Please read this article first before creating a new forum topic or reply to an existing topic in any of the existing forums!
All forums are USER TO USER forums.
Please send bug reports, feature requests and suggestions by email to UltraEdit support, see the technical support page.
The UltraEdit support team members do not often look into the forums and rarely answer forum questions. Mofi, author of this article, has the permissions to edit every post, delete posts or whole topics, split or merge topics, but I'm just a user like you.
Also all questions regarding registering / licensing / activation / registration / silent installation / deployment of a product of UltraEdit, Inc. are not answered in the user to user forums. For such questions please contact UltraEdit support by email.
1. Search before asking!
Please do following before asking something:
2. Continue existing topic or create a new?
If a topic is found relevant to what looking for, but the answer(s) is (are) not fully satisfactory, write a post on the the existing topic. Even if the topic is already very old or is about a different application version, it is better to reply to an existing topic which has the same topic as what looking for than creating a new one. Because of the topic sort order based on the last reply date, the old topic is moved automatically to the top of the list and the power forum members surely view it. There is the button Full Editor & Preview at bottom below the edit field to open a page with a preview of already entered text and with additional options to attach images and other files and change options of the post.
Create a new thread only when not finding something similar to your request.
Note: Use the Quote button at bottom of each post only when you really want to reply to a specific post of another user or a specific part of a post with quoting. Remove from inside the quoted text everything which is not important for the reply writing now. Often a reply with quote is only used to answer a specific question of another user. So the quoted text should contain only that question.
3. How to create a new topic?
First, think about what you want to write about. To which application does your new topic belong? For which forum is it best-suited? Choose the appropriate forum. If there are announcements or sticky forum topics there, at least read their subjects, and it could be helpful for you to also read their contents before you create your topic.
Note: The power users always use the view new posts special search. So the power users always see all new posts, regardless of where a new topic was created or a new reply was added.
Now enter a good subject which summarizes the topic. Please don't forget, the subject should be descriptive enough to be also helpful for other users searching in the future for what you have written about. In general avoid writing the version of the application in the subject. That could let other users think your topic is specific for that version only. You may not know that.
4. What should every new topic or new reply contain?
Please always take into consideration that not all users have installed the same version as you on the same operating system as you or use it with the same settings as you.
Almost all questions require that you also post
Even if you use the most current available version, include the version number because tomorrow it may NOT be the latest version anymore, and when another user reads this topic in six months, it is definitely not the latest version anymore.
For UltraEdit and UEStudio related topics, often the file format (encoding) and the type of line termination is also important. Please tell us the encoding of the file displayed in the area right to "line, column, clipboard" area in the status bar at bottom of the UE/UES window which can be:
U- or UTF-16 ... UTF-16 LE (Little Endian) without BOM (Byte Order Mark)
UB- or UTF-16 BOM ... UTF-16 LE (Little Endian) with BOM
UBE- or UTF-16BE ... UTF-16 BE (Big Endian) without BOM
UBEB- or UTF-16BE BOM ... UTF-16 BE (Big Endian) with BOM
U8- or UTF-8 ... UTF-8 without BOM
U8B- or UTF-8 BOM ... UTF-8 with BOM
UESC- or UESC ... ASCII-escaped Unicode
nothing or code page ... ASCII/ANSI/OEM (= no Unicode encoding) according to not displayed or displayed code page.
Starting with UltraEdit for Windows v19.00 and UEStudio v13.00 the status bar changed and contains separate fields for line termination type and encoding. The encoding field displays for ASCII/ANSI files also the code page. With activating setting Use basic status bar at Advanced - Settings or Configuration - Application Layout - Status Bar the status bar layout of previous versions of UE / UES with showing only status information can be selected.
The line termination type DOS/UNIX/MAC is either appended to one of the different encodings above on using UltraEdit for Windows < v19.00 or using the basic status bar, or displayed before the encoding selector in the status bar.
UltraEdit/UEStudio for Windows have nowadays three GUI modes: ribbon mode (UE ≥ v23.00, UES ≥ v16.00), contemporary toolbar / menu mode (UE ≥ v23.00, UES ≥ v16.00) and traditional toolbar / menu mode (UE ≤ v22.20 and UE ≥ v23.20, UES ≤ v15.20 and UES ≥ v16.20). Don't forget to add especially on an editor display related question the information about the used GUI mode. UltraCompare for Windows has nowadays also a ribbon and a toolbar / menu mode.
Please don't insert hard returns while you are writing a post, except if you need to end a paragraph or insert a blank line. In the edit field and later when the text is displayed, the text is automatically wrapped by the browser. You don't know the window width used by the readers of your text.
5. How to add a code example (preformatted text)?
According to HTML standards, browsers display a sequence of spaces/tabs only with a single space, and spaces/tabs at start of a line are completely ignored except in preformatted text areas.
So, if you want to add to your post an example of your file which contains important spaces/tabs at the start of the line or anywhere else, you must code the text so readers' browser know that your post should be displayed as preformatted text. To do this you must select your example lines and click Code symbol which is the last but one symbol button above the edit field. Make sure the Disable BBCode option below the edit field on Options tab is not checked when you use formatting features. The Options tab is only available after clicking on button Full Editor & Preview or on editing an existing post.
