***************** Office 2000 (9.0) or Office 2002 (XP/10.0) or Office 2003 (11.0) Windows Platforms from 98 through XP (This may work on other platforms I just haven't been able to test on any of the others but those so far. ******************************************* ******* A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OPiE 2.0 **** After installing the application simply run it from Start/Programs. This application allows you to get rid of Microsofts limited Places bar (The little quick icon bar to the left of the Open/Save/Save As dialog box) and replace those icons with your own selection of up to ten (10) directries of what you use the most instead of what Microsoft thinks you use the most. This application is very handy! Once you use it you will love it!! NOTE - With Office XP and possibly 2003, there is a way to do what OPiE 2.0 does but it is a bit more tedious than how OPiE 2.0 accomplishes the same task. If you would rather use the Microsoft way then please search your Office help file using the keyword "Places" or "Places Bar" ******************************************** ******** NEW FEATURES IN OPiE 2.0 ********* *Allow the user to save lists of all the places selected. Choose File\Save... and enter a file name making sure to leave the .OPE extension and this will back up all of the current selections. This feature is extremly handy because it allows you to have as many places you want. Simply select the first 10 places you want and then save those. Next click on Restore Defaults and start again with all new places. Now when you want the first ten you selected just load that file and click Apply. When you are ready to change to a different set of Places Icons simply open OPiE and choose a differnt file to load. VERY HANDY!!! *Changed the VBScripting language that stores the registry entries. OPiE now uses API calls. Much more efficient and also allows for easier installation and usage. *The user now has the flexibility to delete any specific line they no loner want. In Version 1.0 the only way to remove a specific line was to restore defaults and then start over completely. (Done through clicking the minus signs *changed the "Add..." buttons to plus signs. *Added an indicator of the Office version detected in Written form instead of just a version number *Notify user if Saved list file will overwrite a saved list that already exists *removed all third party controls (aside from CommonDialog Control) and replaced them with raw code so install is cleaner and application usage is error free. ******************************************* ******* KNOWN ISSUES: ***************** *A rare and intermittent problem occurs on the Windows 2000 platform that does not allow the user to select folders properly. If you discover a problem and cannot use OPiE please contact me at thezjooj@gmail.com with as many details as you can gather. That will help me determine how to fix the issue. NOTE: in the 8000 downloads of OPiE 1.0, this error occured in 11 cases. No resolution could be found so if you discover this issue any help in reporting it would be greatly appreciated. *Uninstllation of OPiE sometimes does not remove the registry entries it has changed to your office places bar in Microsoft office. This does not cause any serious problems. They are easily fixable through a quick registry edit or patch. If you experience this problem please send me an email or visit www.thezjooj.is-a-geek.com forums and leave a post. I will make sure to get a fix out to you right away. ADDENDUM:A work-around to this issue is to make sure and run OPiE before uninstall and click on RESTORE DEFAULTS. *Windows XP SP2 may not allow OPiE to function properly. This has also been an intermittent problem and keeps me searching for a solution. If you experience this issue please contact me with as many details as you can gather. That will help me determine how to fix the issue *In Windows XP you may get a warning after starting setup that some system files are out of date. This error is caused by the lack of the latest Visual Basic Runtime files and can be remedied by simply following the instructions included in the warning. After a reboot simply restart the install and it should run just fine. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to drop me a line at thezjooj@gmail.com. I can't guarantee an immediate response on all issues but I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Once again thank you for downloading OPiE 2.0 Office Places Editor! ******************************************** ******* THANKS AND PLUGS ***********::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Just to give a plug for one heck of a fellow computer geek - head to WWW.LANGA.COM and sign up for his list. It is spam free and packed with tons of great info. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT! Thanks and appreciation go out to Jerry of JSI Inc for BETA testing this app during development. Side note - His site , www.jsiinc.com, is loaded with great registry tips tricks and tons of other goodies. Give it a look - Thanks Jerry (JSI) !! :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::