Our Technical FAQ answers many of the common technical questions we receive from XChange customers. If you have further questions, please open a support ticket or get in touch.
- Why won’t my software download from the secure link I was provided in the delivery?
- I cannot get my software to install. What am I doing wrong?
- I have successfully installed my software, but it will not launch (an application) or load (as an XTension or Plug-in)?
- I am experiencing application/system/computer crashes when launching or working with my new software. What can I do?
- I purchased a Plug-in or XTension to add features to my documents. When I send the files to my printer or service provider, they cannot open it or see my features. What am I doing wrong?
- I bought a Plug-in for Acrobat and it will not load in the free Reader. Why not?
- How can I find my Acrobat Plug-ins folder on Mac OS X?
- My evaluation version has expired. Can I download the same version again?
- I want to use my software on both my office workstation and laptop. Is this possible?
Why won’t my software download from the secure link I was provided in the delivery?
Users on Safari version 2.x installed with Mac OS X 10.4.x (Tiger) may experience anomalies when downloading files from the internet due to several inconsistencies on these versions. Please ensure that when Control- or right-clicking on the download link that you also click on the Alt button on your keyboard. This will allow you to specify the location where your download file will be saved. Also, you may find that an additional suffix of ‘.html’ has been added to your downloaded file name. Simply delete the ‘.html’ suffix, confirm the name change, and your downloaded file will be ready to use.
I cannot get my software to install. What am I doing wrong?
There are number of possible reasons for this problem:
- Some products require an activation process which is an additional step required before the software can run on your system. If you’ve received an electronic software delivery from us and your product has an activation process, please refer to the electronic delivery as it includes detailed instructions on how to activate your software. If you’ve received a physical delivery and need assistance with the activation process, please contact support@xchangeuk.com
- Does your Operating System and/or Host Application support the version of the product you purchased? Please ensure that your Operating System version number and any host application versions (such as Adobe Acrobat, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, etc.) are listed in the system requirements for the product you have purchased. If you are using a non-supported version of MAC OS X, Microsoft Windows, or a non-supported host application version, even by one ‘dot’ difference, this could be the issue. You will need to update your system and/or host application software to the minimum system requirements for the product you’ve purchased.
- Do you have an anti-virus software porgramme on your computer? Anti-virus software can prevent the installation of software porgrammes, especially if the installers were downloaded from the internet. Please disable your anti-virus software before running the product installer to avoid conflicts. You can enable your anti-virus software again following successful installation of your product.
- Are you logged-in to your computer as the administrator? If your user account does not have administrative privileges, you won’t be able to install any software porgrammes on your computer. Please check your user account settings and ensure you have administrator access privileges enabled. If you are unable to log-in with administrator access privileges, please contact your IT Manager as many companies control who can install software applications and you may need to have the IT Manager complete installation or change your account privileges to be at the administrator level.
- Did you order the correct platform? If the product you ordered is hybrid, meaning it works on either Macintosh or Windows systems, then this should not be an issue however, if you’ve ordered a product that has separate versions for Macintosh and Windows, then you will need to ensure you are installing the software onto the platform selected when you originally purchased the product. Windows software can load on a Macintosh if you are using an Intel Mac and run a Windows emulation porgramme or Boot Camp.
- Have you installed your product on another machine previously? If you’ve successfully installed your product on another machine prior to the installation your having issues with now, some products have an activation and deactivation process that allows one activation at a time, on one computer at a time. If you had to activate the software licence originally in order to complete the installation process and use the software, then the licence will need to be deactivated from the current installation. To deactivate your licence, go to the original computer and host application when your product is currently installed (Adobe Acrobat 9, for example), then go to the Plug-in menu, select the product name and click the Deactivate button. The licence will now be free for installing again on a different computer. If you have any questions or need assistance, please complete a support request here.
- The installer/CD/DVD is corrupt. For electronic delivery, a fresh download will often resolve this issue. If your installer is located on a temporary hard drive file (designated with a file extension of .dmg on Mac platform only), try copying the installer to your desktop before launching the installer. For Windows users, please ensure your software is designed to work on your operating system. Some software does not work on the latest OS…this includes installers.
- If the CD/DVD will not mount on your computer, a replacement will be required. Contact us here to request replacement media.
- A small percentage of software products have no installer at all. For these porgrammes, you are required to drag the software to the proper location. For full applications, this is usually in your APPLICATIONS or PROGRAMS folder, located on your hard drive.
