Transferring Excel Invoice Manager to a New Computer/System

Transferring or moving Excel Invoice Manager to a new computer/system means installing Excel Invoice Manager on a new computer/system and having it work with your existing data, including the invoice template, database, etc. This tutorial goes through the steps required.

Step A. Install Excel Invoice Manager on the new computer

Download the setup program of Excel Invoice Manager from www.office-kit.com and install it on your new computer.

The setup program installs a standard template and a sample database on your new computer. However, what you want is your existing data, which we will copy to your new computer in the following steps.

Step B. Find out all the data files on the source computer

There are 3 types of data files you need to copy from the source computer: the template file, the database file, and the database definition file (FDINFO10.rst).

By default, Excel Invoice Manager uses the standard template (invoice.xls) and Sample.mdb database in the following folder on Windows 2000/XP - i.e. the default installation folder of Excel Invoice Manager:

<System Driver>\Program Files\Office-Kit.com\Excel Invoice Manager\

If the source computer is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, by default the data files are stored in:

<System Driver>\Users\<User Name>\Documents\My Excel Invoice Manager\

Since the program allows you to change the installation folder during setup, and you can also create your own template and database, there are possibilities that the data files are not stored in the default folder or they could be renamed. To find out the exact path and name of your template file:

• Right click the shortcut icon with which you open your template, choose Properties from the menu.
• Switch to the Shortcut tab.
• The Target field shows you the exact path and file name of your template.

  
  Find out the full path name of an invoice template
  (Click to enlarge)

To find out the exact path and file name of your database:

• On the source computer, open your template as usual.
• Click the Settings button on the Invoice worksheet.
• Go to the Database tab.
• The Current Database field shows you the exact path and file name of your database.

  
  Find out the full path name of a database
  (Click to enlarge)

Database definition file cannot be renamed - it must have a file name of FDINFO10.rst. You can find this file in the same folder as the database file if you are using a customized version. If you cannot find it in the database file folder, then you are using a standard database definition file, which you can find in the installation folder of Excel Invoice Manager.

Step C. Copy all data files to the new computer

• On the target computer create a folder for the data files, such as "C:\MyInvoice" or a subfolder "My Invoice" inside "My Documents".
• Copy all the data files from the source computer to the newly created folder on the target computer. Again, you need to copy 3 files: the template file, the database file, and the database definition file.
• Open the template file on your new computer.
• It may prompt for a database. Browse to and open the database file you copied from the source computer.

  If it does not prompt, click the Settings button on the Invoice worksheet; go to the Database tab, and then click the Open Database button to open the database file you copied from the source computer.

• Click Excel menu File -> Save. This saves the default database path and name in the template file. The template will open or connect to the specified database file automatically next time you open the template.