I ran the latest Essential Forms update and now when I open the program all I see is "Sample Client/New Matter". Where are all my saved clients/matters?
The Essential Forms installation program may not have been able to determine the location where your saved clients are stored, and reset the data path to the default location. Open Essential Form, click Configure>Data Directory, and browse to the location where the shared network data folder resides. Select that data folder, click OK, then click Use this directory. The program should prompt you to restart it. Reopen Essential Forms and you should see your clients/matters/forms. You can verify the location Essential Forms is configured to use as its data directory by clicking View, then System Information and looking at the third line Data under Directories.
I ran the latest Judicial Council update, but when I opened the program I still get the notice, "forms out of date". How do I clear out this message?
Make sure you're running the latest Essential Forms Judicial Council Forms update. The date is used in the filename of the update ex. "2201.exe". Try reinstalling the program and selecting "Update/Refresh" in the first installation window. If the message persists, contact Technical Support 800-870-1101.
I installed a Local County Update or Judicial Council Update and I get an information window with options "This program may not have installed correctly" or "This Program Installed Correctly". Which should I click? How do I know if it installed correctly?
Go ahead and click the option, "This program installed correctly". This is a message from the Windows User Account Control and does not indicate that any actual problem has been detected.
I am trying to run the update and I get the message, "Essential Forms is currently running" but I don't have it open on my computer. What does this mean?
Even if Essential Forms is not open at the computer where the update is running, the installation program is able to detect if any Essential Forms user on the network currently has Essential Forms shared data files open. Make sure all network users have the program closed before running an Essential Forms update. If the message persists even after all users have closed the program, the computer where your Essential Forms shared data folder is located may need to be rebooted to force it to release any locked shared data files.
When I double-click on the Essential Forms shortcut I get a message, "You are about to run a program from an unknown publisher" why am I getting this?
This is simply a message from the Windows User Account Control when you launch Essential Forms across a network in newer versions of Windows. The user has to click "Allow", "Continue", or "I trust this program…" and it should then continue to open Essential Forms. We do not recommend disabling the Windows User Account Control, as it makes your system more vulnerable to malicious code.
Do I need to install the Essential Forms program on each workstation, then create a shared data folder for all users to point at? Or should I install Essential Forms on a server in a shared folder, and then share out the shortcuts on each workstation?
The choice is up to you. Neither has any real performance advantages over the other, as far as we can determine. Physically installing the Essential Forms program on each workstation means when you receive a January or July Judicial Council update, you will need to run it on each station to update that station's program folder. (Additional forms module updates only need to be run once, however). If you choose to install the Essential Forms program on a shared server location (and share out the shortcut on the workstations), then you only need to run the Judicial Council Forms update once to update everything.
Either way you choose to install the program on a network, the network Data folder will need to be shared with full control, with read, write and modify permissions enabled for all users. If you are sharing the shortcut from the server, the Essential Forms program folder will also need to be shared with full control, with read, write and modify permissions enabled for all users.
To install the shortcut at a workstation, click Start, then click Computer (or File Explorer) and find the network drive where you designated the Essential Forms program files to be installed to. Open that program folder and you should see efwin32.exe (Application), right-click and click Send to > Desktop (create shortcut). You should see the blue and gold Essential Forms icon on your desktop. Note that the first time you double-click the shortcut on the station you may need to configure the data directory to the shared network data folder.
I ran the most recent Judicial Council update; how do I know it was successful?
The Judicial Council update changes both the software and the Judicial Council forms. To confirm the update was successful, launch Essential Forms and click View > System Information. Under Program, Essential Forms Version should match the version included in the release notes for the updated release notes can be found on help.ceb.com), and the Expiration and Effective dates should be current. Next, you can confirm you have the latest Judicial Council forms by clicking the Forms Library Tab, then click the first folder below Standard folder on the left-side of the screen, Form Lists (above the Adoption folder). Then, on the right side of the screen, check at the top for Judicial Council (<Date>Changes). To see which forms changed with the latest update, double-click Judicial Council (<Date>Changes).