I love hearing from all of our Inspiration users with questions, and comments about our products, images and tutorials. Your feedback always means the most to us, because everything we do is for you! It is always great when you can read a post or a blog that answers some of the questions that you may have had. I decided to change some things up with the What’s Up Wednesdays and make this blog all about you and your questions. Every Wednesdday I will post a question that I’ve been asked and then respond to the question right here. This is a great opportunity for you to submit some of the questions you may have. Our first question comes from Gale in Pennsylvania.
Why is it that my software will periodically shut down while I’m in the middle of creating my project?
Gale H. Scranton, Pennsylvania
I know from first hand experience how devastating it can be to lose your project. It’s one of the reasons I always say “Save, save, save!” While there are a number of factors that can come into play as to the reason the software will shut down, I will try to cover some of the most common, and how to avoid them. First of all, the software is trying to remember every step you are making. That’s where that handy undo button comes into play. This gives us the option to go back and undo our last move. If you have been doing a lot of small steps in the software such as welding letters and moving them small increments at a time by using the arrow keys on your keyboard, the software can close down as a result of trying to process too much memory. In the manual it will actually walk you through how to do the Visual Text Spacing. This will allow you move the letters evenly at the same time. This will also help you to avoid bogging down the memory of the software. Visual text spacing is also a lot easier!
Having too many windows open in the software can sometimes result in the software closing down. It’s amazing how easy it is to lose track of how many windows you have open while you’re working in the software. It would be wise to go through and close down some of the windows that you aren’t using.
Importing multiple images can be one of the reasons that the software will close down too. Again, the software is working hard to process all of the information you have on your page. If you find yourself needing to import multiple images, don’t forget to save your project.
Just last week I was working on a file that needed a specific font. I found that after I had sorted through multiple fonts that the software needed to shut down. This is understandable since I had sorted through about fifty different fonts for my project. I decided that after a few times of the software closing down I would look at a minimum of fifteen fonts, and then go back to my page to avoid overwhelming the memory of the software. Then, I would go back to my font selection and sort through an additional fifteen fonts.
Please keep in mind here that not everyone is going to experience these problems. There are a number of factors that can cause these issues. However, it’s nice knowing that there are some simple, quick fixes that can help you to avoid getting frustrated with your software. The best advice I can give you is to save your projects, and save them often.
Gale, thanks so much for your question this week. I look forward hearing from other Inspiration users, and reading through your questions you would like posted in the What’s Up Wednesdays so make sure to email me at whatsup@pazzles.com with your questions!
I have this problem once in a while and from experience, I know it is because I have too much going on. I know I can’t blame my software because my Photoshop will also shut down on me, as well as my Outlook. So I know the culprit is me or my computer. I used to have a lot more problems but it settled down considerably when I changed to a different anti virus software.
My software shuts down more when my computer has been running the virus scanner all night. It is important to restart my computer each day to refresh its resources. Any time my software is not working as it should, I also shut down my computer for a few minutes. When I start it again, the software has magically healed itself!
If I want maximum resources available in my cutter software, it helps to shut down all other programs that are running, especially my Internet browser and virus scanners. I try to always save my work before outlining, auto vectorizing, using WYSIWYG, and other memory intensive functions.
I have noticed this the most when I use the multiply function after creating intricate designs such as lace where I have been welding and unwelding like you said above. I have also found that sometimes, if I stop and let the computer do its thing, it will regroup and start working again, albeit very slowly. I have learned to hit the save key at that point. It will start to time out again…will regroup….and I close out the entire program, reopen, and open the file that I had saved…and usually, all goes back to normal. There have been times where it times out all over again…I usually repeat a second time. If it still does this, I restart the computer. That usually takes care of the problem.
I have a new question for you though. I have done all of the updates…even took the program off and uploaded again and updated again (was having some technical problems)…and lately, I have noticed that when I make a circle, it forms perfectly….but as I continue making my designs, and try to add color to the circles, sometimes…though not consistantly…I can’t add color. I have found out that the reason is because the circle is not connected or welded. I have to connect it and then the program will allow color. Now, this is fine if it is just a few circles. But, sometimes, I have multiplied circles and they all had color initially, but then suddenly the color is gone and they are all open. Is there way to find this out before I multiply so that I can avoid having to close each and everyone of them?
Thanks….Vicki
BTW…I like this idea of answering our questions!
Vicki, this is a really good question. I’ll actually cover this next week in my blog!
In the future please email me at whatsup@pazzles.com with any questions that you have. Keep an eye out next week for a response to your question. I can’t wait to answer you!