Frequently Asked Questions

Ensure your Windows 10 Settings are set to the correct Date & time zone, Region, Regional format, and Language. Incorrect settings can cause error windows to popup in SoloAssist.

Follow the steps below to setup or check your Windows Settings.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

To setup dual screens on Windows 10, follow the steps below.

22/01/2021

The Apple Mac setup instructions will be displayed here before Monday 25/01/2021.

Apple Mac Setup

Device Specifications: See our Requirements page.

The device setup, steps you through installing Parallels, Windows 10, the SoloAssist Software, and setting up your dual screens.

To setup your Apple Mac for SoloAssist, follow the steps below.

Step 1 -

Step 2 -

Step 3 -

Step 4 -

Step 5 -

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

MS Windows 10 PC

SoloAssist should run on any device running MS Windows 10 Home or Pro.

Apple Mac

Apple Mac devices will need to install Apple Boot Camp or Parallels with MS Windows 10 Home or Pro. Although this method works well for many SoloAssist users, we cannot guarantee its operation or provide support on third-party products.

For more information, visit our website Requirements page.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

SoloAssist is not designed to be installed or run directly from a central server. SoloAssist is designed to be installed through your devices User account not an Administrator account. However, you should not have a problem file sharing from a central server with using SoloAssist to access and save the files. E.g. SoloAssist Quote Files (.quo), Plans (.pdf)

Go to the Windows Start menu, select Settings ► Apps ► Apps & features, scroll down then select SoloAssist in the list, click Uninstall and follow the prompts.

Uninstalling SoloAssist only removes the software from your computer, it doesn't remove any of your existing work or quote files.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

Firstly, read How do I install or uninstall SoloAssist? above for more information.

Secondly, uninstall SoloAssist, then reinstall again.

It is not necessary to backup your work before reinstalling as this process does not remove any of your existing work or quote files. You also do not require a new Product Key when reinstalling to the same computer.

Go to the SoloAssist Contact Us page and select the form to request a new download link & product key. We will then send you an email to the details we have on account with your new SoloAssist download link and product key. Typically, the request is processed within 24hrs (excluding weekends, public & festive holidays).

Once you received the new download link and product key, then uninstall SoloAssist from the previous device/s.

Each time you open SoloAssist, it automatically checks for updates over the internet. You may be required to open and close SoloAssist a few times to activate the update.

Some anti-virus and firewall software can block SoloAssist from downloading updates. You may need to temporarily disable these applications or add an exception rule into the conflicting application to allow SoloAssist to update successfully.

In the SoloAssist Home (menu), select MYOB or XERO Connection. Then select the blue Help button in the connection window. This will explain all you need to know about both MYOB and XERO connections.

See our Help Centre to learn more.

Go to MYOB Connection

Go to Xero Connection

When printing reports from SoloAssist, select the Microsoft Print to PDF printer option, then select Preview. After reviewing the document, select print to save the report to PDF which you are then able to attach to an email.

By default, SoloAssist saves your quote files to Documents ► SoloAssist folder on your computer. To share your quotes or jobs between multiple devices / users, you will need to save your quote files, plans, and any other documentation to the same central share folder location. You will also need to share your SoloAssist Databases folder. See below.

Option 1 - Use a shared network folder, located on your computer or server.

Option 2 - Use an offsite (cloud-based) sharing application such as: OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.

SoloAssist Databases

After the central shared folder location is setup, ensure all devices with SoloAssist installed are setup to the same Databases Folder Location as shown below.

From the computer with the most up to date SoloAssist databases, copy the Databases folder from the SoloAssist folder in Documents ► SoloAssist and paste it into the new shared folder location. Then on each device, go to the SoloAssist Home (menu) ► Options ► Databases Folder Location and use the Change button to re-setup the File Location path to the new shared folder location.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

SoloAssist automatically creates time spaced backups while you work. These backups are stored in Documents ► SoloAssist ► Quotes & Jobs ► Backups folder on your computer.

To recover a backup quote file, open File Explorer and navigate to the above location on your computer. In this folder are backups of each SoloAssist quote (.quo) file. Each quote file will have a timestamp appended to the end of its name e.g: 100 Some Rd_15min or 100 Some Rd_v1850.

