Version 2.0
March 2005
Whether you downloaded the software from our Web site or received it in the mail, you should have a file called UnDupe.prc on your desktop or laptop computer (on the hard disk or on a floppy diskette). If you have a file named UnDupe.ZIP, that is not the proper file; that's a compressed or "zipped" file that you must uncompress with standard "unzipping" software (which we do not provide). If you have a file named UnDupe.EXE, that is also not the proper file; that's also a compressed file which is "self-extracting" and which you should run in order to uncompress it to obtain the file UnDupe.prc.
If you do not have the file UnDupe.prc, you cannot proceed. If you do have UnDupe.prc, here's how to install it on your handheld unit:
Run your HotSync Manager software, and from the HotSync menu, select Install Handheld Files. Drag the file UnDupe.prc into the window (or use the Add to List button to accomplish the same thing), quit the HotSync Manager, and perform a HotSync
Using the Install software that came with UnDupe: As part of the download or on this diskette or CD you should see a program named Install in the same folder as the UnDupe software. Double-click on Install, and it will copy all of the files to a new UnDupe Software folder in your Palm\Add-On folder on your computer, and at the same time will perform all the steps to install the software in your Palm, except for the final step of performing an actual HotSync. When you do your next HotSync, the software will be installed in your Palm.
If the procedure above does not work for some reason, simply double-click on the file UnDupe.prc. If you are offered a window asking use to "Select a user", do so. Click Done on the Install Tool window which appears and perform a HotSync.
From the Applications window on your Palm, look for the icon labelled UnDupe which looks like this:
Some people mistakenly think that UnDupe wasn't installed on their handheld unit because they don't see the icon. The Applications window displays 12 icons for 12 applications. The letter "U" is near the end of the alphabet, and if UnDupe happens to be the 13th application (or more) that you install, it may be "off the bottom" of the Applications window. Look for the scroll bar on the right side of the window and scroll down until you see UnDupe. When you install UnDupe, it will be automatically placed in the "Utilities" category, so unless the category selector in the upper right of the Applications window displays either "All" or "Utilities," you won't see it.
If you still don't see the application, it is possible it didn't get installed because of problems with the HotSync process. Try doing another HotSync with ALL conduits set to "Do Nothing" except for the "Install" conduit.
When you start UnDupe, you'll see the main screen of the program which looks like this:
If you have registered the software, and have obtained a serial number from Stevens Creek Software, you enter the serial number by tapping on the License button (see above). When you do, you'll see this screen appear:
Use Graffiti (or the on-screen keyboard) to enter your serial number (supplied to you by Stevens Creek Software); when you're done, tap on the OK button. If you enter an incorrect number, the software will let you know. If necessary, tap on the Cancel button to dismiss the Enter Serial Number screen. When you have entered the Serial Number correctly, you'll see the License button disappear from the main screen.
If you run into a problem, this probably means that when you provided your PalmPilot name to Stevens Creek Software, you did so incorrectly. Check the name in the Enter Serial Number screen shown above, and write it down exactly (including case, i.e., whether the letters are upper-case letters like THIS or lower-case letters like this) and email it to Stevens Creek Software technical support and wait for a new serial number to be provided to you.
Once the software is licensed, the word "Unlicensed" will disappear:
You have three options in the way to proceed (tap the Information icon in the upper right of the screen and you'll see all this information online):
What Databases to Search: You can search the Date Book, Address Book, Memo Pad, and To Do List separately, or just tap on the All button and search each of the four major applications in succession.UnDupe will always compare all aspects of the various items. For Date Book ("Calendar" on some newer Palm handhelds) items, it compares date, start and end time, the item itself, and any attached note. For Address Book ("Contacts" on some newer handhelds) entries, it compares each of the different fields. For Memo Pad ("Memos" on some newer handhelds) entries, it compares the entire memo, and for To Do ("Tasks" on some newer handhelds) list entries, it compares both the To Do item itself and any attached note. So items have to be exact duplicates in order to match (and then be removed).
Special note for users of Franklin-Covey softwareIf you have installed the Franklin-Covey software in your Palm, the standard Palm "To Do" list application is not used; in its place you use the "Task List" application. If UnDupe finds the Franklin Task List application on your Palm, the button labelled To Do List in the figure above will not appear; in its place will be a button labelled Task List, which will search the Task List and remove duplicates from it. |
What to Do: If Find Duplicates is checked, UnDupe will simply search the database(s) and tell you how many duplicates were found. If Find and Remove is checked, it will automatically remove them at the same time. Note that Find and Remove is only available if your copy of UnDupe is licensed.
How Hard to Try: In most cases, duplicates entries are found adjacent to each other (internally, in the database, which is not necessarily the same as what appears on your screen). When you check Fast Search mode, UnDupe searches only adjacent items, so the search is fast, but in some cases it may miss some things. Untimed events in the Date Book seem to be the most susceptible, although Memos and To-Do list items can also be missed. If you check Exhaustive, UnDupe compares every entry to every other entry. This can take much more time (e.g., 20 seconds vs. 3 seconds for a Date Book with 350 entries), but it should find all duplicates. Especially if you have a lot of duplicates, we recommend searching (and removing) duplicates first in the Fast Search mode to cut down the size of the databases, then check Exhaustive and repeat the search.
With the Address Book data, these two modes mean something different. The Address Book has places for up to five phone numbers and email addresses. In Fast Search mode, each number is compared to its corresponding entry when comparing two addresses. In Exhaustive mode, each number is compared with every other number, because some causes of data duplication can cause the numbers to be scrambled (e.g., Home first and Work second in one entry, and Work first and Home second in a second entry).
