New PC & TP

[VSLEWIS]

I upgrading to a NEW workstation running WIN7 64bit. I am also upgrading TP from 5.4 to 7.0. My question is how do you keep/migrate your macros, toolbar and settings from my old PC to the new PC?

[kengrubb]

TP 5.x to 7.x involves a number of very different changes. 5.x used the registry whereas 7.x uses an XML file.

Macros are easy. Those are files in your Macros folder.
Configure, Preferences, Folders, Macros

If you have any Clip Libraries or Syntax definitions, same method as for Macros.

Will you have both machines available to you, for at least a short period of time?

Do you have User Dictionaries to which you've added or changed things?

Do you have Custom Keyboard shortcuts?

I am thinking you want to move 5.x to your new workstation, ensure everything is there, then upgrade to 7.x

[gr8dane]

I've got exactly the same situation as VSLEWIS and I found kengrubb's answer unsatisfactory. Although I'll follow his suggestion to hold off on the upgrade to v.7, he seems to be saying that there is no easy way to migrate my custom macros, keyboard shortcuts and settings to my new computer. Is my only option really to recreate everything from scratch, or is there a better way?

The second part of my question is, Will those macros, keyboard shortcuts and settings still be there when I upgrade?

[ak47wong]

Helios recommends upgrading TextPad 5 to 6 and then 6 to 7.

After upgrading, the preferences from the old version of TextPad should still be present on your hard disk as each version stores its configuration files in a different directory:

TextPad 5: %APPDATA%\Helios\TextPad\5.0
TextPad 6: %APPDATA%\Helios\TextPad\6
TextPad 7: %APPDATA%\Helios\TextPad\7

There are instructions in the help file on how to migrate your preferences: How To > Customize Settings > Transferring Between PC's.

For some reason, I have never been able to successfully move key bindings from one TextPad installation to another (by copying CUSTOM.BND). I suggest you keep a list of your custom key shortcuts in case you need to recreate them:

1. Click Configure > Preferences > Keyboard.
2. Under Categories, click All.
3. Click List.

[gr8dane]

Thanks for the quick and very helpful reply, ak47wong! Hopefully, I'll have a better experience this time than I did last time I switched to a new computer. Now that you mention it, I remember having the same problem with key bindings back then. Custom macros are definitely a weak area in TextPad.