If you were working on an unsaved quote, look for files with the name Untitled. Once you have located the correct file, open the quote file and check the data is correct. Select Save As in the menu and save the file over your original file.

Warning: Do not work on any quote files in SoloAssist from inside the Backups folder.

SoloAssist quote files can be saved to anywhere on your computer.

By default, SoloAssist saves your quotes to Documents ► SoloAssist ► Quotes & Jobs ► Quotes Open folder. Go to the SoloAssist Home (menu), select Open Existing Quote, then the Open Quote window will open for you to locate the quote file.

If you cannot find your quotes in this folder, then you may have saved them to a different folder on your computer. You can search your computer using File Explorer and typing *.quo into the search field.

Open Microsoft Excel ► Open New Blank workbook ► Go to the Data tab ► Select From Text/CSV (Get & Transform Data) ► then find & open the CSV file you're wanting to view or edit ► File Origin 1252: Western European (Windows) ► Delimiter Comma ► Select Load

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

If you have a touch-screen device with a digital pen, you can digitally sign any PDF documentation saved from SoloAssist.

SoloAssist is designed to always include GST into all end Totals. However, it will always show the GST amount and the exclusive GST amount above the Total inclusive GST. Always check the fields you are entering your rates or quotes into are either (ex. GST) or (inc. GST).

Remember, your user license number is not your product key.

If you have multiple SoloAssist user licenses, open the SoloAssist menu, select License and it will show your Registered Name, License #, and Expiry Date. If no license number is showing e.g. License #1, License #2, License #3, then it means you only have a single user license.

If your SoloAssist annual 'License Renewal' is not paid by the expiry date shown in the software under the 'License' heading in the menu or shown on the License Renewal Invoice as the due date. Then a grace period of 30 days will be given from the expiry date before your license is deactivated. This means you will not be able to use SoloAssist Estimating or Plan Scan after this period to open or view previous quotes, jobs or start new ones. However, once your 'License Renewal' has been paid, it will be reactivated within 3 business days of receiving your payment confirmation. Additionally, by SoloAssist deactivating your license, you will not lose any of your previous data e.g. quotes, Jobs, takeoffs, etc.

Please read our 'End User License Agreement' for more information.

To fix the problem, try the following.

To fix the problem, try the following.

Option 1

If your device pops up with a window named Opening setup.exe saying Save File or Cancel, select Save File. Then open File Explorer and go to Downloads. At the top of the list you should see a setup Application file approx. 790KB. Double left click on the setup file, this should start the SoloAssist installation process with a window prompting you to select Install.

Option 2

Another application on your computer has modified the registry settings, preventing SoloAssist from installing or updating. To fix the problem, try the following.

To resolve the issue, try the following.

a) Ensure your Internet connection is stable.

b) Disable any anti-virus or firewall software which can interfere with the activation process.

c) Double check you have entered the Product Key exactly as shown in the email we sent you.

d) If you have a new computer or have reformatted your existing device, then the device's regional settings might be set incorrectly. Go to Windows Start menu ► Settings ► Time & Language ► Date & time ► Region & language. Ensure the following 'Windows Settings' have been selected.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

If when opening SoloAssist it keeps asking for your Product Key, you may need to manually clear the old Product Key from your computer.

If your SoloAssist Suppliers.sdb and PriceList.sdb files are set to open with the wrong application type. E.g: Adobe Acrobat / Reader or other? This means somebody or another application on your device has changed the application Type used for the file association.

To fix the problem, try the following.

If your quote file (.quo) won't open SoloAssist when you double click on it, or it opens the SoloAssist Terms & Conditions to 'I Agree' and asks you to enter the Product Key again. This problem is caused by a file association problem on your device.

To fix the problem, try the following.

This problem is typically an incorrect file association. This means that in the past, somebody on your device has tried to open a SoloAssist quote file with another program such as 'Adobe' and reset the file association. To fix the problem, try the following.

To fix the problem, try the following.

If your computer has been disconnected from an additional screen or monitor, your computer could still be trying to open Plan Scan on the disconnected screen. In this case, open SoloAssist, go to the Home (menu), select Options, go to Default Layout and press Reset. Then restart SoloAssist.

After restarting SoloAssist, you may need to readjust each tab views column widths from the column header bar dividers to see each fields details in each column.

