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E-Z Punch Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

E-Z Punch Installation and Licensing Questions
E-Z Punch Desktop Software Related Questions
E-Z Punch Desktop and PDA Synchronization Questions
E-Z Punch Faxing and E-mailing Reports Related Questions
E-Z Punch Reports Functionality Related Questions
E-Z Punch Schedule Related Questions
Backing Up E-Z Punch Projects

E-Z Punch Installation and Licensing Questions

Question: I purchased the E-Z Punch application, however, after I installed the application, I noticed that E-Z Punch is a demonstration copy and the software requests my License Serial Number upon start-up. What can I do to register my software license to eliminate this message?

Answer: Registering your E-Z Punch license - If you purchased an E-Z Punch license, but after installation the demo message is still displaying itself, you will need to enter in the License Serial Number supplied with the E-Z Punch software packaging. If you cannot locate your License Service Number, please contact ECOMM to register your copy of the software.

Note: Every license of E-Z Punch that is shipped to a customer is sent as a "trial" demonstration copy. The customer must have a License Serial Number to activate the E-Z Punch software into a licensed copy. When a customer purchases E-Z Punch, the serial number to register their E-Z Punch license should be included with the disk that is mailed to him/her.

Installation Issues

Installation of E-Z Punch for the Palm OS.

For the installation of E-Z Punch for the Palm OS, follow the on screen instructions. Some issues that might arise include the following:

  • If your Palm desktop software is not installed to either C:\Palm or C:\Program Files\Palm, E-Z Punch will not be able to automate the installation of the application onto your handheld device. You will need to manually add C:\E-Z Punch\EZPunch2.prc using your Install Tool.
  • If the E-Z Conduit runs and returns an error message RTE 429, please reboot your desktop computer and try to synchronize again
  • If the E-Z Conduit returns an error message “Database or record not found” open up E-Z Punch on your Palm device, exit out, and run HotSync again
  • Make sure you run the E-Z Punch desktop software before trying to HotSync your Palm device again.

Installation of E-Z Punch for Pocket PC:

  • If you are required to reinstall the E-Z Punch Pocket PC software onto your device, the setup files are located under C:\E-Z Punch\cd\cd1\setup.exe. Run the setup.exe file and it will repeat the execution of the installation process.
  • If during the installation on the Pocket PC, it fails to copy over .TTF files, just click “Ignore” and in the installation will continue.
  • If on the desktop, it fails to copy files, delete the C:\Program Files\E-Z Punch directory and rerun the setup.exe
  • During the your first synchronization between the E-Z Punch Desktop software and the Pocket PC using the E-Z Sync software, a message box will appear, click “Ignore” to continue the synchronization process
E-Z Punch Desktop Software Related Questions

Question: As I use the E-Z Punch Software I notice that not all of the menu items in the E-Z Punch Desktop software are accessible. How can I access these E-Z Punch features?

Answer: User Access - Based on the permissions you have been assigned, certain menu items may be unavailable. Should you need access to those features, check with your E-Z Punch administrator to provide access.

Note: You may not have access to features listed under the Utilities menu option. Many of these features are add-ons and can be purchased from ECOMM. If you would like to purchase any of the add-on features, please contact ECOMM at 850-345-1817.

Question: When attempting to add a customer selection I receive an error message from E-Z Punch that does not allow me to assign a customer selection. How do I resolve this problem.

Answer: Customer Selections - An error could occur when trying to add customer selections due to the fact that the E-Z Punch user has not configured a building template inspection item to allow customer selections or the user has not selected a specific project and location to assign a customer selection. To correctly add customer selections, the specific project must be chosen on the Location Selection Menu, please verify that project must be assigned to a template that has inspection items marked as customer selection items within the template. If all those criteria are met, then the customer selections can be assigned and edited.

Question: Pocket PC users are given the option of making a backup of the Pocket PC database. When and how can I use this feature?

