[JThomas4255]

I have used PC-File for 20 years for vocabulary lists as an interpreter. I have Version 5.01 which works on Windows (currently XP) and which I have installed on successive PCs.
Incidentally, further to your thread in 2006, now closed, no other database I have found (including Access) easily allows the kind of sort I need. My sort code is a tree structure; with PC-File you can select one or more branches while excluding certain twigs, all in a single short formula taking seconds to enter.
1. My MAIN problem, which I can only assume comes from Windows updates, is that I can no longer install or reinstall PC-File because it requires me to insert floppy disks 1 and 2, although all the contents of the original floppies are on my HD. I no longer have a floppy disk drive.
2. Another peculiarity is that, after working fine for years, this program recently stopped recognizing my French AZERTY keyboard, so I have to work from a picture of a US one, or enter DOS character codes.
3. I have downloaded a free version of PC-File in which some pages of the manual are blanked out, including the installation instructions. I would like to know if it is still possible to purchase a proper edition of PC-File.
4. Since having to buy a USB printer 2 years ago I have been converting all output to Word, which takes time. I will check out the suggestions in your 2007 thread (closed).
Thanks for any ideas.

[bp936]

Get an external floppy drive with USB connection (mine is TARGUS) if you can find the disks.

[slurpee55]

The companies that bought the program (first one, then the next) went broke, apparently, and are out of business, so there is no "proper" edition. However, according to this page:
http://www.gurus.org/margy/pc-file.htm
you can still download the files needed directly from the University of Michigan, which should help bypass the need for diskettes. Just put everything you download into one folder and, I would hope, it should install for you.

[OBP]

If you want to convert it to Access, with some advanced Filtering just let me know.

[JThomas4255]

Thanks to all for their replies.
On reinstallation, I guess I had a bad copy on a CD. Dug up my last-but-one PC and copied direct from Floppy to USB stick and then from there direct to a new CD that works. Seems like it's best to avoid copying via a HD. Also, I had tried installing by clicking on an .exe file (which seemed to work but gave the "floppy" request), whereas corrrect is "Start - run - d:install". So that problem is SOLVED.
On the PC-File download - the U of Michigan is where I got my copy from, and the user manual (pcfplus.doc) has some blank pages.
I have used Access for my PC-File files, which convert OK, but the sorting process does not seem to allow (easily at least) for the kind of sorts I need. I'm not sure what is meant by Filtering.

Another problem was SOLVED. After years of converting my (many) reports to Word(perfect) for printing, the suggestion in your 2007 thread of using DOSPRINT (actually, an ersatz) has worked - fantastic!! Note that at the time (2+ years ago) I spent hours on the web with no solutions found, after having to throw out a perfectly good printer that was not USB.

Anyway, thanks to all - this is a great site!

[slurpee55]

If everything is fixed (although, if you wan or need it in Access, OBP is the person to ask for help!), then please use the button at the top left of the page to mark this thread as Solved.

[JThomas4255]

Thanks for the reply -
Having got rid of my worst fears, I forgot to come back to what started it (which I did mention). After working OK for years with the French keyboard I use for work (AZERTY instead of QWERTY), the program started to behave as though it was a QWERTY. Other programs are still working OK.
Reinstallation has not solved this, and I have not found anything in the manual.

I will check back for any ideas for a fix, if none I will mark it solved. I should maybe turn to other exotics for this aspect, although the software is English-language.

[slurpee55]

Originally Posted by JThomas4255

...the program started to behave as though it was a QWERTY. Other programs are still working OK.

By this, do you mean that the other programs are still treating it as an AZERTY keyboard?

[slurpee55]

Oh, I found this: "Windows, by default, switches between installed keyboard layouts when you press left alt+shift." Generally, it may switch you to a QWERTY if you do that, in other words, at least in that program.

[JThomas4255]

Thanks again. Yes, other programs recognize this AZERTY keyboard (nd PC-File used to!!).
Tried your suggestion, it didn't work. And I seem only to have one keyboard installed (Control panel).
Shall I give it one more day, then close the thread?

[bp936]

glad you found it, PC-file was a good program.
I only mark -solved- after a few days of no problems with a problem.

What a nightmare to search for old and excellent programs, I feel your pain.

[slurpee55]

Did you try opening up PC-file and seeing (if there is such an option) what language it is using?

[JThomas4255]

I have no IT technical knowledge. I have the full set of files in a single folder but don't know which if any configures keyboard recognition. I have also run through the whole user manual file (which has some blanks) and found nothing relevant.
What weakens the suspicion that it is a design limitation is the fact that it did recognize this same keyboard for a number of years. I have reinstalled the program using the 'new' downloaded PC-File package from the U of Michigan, to no avail.
I suppose it could be the result of a change to Windows XP, in the many automatic updates I receive.
Fortunately, in a way, I am gradually retiring and using the program less. I have all my vocabulary in 3 languages in one big database, with codes to extract lists for each conference, which would never have happened without the simplicity of the PC-File sorting system. I guess I will probably transfer the whole thing to Access and enter the various sort criteria separately. Sniff.
Anyway, thanks again for your sugestions and moral support.

[OBP]

In Access you set up a Sort Criteria or Search form to give you the options that you want. You can then run the sort or search at the click of a button, not typing in of criteria, unless you are searching for certain "text".

[JThomas4255]

Thanks, OBP,
My experiment with Access was some years ago. I will have to dig it out and I have a lot on right now.
I have been thinking about when the program stopped recognizing the keyboard and I think it was at the time I switched from an Epson to an HP multifunction printer-scanner-copier, which comes with a lot of software and auto updates. (Btw I can still operate with my old Win98 PC on the kitchen table and print out from a memory stick)
From memory, Access sorts required entry of a sequence of individual separate commands. I seldom need the same report twice. My commands may be quite complex and extensive. My vocab classification has over 300 codes, each starting with a letter (M=medicine) followed by a tree-structured number (M147 is a subset of M14 which is a subset of M1). I may need all M1 except M15, plus a lot of other things. If I simplify my criteria I end up with unwieldy lists, while my job requires rapid retrieval of individual words from a list with translations.
Best regards, JT