Supporting Paratext
Licensing
Applying for a license
Conditions for license
- Involved in Bible translation in an agency that agrees to FOBAI guidelines for Bible translation.
- Active involvement in a translation project, in any of the roles Paratext recognizes.
If someone is not part of an organization but still wants to use Paratext, they may apply as an Independent translator. Information is available on the registration page at pt8.paratext.org
Training organizations
Training organizations may also apply for using Paratext.
Installation and updates
The installation page has several files which may be useful to you:
- Online installer
- Smaller file which is easier to run and install online. It is a smaller installer because it doesn't contain the files that may already be on the computer system. If it discovers they are needed, it will download them during the installation.
- Offline installer
- Larger file, but it contains all the files that might be needed during the installation.
- Patch file
- Download this also when installing offline because it contains the cumulative updates to Paratext since the release version. Just running the patch file on an existing computer will bring Paratext up to date.
- As a Paratext supporter, you should have access to download the latest updated MSP files (Windows Installer Patch files). The are currently available on the old Paratext site after logging in here: http://paratext.org/download/pt/updates-all
- Checksums
- This file can be used to ensure the install file is not corrupted. You can use this MD5 and SHA Checksum Utility to validate your installer.
Paratext update channel
Pressing shift when clicking the help menu allows you to select: Advanced | Release Stage | Beta (warning unstable)
It is recommended that all support personnel receive the beta releases in order to detect and report errors before they become part of the standard release.
The update channel only works for versions with a stable release. If you are running the beta of a version of Paratext that has not yet been released as stable, you will have to download and install your updates manually from the link above.
Downgrading Paratext
If a patch has rendered Paratext unusable, you can try downloading the previously released MSP file and installing it over top of the current version. If that doesn't work, then uninstall Paratext, reinstall the base version and then install the previous patch. Then uncheck the automatic updates on the Help menu or the bad patch will get reapplied. You will want to report this bug to the developers using the option on the help menu of Paratext.
First Aid
If Paratext will not start, your first response should be to hold down shift while starting Paratext. Paratext will ask you if you want to reset all of the settings to default, you respond by clicking yes. Now start Paratext again. In more than half the cases, this will solve the problem and get Paratext running again. There may be, however, a project that is causing Paratext to crash. In that case, Paratext will crash again when you open the project. However, by being able to reset Paratext to a default startup, you can troubleshoot which project or component is causing the crash. You'll need to contact support to resolve the issue.
If Paratext will still not start after using the shift method, you can do a complete uninstall and reinstall of Paratext. When uninstalling Paratext, it will never, never, delete the My Paratext 8 Projects directory.
My Paratext 8 Projects directory
From a support standpoint, it is best to leave it in the root of the C drive as in the default install. People who are knowledgeable about the file system often like to move it elsewhere, but in this case I often see multiple My Paratext Projects directories on computers. If you keep it in the root of C the chances of multiple directories or of Paratext getting confused are greatly reduced.
Moving the My Paratext Projects directory
To change the location of your My Paratext Projects folder.
Paratext will automatically prompt you for the new location when a project that it expects to find is missing. When you give it the new path, it automatically adjusts all of the configuration files to reflect the new location.
So, if you come across a My Paratext Projects directory in an inappropriate location, the best way to move it is as follows
- Copy the My Paratext Projects folder and paste it in the appropriate location.
- Rename the original folder “Wrong Paratext folder” or something so that Paratext won't recognize it on startup.
- Start Paratext
- Paratext will detect that the folder is missing and will prompt you for the location.
- Browse to the correct location and Paratext will fix all of the incorrect links, and start up normally
- When you confirm that everything is there, delete the renamed folder.
Installing resources offline
To obtain resource files for offline installation, you will need to copy them from a computer that has already downloaded them in Paratext using the File -> Download/Install Resources… menu.You will find the downloaded resources stored in .p8z files that are found in the _Resources directory in \My Paratext 8 Projects. Copy these files to a flash drive. Now you can install them in Paratext on any computer from the Download/Install Resources… menu.
Send and Receive
When entering the name of someone, it has to be entered exactly, including upper and lowercase. For example John Chavez. If “john chavez” was entered, you do a send and receive, the directory with the wrong case will be created on the thumb drive for the data. When John tries to do a send and receive, his computer will say that there is no project for him on the thumb drive. Going back to the administrators machine, if you correct it to John Chavez, the problem still isn't fixed. Windows doesn't distinguish between upper and lowercase in directory names, and so instead of creating a directory “John Chavez”, it will see that “john chavez” already exists and considered to be the same. This is probably a bug, but to get around it to currently, you will have to manually delete “john chavez” directory off of the thumb drive and then do send and receive again from the administrators computer.
Tech help
To read help topics in Paratext that are designated for technicians like yourselves, type #tech in the search box.
Reporting bugs
Please take the time to report bugs when you encounter them. When an error report can’t be sent automatically, please take the time to attach the file that is placed on the desktop into an e-mail and send it to the support address.
Reading your own bug reports
When a bug report is sent in, it goes to someone who tries to interpret it and get back to you with a suggestion. The last time I had an issue it was related to a Windows font that was installed incorrectly or missing. If you want to attempt to decipher a bug report to see if it is something simple that is causing the problem, look here:
Inside the bug report zip file you will find a file called “log.txt” that contains the messages from Paratext. Usually you have to go to the bottom of the file and move up, because it can cover several days or weeks’ worth of activity.
In the Send and Receive data, each project that is synchronized with the thumb drive or server has a separate directory for each username.
