Other Questions - Our Most Common Questions and Answers |
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Where can I get additional documentation or a user manual?
If you bought the Weight-By-Date Pro CD-ROM, then you already have a printed Getting Started Guide, which we highly recommend that you check out.
We have also created an Electronic User's Guide for Weight-By-Date Pro, which contains a wealth of information, along with screen shots. You can download it here. The Electronic User's Guide is in PDF format, for easy on-screen viewing and printing. This can also be installed from the Weight-By-Date Pro CD-ROM.
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Are there any tutorials for Weight-By-Date Pro?
Yes -- we do have some animated tutorials for Weight-By-Date Pro, which you can run from our web site.
Click here to see the Tutorials.
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What is a "program update" and how do I know if a program update is available?
 A program update contains bug fixes and in many cases adds a few new features. These are usually issued every 2-3 months and are free downloads for eligible users. Updates are labeled as a fractional increment to the program version stamp. For example, if your program release is 2.x, then the "x" indicates the update portion of the version stamp.
To see if a program update is available, just choose "Program Updates..." from the File menu from within the software. If a newer version of the program exists, and you're eligible for a free update, the program will download and install it for you.
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Why didn't I receive a notification for the last program update?
This could be due to one of the following reasons:
- You chose not to be notified of program updates when you placed your order.
- Your email address has changed since you placed your order.
- Your internet service provider rejected the message that we sent. We've seen this happen with AOL customers, for example.
- You have SPAM filtering that is preventing the notification message from getting through. By the way, you will never receive SPAM from us.
If you ordered Weight-By-Date Pro directly from us, click here to update your e-mail, name, address, and other contact information.
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How do I backup my Weight-By-Date data?
Weight-By-Date Pro gives you the ability to back up your data to removable media (such as a USB flash drive) or another folder on your PC. Likewise, you can also restore your previously backed up data.
Within Weight-By-Date Pro, click on the File menu and you will see "Backup Data" and "Restore Data" features. The process of Backing up and Restoring is very straightforward.
Remember that when you use the Restore Data feature, it will replace whatever data you currently have with the data you have backed up. This means that any new data that you have in the program will be erased during the process.
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How often should I backup my data?
If you're closely monitoring your food and weight, then we recommend that you use the Backup feature once per week. Computer crashes are not uncommon and we've had unfortunate customers that have lost years of Weight-By-Date data because they did not use this simple feature.
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Can I backup to a CD-ROM?
Unfortunately, you can't select a CD-ROM drive and backup directly to a CD. The process of writing to a CD is more complex and requires additional software and drivers on your PC. Windows XP does come with the ability to write to a CD, but it is all done from within the File Explorer and has to be done manually.
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Can I export my data to another format, such as Excel?
Yes. To do it, click on the File menu, select Other Tools and then one of the Export options. You can export your weight (with notes), Meals journal, and Exercise journal. The data is exported to a tab-delimited format, which can be imported easily into Excel.
Note: For Meals and Exercises, the program exports the data that you are currently viewing, so you will need to be viewing the Journal before the export option is enabled. This gives you some great flexibility. For example, if you are looking at a single date in the Meals Journal, then that is what will be exported. Likewise, if you are viewing all dates, then all data will be exported.
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Can my charts default to a certain range of dates?
Not yet. Currently, the charts open to view all of your data by default. But we are working on an improvement that will give you this very capability and it will be included in a future update. We're working on some other charting improvements as well.
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When I view the charts, my data labels are very close together and hard to read.
This can happen if you have been entering data into Weight-By-Date for a long time. Eventually you will have so much data that the data labels will tend to merge toward one another, making them hard to read. When you get to this point, you will probably want to un-check the Show Data Labels and Plot Data Points options in the Setup window. If you still want to see data labels, you can choose a smaller date range and click the Redraw button to redisplay the graph.
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My chart lines do not appear to display correctly or not at all.
This can happen under rare circumstances and it's related to your video driver and/or display settings. If your chart lines are only partially being displayed or not at all, try changing the line width for each chart. You can change your line width by right-clicking on the chart and selecting Properties. Each chart has a "Line Width" setting, and you can try either the "Fine" or "Medium" setting.
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When I click on a web site in the Links window, nothing happens.
In order to use the Web Links feature within Weight-By-Date, you will need to have a default web browser configured on your machine. If you are using Internet Explorer, you can configure it as the default browser by going to the Control Panel, and clicking the Internet Options icon. Then choose the Programs tab and check the option that reads "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser." Click OK and the next time you start Internet Explorer you will be asked to make it your default browser.
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Does Weight-By-Date Pro come with sample data?
Yes. Weight-By-Date Pro comes with two sample profiles to help you get a feel for the program's many features. One sample profile demonstrates an eight month period of weight loss and a total loss of about 60 pounds. The second sample profile demonstrates the ability to track not only your weight, but your meals, exercises, and measurements as well.
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Can I create reports for viewing and printing my data?
Currently, there isn't a reporting feature in the software, but it will be one of our key improvements in a future update. For now, you can print your foods and exercises by clicking the "Print" button in your Journal. You can also export your data and analyze it with Excel or another spreadsheet.
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How do I use Weight-By-Date with a point-tracking diet, such as Weight Watchers®?
Weight-By-Date Pro certainly can work with a point-tracking diet. Weight Watchers® is one such example. There are various legal issues that prohibit us from including specific calculations in the food database, but Weight-By-Date Pro gives you the ability to create custom nutrients, which you can use to track other values for each food.
These custom nutrients can give totals by meal and day (just like any other nutrient) and you can create targets for them as well. So all you need to do is create a nutrient for "Points" and then enter the point values for the foods that you commonly eat. Here's how to do it:
- Choose "Nutrient Selections" from the Settings menu. Here you will see the ten nutrients that you are tracking, in order, from 1 to 10.
- Find one of the nutrient values that you would like to designate for Points (Sodium, for example) and open the list of possible nutrients in that field. Scroll down to the bottom of the list and you will see five "Custom Value" fields. Choose "Custom Value 1".
- Now enter "Points" (or whatever you like) in the "Short Name" column.
- Click the "Close" button to save your changes.
- Now you need to enter the point values for any foods that you would like to track. To do this, choose "Foods and Meals" from the Settings menu.
- Now you will see a "Points" column for each food, where you can enter the values for your favorite foods. You can start by viewing your "Recent Foods", which you can select from the "Food List" field. Then you can do a search to find the rest.
- Click "OK" to close the Food Setup window when you're done.
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How many people can Weight-By-Date track from a single PC?
You can track up to ten people in Weight-By-Date Pro. We call these profiles, but you can also think of them as "users". Each person can have a separate password, color scheme, and more. Use the Profiles menu at the top of the screen to switch between profiles or create new profiles.
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How can Weight-By-Date Pro help with Diabetes?
While there aren't any specific Diabetic features in the software, there are many ways that it will help you. For starters, Weight-By-Date Pro helps you lose weight and keep it off once you reach your goal. If you are overweight with Type-2 Diabetes then you already know how important this is.
Weight-By-Date helps you control your blood sugar through your diet, by tracking your Carbohydrates, Sugar, Sugar Alcohols, and Fiber. You can also track your "Net Carbs", which are essentially the carbohydrates in a food that raise your blood sugar. You'll be able to set daily and per-meal limits for each nutrient and keep yourself on track.
It's a well-known fact that regular exercise can lower your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. Weight-By-Date keeps track of your exercises and activities, so you can make sure you are getting enough physical activity.
Many Weight-By-Date customers also have Diabetes. It can be a key tool for controlling your Diabetes too.
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