Welcome

Welcome to NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ — the easiest way to upgrade your brain’s memory!

We hope that you’ll find NeverForget both fun and easy to use.  Of course, there are always times when you want a definitive reference guide to show you the way — if you ever get stuck, just refer to this help file.


Creating A New Reminder

By default, a new reminder will be created for the highlight day in the currently displayed month and year.

1.	Use the Month and Year up/down spinners to display the desired month and year.

2.	Select (click on) the date that the new reminder will be on.

3.	Click the “NEW” button (with the green light to its left).

4.	A Reminder properties dialog will appear.  Fill out the required data (see the help section on Reminder properties ) and click OK.

Alternately, you can simply double-click on the date in question if there are no other reminders currently entered for that date (i.e. the calendar cell is “empty.”).

Finally, yet another way to create a new reminder is to right-click in the calendar window to bring up the Properties pop-up menu, and select “New…”.


Editing An Existing Reminder

1.	Go to the proper Month and Year containing the reminder you wish to edit using Month and Year up/down spinners.

2.	Click the “EDIT” button.

Or, you can navigate to the proper Month and Year (so that the reminder in question is visible on your screen), and then simple double-click on the reminder icon itself.  This will automatically bring up the Edit Reminder window.

By right-clicking on the reminder and choosing “Edit…” you can also edit the properties of the Reminder.


Rescheduling A Reminder

NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ makes rescheduling reminders easier than ever before by using a simple drag-and-drop interface.

1.	Go to the proper Month and Year containing the reminder you wish to reschedule using Month and Year up/down spinners.

2.	Drag the Reminder to the new day of the month you wish to reschedule it to.

3.	If the Reminder is to be rescheduled to a different month, drag the reminder to the extreme right or left of the calendar window and hold it there for a second or so.  The calendar will begin cycling through the months in order.  When the proper month is displayed, move the Reminder to the appropriate day and drop.

Note:  Dragging a Reminder against the extreme left edge of the calendar window will make the calendar cycle through previous months.  Dragging a Reminder again the right edge will make the calendar cycle through following months.


Jumping to Today's Date

At any time, you may restore the calendar view to the month and year containing today’s date (as dictated by your System time configured through the Windows operating system).

To do this, click on the “TODAY” button to restore the view to today’s date, or double-click on the green date display window itself.


Viewing a different Month or Year

The Calendar shows a single month at a time.  The month and year currently displayed are indicated by the two green “read outs” just above the Calendar itself — one showing the month, and the other the year.

To change to another month, use the up/down “spinner” control to the left of the month read-out.  Clicking on the up arrow will change to the next month, and the down arrow will change to the previous month.

To change to another year, use the up/down spinner control to the right of the year read-out.  As with the month spinner, clicking on the top arrow will go to the next year, and the bottom button will take you back to the previous year.


Calendar window

Most of the real “action” in NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ takes place in the Calendar window.  This is the area that displays a “grid” containing all the days of a given month and any Reminders that are scheduled for those days.

As you move your mouse pointer around in this window, Calendar cells will “highlight” when the cursor is within in, and “de-highlight” as the cursor exits the cell.  Additionally, when you click inside of a cell, it becomes “selected” and appears brighter than the other cells in the calendar.

By selecting a single day (or cell) within the Calendar window, you make a particular day the “active” day for which new Reminders will be created.


Printing Reminders

NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ can print out any or all of your reminders so you can take a portable paper copy with you — either as a to-do list, or a general purpose note-to-self.

1.	Right-click in the calendar window to bring up the properties menu,

2.	Select “Print reminders…”

3.	Choose the date range of Reminders that you want to print.

4.	Click on OK.


Deleting a single Reminder

When you no longer need a Reminder — for instance, if an event has passed, and you no longer care to see a reference to it inside of NeverForget — you can delete the reminder from the internal database.

1.	Go to the appropriate Month and Year containing the no longer needed Reminder.

2.	Carefully right-click on the Reminder to be deleted and select “Delete this reminder.”

3.	You will be prompted asking if this is, in fact, a reminder you wish to delete (the prompt will include the message associated with the reminder so you can verify which one it is).

4.	Click on “YES.”


Deleting multiple Reminders

As time goes by, old Reminders may clutter up the Reminder database — these old Reminders can be deleted en mass by deleting all Reminders within a particular date range.

