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Tips & Tricks for SoftMaker Office
How to run SoftMaker Office for Windows from a USB flash drive
If you want to carry SoftMaker Office for Windows and important
documents with you, you can copy SoftMaker Office to a USB
flash drive. You can then insert this USB flash drive in any
Windows-based computer (for example, those of friends or in Internet
cafes) and run SoftMaker Office to access your documents.
The important issue is that SoftMaker Office must be prevented from
changing the Windows Registry, the Start menu, or other parts of a
Windows installation that is not your own. This is possible with all
programs in SoftMaker Office for Windows. Proceed as follows:
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1. |
Install SoftMaker Office on your regular PC's built-in hard disk.
This lets you work with SoftMaker Office in the regular way, even
without a USB flash drive. |
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2. |
Click on the Windows Start button, then select Programs, SoftMaker
Office, Utilities, Install SoftMaker Office on a USB stick. |
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3. |
Follow the instructions in this program. When prompted to do so,
insert the USB flash drive in your PC. |
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4. |
The usbstick program now copies the complete SoftMaker Office folder
and the complete folder My Documents\SoftMaker to your USB
flash drive. This makes all SoftMaker Office program files, all
documents and all settings available on the USB flash drive. |
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5. |
When the usbstick program is done, your USB flash drive contains a
fully functional copy of SoftMaker Office which does not register
itself in Windows, as well as all your documents, spreadsheets, and
configuration files. |
What does usbstick.exe do exactly? If you want to know the
details, here they are:
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It determines the folder in which SoftMaker Office is
installed, and copies the complete folder to the USB flash drive. |
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It then copies the complete folder "My
Documents\SoftMaker" to the USB flash drive (more exactly: into
the folder "SoftMaker" below the SoftMaker Office folder). |
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However, the program only copies files that do not
exist yet on the USB flash drive and replaces only those which are
older on the USB flash drive than on the hard disk. |
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Finally, the usbstick program creates a file named portable.txt
in the SoftMaker Office folder on the USB flash drive. This file,
whose contents are irrelevant, is a "marker file". Its
existence causes SoftMaker Office to not install itself in the
Windows Registry or the Start menu. |
How to run SoftMaker Office for Linux from a USB flash drive
You can run SoftMaker Office for Linux from a USB flash drive,
too. Proceed as follows:
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1. |
Install SoftMaker Office on the built-in hard disk
of your Linux PC. This lets you work with SoftMaker Office in the
regular way, even without a USB flash drive. |
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2. |
Create a folder on the USB flash drive and copy the
contents of the SoftMaker Office application folder (for example,
/usr/share/softmakeroffice) to this folder:
mkdir /media/disk/softmakeroffice
(replace /media/disk with the path of your USB flash drive)
cd /usr/share/softmakeroffice
cp -Rv * /media/disk/softmakeroffice (replace
/media/disk with the path of your USB flash drive) |
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3. |
In this new folder on the USB flash drive, create a
file with name portable.txt.
Its content does not matter:
cd /media/disk/softmakeroffice (replace
/media/disk with the path of your USB flash drive)
touch portable.txt
The portable.txt file is just a "marker
file" that informs SoftMaker Office that it should run in
portable mode and not leave any configuration files on the host
operating system. |
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4. |
Then, launch TextMaker:
./textmaker
TextMaker creates two folders:
/media/disk/softmakeroffice/SoftMaker –
that's where the documents and templates go
/media/disk/softmakeroffice/.softmaker –
that's where the configuration files go
Next, TextMaker installs its default document
templates and configuration files into these folders. This can take
up to half a minute. After that, TextMaker starts.
That's it; the installation is complete.
Now you can also copy documents and templates that you
need to the flash drive. Place documents in /media/disk/softmakeroffice/SoftMaker
and templates in /media/disk/softmakeroffice/SoftMaker/Templates. |
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5. |
To launch one of the programs, open the SoftMaker Office folder on
the USB flash drive and double-click on the program you wish to
launch (textmaker or planmaker or presentations). |
Tips & Tricks for TextMaker and PlanMaker
You'll find more tips and tricks for both applications on the
respective tips pages for TextMaker
and PlanMaker.
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