Tasks, Projects, and People PatriSoft Software README.TXT File Version 1.5.1 November 1995 ************************************************** ** This is a text version of the information in ** the README.HLP Windows Help file. Double-Click ** the README.HLP file from Explorer or from ** the Windows File Manager for a formatted ** view of this information. This text file is ** only provided as a backup to README.HLP. ************************************************** You are reading the README.TXT file distributed with the Tasks, Projects, & People (TPP) evaluation system. This file tells you how to get started in the installation of TPP. If at any time you would like telephone assistance, call at 909-352-2820 and one of our technical support people will provide all the help you need. PatriSoft has been producing computer software since 1986 with over 20,000 customers using using our products. TPP is our latest Windows Personal Information Manager Software. PatriSoft products have always been known to be unique in their extensive user interface flexibility. Where commercial products provide limited sets of basic functions that appeal to the mass market basic user, our products provide advanced features to let you get more usefulness from your software. TPP provides the basic capabilities of all PIMs in a no-nonsense business format. Our displays are clean and nice, but not cute. In addition to the basic features you will find that TPP keeps uncommon information about tasks and projects. For example, it tracks when you enter tasks into the system and when they were completed. This kind of information can then later be reviewed in analyzing the work habits of yourself and others. TPP lets you manage the tasks of others by tracking tasks by resources. In addition to keeping your own task list, you can track what you have asked others to do and be notified when their tasks are due to be complete. I am getting ahead of myself now, but wanted to let you know a little bit about the system before you get started. Included is an extensive help file to teach you about TPP operation and give you ideas how to use it. We hope you find this evaluation informative and useful. As a PatriSoft customer, you will have the support of a company that has spent over 9 years providing quality software and support to customers! Thank you for evaluating our system! Norm Patriquin PatriSoft ===================================================== BBS Type Description... ----------------------- Tasks, Projects and People Executive PIM was two years in the making. This is a mature, complete PIM. TPP is outstanding in its ability to manage task lists and projects. It's people resource capabilities let you track tasks for yourself and others. In addition to keeping track of tasks, you can log notes about people, track personal information and more. Great for Managers! Tasks may be organized individually or as projects. Each task tracks over 30 fields, recording complete status and historical tracking data. Alarms, Automated Alerts, Schedule reminders and Priority sorting add to its value. Includes to-do lists, Address Book/Dialer and more. PatriSoft has been in business since 1986 with over 20,000 customers and 10 major products. ===================================================== TPP can work for you! Here's just a partial list of features: * Tracks individual tasks, as well as entire projects. * List the tasks according to what YOU want to see. View tasks that have been Started, Completed, put On Hold and more. * Print the task list, or a month/week calender. * Tasks can be automatically repeating in a variety of ways: - Every Nth week - Every Nth month - Every Monday, Tuesday... - Once a year - and more... * Alarms will remind you when a task is coming due. * Group tasks by Workareas or Employees (resources). * Keep extended information about resources to track their work history. * An address book can keep your address and phone numbers for your contacts. New with this version: * Columns of both the Task List and the Address book may be resized by dragging the column separators * Added a feature to check for due tasks upon startup * Added a manual scan of the Task List to check for items that are coming due. * Multiple databases may be created by using the File/Open capability * The Task List and Address Book can be sorted on any field by clicking on that field's title. * Menus can be quickly activated by pressing the right mouse button over the Address Book or Task List * The main screen of TPP has been changed to hold more task items. * An option has been added to remove the buttons under the Address Book and Task List. * Change Priority/Status on the fly by double click on appropriate field * Moved the Address Book to the front window - now a sliding window. Postion the mouse pointer on the border, and drag it to the