Why doesn't Penfriend XP remember my preferences or words?

Affecting products:
All Penfriend products in including FR, SE, DE, IT, ES, NA.

Problem:

I made changes to my preferences including changing the colours and font sizes. I have also added new words to the lexicon but the next time I used Penfriend none of them had been remembered.

Solution:

Penfriend uses the lexicon file to store your vocabulary of words, and your preferences for how you want it to work. This file must be saved at the end of each session and loaded at the start of the next, in order for it to function properly.

The default lexicons, as installed, are read-only which means you cannot save over them with your own words and preferences.

When you start using Penfriend for the first time as a new user, or when you choose to start a new lexicon, you must save it as a normal file which can be updated as you work.

The best place to save your lexicon is in 'My Documents'. Ideally, you should do this just after loading the default lexicon, so that you don't have to worry about it later. In the Penfriend window's menu, choose File then "Save As..." and select a new filename that is convenient for you. The default will simply be "My Lexicon.lex" saved in My Documents.

For a pupil in a school with Penfriend on a number of networked computers they can store their lexicons in their profile so that they can access it from any computer on which Penfriend is installed.

Whatever file you choose, Penfriend will by default load the same one next time you start it. If you switch off 'load previous lexicon' in advanced preferences then click on the Penfriend icon to open Penfriend, it will open with an empty lexicon. Alternatively you can double click on a lexicon icon to open the program, or you can drag and drop a specific lexicon file to the Penfriend window to load it.

If you quit Penfriend without having chosen another name, it will ask you for a file name at that point. If you ignore it, Penfriend will forget your words and preferences from the session.

The default lexicons can be found by going to the Start menu on your desktop, then to Programs, Penfriend XP or Penfriend XL, then 'Default Lexicons'.

If you are using a Portable version you may find it useful to create a folder specially for your saved lexicons.

FAQ answered:2010-07-20