Occasionally, you may encounter a program error while using TimeTo™. If an error message is displayed, go to the Error Messages help page.
If the problem does not have an error messages, look for the condition below, or in the Frequently Asked Questions section.
If you cannot resolve the problem on your own, consider contacting TimeTo™ Technical Support.
What do to immediately if you think there is something wrong with your TimeTo™ information, before doing anything else:
First, immediately stop using TimeTo: the reason for this is that TimeTo™ automatically makes backups of your schedule every few minutes, and if you leave it running with the wrong data, then those valuable backups of your true data may get automatically overwritten by the new empty data file.
Second, use Windows Explorer to make a backup of your entire TimeTo™ folder (including all subfolders), just in case something goes wrong while trying to fix things. If your schedule files reside in a folder other than the TimeTo folder, then make a backup of that entire folder too (including all subfolders). This way you will also have a backup of all the backups that TimeTo makes automatically.
Now choose amongst the situations described below.
My TimeTo™ schedule file(timedata.pak) may be corrupt.
We'll start off with the assumption that your schedule file has somehow become corrupt.
Before we do anything, shut down TimeTo™, so the situation can't get any worse, and so automatic backups aren't at risk of being overwritten by newer unhealthy backups.
Here
is some background information that will help you understand what we are
going to try:
Your main data file is called timedata.pak, which
resides in your TimeTo folder (unless you have a redirect.txt file in your TimeTo folder, in which case the timedata.pak file loaded when you launch TimeTo™ and the backups of that file instead reside in the folder named in the redirect.txt file).
TimeTo™ tries to make a backup of the schedule file every
minute and puts that backup in a file of the same file structure called timedata.bak, and also makes many other backups of this file (every time you successfully
launch, as well as at random intervals during the day depending on how much you use
TimeTo™, and also once a day for the previous seven days). All these files have the same file structure as timedata.pak and are all stored in the same folder as the timedata.pak they are backing up.
Therefore, try this:
If that doesn't solve the problem, try steps 3, 4 and 5 again, but in Windows Explorer examine the datestamps of TimeTo's eleven other backups of timedata.pak, and use the most recent instead of timedata.bak:
Tip: If you happen to notice that one of the backup files is substantially larger than the others, then avoid choosing it if other candidates are available.
If none of the twelve TimeTo backups solves the problem, restore timedata.pak from any timedata.pak, timedata.bak, or timedata.Backup from any older backup of your computer that you have made on your own.
If restoring the oldest timedata file that is known
to have been healthy does not solve the problem,
then we were wrong to assume that a corrupt timedata.pak
file is the problem, and so you can recopy timedata.pakrenamed to timedata.pak
and then try other remedies instead.
Every time I try to print anything at all, TimeTo crashes without a TimeTo error message.
OR
When I print a Note, I don't get the font I expected.
Please try printing to another printer (or use Adobe Acrobat to print to a PDF file) to see if the problem goes away. If the problem is specific to this printer, try downloading a different printer driver from the manufacturer and see if the problem goes away. We have had known issues with a bug in certain Hewlett-Packard printer drivers causing TimeTo to crash when printing (including HP model C6180). In another instance, a user who was having trouble with Notes printing in the correct font using an HP LaserJet 4000T, solved the problem by changing from the 4000T's PCL6 driver to the older PCL driver only: the PCL6 driver was a newer driver and was not working as well with the older printer.
TimeTo™ presents an hourglass while I am using it that never goes away, and the word Balance on the menus appears depressed.
Your timedata.pak file has become corrupted in such a way that the automatic balancing feature set in Other Preferences > Balance Future Days or Other Preferences > Balance Day cannot complete its work which results in TimeTo™ hanging while its tries. Here is what to do:
Close the TimeTo™ application by right-clicking on TimeTo™ in the Windows taskbar and clicking Close.
Launch Windows Explorer, and copy your entire TimeTo™ folder, as described above, just in case.
In Windows Explorer, delete the file timedata.pak in your TimeTo™ folder, and rename the file timedata.bak as timedata.pak . (Timedata.bak is the automatic backup file made every 60 seconds)
Launch TimeTo™. Enter a password if necessary. Then, if you can before the Balance feature kicks in, immediately choose Other Preferences (by pressing Ctrl+Z). Then, uncheck Balance Day and uncheck Balance Future Days. At this point, you should be able to use TimeTo™, however your information file may be corrupt: you can test this by choosing Balance > Balance All Days and then Balance > Balance Day and see if either feature completes without TimeTo™ hanging.
If it does hang, then repeat the above procedure renaming one of the ten other automatic backups as timedata.pak (please see the previous help topic above for a description of the filenames of the ten other backup files that TimeTo™ automatically makes).
If the problem has still not gone away, then you should restore from an earlier backup you have made of timedata.pak .
Once you have found a copy of the timedata file that works properly, you must re-enter any activities that have taken place since that time.
When all is well, restore the two checkboxes in Other Preferences to the state you want them.
Note: if you don't have a sufficiently recent healthy backup anywhere, you do have the option of continuing to use your timedata.pak with the automatic Balance All Days and/or Balance Day features turned off, however you are in danger that you are moving forward with corrupt data, which could get worse over time.
I just installed a TimeTo™ update, and now my schedule is blank.