desired position. * The Task List or Address Book may be quickly opened and closed by double clicking on the title bar. * The font size of the Address Book and Task List may be changed in the options menu. * Added an option to suppress reference calenders when printing. Version 1.51 contains fixes relating to: Drag/Drop of tasks Recurring tasks that recur every Nth week. Opening alternate databases ===================================================== About this distribution file... ------------------------------- TPP is distributed as a compressed file within another compressed file. This format is designed to let you extract the compressed system with installation instructions first, and then proceed to install the system after you have had a chance to examine its contents. Assuming you have uncompressed the original distribution file into a new empty work directory, you should now have the following files available to you: VENDINFO.DIZ ------------ The file VENDINFO.DIZ is an industry standard description file containing extensive information about TPP. VENDINFO files can be viewed with a word processor or can be read by a computer to extract information about their associated contents. CDROM manufacturers, bulletin boards and online services use VENDINFO to capture information about products on their system. It contains the following information and more: Product descriptions (multiple formats) Information about Patri-Soft Product Pricing Techncial Support information Copyright statements and SYSOP/VENDOR statements You may view this file with NOTEPAD under Windows. The odd, unreadible, data at the end of this file is maintained for automated computer readers and should be ignored. FILE_ID.DIZ ---------- This is another industry standard that predates VENDINFO.DIZ. It simply contains a bulletin board type description of TPP. You may also view this with notepad or any other word processor. README.TXT ---------- The file you are now reading. This file can be viewed in Windows Help format by double-clicking or Running the README.HLP file also in this directory. View this file with any word processor or Windows Notepad. README.HLP ---------- A Windows Help file containing the README.TXT information in a Windows Help File format. It contains the exact same information as README.TXT. TPP.ZIP ------- The compressed TPP system. This .ZIP format requires you have a PKUNZIP type software decompression product. If you do not have this software, you should be able to download it from any online service or get a copy from a friend. You can contact the PKZIP developers at: PKWARE, Inc. 9025 N. Deerwood Drive Brown Deer, WI 53223 ===================================================== INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS -------------------------- Finally, how to install TPP from these files... (Note: existing TPP users may install over their current system. See later in this document). ----------------------------------------------------- STEP 1 - Decompress the TPP151.ZIP distribution file ----------------------------------------------------- (You probably have already taken this step since you are reading this file) TPP151.ZIP is the TPP evaluation file you will find on CDROMS, online systems and bulletin boards. Decompressing it will create the following files: TPP.ZIP README.TXT VENDINFO.DIZ FILEID.DIZ You are currently reading the README.TXT file so we will assume you have completed this step. Since we don't know the name of the directory you are reading this information from, and will need to reference it later in the installation instructions, we will refer to this directory as "thisdir". ----------------------------------------- STEP #2 - Create a C:\TPPTEMP\ directory ----------------------------------------- Create a temporary directory to contain the TPP installation files created when you decompress the TPP.ZIP file. This directory will no longer be needed after the installation is complete so use a name that will signify this. We suggest the directory name TPPTEMP but you may use any name you wish. ------------------------------------------------ STEP #3 - Uncompress (UNZIP) distribution file ------------------------------------------------ Unzip the TPP.ZIP file into the C:\TPPTEMP\ directory. Depending on your unzip program, this may be done in several ways. If you are using the original DOS zip program, use the following commands from the DOS prompt: C: CD C:\TPPTEMP PKUNZIP C:\thisdir\TPP Where "thisdir" is the directory containing the TPP.ZIP file referenced in STEP #1. When complete C:\TPPTEMP\ will contain over 30 installation files and you will be ready to run a standard Windows installation on TPP. ------------------------------------------------------ STEP #4 - Make sure you have Microsoft's VBRUN300.DLL ------------------------------------------------------ VBRUN300 is a Visual Basic support file distributed by Microsoft. This file is used by a large number of programs downloaded from online systems and on CDROMS. It is not stored separately with each product file as it is 300k in size and would needlessly extend file download times. Also, duplicate copies would require an extensive amount of space on CDROMS. If you received TPP on a CDROM, the CDROM most likely has a copy of this file on it. See your CDROM index. Make sure your system contains the Microsoft VBRUN300.DLL file in your \WINDOWS, or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. Use the Windows File Manager to search these directories or use the following DOS command to locate it on a drive: DIR C:\VBRUN300.DLL /S This program will NOT work with VBRUN100.DLL or VBRUN200.DLL. If you cannot locate a copy of VBRUN300.DLL on your system you get it from the following Sources: SHAREWARE CDROMS If you have any Shareware CDROMS, you will be sure to find a copy on the CDROM. Check here first as you can avoid downloading a copy. America Online Type VBRUN RUNTIME on the search form that comes up when you click the Software Search icon on the main menu of the Windows Forum. Download VBRUN300.ZIP and decompress it with a .ZIP decompression program. Microsoft BBS at 1-206-936-6735 Download VBRUN300.EXE and run VBRUN300.EXE from the DOS prompt. It will create VBRUN300.DLL Compuserve - Go MSL and download VBRUN300.EXE. Run VBRUN300.EXE from the DOS prompt. It will create VBRUN300.DLL Our own PatriSoft BBS at 909-352-2825. Download VBRUN300.EXE Run VBRUN300.EXE from the DOS prompt. It will create VBRUN300.DLL Other BBS systems If you get VBRUN300.EXE from any BBS, copy it into a work directory. Execute the self extracting compressed file by typing VBRUN300 from the DOS promot. Copy the resulting VBRUN300.DLL to your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory by using the following command. COPY VBRUN300.DLL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM After you have confirmed TPP is working, you can delete VBRUN300.EXE. It is only used to create VBRUN300.DLL. ----------------------------------------------- STEP #5 - Run the Windows installation of TPP ----------------------------------------------- From Windows 3.1: Select the FILE, RUN menu items from the top of the Windows Program manager and enter C:\TPPTEMP\SETUP as the program to be run. From Windows 95: Press the Windows 95 START button. Select RUN and enter C:\TPPTEMP\SETUP as the program to run. Press OK. Note: SETUP will ask for a directory name to install the final version of TPP. We recommend you select C:\TPP\. We will refer to this name in our documentation when refering to the TPP directory. The SETUP program will complete the installation. ************************** * TPP IS NOW INSTALLED! * ************************** ------------------------------------------- STEP #6 - Cleanup the temporary directory ------------------------------------------- You may remove the C:\TPPTEMP directory and all of its contents. It will not be used during TPP operation. You may also remove the C:\thisdir\ directory you uncompressed the original TPP distribution files in (STEP #1). You may save or delete the TPP151.ZIP distribution file containing your original copy of TPP. ---------------------- STEP #7 - Start TPP ---------------------- Examine the created Tasks, Projects & People Group in the Windows Program Manager or Windows 95 Desktop and double-click the TPP icon to start TPP. ---------------------------------------- Step #8 - Examine TPP Quick Start Help ---------------------------------------- Be sure to remember to look at the Quick Start help and the Light Bulb button on the main screen for quick start information. ---------------------- STEP #9 - Enjoy! ---------------------- By now you should have a working copy of TPP. Please do not hesitate to call us with any questions, problems, or suggestions. We are working hard to improve TPP every day and your feedback is sincerely appreciated. Even if you decide TPP is not for you, let us know why (we might already have a solution!) You can contact us in several ways: Phone: 909-352-2820 FAX: 909-352-1527 eMail: PatriSoft@AOL.COM Compuserve: 76347,2477 Orders: 1-800-338-2820 BBS: 909-352-2825 <=== Get the latest copy of TPP here! PatriSoft 5225 Canyon Crest Dr. Suite 71-358 Riverside CA 92507 =================================================================================== EXISTING INSTALLATIONS: ---------------------- You may install the new version of TPP right over an older version. Your data will remain intact. Any changes to the file formats between the old and new versions will be automatically implemented. Please be sure to backup your system before installing a new TPP version. This will let you return to your original version should there be a reason to do so.