Frequently Asked Questions

Please read the Frequently Asked Questions for answers to common questions. Use the Forums to find answers to publicly posted questions, or you can ask your own questions. You should also be sure to read the documentation for the product you’re interested in. There are tutorials (video and PDF) for Budget here.

If your questions aren’t answered in any of the above places or you’re don’t want to post your question publicly, send us your questions or comments.

We strive to respond to all questions within 24 hours.

General

1. I’m having trouble downloading your software. What should I do? Answer
2. Why doesn’t my registration code work? Answer
3. I had to reinstall a Snowmint product and now my registration code says it’s expired. What should I do? Answer

Budget (Common)

1. When I try to delete an envelope, I get an error message saying “There are unbalanced transactions,” and it won’t let me delete the envelope. What does this mean, and how do I delete the envelope? Answer
2. Budget is giving me an “Integrity Error”. What is that and how do I fix it? Answer
3. Does Budget come with any documentation? Answer
4. I use a Windows PC at work and a Mac at home. Is there any way that I can use one Budget file on both platforms? Answer
5. Is there a Palm or Linux version of Budget? Answer

Budget (Mac OS X)

1. Does Budget support different currency and date formats? Answer
2. Why does Budget for Mac OS X say I have an “Invalid date format”? Answer
3. The Budget help files don’t show up in Help Viewer. What should I do? Answer

Budget (Windows)

1. Budget for Windows requires “the .NET framework”. What is .NET? How do I tell if it’s already installed? Where do I get it, if I don’t have it? Answer
2. Does Budget support different currency and date formats? Answer

Budget Touch

1. How do the Add-Ons work? Answer
2. Does Budget Touch sync with Budget on desktop computers? Answer
3. Can I sync Budget Touch via USB? Answer
4. Why can’t my Mac and iPhone find each other? Answer
5. My Mac and iPhone still can’t find each other. Why not? Answer
6. Why is syncing slow? Answer
7. What is the difference between Sync Data and Push Data? Answer

Ultimate Pen

1. Can Ultimate Pen work on top of Keynote presentations? Answer
2. Does Ultimate Pen work on top of PowerPoint presentations Answer
3. Does Ultimate Pen work on top of classic Mac OS applications? Answer
4. Is there a Palm, Linux, or Windows version of Ultimate Pen? Answer

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General

1. I’m having trouble downloading your software. What should I do?

If you have trouble using the download links, please use your browsers contextual menu to save the contents of the download link(s) on your computer. For example, in Internet Explorer right click (or control-click on Mac OS) on a link to show the contextual menu and choose “Download link to disk”.

Other common names for the relevant command are “Download linked file as…”, “Download link as…”, “Save linked file as…”, and “Save link as…”

2. Why doesn’t my registration code work?

Here are a few things to note:

1. Make sure you enter the registration name and code exactly as it appears in the confirmation email (capital letters if needed, no spaces in the code). eSellerate calls your registration code a “serial number”; it’s still the code that you have to put in to the software. To avoid errors, you can use copy and paste to put the number into the registration fields.
2. Make sure your system clock is set to the correct current time.
3. For registration codes purchased through eSellerate, your computer must have internet access when you enter the code. The eSellerate system needs to “phone home” to activate the code.

Contact Snowmint Creative Solutions tech support if your registration code still does not work.

3. I had to reinstall a Snowmint product and now my registration code says it’s expired. What should I do?

First, be sure you enter the registration code exactly as it’s given to you; some letters/numbers look very similar. We recommend you use copy and paste to get the registration code into the proper field.

Once a registration code has been entered on a particular computer, it is good forever. However, the code has to be entered within a certain time period or it will expire. This is one way that we combat software piracy.

Contact Snowmint Creative Solutions tech support to receive a current registration code.

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Budget (Common)

1. When I try to delete an envelope, I get an error message saying “There are unbalanced transactions,” and it won’t let me delete the envelope. What does this mean, and how do I delete the envelope?

You can not delete an envelope until all the transactions in the envelope have cleared the bank, and you have marked them as “Balanced.” When all the transactions have been balanced you can then delete the envelope.

You could also delete any unbalanced transactions in the envelope, and then delete the envelope.