To fix the problem, try the following.

To fix your problem, try the following.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

Your computers' regional settings are incorrectly set. Go to Windows Start menu ► Settings ► Time & Language ► Date & time ► Region & language. Ensure all the 'Australia' and local settings are selected.

Your computer's display settings are incorrect. Go to Windows Start menu ► Settings ► System Display. Ensure your Scale and layout is set to 100% (Recommended).

Please note, this is a OneDrive issue not a SoloAssist issue.

If your SoloAssist quote or database files are duplicating in OneDrive, it could be caused either by 2 or more people using the same file at the same time, or it could be a OneDrive Cached Credentials issue.

How to refresh your OneDrive Cached Credentials

If a file is duplicating in your OneDrive with your computer name added to the filename, it could be time to refresh your credentials. Follow the steps below to refresh your OneDrive cached credentials. Hopefully this will stop the issue in the future, but if the following steps do not resolve your issue or remove the duplicate files, then you will need to remove the duplicate files manually.

1) Select Start, type into the search field 'credentials' then select Credentials Manager.

2) Select the Windows Credentials tab/box.

3) Under Generic Credentials, look for any entries containing 'OneDrive Cached Credentials' and remove them.

4) Log out of OneDrive then log back in, then check it's behaviour.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

Ensure each computer's database has the same folder location set up in SoloAssist.

The default location for the supplier's database file can be found in Documents ► SoloAssist ► Database. To share this database file with other computers, copy the file to a shared location. Go to the SoloAssist Home (menu) Options, then go to Databases and select Browse and change the Databases Folder Location to the new shared location. Restart SoloAssist for changes to take effect.

If you are using files saved to OneDrive, Dropbox, SharePoint, Google Drive, etc, you will be able to log into your account and find the file version history to restore it back to a previous version before the problem started.

NOTE: Each time you close SoloAssist it will automatically create another backup copy that overrides 1 of the 5 time spaced backup files. Take care to not override the backup copies with the incorrect or corrupted file. Always fix any file problems as they arise and resave the incorrect file with a different file name to prevent it auto-saving over a good backup file. This way the SoloAssist time spaced backups will not override the original backups.

See Auto Save Backups to learn more

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.

If you are unable to adjust the column widths using the heading bar dividers, go to the Home (menu) ► Options ► Default Layout ► select Reset. Then adjust the heading bar dividers to suit each column's content.

Sorry, no you cannot. You need to have an active SoloAssist license to view any previous quotes or jobs.

It's good practice to save all Quotes, Jobs, Purchase Orders, Variations, Sales Invoices, etc, into PDF's as you go. This helps you keep a good history log which can be viewed at any time in the future without an active SoloAssist license.

If you need to renew your SoloAssist license, just go to the SoloAssist website Pricing page, and select Renew License.

If you see the error:

SoloAssist could not open the selected file.

OR

File may not exist, maybe corrupt, or may not be a quote file?

This indicates, it may not be a SoloAssist quote file, or the quote file has been corrupted. This may have been caused by a system crash, power failure, virus, etc.

To recover a backup file, check the automatic time spaced backups in: (C:) Documents ► SoloAssist ► Quotes & Jobs ► Backups folder. Additionally, if you are saving files into OneDrive, Dropbox, Sharepoint, GoogleDrive, etc. Then you should be able to log into your account, find the file and restore it to a previous version.

For more information, see above in General: How do I recover a backup of my work?

This is not a SoloAssist software problem.

This 'Unhandled exception' (error message) is caused by the file path location (directory length) exceeding the maximum number of characters allowed to open or print a file. By default, your Windows 10 operating system is set to a maximum of 260 characters for a file path location (directory length) to open or print a file. This error message indicates the (directory length) of sub folders to the save location of your file/s is too long.

In some cases, if your (directory length) is on the edge of the maximum number of characters, you'll be able to open your file, but not be able to print a report. Some files you'll be able to open and some files you will not be able to open.

To fix the problem, try the following.

Shorten the file path location (directory length) to the save file location. Make it under 248 characters. It seems you have gone a little overboard with setting up a long directory of sub folders to save your files into. It's time to simplify your folders and filing system.

Keep it simple.

If you require assistance, please contact your local IT technician.