Reunion Planner

Class B T-Shirt

Software faqs

Questions about our reunion software for Windows

Before going further, you may want to download the latest software patch for Reunion Planner.

Q&A

Q. I am running Windows 7 or Vista. Will the Reunion Planner software work?
A. Yes, for best results, use Compatibility Mode. Please see these links for instructions:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html?ltr=C (Windows 7)
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/75909-compatibility-mode.html (Vista)

Q. I am running Windows Vista or Windows 7 and sometimes my report displays with data I used on a previous report – what can I do?
A. Vista/Windows 7 stores some data in what it calls a Virtual Store, then doesn’t replace it when necessary. Please follow these steps:

  1. In Windows Explorer, find your Reunion Planner folder in the Virtual Store (e.g. c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Reunion Planner 7)
  2. Note: If this folder isn’t visible, go to Control Panel–Appearance and Personalization–Folder Options–View Tab, then click Show Hidden Files and Folders
  3. Go to the Report sub-folder
  4. Find the files AlumRpt.DBF and AlumRpt.CDX, right-click on each and click Delete
  5. Try re-running your report
  6. NOTE: You may also delete the other .DBF and .CDX files for other reports (e.g. Budget, To-do, etc.)
  7. If still a problem, try deleting the same files in the c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Report folder

Q. How can I copy my reunion data from my Desktop to my Laptop (or vice-versa)?
A. Please follow these steps:

  1. Make sure the program is installed in the same directory on your Laptop as on your Desktop (e.g. c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner 7)
  2. Copy the Data folder and its sub-folders from your desktop to your laptop (via your thumb-drive). The data folder is located here by default: c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner 7\Data
  3. Copy the files RPMain.DBF and RPMain.CDX from the program root of the desktop to your laptop (usually located in c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner 7), overwriting the one on your laptop
  4. Open your program on your laptop – and you should see the same reunion(s) and data as on your desktop
  5. NOTE FOR VISTA USERS: Vista now moves data from the C:\Program Files to this folder: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\. If any of those folders are hidden, in Windows Explorer, click on Tools, Folder Options, View tab, then click on Show Hidden Files and Folders.

Q. How can I import Reunion Planner data from another computer?
A. Please follow these steps:
(NOTE: If importing from an Excel or tab-delimited file, see the next question)

  1. Copy all of the files from the c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner 7\Data\[your reunion] folder on your old computer to a CD.
  2. Put the CD in your new Computer
  3. Go into the Reunion Planner on your new computer, and create a new reunion (File, New), with the name of the upcoming reunion
  4. Click on Tools, Import Data, then under “Select Data to Import”, choose the third option (from another Reunion Planner database)
  5. Click the Select File button and choose your CD Drive, then find the ALUMNI.DBF file and choose it.
  6. Click Ok.

Q. How do I import data from Excel or a tab-delimited text file?
A. Please follow these directions:
(Note: Please make sure you have the latest patch)

  1. In Excel, make sure your columns have data in the correct order (click or right-click) here to get a sample Excel file as a template (erase the sample row after adding your data). Leave any columns blank where no data exists (look at the Alumni Information Screen using the Demo Reunion to match up the Excel Columns with the fields on the screen).
  2. Make sure any phone numbers have the dashes (hyphens) excluded. (Hint: Highlight each phone column and click Edit, Replace. Put a dash in the Find What: field and nothing in the Replace With: field, then click Replace All)
  3. If copying data from another Excel sheet, make sure your city, state and zip columns are combined into a single column. Use the formula: Trim(A1)&”, “&A2&” “&A3 — where A1 is the city column, A2 is state, A3 is zip.
  4. Go into the Import screen (Tools, Import)
  5. Select either the first (Excel) or second (tab-delimited) option
  6. Click the button to the right of the Select File field and find the import file
  7. Choose to Append or Overwrite data (NOTE: BE CAREFUL IF YOU SELECT OVERWRITE – YOUR EXISTING DATA WILL BE ERASED)
  8. If you don’t have a header row in your import file, uncheck the “Skip Header Row” box
  9. Click Ok to continue

Q. How can I send emails to the my alumni list?
A. The current version of the Reunion Planner has this capability built in. However, for older versions, the best way to do this is to use Outlook (or another email client) to import the email addresses. In Outlook 2000, follow these directions:

  1. Make sure the Reunion Planner program is closed
  2. In Outlook, create a new contact folder by right-clicking on Contacts in the left pane, then clicking New Folder. Name it Alumni (or whatever you’d like)
  3. Click on File, Import/Export
  4. Choose Import from another program or file, click Next
  5. For the file type to import, choose Microsoft Foxpro, click Next
  6. At the File to Import prompt, click Browse, and find your Alumni.dbf file, which is located in your reunion data folder, which is under the c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Data\ folder, click Next
  7. At the Select Destination Folder prompt, choose the new folder you created in step 1, click Next
  8. Click on the Map Custom Fields button, and map the fields on the left to those on the right, Last to Name/Last Name, First to Name/First Name, and Email to E-Mail/E-mail Address, click Ok, then Finish
  9. Use Tools, Mail Merge to email to all or some of the contacts (see Outlook help for further details)

 

Q. When trying to install the program, I get a message similar to “System not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows Applications”. What do I do?
A. To resolve this issue, please check this article or do an Internet search for the words in quotes above.