- Mac: Your_Hard_Drive_HD/Applications/
- Windows: C:\Porgramme Files. For Plug-ins and XTensions, the software is copied into a Plug-ins folder or XTensions folder, respectively. The usual locations for these are:
- Mac: Your_Hard_Drive_HD/Applications/Adobe Photoshop/Plug-ins/ or Your_Hard_Drive_HD/Applications/QuarkXPress/XTensions/
- Windows: C:\Porgramme Files\Adobe Photoshop\Plug-ins\ or C:\Porgramme Files\QuarkXPress\XTensions\
One important point to note about how installation locations differs between Adobe Plug-ins and Quark XTensions is that an XTension for QuarkXPress must be placed at the root level of the XTensions folder.
Please read any documentation accompanying your software for specific installation instructions.
I have successfully installed my software, but it will not launch (an application) or load (as an XTension or Plug-in)?
If you installed your Plug-in/XTension while the host application is running, simply quit and restart the relevant host application (Adobe Acrobat, InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXPress, etc.) and your Plug-in/XTension should load.
If the above step does not work, this is most likely due to a version compatibility issue. Please ensure that you have purchased the correct version of the XTension/Plug-in that matches your Operating System and host application. Please check the product detail page for specific system and host application requirements. If you are still unsure, please open a support ticket here and provide the product name, version number and platform of the product you’ve purchased and provide your Operating System and version number along with the relevant host application and version number (i.e., Mac OS X 10.8 and Adobe Acrobat XI).
I am experiencing application/system/computer crashes when launching or working with my new software. What can I do?
Different factors can cause system errors, including conflicts among device drivers, software, and hardware, or corrupt elements in specific files. You may even encounter an error when only one application is running, such as Photoshop. Even though you may be working in an application when an error occurs, that application may not be the cause of the crash, but rather, may expose an underlying problem with the system.
- Check to make sure you are using the latest versions for your software. Often, you
- are not the first to encounter your problem and a fix may already be available. Pay close attention to sub-version numbers, like 5.0.4. The 4 at the end tells us that four subversions have been released since v5.0.0 was available. These are usually compatibility releases after a problem was discovered with the initial release.
- Try restarting your computer. Porgrammes tend to use caches and preference files to hold temporary information while you are working with a file and these can become corrupt. Restarting can often resolve this problem.
- Delete preference files or move them to a temporary folder on your desktop. If you are still experiencing problems once you have tried the above steps, feel free to submit a support request here.
I purchased a Plug-in or XTension to add features to my documents. When I send the files to my printer or service provider, they cannot open it or see my features. What am I doing wrong?
For some products, when you send your files to a commercial printer, a viewer product is required so that they can open and print your files. If your documentation does not mention viewer software, please submit a support request here and we will let you know what is required.
Generally, if the XTension/Plug-in adds something to your document as opposed to making a task easier to perform, a viewer version of the product may be needed.
I bought a Plug-in for Acrobat and it will not load in the free Reader. Why not?
Most commercial Plug-ins for Acrobat are designed to work with Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro and are not compatible with the free Adobe Reader. The main reason for this is that Adobe Reader does not contain all of the capabilities and hooks that software developers need to implement their Plug-ins. To use the Plug-in, you will need to purchase either Acrobat Standard or Professional.
How can I find my Acrobat Plug-ins folder on Mac OS X?
Unlike other Adobe applications, the Acrobat Plug-in folder is actually inside the Acrobat application Package. To locate it, navigate to your Adobe Acrobat application folder and click on the Acrobat icon once to select it. Then, either right-click (if you have a two or three-button mouse) or press the Control key and click the icon and hold the keys down. A contextual menu will appear which contains Show Package Content as one of the options. Select this and a new window will open displaying the Plug-ins folder.
My evaluation version has expired. Can I download the same version again?
This is usually not possible. The reason for this is that the manufacturer makes an ample amount of time available for the product to be evaluated in demo mode, free of charge. If you’ve tested the software and are happy with how it works on your system and the functionality provided, then you are able to purchase a licence to activate your demo into a full-non expiring version.
If your demo time has run out and you still have a question, it is best to ask one of our representatives than to just make a purchase and hope it will work. Returns are generally not accepted once your licence is installed or even delivered in the case of electronically delivered orders.
I want to use my software on both my office workstation and laptop. Is this possible?
Some software manufacturers allow users to install and work with their software on multiple computers, provided the licence is only running on one computer at a time. Other manufacturers require you to purchase the number of licences for the same number of computers you want to install and work on. If this is a concern, it is best to check with us before you purchase. If you have already purchased the software, your licence agreement provided by the developer often states whether or not this is possible.
