If You have a question not on this list please email us.

Q. Does WordSort work over a network?
A. WordSort does work very well over a network. All you need is a file server. There is no need to store any files locally.

Q. I installed WordSort. However, now I cannot find it.
A. Click the "Start" button on the lower left of your screen. Then go to "Programs" and then to "wordsort". There you will see and array of icons, one each for the different "Studies" (groups of sorts). Select one of these and WordSort will run. Here it is setting up a data file for one or more students to use. It asks for a directory to put the file in. You can specify any location, but do remember where you put it. Then exit WordSort and find the file that you have created through "My Computer". Double-click on the file and WordSort will run in the mode that the student uses, i.e. it will give the lessons. You can make as many files as you need and move them anywhere.

Q.  I downloaded your software to my classroom computer and registered it with no difficulty.  When our media specialist downloaded it to the computers in our PC computer lab and I went in to register it on each one, I found (and so did she) that when typing in our registration # we got the message that it had to be typed in just as it was given---which is what we did (the same as I did on my computer).  What are we doing wrong?
A. Believe it or not you are probably typing something incorrectly. Sometimes these registered names and codes get passed around a lot and go wrong somewhere. The registered name and numeric code must BOTH be correct. Don't enter the quotes. And pay attention to spaces and commas, often people leave them out. If it still doesn't work email us and we will make sure that you have the correct codes.

Q. According to your Website your software is networkable.  I want to verify that it works on a Novell 5. server and does it loose speed or lock up after so many users accessing at the same time.

A. WordSort has not been tested running on every different kind of network. However, it doesn't do anything fancy and it should work on any network that has a file server. The requirements are simply that 1) students must have write access to the files that they work on, (their own "Student Files", not WordSort system files). 2) these student files must be visible as icons to the students through "My Computer" or the "Explorer".
      WordSort does not put a big load on the network. There is not constant chit-chat going on. At some point you may see the network bog-down but I think that WordSort is an efficient program overall.

Q. Is there an easier way to install the program on many computers without having to individually open WordSort and type in the registration codes on each computer?
A. Yes there is, though it is not an official way there is no reason you can't do it. Just look in the WordSort directory of a copy that has been registered for a file called "wskey.enc". Copy this file and put it in the wordsort directory of another computer and it will be registered.  In other words this file contains the registration info.

Q. I received information about your software today and attempted to download it onto a disk, unsuccessfully.  I received an error message "extract fail".  Should I try to download it again on another disk, or do you have another suggestion?
A. Most likely the installation program didn't download properly. If you download it again I think it will work. Also, try using a different disk, or download it directly to your hard drive. There may be something wrong with the disk.

Q. This process of creating student files takes too long. We have 900 students. Is there an easy way?

A. Well yes, if you are a techie it is easy. All that the "Setup A Student File" process does is take one of the template files in the WordSort directory and copy and rename it to the name that you specify. You can do this yourself manually, either in Windows or in an MsDos session (from the command line). You can even write a batch file (".bat" file) that will create a whole bunch of them at once. Below is a list of the different Studies (groups of sorting lessons) the template files that contain them.

Beginning Consonant (Pictures)    bgncnst1.std
Short Vowel Word-Families        wordfam.std
Within Word (All Patterns)        vpall.std
Easy Short and Long Patterns      vphifrq4.std
More Short and Long Patterns      vplofrq4.std
R-Controlled Patterns            vprcont4.std
Digraphs and Diphthongs          vpother4.std

For example, to assign the Study for the "Within Word" vowel patterns to Mary Smith, copy the file "vpall.std" to "MarySmith_WithinWord.std" and move it to a location where Mary has write access to it. When Mary clicks the new file "MarySmith_WithinWord.std" WordSort will run and give the sorting lessons for the Within Word vowel patterns.
Many schools with networks have a directory for each student in school where the students keep their work. It's is easy to take a listing of such directories and turn it into a batch file that will create student files for all your students at one time. With a programmable editor it is easy to go from a directory listing like...

c:\StudentDirectories\MrsAlbertsClass\JonDavis
c:\StudentDirectories\MrsAlbertsClass\MarySmith
c:\StudentDirectories\MrsAlbertsClass\ToddSpirgin
c:\StudentDirectories\MrsAlbertsClass\AliceJones
c:\StudentDirectories\MrsWheelersClass\JohnTerry
c:\StudentDirectories\MrsWheelersClass\SeanTaylor
c:\StudentDirectories\MrsWheelersClass\KristenJones

and produce an MsDos batch file containing the commands...

copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsAlbertsClass\JonDavis\JonDavisWithinWord.std
copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsAlbertsClass\MarySmith\MarySmithWithinWord.std
copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsAlbertsClass\ToddSpirgin\ToddSpirginWithinWord.std
copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsAlbertsClass\AliceJones\AliceJonesWithinWord.std
copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsWheelersClass\JohnTerry\JohnTerryWithinWord.std
copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsWheelersClass\SeanTaylor\SeanTaylorWithinWord.std
copy c:\wordsort\vpall.std c:\StudentDirs\MrsWheelersClass\KrisJones\KristJonesWithinWord.std

If you are uncertain of what Studies to give to what students you can create one of each for every student, then let the teacher decide later which one(s) they want a student to use. These files are only 216 bytes and so this approach will not eat up too much disk space and will ensure that students will be set up  for the whole year.
If you need further explanation of how to do this please email us.