2. Budget is giving me an “Integrity Error”. What is that and how do I fix it?

This error was more common in the first versions of Budget, but it is very rare now. The program double checks everything it does and both answers must agree. If not, you get an “Integrity Error.” Quit the program without saving and contact tech support. Please describe the situation in as much detail as possible.

3. Does Budget come with any documentation?

Yes. There is extensive HTML documentation available from the Help menu. There is also documentation in PDF format available as a separate download from the products’ Documentation page. There are tutorials (both PDF and video) for getting started and how to use Budget and Budget Touch at Documentation.

4. I use a Windows PC at work and a Mac at home. Is there any way that I can use one Budget file on both platforms?

Yes. You will need to move your Budget data bwtween the two computers.  Use the File->Save As command to save the data file with a new name and in the XML format.  Copy the data file to the other computer.  Once you have Budget installed on the other computer double click the new data file to start Budget with that file.
Note, the Windows platform does not yet support all of the advanced features found on the Mac such as Pay/Deposit Rules, Associated Envelopes, etc.  If you move your Budget data file back and forth you will be restricted to the features available on the Windows platform.

5. Is there a Palm or Linux version of Budget?

No. We have versions of Budget for Apple’s Mac OS X and for Microsoft’s Windows. We do not have a Palm or Linux version, and have no plans to create them at this time.

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Budget (Mac OS X)

1. Does Budget support different currency and date formats?

Yes. Budget allows you to set the currency symbol to use for each document that you have. To set the currency symbol, use the Currency pane of the Budget preferences.

Budget supports any date format you can set using the System Preferences application. Use the International pane of System Preferences to set the language and date format you prefer.

2. Why does Budget for Mac OS X say I have an “Invalid date format”?

Fresh installations of Mac OS X sometimes have a bad default short date format. This applies to new computers sold within the U.S., computers sold in other countries, and computers that have had Mac OS X recently installed. Our software detects this bad short date format and asks you to correct it. Apple Computer, Inc. is aware of the problem and is working on a fix for a future version of Mac OS X.

Follow these steps to fix your date format:

1. On 10.1 – 10.2.x: Open System Preferences, select the International pane, and switch to the Date tab.
   On 10.3 and later: Open System Preferences, select the International pane, switch to the Formats section, then click the “Customize…” date button.
2. On the Short Date section of the view, select a different format than you have now. Any different format will work.
3. Quit System Preferences to make sure that this change percolates through the system.
4. Open System Preferences, select the International pane, and set whatever date format you prefer to use.
5. Quit System Preferences; Budget and Budget Planner should launch with no warnings.

3. The Budget help files don’t show up in Help Viewer. What should I do?

This is caused by showing Budget’s help at least once, then moving the Budget application to a different location on your hard drive. Help Viewer is not following the moved application, and needs to be told to update it’s list of application help.

You need to delete the Help Viewer cache files (which Help Viewer will rebuild as needed). Follow these steps to delete the cache files:

1. Make sure that Help Viewer is not running. If it is, quit Help Viewer.
2. In the Finder, open your ~/Library/Caches folder. The tilda (~) means your home folder.
3. Find and delete the folder named com.apple.helpui.
4. Run Budget and try the Budget Help command from the Help menu. The help files should display correctly.

Apple Computer, Inc. is aware of this problem on Mac OS X 10.3.x and earlier. You can read more about it on Apple’s support web site:
Mac OS X: Can’t access Help content, or content is blank or missing links

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Budget (Windows)

1. Budget for Windows requires “the .NET framework”. What is .NET? How do I tell if it’s already installed? Where do I get it, if I don’t have it?

From the Microsoft web site: “.NET is the Microsoft Web services strategy to connect information, people, systems, and devices through software.” It essentially lets developers build software that will work on Windows based computers and access a wide variety of services when needed. The .NET framework can be installed on Windows 98 and later systems. Most new computers come with .NET already installed.

You can easily check to see if you already have .NET installed. Go to the “Add/Remove Programs” Control Panel. The required piece will be listed there as “Microsoft .NET Framework” followed by a version number. Our Windows products require version 1.1 or higher of the .NET framework.

If you do not already have .NET, you can download it from Microsoft for free. Visit this web page and look for the “Download” button near the top right corner. Once the download is complete you will have to install the .NET framework by double-clicking the downloaded file (or by running the downloaded file). If you have any trouble installing or downloading the .NET framework, please contact Microsoft.

