Although most new customers of our real estate investing software solutions are able to download, install, and work with ProAPOD without a hitch, there are times when it becomes an issue. We track these and then post the appropriate resolutions on the customer support page of our website for the convenience of future customers.
Unfortunately, when some new customers do encounter a problem they seem to ignore our online tutorials (or simply aren’t aware that they exist) and put in a call to me. I certainly don’t object to these calls, but they can be avoided if the customer would read the tutorials first; it would certainly be easier for them and actually would be more informative because our tutorials provide step-by-step instructions along with screenshots.
The issues most typically encountered are the result of the way newer versions of Windows handles applications for Excel such as our real estate software. Namely, since Vista, Windows requires the computer owner to do two things that were not necessary with applications for Excel on Windows XP and older. Both were introduced by the guys at Microsoft for general security reasons (so I guess we can say it’s for our own good, though it does make things slightly more difficult).
- The computer owner must gain file permission to the ProAPOD folder. Until this is done the customer will not be able to save any project they are working on or might be alerted that ProAPOD is “read only”. This is an easy fix that needs attention only. The tutorials can be found (with screenshots) at Resolving Vista Read Only and File Permissions and at Resolving Windows 7 Read Only and File Permissions.
- The computer owner must display the ProAPOD toolbar. Starting with Vista, the toolbar for Excel applications can only be displayed from the Excel “Add-ins” tab. This is crucial to the performance of ProAPOD because all the functions such as Save and Print are built-in to our toolbar. This is also an easy resolution. The tutorial (with screenshots) are located at How to Display Our Toolbar in Excel 7 and at How to Display Our Toolbar in Excel 10.
Hopefully this article will be a reminder to our new customers that ProAPOD does provide excellent customer support with informative articles always just a click away. If all else fails, of course, feel free to call, but if you just take a few moments to read the tutorials first you can save the call.
