Ability users will immediately be familiar with the new Ability Office 2002 interface, and with improved file compatibility between all Ability products you can get straight to work with your existing data files. What’s more, Ability Office 2002’s close compatibility with the leading MS Office applications, in both look and ease of file conversion, means that you’ll always be familiar with industry standard practices, no matter what software you use in your place of work.

Ability Write now benefits from Table creation and editing features, with table cell merging and splitting, shading and border formatting, and support for importing MS Word documents containing tables and images.

Ability Spreadsheet now supports Print-to-Fit auto-scaling, advanced cell formatting (Merge/Split Cells, Insert/Edit Cell Comments, Double Line Borders, Custom Cell Format Styles), Tool Tips which display Cell Formula, and Spreadsheet Templates.

Ability Database now supports native MS Access 2000/XP 'mdb' files and improved Macro support for Forms, enabling you to create interface forms that will link with Data Forms to create better bespoke solutions.
Ability Office differs from all other office suites with the inclusion of a digital photo-editor. The latest version,

Ability Photopaint offers interface familiarity and compatibility with Adobe Photoshop, supports 25 graphic file formats, a recent color list, a Pattern Editor to use with Brush tools and Red Eye Reduction.

FAQ:

What are the hardware/operating system requirements?

Any 32 Windows environment (Windows 95/NT 4.0/98/ME/2000/XP)
A typical installation of Ability Office takes around 25/30MB RAM and Processor speed - there are no minimum requirements providing Windows itself will run. However, Ability would not recommend running Windows with less that 32MB RAM and a 200MHz processor, and so this is their "minimum recommend specification". For vector tool manipulation in Ability Photopaint Studio, the faster the better - 500MHz and 64MB RAM should be regarded as minimum.

I can't get the Product Key to work.

To enter a Product Key, follow these steps:

Start any Ability application (Start/Program Files/Ability Office).

If the trial period has already run out, you will be presented with a dialog asking you to enter a Product Key. If the trial period has not yet expired, then select Help/About and click the Register button.

Confirm that the version of Ability matches the one that have purchased a product key for. For example, all purchases in 2002 will be for the 2002 version. If the dialog box says "Ability Office 98" or "Ability Office 2000" then you should download and install the latest software before entering the product key. Please see Ability downloads.

The three boxes must now be filled in exactly according to the details we've given you. Note that all the fields - name, organization and product key - must be exact (see note b. below).

As soon as step 3 is complete, the "OK" button becomes active - click on this to complete the process. You will now be able to start the Ability program(s). If the OK button does not become active, then it can only be because the text you've entered does not exactly match the details you've been given.

How do I remove Ability Office?

Use Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel and then select "Ability Office". If you've created any data files in the Ability Office directory, it will not be deleted by the Uninstaller. If you want to remove these files, the easiest way is to remove the Ability directory manually - use Windows Explorer to delete the Ability Office directory tree (which by default is located in \Program Files). ONLY DO THIS AFTER RUNNING UNINSTALL.

How do you turn off the registration wizard?

Problem: I've registered, but I still get the registration wizard appear every 1/2/5 times Ability is started,

Solution Win 95/98/ME: The registration wizard is switched off by the "Finish" button on the last page of the wizard. So, to turn it off, complete the wizard and make sure the "Finish" button is clicked. When the wizard next runs, follow these steps:

Click the next button until the "Finish" button is visible

Select "Make Internet Connection" (it doesn't matter if you haven't got an internet connection)

Close the Internet Browser down - don't bother to actually Send the form if you are already registered with us.

The "Finish" button on the registration wizard will now be selectable.

Solution Win NT/2000/XP and Ability 98/2000 & 2002 less than build version 3.0.014: If you have Ability Office 2002 build version 3.0.014 or later, the please read the instructions for Win95/98/ME above. If the registration wizard fails to turn itself off for these operating systems, then the registry needs to be updated manually. To do this, please follow these steps. Care must be taken when updating the registry:

Select Start/Run and enter REGEDIT

Open the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Ability n.0/RegWizEvery where n is either 1, 2 or 3 depending on whether you have Ability Office 98, 2000 or 2002.

Set the value of RegWizEvery to 0.

Trouble shooting:

If you select Help/About/Register in any Ability application and the dialog says "this application is fully registered" then no further action need be taken. If you select Help/About in any Ability application and you cannot see a Register button, then no further action need be taken.

Please note that the registration details for Name, Organization and Product Key MUST BE EXACT, including punctuation, spacing and capitalization.

Examples:

If the name specified in the registration email (or letter) was "Phil Roach", entering "PHIL ROACH" or "P. Roach" or anything other than "Phil Roach" will cause registration to fail.

If there was no organization specified in the registration email (or letter) don't try adding one in the registration screen.

If the registration email (or letter) specified "Inc." (note the period) as part of the organization field, please don't enter "INC", "Inc" or "Incorporated".

If you're still having problems, try copy and paste from the registration email into the register dialog.
As a last resort, copy the details you've entered into all three boxes and email it to support@ability.com

 

For more FAQ's, support and updates regarding Ability Office software click here to visit the Ability Website ( www.ability.com )