Free PowerCADD Technical Support

Your PowerCADD purchase includes free technical support

Depending on where you purchased your product, your local distributor typically offers free technical support.

Free PowerCADD support from Engineered Software: If you purchased PowerCADD in the United States then you have access to free PowerCADD support from Engineered Software, authors of PowerCADD; contact them via their website for voice and email contact information.

Free PowerCADD support from Evoy & Associates: If you purchased PowerCADD in Canada then you have access to first rate free support from Evoy & Associates. Please visit the PowerCADD Canada website for additional information.

If you purchased PowerCADD in another country you can contact your PowerCADD internal distributor to see if they offer free technical support.

While we provide personalized training and support services we also try to provide free help wherever practical. After all, we're all Mac folks and trying to help each other has been at the grass roots of our business for almost two decades. Please feel free to drop us an email and we'll see what we can do to get you over that rough patch.

Personalized Support and Training

We offer personalized Mac OS^? and PowerCADD support

In addition to having used PowerCADD (and PowerDraw) products for over 20 years we've also:

• Started out designing and drafting by hand -- we understand how to bridge that gap and explain processes in real world design terms.
• Been on the beta testing team for approximately 20 years.
• Given numerous public presentations detailing PowerCADD and the Mac at Apple stores and for professional organizations
• Written the PowerCADD application manuals for versions 6, 7, 8 and 9.
• Been responsible for in-house network development, staff training, and server administration. Basically we pulled every cable, wired every desk, setup the server, developed the data management systems and trained all in-house staff; all that in addition to carrying out our traditional professional design responsibilities.

We know PowerCADD and the Mac OS and how it affects business!

Our Personalized CADDcare services is a fee based support and education system we offer for all versions of PowerCADD or PowerDraw (and other applications, just ask) in the United States and Canada (we're prepared to visit other countries upon request).

As a CADDcare preferred client you have access to all the information on this website, plus direct email and telephone support available 12 hours per day weekdays and 6 hours per day on Saturdays; on site training is also available.

Our education and support services don't just end with PowerCADD -- we offer full coverage of PowerCADD and related Mac OS X services and devices that you use in daily production.

Getting started is easy -- just drop us an email.

New Help in PowerCADD 8

There are some new tricks to get help in PowerCADD 8

We recommend reading all the links in our Getting Help section here to get started. However, there are some neat new features in PowerCADD 8 which you can also use to ask for help or assist in trouble shooting.

Please review your PowerCADD printed or PDF^? manual for information on these subjects.

1. Help menu → Submit Trouble Shooting Report (see our related article here)
2. Help menu → Safe Mode Instructions
3. Help menu → Reset PowerCADD

In particular, try item (2) and item (3) if you are seeing odd or inconsistent behavior in PowerCADD 8 that you do not normally see. When you submit your Trouble Shooting Report mention you tried those steps.

Note: as of the date of this article we have not covered the above topics in detail on our website. However as time permits we'll be adding content so please check again or search our site for those terms.

Asking for Help

Here are some things to make it easier when asking for help

There can be a few reasons why you are having a problem and there are almost always solutions to smooth that out. As you can imagine we receive a large number requests for help with incomplete problem descriptions. Clear, definitive descriptions are mandatory for us to try and provide some sort of reasonable analysis and assistance.

Whether you're taking advantage of the free technical support that's included with PowerCADD, or using our fee based services, or just posting a general question, here are some things to keep in mind when asking for help:

Try this first:
If you are experiencing some odd behavior try these things first:

1. Restart your computer and try the task again with only PowerCADD running. Sometimes a restart can fix things and it's an easy thing to try.
2. Use Apple's Disk Utility Application to Repair Permissions, Restart the computer and try the task again.

Some tips for sending help requests:
We'd be foolish to try and answer a question without at least a few basic facts. In some cases we may need to know more but at least some basic information helps put the problem/question in context. Here are some basic points to include in any email that describes your problem. Don't forget you can perform a Search to see if your question has been previously covered on this website.

1. Include the version of PowerCADD, build number, and serial number.
2. Include the version of Mac OS^? X you are using.
• Some issues may be specific to either or both of those items.
3. What computer hardware are you using (model, processor, memory, etc.).
4. Be reasonably descriptive as to where in your process a problem is occurring.
• For example, state the nature of the problem ("I can't do 'this'...") along with the steps you perform to create the problem and in what order. A simple point form list is often the easiest way to present that type of information. That allows others to better understand the context of your problem and what steps they should take when trying to recreate it.
• When appropriate, include a screen shot of what you are seeing when a problem occurs.
5. If things were working normally, when did the new problem occur? For example, did you recently run a system software update or PowerCADD update just before the problem occurred?
6. Remember, others can't see your screen. Taking the time to post a simple point form list of relevant information which helps others clearly visualize and recreate the condition will go a long way to solving the problem quicker.

To find out what version of PowerCADD you are using:

1. With PowerCADD running, choose PowerCADD menu → PowerCADD Profile
2. A dialog will open listing the appropriate information.

To find out what version of Mac OS X you are using:

1. Choose Apple menu → About This Mac. A dialog opens and the version number is listed there.
2. To find additional information about your system click the more information button in the above noted dialog.

Free Discussion Forums & Related Sites

Other websites offer free information too

If you're looking for additional information you can also try some of the other free websites out there. We provide various related links in the resources link found in your primary navigation area. That content includes PowerCADD links and Mac OS X links which are also helpful.

Please note the free discussion forums noted below (and in our Resources | PowerCADD section) are not official technical support sites. While we are advocates of public forums and openly particulate in them, it's important to remember the purpose of those forums. As their name suggests these forums are places for peer-to-peer discussion of PowerCADD related subjects. Information posted in discussion forums can sometimes be helpful in solving a technical problem or getting general information but if you are looking for official technical support help in a timely manner please visit this link on our site for details.

In general, we like to think of discussion forums (as opposed to official technical support forums) much like do when chatting at the coffee maker or water cooler in the office. It's a nice place to hang out, chit chat, get caught up, but we don't spend a lot of time there 'cos we have more important (read: billable!) things to do. Sometimes we find tidbits that are really helpful but more likely we're just looking to gossip, vent, or maybe find a lead to some better information on a subject

Free Discussion Forums and Related Sites:
Design Community.com PowerCADD forum
Architosh Forums
The Bull Pen Note: it appears the authors of the Bull Pen have elected to let that domain expire. We have included it here for completeness as its unknown if this is a temporary or permanent situation.

Free content on this Website

This website has a lot of free information

We have a wealth of information on versions of PowerCADD as far back as release 5 (PowerCADD 2000) up to the most recent shipping versions. We also provide Mac OS^? articles on this site and recommend searching this site for an answer to your question. If you've registered to use this site then you may also post comments or followup questions to many articles or booklets. We do our best to answer as many questions as possible in a timely fashion but if you're looking for immediate results please consider our CADDcare services.