1.	Right-click inside the calendar window.

2.	Select “Delete range of reminders…”

3.	Choose both the starting date and ending date between which all reminders will be deleted.

4.	By default, only “One-time” Reminders will be deleted.  These, typically, become the “forgotten” Reminders, because they can only be seen within the Month they were created (as opposed to Weekly, Monthly or Yearly Reminders which are displayed periodically as you view consecutive months).  If you would like to delete ALL Reminders, including non-“One-Time” Reminders, you must UN-check the box labeled “Delete one-time Reminders only.”

5.	Click on OK.

6.	A message will appear, displaying the total number of Reminders that were actually deleted from the database.


Program Options

NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ is not a complex program.  Even so, there are a few program-wide default options that can be changed by accessing the Options page.

To access the Options dialog:

1.	Right-click in the Calendar window.

2.	Select “Options…” from the pop-up Properties menu that appears.

The following options can be adjusted using the dialog that appears:

Number of days to “look into the future” when displaying Upcoming Reminders.

By default, the Upcoming Reminders window displays all reminders scheduled for the NEXT 30 days.  That is, any reminder scheduled for today or 30 days from today’s date (as defined by the settings of your System clock inside of Windows operating system) will show up.

Using the drop-down list box, various other amounts of days can be selected.  Your new setting will be saved so that it remains in effect until you manually change it again (even if you close and restart NeverForget).

Default Reminder Alert Sound

If you do not take the time to specify a custom sound for a Reminder that you enter, a default sound will be played by the system when its associated alert appears.  If you desire, you can change the standard “System Beep” default to another default .WAV file of your own choosing.

That is, by default, all of your Reminders will play the sound specified in this dialog unless you choose a custom, Reminder-specific sound in the New Reminder dialog.

To use your standard Windows system beep sound as the default Reminder sound:

1.	Open the Options dialog as described above.

2.	Click on the “Use system beep” radio button.

To use your own .WAV file as the default Reminder sound:

1.	Open the Options dialog as described above.

2.	Click on the wide button below the “Use system beep” radio button to bring up an Open File dialog.

3.	Choose your .WAV file and click on OK.

4.	The name of the .WAV file you’ve chosen should now appear in the wide button.

5.	To hear the sound you’ve chosen, click on the green “Play” button (a right-facing arrow like the one on your home CD player).


Exporting Reminders

Reminders can be exported (or transferred out of NeverForget) to files that other copies of NeverForget, and even other Windows programs, can read and use.

Here are a few instances when you might find Reminder exporting quite useful:

1.	You have entered a series of dates, milestones, or events that everyone in your family, club or organization could share.  Little league games, project completion timelines, or family-wide birthdays could all be shared.

2.	As an additional precaution to the built-in weekly backup, you can export the entire database to a file and keep it in a safe place.

The two major file formats you can export are:

Reminder Packs

To distribute Reminders to other people who have a copy of NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™, export the Reminders as Reminder Pack files.  Reminder Packs allow you to “package” up Reminders, custom icons, and custom .WAV files all into one convenient file that you can either save to disk or email to a friend.

This allows you to create a series of Reminders that can utilize specific sounds and user-imported icons, and allow others to see and hear these Reminders exactly as they appear in your own copy of NeverForget.

To mail a Reminder Pack to a friend:

1.	Right-click in the Calendar window and select “Export reminders…”

2.	A dialog will appear showing all Reminders.  By selecting Reminders in the left window and clicking the “ · ” button, you can choose those Reminders to be exported.

3.	Repeat step 2 until all Reminders that you wish to export appear in the right window.  If you accidentally select Reminders you DON’T want to export, select them in the right window and transfer them back using the “ · ” arrow.

4.	Click on the “Mail…” button.

5.	When prompted, type the filename that the mail recipient will see this reminder pack as (for example, “Birthdays”) and click “OK.”

6.	In a moment, a new mail message will appear, with your Reminder pack already added as an attachment.  Fill out the TO: email address and enter a message like normal and click on Send.

NOTE: The option to mail a Reminder Pack may not be available if Microsoft Exchange is not configured properly in your Windows operating system.  If that is the case, use the procedure below to save the Reminder pack as a file, and then simply attach the resulting file to your email message.