Q. My computer froze or was shut off unexpectedly and now when starting the program, I get a message similar to “Error could not open data file c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Data\REUN03″ or “Error Opening Data Files”. What can I do?
A. Try this first:

  • Close the Reunion Planner program
  • Go into Windows Explorer and find your reunion data folder, which is normally a sub-folder of C:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Data — it will be the one with your reunion code (for example, LINC65, for Lincoln High Class of ’65)
  • Find the files that end with the extension CDX and delete them (WARNING: DON’T DELETE ANY FILES WITH A DBF EXTENSION – THOSE CONTAIN YOUR DATA!)
  • Restart the Reunion Planner program
  • Click on File, Maintenance, Reindex Current Database
  • You can continue using the program normally now
  • Remember to make regular backups!
  • If the above did not work, try restoring from your most recent backup and if no backups (shame on you!), please email your data files (all files in the folder described above) to
    help@reunionplanner.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
     and we’ll try to fix them.

Q. I’m running Windows XP and am getting a message similar to “c:\winnt\system32\autoexec.nt. The system file is not suitable for running ms-dos and microsoft windows applications.”
A. Try this first:

  1. Go to this link and follow the instructions.
  2. If following the instructions in the above link does not solve the problem, try this link next.

A. If you installed over the Demo, you’ll need to add your registration key into the program (under Help, Add Registration Key). Just send us a quick email with your order number to
help@reunionplanner.comThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
 and we’ll send you the key.

Q. I’m trying to run the Backup and get a message similar to “Error copying file ALUMNI.DBF”. What’s wrong?
A. It’s possible that your data has grown larger than the space on your floppy disk or that there was something on your floppy disk previously. Try erasing everything on your diskette first, then running the Backup again. If it’s still a problem, you’ll have to use PKZip or WinZip to compress your data files (which are in the folder c:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Data\[your reunion name], by default), then copy the Zip file to a floppy disk using Windows Explorer. In any case, Keep Backing Up!

Q. I’d like to transfer the program from one computer to another. What’s the best way to transfer the program and all data?
A. Follow these steps:

  1. Backup your data just to be safe. See the program’s Help for instructions.
  2. Install the program using your CD to the new computer in the same folder as on the original computer (e.g. C:\Program Files\Reunion Planner)
  3. Install the latest patch from our software downloads page
  4. (Note: See step 5 if you’re unsure how to follow this step) From your original computer, using PKZip or WinZip, create a zip file containing the C:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Data folder and all sub-folders, then unzip the file on your new computer in the Data folder (so that it creates all the original sub-folders)
  5. If you are unsure how to create a Zip file, then using Windows Explorer, browse your original computer in the C:\Program Files\Reunion Planner\Data folder and write down each sub-folder name. Then, on your new computer, create each sub-folder in the same place. Then copy all files from each Data sub-folder on the original computer to a diskette or CD, then to the corresponding folder on the new computer.
  6. Copy 2 files from your main program folder (C:\Program Files\Reunion Planner) on your original computer called RPMAIN.DBF and RPMAIN.CDX and overwrite the corresponding files on your new computer
  7. That’s it !

A. This is a video driver problem that can usually be solved by downloading the latest drivers from http://support.atitech.ca/drivers/index.html.

As a temporary work-around, you can also try to reduce your video graphics acceleration setting:

  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
  2. Click the Performance tab, and then click Graphics.
  3. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to one notch from the left (the Basic accelerator functions setting).
  4. Click OK, and then click Close.
  5. Click Yes when you are prompted to restart your computer.

Q. Why when I’m printing labels that are supposed to be 2 or 3 across, it’s only printing 1 or 2 across?
A. Some printers’ margin settings are a bit too large for the standard label size. Try using the Margin settings at the bottom of the Label Form and reduce the left and right margins until all columns will fit.

Q. Why can’t it find the help file when I click the help icon in the program group?
A. It was necessary to change the name of the help file at the last minute. When you click on it, a screen will appear saying Windows is searching for it. Either click the Browse button on that screen and choose “rpw_man.hlp” or wait and Windows will find the file itself. Just say Yes when it asks to accept the nearest match. From then on, it won’t ask again.

Q. When I put the CD in my computer, why doesn’t the install program come up?
A. On some computers, the AutoRun feature is turned off. Just click on Start, Run, then put in D:\SETUP and hit Ok (if your CD Drive is something other than D, put in the appropriate letter).

Q. How do I import data from a previous Reunion Planner program?
A. First, create a new (blank) reunion, filling in all the necessary fields (i.e. Reunion Name, Location, etc.). Then, go to File, Import and select the items you wish to import. After hitting Ok, you will be able to select the file(s) where your old data file is (e.g. RP101GST.DBF). Follow the directions to continue importing.

Q. How do I export data to Excel, Word or other programs?
A. Select the report whose data you wish to export and print it to the screen. While it’s displayed on the screen, click on the little export (envelope) button at the top of the screen, then choose the export format.

Q. What if I want to narrow down my alumni list for reports, but the item I want to narrow them down by isn’t on the alumni entry screen?
A. On the alumni entry screen, there is a field called Misc. This is where you can put any information you wish (military unit, graduation class — i.e. summer or winter, etc.). Then when you run reports, you can narrow down the list based on that field.

Q. I installed the version 3.5 CD and am trying to print Name Tags. I get a message saying ERROR114: Report not Found.
A. This is a known issue. Please download the latest patch and the problem will be resolved.

Q. I’m running Windows NT and I get an error when I try to start the program (EReadError… Metafile is not valid). What is wrong?
A. There is a issue with some NT configurations loading the startup image in the program. We have a patch you can apply that solves the problem.