UnDupe compares all aspects of the various items. For Date Book items, it compares date, start and end time, alarms, the item itself, and any attached note. For Address Book entries, it compares each of the different fields. For Memo Pad entries, it compares the entire memo, and for To Do list entries, it compares both the To Do item itself, the priority, due date, and any attached note. So items have to be exact duplicates in order to match (and then be removed). There are only three exceptions to the exact matching requirement. The first exception is "categories" - if UnDupe finds two entries, one of which is categorized and the other is "unfiled," it considers those duplicates and removes the one which is "unfiled" as you would expect (if they both are categorized in different categories, UnDupe considers them as two different entries and neither will be deleted). The second exception, which applies to the Date Book, Address Book, and To Do list, is with attached notes. If UnDupe finds two entries which are otherwise identical, and one has an attached note and the second does not, it will delete the one without the attached note (if they both have different notes attached, they are, of course, different and neither will be deleted). And third, UnDupe will ignore extra spaces and new lines ("returns") at the end of any text material, that is, "CA" and "CA " are treated as duplicates.
Note that there are some causes of duplicates which cause "near" duplicates. UnDupe will not find and remove duplicates of this nature.
UnDupe 2.0 adds two new features to earlier versions of UnDupe. The first of these deals with Palm "repeating events." Some HotSync problems could "uncouple" a repeating event. That is, instead of having a conference which repeated every day for five days, you would have that, plus five individual events, one on each day. These are not precisely speaking exact duplicates, and earlier versions of UnDupe would not remove them. UnDupe 2.0, when run in "Exhaustive" mode only, will now search for this situation and remove the individual events, leaving only the single repeating event. Because these are not exactly the same, however, UnDupe will in this case only provide user interaction, like this:
Tapping on Yes will remove a single individual event; if there is more than one such individual event which "matches" a repeating event, you'll see the same screen again and again. Tapping on No will not remove that single event, but will continue to search for them. Tapping on All Yes will remove all individual events which match that repeating event. You will only see this kind of screen again if a different repeating event matches other individual events. Similarly, tapping on All No will not remove any individual event matching the displayed repeating event, but if there is a different repeating event matching individual events, you'll be asked this question again. Note that matches for repeating events do take into account the time frame of the repeat. That is to say, if the repeating "MacWorld Expo" event in the screen above repeated from January 7 through Januuary 10, 2003, if there was a single day entry for MacWorld Expo on January 9, 2004, this would not be considered a match and UnDupe will not even think about removing it.
The second new feature in UnDupe 2.0 deals with "modified phone numbers." Some HotSync problems would result in "near-duplicate" entries, but one would have a phone number in the form (xxx) yyy-zzzz, and the other would have a phone number xxx-yyy-zzzz (or other variations). In "Exhaustive" mode only, UnDupe will now search for this situation, and, assuming everything else is identical, it will now consider these two phone numbers identical so that the pair will qualify as duplicates. In this version there is no way to specify which one will be removed; it will always be the second one in the database.
When you click on one of the buttons to search one (or all) of your databases, the bottom of the screen will change, as shown here:
The Cancel button really shouldn't be needed, but it's provided in case the search is taking an inordinately long time and you're worried that something has gone wrong. When you tap on Cancel, the search will stop (note that if you have thousands of entries in the database being searched, it may take a few seconds before the program actually stops). If you are in the "Find Only" mode, UnDupe will stop and tell you how many duplicates it has found up to that point. If you are in the "Find and Remove" mode, duplicates which have already been removed up to that point remain removed; the Cancel button simply stops UnDupe from removing any more.
If you have any problems using UnDupe, you can contact Stevens Creek Software in one of the following ways:
| On the web: | http://www.stevenscreek.com/support.html |
| By email: | supportmail@stevenscreek.com |
If you lose your serial number or the serial number you were provided is incorrect, DO NOT CALL. First visit the support web page above, which will be the quickest way to solve your problem; as an alternative, email supportmail@stevenscreek.com with your request. Note that if the serial number is incorrect, the typical problem is that you provided the incorrect Palm User Name (HotSync name) to us when you licensed the software. To get the User Name, tap on the Applications button, then tap on the HotSync application. The name appears in the extreme upper right of the screen. Please be sure you supply it to us EXACTLY as it appears, including upper or lower case letters, punctuation, and spaces as appropriate. When we get the name from you we can provide your serial number.
The registration fee for UnDupe is $9.95 as of March 18, 2005 (prices are subject to change). If you haven't yet licensed your copy, you can do so in one of the following ways:
| Online: | https://id41.securedata.net/stevenscreek/palmorderform.html
or http://www.stevenscreek.com |
| Fax: | 1-603-698-4777 |
| Mail: | Stevens Creek Software P.O. Box 2126 Cupertino, CA 95015 |
| We accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express credit cards, and checks drawn on U.S. banks. If ordering via fax or mail, be sure to include credit card type, number, and expiration date (if using a credit card), mailing address, e-mail address, and daytime phone number, as well as your Palm User Name ("HotSync name"). Please note: A $3.00 order processing charge is added to any order which is not placed through our automated Web site order form (that is, via phone, fax, or mail). | |
Copyright 1997-2005 by Stevens Creek Software
All Rights Reserved. UnDupe is a trademark of Stevens Creek Software LLC.