To export Reminders as a Reminder Pack file:

1.	Right-click in the Calendar window and select “Export reminders…”

2.	A dialog will appear showing all Reminders.  By selecting Reminders in the left window and clicking the “ · ” button, you can choose those Reminders to be exported.

3.	Repeat step 2 until all Reminders that you wish to export appear in the right window.  If you accidentally select Reminders you DON’T want to export, select them in the right window and transfer them back using the “ · ” arrow.

4.	Click on the “Save…” button.

5.	A file requester will appear, prompting you for a filename.  Be sure that “Save files as type” drop-down box is displaying “Reminder Pack (*.rpk)”.

6.	Enter a filename and click on “Save.”

Windows Comma Separated Value .CSV

If preserving the sound and icons associated with your Reminders is not as important as having other third-party programs like Microsoft Outlook98 read them, Windows CSV is a good choice.

To export Reminders as a Reminder Pack file:

1.	Right-click in the Calendar window and select “Export reminders…”

2.	A dialog will appear showing all Reminders.  By selecting Reminders in the left window and clicking the “ · ” button, you can choose those Reminders to be exported.

3.	Repeat step 2 until all Reminders that you wish to export appear in the right window.  If you accidentally select Reminders you DON’T want to export, select them in the right window and transfer them back using the “ · ” arrow.

4.	Click on the “Save…” button.

5.	A file requester will appear, prompting you for a filename.  Be sure that “Save files as type” drop-down box is displaying “Outlook98 Windows .CSV (*.csv)”.

6.	Enter a filename and click on “Save.”


Importing Reminders

Both Reminders Packs and Outlook98 Windows .CSV files can be imported into NeverForget Personal Reminder Software.  Note that Reminder Packs are files created by another user’s copy of NeverForget, and can contain Reminders, Icons, and .WAV files so that the imported Reminders look and sound just like the originals.  Files generated by Outlook98 or other non-NeverForget™ brand programs may not have a perfect or exact representation once inside of NeverForget Personal Reminder Software.

To import a Reminder Pack by double-clicking:

1.	Make sure you have run NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ at least once before.

2.	Find the .RPK file on your computer’s hard drive, and double-click on the file.

3.	The Reminder Pack will launch NeverForget™ (if it is not already running) and automatically import.

4.	A message saying, “Reminder pack successfully imported will appear.”  Click OK.

To import a Reminder Pack from within the program:

1.	Right-click in the calendar window.

2.	A pop-up menu will appear.  Select “Import reminders…”

3.	An open file dialog will appear.  Find the .RPK file on your computer that you wish to import.  Be sure the “Show files of type” drop down displays “Reminder packs (*.rpk)”.

4.	Click on Open.

5.	A message saying, “Reminder pack successfully imported will appear.”  Click OK.

To import an Outlook98 Windows .CSV file:

1.	Right-click in the calendar window.

2.	A pop-up menu will appear.  Select “Import reminders…”

3.	An open file dialog will appear.  Find the .RPK file on your computer that you wish to import.  Be sure the “Show files of type” drop down displays “Outlook98 Windows CSV (*.csv)”.

4.	Click on Open.

5.	A message saying, “Reminders successfully imported will appear.”  Click OK.

Note: NeverForget supports dragging and dropping of files to be imported.  That is, you can drag an .RPK, .CSV, or .ICO file from a folder directly onto the program’s main window to initiate the importing operation.


Automatic Reminder backup

For maximum data security all of your Reminders are automatically backed up by NeverForget on a weekly basis.  This means that if your Reminder database gets corrupted, you should theoretically only have to re-enter the last week’s worth of Reminders.  Hopefully, this is one feature of NeverForget you will never have to use!

To automatically backup your Reminders:

1.	Just continue to use NeverForget like you always have — the backup happens automatically!

To recover all Reminders from your most recent automatic backup:

1.	Click on the tiny NeverForget logo in the extreme upper-left corner of the window to reveal the program’s System Menu.

