Portable TextPad 6.5

[HerNameWasTextPad]

After using 5.4 for 4 1/2 years, I have finally discovered PORTABLE TextPad 6.5 and have been spending some time reading up on the subject in this forum.

With respect to the PORTABLE 6.5 and its use on a public-library computer, I have the following helpful things to say. And though every library's system might behave somewhat differently, these remain good ideas:

You'll first have to install TextPad onto the library's computer, run it, paste in your license, and shut it down. Then, you'll be able to plug in your flash drive and run the Portable Wizard, to create a portable version onto the flash drive. If you don't do it this way, then the Portable Wizard's "Next" button will stay painfully turned off, no matter what else you may try to do.

The Portable Wizard does a good job of setting everything up properly. However, for some odd reason, when running TextPad AFTER the very first time, and on different library computers, it appears to have its little heart set on reading and writing the two configuration files and the license-key file to the default Application Data path, ON THE LIBRARY'S COMPUTER, instead of to the flash drive. This is even after all paths in Configure -> Preferences... -> Folders have been properly set to the flash drive. Whether this happens also with 7.4 is my next scheduled adventure. . . .

What's a good TextPad user to do? Well, I suggest this:

Make sure that you know what the Windows default Application Data path is. Copy it from Configure -> Preferences... -> Folders BEFORE you change your paths and stick it in a text file on your flash drive for easy reference. (You can use Notepad for that.) When you go to the library, stick your flash drive into any (working!) computer, run TextPad, and then shut TextPad down. This will create the default Application Data path on the library's computer (if it's not already there) by writing brand new configuration files to it. But you don't want to start from scratch with brand new files, so just copy the configuration files THAT YOU COPIED TO YOUR FLASH DRIVE AT THE END OF YOUR LAST SESSION over to the default Application Data path. (Use two Windows Explorer windows.) Do the same with the license-key file (otherwise TextPad will be an evaluation copy). Then, you can run TextPad, and your license and all of your settings will be in place.

The only other concern is this: If, on different library computers, the drive letter of your flash drive changes and no longer matches the drive letter in your paths for Configure -> Preferences... -> Folders, then you'll have to quickly run down and change all of the eight paths. Considering the presence of the browse button, this is quicker and easier than it sounds. Just be sure to check to see whether your drive letters match at the start of every session.

When you stop to consider that, once your preferences are set, you generally don't have much reason to change preferences very often (because you can always momentarily change preferences PER FILE using View -> Document Properties), this is not as much of an inconvenience as you might at first expect. You won't need to copy configuration files from the default path to your flash drive at the end of every session.

It shouldn't take more than a few minutes, and TextPad will be up and running with your license and all of your settings.

Oh, sure, it would be nice if Helios could find a solution to these complications, but, that we now can use TextPad in this way is TREMENDOUS.