Answer: To ensure no data is lost between the E-Z Punch synchronization process between the Pocket PC and desktop computer, the you will want to select “PPC Backup”. If the option for making a backup of the database on the Pocket PC is selected, before each synchronization process, a file will be created in the E-Z Punch folder. This file will be in Microsoft Access format, and will contain the user’s data from the Pocket PC. If the user someone loses data in the synchronization process, ECOMM can restore their database from the backup that was automatically created.

Question: I am using the demo version of the software and cannot access the Template Editor.

Answer: The Template Editor has been disabled on the demo version of the software. To access this feature you must purchase a license of the software from ECOMM.

E-Z Punch Desktop and PDA Synchronization Questions

Question: I am having problems synchronizing the E-Z Punch information on my Palm OS device with the E-Z Punch Desktop application. What can I do to resolve this problem?

Answer: If the handheld running the Palm OS (Handspring, Sony clie, Palm, etc) is having trouble synchronizing with the desktop, follow the instructions below:

  1. First make sure the E-Z Punch software has been installed onto the handheld. If not, then the EZPunch2.prc file needs to be added to your device by using the Palm Installer (which can be found in the Palm Desktop) by adding "C:\E-Z Punch\ezpunch2.prc" and then resynchronizing using HotSync.
  2. If the software is on the Palm device and does not have any information, that indicates that the E-Z Punch Conduit has not run properly. To correct this issue, exit out of HotSync Manager, and then reopen HotSync Manger. Resynchronize, and the E-Z Punch Conduit software will execute.
  3. If the above solutions did not correct your problem, make sure you have Palm OS 3.0 or higher, and the Palm Desktop software installed on your PC, along with having your Palm OS handheld device attached and properly syncing with your PC.

Note: For both Pocket PC and Palm, make sure the Desktop application has been open and run before trying to synchronize your data.

Question: I am having problems synchronizing the E-Z Punch information on my Pocket PC device with the E-Z Punch Desktop application. What can I do to resolve this problem?

Answer: If the E-Z Punch application has been successfully installed on your Pocket PC device, but is not properly synchronizing with the E-Z Punch Desktop application, follow the instructions below:

  1. If the program on your Pocket PC device displays an error stating "The Area table was not fully loaded..." that means the PDA has not been synchronized with the desktop. To solve this problem, take the PDA out of the cradle and replace to resynchronize the PDA. The E-Z Punch Converter will then run.
  2. If the data still was not synchronized, run the E-Z Punch E-Z Sync program by running the "C:\E-Z Punch\ezsync.exe" and that will automatically synchronize your E-Z Punch data
  3. If a communications error is received, the best method of fixing that is performing a soft reset on the PDA and restarting your desktop computer.
  4. If the above solutions did not correct your problem, make sure you have Microsoft ActiveSync 3.1 or higher installed on your PC, along with having your Pocket PC device attached and properly synchronizing with your PC.
Note:For both PocketPC and Palm, make sure the Desktop application has been open and run before trying to synchronize your data.

E-Z Punch Faxing and E-mailing Reports Related Questions

Question: I have Microsoft Outlook installed on the same machine as E-Z Punch, but I can not send reports and notifications to Trade Partners (subcontractors) using the E-Z Punch Send E-mail option. How must Outlook be configured to operate with E-Z Punch?

Answer: When e-mailing Trade Partners various reports or notifications, E-Z Punch requires an interface to the Microsoft Outlook e-mail software. E-Z Punch relies on Microsoft Outlook's Collaborative Data Objects (CDO) interface to enable E-Z Punch to package and send e-mail messages via Microsoft Outlook to each Trade Partner. If E-Z Punch has difficulty in interfacing with your Microsoft Outlook software you may be required to install the Outlook CDO option. To install the CDO, insert your original Microsoft Outlook CD in your PC’s CD drive and choose "Custom Install". You should see Collaborative Data Objects about halfway down the list. Choose this option to fully install the CDO, and then proceed with the rest of the steps necessary to execute the installation.

Question: I would like to send reports and notifications to Trade Partners via fax. What fax software can I use with E-Z Punch to send information via fax?