2.	Select “Recover Reminders from weekly backup…”

3.	If you’re sure this is what you want to do, accept both warning messages.

4.	After a brief pause, the screen will be redrawn to show all of your recovered Reminders.


Troubleshooting

We’ve tried to make NeverForget as reliable as possible through careful coding and extensive testing.  However, even the best laid plans of mice and men go awry.  If you’re having a technical problem, check the list below for a possible quick fix.  If your problem is not resolved, then feel free to send email to NFsupport@aol.com and we will assist you in any way we can.

Q:	I entered a Reminder for today, but it didn’t show up.  Why not?

A:	Most likely, the NeverForget program is not running.  If the application is not running, then it cannot alert you of current Reminders.  Be sure you see the tiny NeverForget logo next to the clock on your Windows taskbar.  If this logo is not present, NeverForget must be started by clicking on Start, Programs, NeverForget, NeverForget.  Another possible cause is an improperly set Windows system time.  Double-click on the clock in the bottom right of your screen to verify/change the time and date.

Q:	NeverForget won’t remind me about my bi-weekly get together, or that festival that only happens on leap-years.  How can I fix this?

A:	This version of NeverForget only supports one-time, weekly, monthly and yearly reminders.  For more advanced Reminders, you can simply enter multiple Reminders into the database.

Q:	I installed NeverForget, but it doesn’t run automatically when I restart my computer, and no icons showed up in my Start menu.

A:	If you are using Windows NT, you must have administrative privileges to properly configure NeverForget.  If this is not the problem, try re-installing the software.

Q:	I tried to mail a Reminder Pack to someone, but it didn’t work.

A:	To email a Reminder Pack, you must have Microsoft Exchange properly configured.  Please refer to your Exchange documentation for instructions on how to do this.  As an alternative, you can save the Reminder Pack to disk, and mail it as an attachment using your favorite mail client.

Q:	Why does NeverForget re-import my custom icons every time I restore the program window (click on the NeverForget icon in the task bar)?

A:	NeverForget uses the very latest Windows technology to deliver beautiful user interface imagery in millions of colors (if your display is configured properly, of course).  In Windows 95, this uses up an incredible amount of your system resources while the main window is displayed.  When you minimize NeverForget, it is still keeping track of upcoming Reminders, however, it has released all of the Windows resources for other programs to use.  Therefore, when the program is once again restored, all of the graphics must be reloaded, including any imported icons.

Q:	How come there are no shadows under the icons like it shows on the box?  I’m running in 256 color mode.

A:	In 256 color mode, Version 2.0 does not display the semi-transparent shadows.  Future releases of the program will mostly like support transparent shadows in all color modes.


Contacting the publisher

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to send email to the publishers at:

NFsupport@aol.com


Credits

Original Concept

Adam Jacobs

Code + Design

David J. Calabrese

Interface Art + Icons

Richard Lewis III

Box Design

Tobias Queck

Dialog Graphics

Scott Roberts

Additional Dialog Layout

Angela Lester

Additional graphics + Help file

David J. Calabrese

NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™ is a trademark of National Creative Registry, Inc.

© 1998 National Creative Registry, Inc.
© 1998 EchoLink Interactive, Inc.


Upcoming Reminders window

You can see, at a glance, what important Reminders are scheduled for the near future by referring to the Upcoming Reminders window.  Exactly how far into the future this view displays can be controlled by changing the program Options.  (Please refer to the Options section for instructions on how this value is adjusted.)

By default, all Reminders scheduled for today and the next 30 days are displayed in this window, listed vertically from the earliest to latest Reminder.  (The number of days can be changed from 30 to some other number using the Options dialog.)  On the far left, the date of the Reminders is listed, and to the right of that, the first part of the Message associated with each Reminder is displayed.  This gives you a quick “heads up,” alerting you to important upcoming Reminders.

You can “jump” to the specific day that any Reminder listed in the Upcoming Reminders window falls on by simply clicking on it.  Note that the Month and Year being shown in the calendar window will change to whatever Month and Year the Reminder clicked on is set for.  Of course, if you were already viewing that Month, there will be no change in the Month or Year.  The day that the Reminder falls on will become the “selected” day in the Calendar window and highlight appropriately.

Further, by double-clicking on an item in the Upcoming Reminder window, you can bring up an Edit dialog which will allow you to manage Reminders for that day.

Note that if you click on a day in the Calendar window that contains a Reminder listed in the Upcoming Reminder window, that Reminder in the Upcoming Reminder window will also highlight, providing additional visual feedback.