2. Does Budget support different currency and date formats?

Yes. Budget uses the currency symbol and date format from the Regional and Language options Control Panel.

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Budget Touch

1. How do the Add-Ons work?

Budget Touch includes an in-app purchasing option for additional features. These extra purchases add functionality, but are not required for the basic functioning of the app. You can read more about how the purchasing process works with your iTunes account at Apple Support. You can read more about the specific add-ons available for purchase in our Budget Touch help.

2. Does Budget Touch sync with Budget on desktop computers?

Yes. For Windows Budget v5.0 or later is required. For Mac Budget v6.3.2 is required, v6.5 or higher recommended.

3. Can I sync Budget Touch via USB?

No. Apple does not allow developers access to the USB connection for syncing.

4. Why can’t my Mac and iPhone find each other?

In order for the iPhone and Mac to talk, they need to be connected to the same network. If you have a wifi network at home, usually you will be able to connect to it with your iPhone/iPod touch, and everything will work fine. If it doesn’t, you can try creating a computer-to-computer network on your Mac, and connecting to that with your iPod. To find out how to create a computer-to-computer network, open Help on your Mac, and search for ‘creating a computer-to-computer network’.

5. My Mac and iPhone still can’t find each other. Why not?

If your Mac and iPhone still cannot locate each other when connected via a computer-to-computer network, it may help to turn on internet sharing on your Mac. Some users have found that it helps to turn on Internet Sharing in the Sharing pane of System Preferences, to share the Mac’s ethernet connection with devices connected via Airport, before you create the computer-to-computer network. Try this if your computer-to-computer network does not work.

6. Why is syncing slow?

Syncing via WiFi is slower than USB which Apple restricts to iTunes only. Use the settings in Budget to restrict the amount of data being synced to speed up the process.

7. What is the difference between Sync Data and Push Data?

The desktop version of Budget has two ways to transfer data with Budget Touch. Sync Data merges together the new data from Budget Touch with the desktop Budget document. Both Budget Touch and Budget will have this merged data when the process is complete. Sync Data is useful when you are recording transactions on Budget Touch and want to bring them back to your desktop document. Push completely replaces the data on Budget Touch with data from the desktop Budget document. This can be useful when you want to send a completely different file to your device with Budget Touch, or if you want to make sure any playing around you’ve done in Budget Touch is ignored.

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Ultimate Pen

1. Can Ultimate Pen work on top of Keynote presentations?

The short answer is “No, Ultimate Pen does not currently work on top of Keynote presentations.”

During a presentation, Keynote takes over the entire screen using low level OpenGL calls. This locks out an entire class of applications that want to draw anything on screen as helpers or utilities including accessibility applications, alternate input managers, and apps like Ultimate Pen. Apple Computer Inc. is aware of this issue and should be making a change to the operating system and Keynote in the future to allow this class of applications to work with compliant full-screen apps. When the operating system supports it, we’ll make any changes needed to Ultimate Pen to allow it to work properly in these situations.

There are other presentation applications available that do not lock out other apps, and Ultimate Pen does work with those.

2. Does Ultimate Pen work on top of PowerPoint presentations

Unfortunately, PowerPoint drops out of presentation mode when any other application is brought to the front. This makes it impossible for Ultimate Pen to allow drawing on screen during a PowerPoint presentation. You can activate Ultimate Pen’s Click-Through mode to have your drawing visible on top of a PowerPoint presentation.

There are other presentation applications available that stay in presentation mode when Ultimate Pen comes to the front, and Ultimate Pen does work with those.

3. Does Ultimate Pen work on top of classic Mac OS applications?

On 10.3 and later, Ultimate Pen works great on top of classic Mac OS applications. On 10.2.x, classic Mac OS applications sometimes fail to redraw their windows properly when Ultimate Pen is above them. If you want to use Ultimate Pen on top of classic Mac OS apps, we highly recommend updating to Mac OS 10.3 or later.

4. Is there a Palm, Linux, or Windows version of Ultimate Pen?

No. Ultimate Pen only works on Apple’s Mac OS X v10.3.9 and later. We do not have a Palm, Linux, or Windows version, and have no plans to create them at this time.

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