Please read the Troubleshooting section of the How To Update To The Latest Version Of TimeTo help topic.
I want to revert to an earlier version of TimeTo™, but when I try to run the earlier installer I am told that a newer version of TimeTo already exists.
Please read the Troubleshooting section of the How To Update To The Latest Version Of TimeTo help topic.
I am upgrading TimeTo™, but I don't want to install to the same folder as last time, and yet the installer doesn't let me designate the destination folder since I am upgrading.
Please read the Troubleshooting section of the How To Update To The Latest Version Of TimeTo help topic.
I accidentally launched an old copy of TimeTo and wrongly was putting my new information in the old schedule. Now I want to merge the old schedule with my current schedule. How can I do that?
Unfortunately, there is no automated way to merge the two divergent TimeTo schedule files, since there is no way for us to know in what order you have added or changed your data... and so we are sorry for the frustration that will cause.
However, you can do something to make sure you don't lose track of any new items you've added since the divergence:
- open the older TimeTo that wrongly got new items added to it
- choose File | Export | Export Alphabetical View (or Export Day View: Range of Days) to create a .txt file of all undone items (or those from the range of days since the divergence)
- choose File | Export | View Export File to view the resulting list, and then examine it visually and delete the records you are confident have not been lost
- create new records in the current TimeTo schedule from that list, by either:
You can also examine the TimeToTimeWise.txt file for a chronological log of what items were marked Done during the divergent period.
I'm using Windows 8 or Windows 7 or Windows Vista and my timedata.pak file doesn't seem to be in my "c:\Program Files\TimeTo" folder(or for Windows 8, 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows Vista, "c:\Program Files (x86)\TimeTo" folder). What is happening here?
Please refer to the TimeTo for Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista users help topic, for the explanation.
When I try to exit TimeTo in Windows 8, Windows 7 or Windows Vista, TimeTo won't close or my latest data is not getting saved.
In Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder that holds your Timeto schedule (if unsure where that is, choose the About TimeTo command from TimeTo's Help menu, and see what it says next to "Current schedule file"). Then right-click, choose Properties, select the Security tab, and check the checkbox that grants full permissions.
I want to change the e-mail program TimeTo is choosing to use for e-mail functions (such as sending an alarm via e-mail)
To set the default e-mail program that TimeTo uses for its various e-mail functions...
(these instructions are for Windows XP,and may vary slightly for other Windows versions):
From your Windows desktop,
choose Start,
choose All Programs,
choose Set Program Access And Defaults,
choose Custom,
press the double down-arrow icon far to the right,
then in the Choose A Default E-Mail Program section,
select the radio button of the e-mail program you wish to use.
Click OK.
TimeTo is wrongly showing date fields in a format that doesn't match the date format I've set in the Windows Regional Settings control panel.
TimeTo™ automatically accommodates all of the most popular date formats for the "Western" calendar as set in the Regional And Languages Options control panel of your Windows computer. TimeTo™ will instantly react to most settings in this control panel. You can see the current date format by looking at the Short Date field on the Regional Options tab in that control panel, and you can change the format by clicking the Customize button on that tab, then click the Date tab, then choose your preferred format from the Short Date Format pulldown and the Date Separator pulldown. If the date format shown in the control panel is not appearing in TimeTo, check to see if your date format has the "dd" part of the format expressed as "d". If so, this indicates that you are missing a Windows registry key for international date formats. Make the fix to your Windows described in Microsoft knowledgebase article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/250449 in order to solve the problem (even though the article claims to only be for Windows 98, it also applies to Windows XP).
TimeTo™ is very reliable, including features that self-heal many problems that can go wrong with TimeTo's information files. However, because you may grow to rely on your TimeTo™ data, and may be prefer to never lose even a few hours of work, you may agree how valuable it would be to make frequent backup copies of timedata.pak (as well as all the backups such as timedata.bak and immediate) files.
Although TimeTo™ automatically makes twelve copies of your schedule file spanning the past week (see the Save help topic for more details) We recommend you make copies every day and possibly several times a day, both to another location on your computer, as well as often to somewhere other than your computer (such as to another computer on your network, or to an FTP site, or a floppy disk or some other removable media).
One simple way of making multiple backups automatically is by using the Windows Scheduled Tasks feature to set up hourly and daily copy commands of this nature: "COPY C:\TIMETO\TIMEDATA.* C:\BACKUPHOURLY". TimeTo is designed to let you copy all TimeTo™ files while TimeTo™ is running. The command will vary depending upon where your TimeTo™ files are stored and where you have created a folder to receive the backups.
If you use the Notes feature in TimeTo™, you may also wish to backup the Notes folder (a subfolder of your TimeTo folder), as it contains all the notes attached to your items, with one file in the Notes folder for each note, and this folder is NOT backup up regularly by TimeTo™.
Should you choose to set up several such routines (for instance, one hourly and one daily) we recommend that you create separate destination folders for each scheduled task, so that they don't overwrite each other (for instance, you could backup once an hour to C:\BACKUPHOURLY and then daily backup to C:\BACKUPDAILY).
In the rare case where you are making a backup at the same time TimeTo™ is making a backup you may see a dialog box from TimeTo™ saying that it could not make its backup that time; if so, TimeTo™ will simply try again later.
Related Topics
Error Messages
Frequently Asked Questions
TimeTo™ Technical Support