Reminder properties dialog

Creating a new Reminder or editing an exiting Reminder will bring up the Reminder properties dialog.

How often?

Reminders can be of different types depending on how often they are displayed the typical Reminder is only shown once — it is a “One-time” Reminder.  Other things, like Birthdays and club meetings, may be Annual or Monthly.  Finally, there is a Weekly option for things like classes or chores.

Time of day

Use these fields to set what time of day the Reminder is for.  As an example, if you were entering a Reminder for a 2:30 P.M. dentist appointment, you would enter “2” in the hours field, “30” in the minutes field, and click on the PM  radio button.

Send Reminder in advance

Often, if someone reminds you of something exactly when you’re supposed to be doing it, then it’s a touch to late — these fields allow you to specify the amount of advance warning you would like to receive.  The amount of advance notice you will be given is entered as a number of days, hours, and minutes.

For example, if you have 2 :30 P.M. appointment, and would like to be notified 30 minutes in advance, you would enter “0” days, “0” hours and “30” minutes.

Select icon

Each Reminder will be represented on the Calendar window by an icon of your choosing.  You can select from the ones that are included with NeverForget, or you can import your own icon by clicking on the “Add Icon” button to the right of the list.

To see more icons that are displayed, use the scroll bar below the icon list.

Note: The currently selected icon is displayed next to your Reminder message.

Message to display

When a Reminder is displayed, both its icon and a message alerting you of the specifics of the Reminder are shown.  Type in the message you wished displayed in the textbox.  If needed, use the scroll bars.  You can type an arbitrarily long message if needed.

Sound

If you would like to assign a specific sound for this Reminder, click on the “(Click to choose sound)” and an open file requester will be displayed.  Find the desired .WAV file and click on Open to select it.  The “Use custom sound” checkbox will be checked, which indicates the use of a custom sound for this Reminder.

To return to using your default sound (set in the Options dialog), un-check the “Use custom sound” checkbox.


Upgrading to the full version

If you’re using the demo version of NeverForget, you’ll mostly likely want to continue to use its friendly and extensive feature set beyond the 30-day trial period.  You can easily do this by purchasing the full version of the software.

Note:  Your existing Reminders WILL be preserved even after any kind of upgrade of the NeverForget Personal Reminder Software™.

Purchasing the full version of NeverForget is as simple as visiting our web site, http://www.neverforget.com .  There, you can use your credit card and our secure on-line transaction server to buy the program digitally and in complete safety.

Alternately, you may send email to NFsupport@aol.com requesting purchase information.  The very latest version and pricing data will be sent back to you, along with our address so you can mail a personal check or money order to.


Adding your own icons

The most requested feature since NeverForget Personal Reminder Software 1.0 was released has been the ability to add your own icons.  Ask and ye shall receive!  Version 2.0 and above support the adding of any standard Windows icon (.ICO file) to your available choices.

There are several shareware programs available to allow you to create your own icons.  Check www.download.com and search for “icon editor”.  Some rules to follow for creating your own icons:

1.	The icon file must contain at least one 32x32 pixel icon (the standard size), and optionally, a 16x16 icon as well.

2.	Icons can contain any number of colors — of course, the more the better.  All of NeverForget’s native icons use millions of colors (24-bit color).

Luckily, there are literally thousands of appropriate, ready-made icons floating around on the Internet.  Use your favorite search engine to find them.

To add your own icon to those available for use as Reminders:

1.	Create a new Reminder using the New button, or edit an existing one by double-clicking on the Reminder icon.

2.	Once the Reminder Properties dialog is open, refer to that section for adding a new icon.

Removing A Custom Icon

In the event that you’ve imported an icon that you no longer wish to use, you can remove it by deleting the .ICO file from the “icons” directory.  This directory resides inside the directory where you installed the NeverForget software.

For example, if you accepted the default location during the install process, the directory containing the icons will be “C:\Program Files\NeverForget\icons”.

To remove an icon:

1.	Launch the Windows Explorer.

2.	Wend you way to the directory that you originally installed NeverForget™ in.

3.	Open the “icons” directory.

4.	Find the offensive icon.

5.	Select it and tap the delete key.