Answer: E-Z Punch is designed to operate with Microsoft Fax for Outlook and Symantec Winfax software. For more information about configuring E-Z Punch to operate with these fax applications, please review the information below:

Microsoft Fax Support

To setup Microsoft Fax for Outlook please note the following steps:

  1. First, add the Microsoft Fax Transport as a Service in the Microsoft Outlook software.
  2. Once the Microsoft Fax Transport has been configured in Outlook, it is recommended that you test the fax feature. To test the Microsoft Outlook faxing capabilities, make sure faxing is enabled by sending a fax in the "To:" address line of a new Outlook e-mail message as Fax@faxnumber where “faxnumber” is a valid fax number for a fax machine that you can receive a test fax on. That command should send a new fax to the fax number you have placed after the @ symbol. If this test does work, review the Microsoft Outlook Help file for other ways of setting up Microsoft Fax with Outlook 2000 or contact your system administrator.

Note: Windows Me does not have a default fax driver installed. Microsoft recommends purchasing a third party fax software package for use with Windows Me.

Symantec Winfax Software Support

E-Z Punch also provides support for WinFax v10 or greater. No special modifications need to be made to use WinFax in conjunction with E-Z Punch. "WinFax" should be the name of the printer that WinFax installs, and make sure this printer name does not get changed to a different WinFax printer name.

E-Z Punch Reports Functionality Related Questions

Question: I seem to be having a problem viewing the E-Z Punch reports. Is any special software or configuration required?

Answer: Reports Viewing - To properly view E-Z Punch reports using the E-Z Punch Desktop product or via the E-Z Punch Web Reports service, Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater is recommended on the desktop computer. E-Z Punch reports are generated in HTML and are viewed within the Internet Explorer Web Browser.

Question: I would like to be able to allow other employees and subcontractors to view reports from our projects using the E-Z Punch Web Reports service. What is required to enable usage of the Web Reports service?

Answer: Accessing the E-Z Punch Web Reports Service - To access the E-Z Punch Web Reports Service online, you must:

  1. Contact ECOMM in order to set-up your Web Reports Service accounts for each Web Reports user in your company.
  2. After your account have been set-up you must upload your company’s E-Z Punch managed project data to the E-Z Punch Web Reports Service server using the “Upload to Web” menu option within the E-Z Punch Desktop product. If problems occur with this upload process, make sure you are connected to the Internet, and that you are not trying to access the Web Reports server from behind a computer network “firewall” on your company’s computer network that prohibits FTP access. Once the E-Z Punch project data is uploaded to the E-Z Punch Web Reports Service server, and imported into the Web Reports system (usually takes 15-20 minutes) the user can then access those reports by clicking on "www.e-zpunch.com" on the E-Z Punch product toolbar and logging into the service.
  3. ISP FTP Support Requirement - In previous versions of American Online, AOL would block access to FTP through their internal network firewall. The E-Z Punch Web Reports Service uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to upload the user’s data to ECOMM’s Web Reports Service server. To successfully upload E-Z Punch project data, the E-Z Punch upload process requires access to FTP and some proprietary ISP’s do not provide that support. You may have to check with your ISP to see if FTP services are available.

E-Z Punch Schedule Related Questions

Question: How do I add items to the schedule?

Answer: Assigning Items to be Scheduled - Within the Template Editor, at the bottom of the screen is a checkbox entitled “This is a Schedule Item.” Click each item within the Template Editor that you would like added to the schedule, then click inside the box beside “This is a Schedule Item.”

Question: How do I re-order items that appear on my schedule?

Answer: Re-ordering Schedule Items - Items on the schedule appear in the exact order in which they fall within the Template Editor. You can drag and drop the inspection items within the Template Editor to place them in the order in which you’d like them to appear on the schedule.

Backing Up E-Z Punch Projects

Question: How do I back-up my E-Z Punch Project database?

Answer: It is recommended that you make a back-up copy of the E-Z Punch2.mdb file on a daily basis to ensure that you have daily back-ups of your project information stored in E-Z Punch.