Tabs are always displayed by the browsers as spaces, even in a preformatted area. If it is important for your question that the readers should know where are the tabs and how many tabs are in a sequence, you must replace them with a different character as a place holder for the tab character. In a new file, copy the sample lines and search with UltraEdit or UEStudio for ^t and replace all occurrences with something different, for example # or ». Make sure the option Regular expressions is NOT checked when you run this replace. Copy the modified text into the edit field of your browser and write that every # or » is a place holder for a tab. We then can easily paste those examples lines into a new file and run the replace with reverse search and replace strings to get the tabs.
If the tab characters themselves are not important, but the spaces used to align it are, then instead run the replace command Format - Tabs to spaces (traditional menus) or Format - Tabs / spaces - Tabs to spaces (contemporary menus and ribbon mode) on your example lines in the new file, and copy the new lines then into the edit field of your post.
For hex mode related examples, select the hex bytes and use Edit - Hex functions - Hex copy selected view (traditional menus) or Edit - Copy selected (contemporary menus) or command Copy selected in last group Hex mode on ribbon tab Edit (ribbon mode).
6. How to upload and attach files and snapshots (screenshots)?
You can attach file(s) to your post. But the number of files per post, the file types (extensions) and the size of the files are restricted because this is a forum and not a file sharing platform. To avoid file attaching problems always pack your text/binary file(s) with 7-Zip, RAR or ZIP compression and attach the archive file with a good description. The number of attached files and their file sizes are limited too.
You can also attach a snapshot of the window, especially if you write about a display problem. On Windows use Alt+PrtSc to copy only the active window instead of entire screen to the Windows clipboard, open any image viewing/editing application, paste with Ctrl+V the graphic data into the imaging application and save the data as PNG file. The image type Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is supported by all applications which can display or edit images and is the best format for snapshots because of the lossless compression (like GIF) with true color support (like JPEG). JPG is not good for snapshots because this image format adds more or less pixel noise depending on the compression level and the size of a JPG snapshot is often larger than a PNG snapshot.
7. Use the preview button!
There is the Full Editor & Preview button at bottom of a topic page which can be used at any time even after text has been already entered in the edit field. There is the button Preview on having the post editing page already opened right to the button Submit (and the button Save draft). Although I have written thousands of posts, I often click on this button and read over my post again before I click on the button Submit. If I spot an error, I correct the mistake in edit field of the post below the preview area, and preview it again. I submit the post when everything is fine finally.
Please use the preview capability, especially when using BBCode entered manually or when you have added example lines. Frequently the power users are unable to write a useful answer because of missing information like the application's version or a poorly-formatted example. You save us all a lot of time when you review your post with the preview before you submit it.
8. Submit the new topic or your reply.
Finally, submit your topic or reply.
Note: You can edit your own replies, but you cannot delete them. Please always edit your post before adding a new post with additional information if nobody replied in the meantime.
Thanks for saving your and the (power) forum members' time by reading and following the steps in this article!
All forums are USER TO USER forums.
Please send bug reports, feature requests and suggestions by email to UltraEdit support, see the technical support page.
The UltraEdit support team members do not often look into the forums and rarely answer forum questions. Mofi, author of this article, has the permissions to edit every post, delete posts or whole topics, split or merge topics, but I'm just a user like you.
Also all questions regarding registering / licensing / activation / registration / silent installation / deployment of a product of UltraEdit, Inc. are not answered in the user to user forums. For such questions please contact UltraEdit support by email.
1. Search before asking!
Please do following before asking something:
- Check the help file of the application.
Open the help of the application and look on the Contents and Index tab to see if a helping topic can be found. Also use the Search of the help to find appropriate help pages. Many dialogs have a Help button. For most dialogs pressing F1 opens the help page for the dialog. Give it a try!
- Use the FAQ on the UltraEdit website.
There is an FAQ page. FAQ means Frequently Asked Questions. Maybe the needed information is there.
- Use the power tips on the UltraEdit website.
For some special topics are written power tips & tutorials (UE, UEX, UES, UC, UF). Look over the list of power tips to see if there is one which could be helpful.
- Check for an update.
If last paid registration was within twelve months, check for a new version. UltraEdit, Inc. occasionally releases hotfixes which fix bugs. Click on the Help menu, then click on the Check for updates item, or in ribbon mode open About... from Support menu and click on button Check for updates. If a firewall is used blocking also outgoing traffic, allow the application once (or permanently) to connect to the version database and looking for a newer version.
If there is a newer version, follow the link to read what was changed and how to manually download and install the update which probably solves the actual problem. Depending on used version of the application the information can be displayed within update dialog and the update can be done also by the application itself after agreeing to update / upgrade.
- Use the forum search.
The last option to find the answer on a question is using the Forum Search.
The forum search lists the results by default according to last reply date and not according to how often a topic was viewed or how important a topic is, so don't look only on the first ten hits. The most frequently-viewed topics with the answers for the most frequently-asked questions are often old, and so are often at the end of the list. The sort order can be changed before search is started. Use this option.
If the search returns too many results, press the Back button of the browser and specify more keywords or limit the search to a specific application or forum to get a reduced list, or just change the Sort results by option. In most cases it is often better to use the search options as much as possible and first run a very limited search, and if no helpful topic is found in the short list of found topics, extend the search by removing some words or specifying more forums to search in. This "reverse" search method from extremely limited to less limited often saves much time, but of course requires some practice.
2. Continue existing topic or create a new?
If a topic is found relevant to what looking for, but the answer(s) is (are) not fully satisfactory, write a post on the the existing topic. Even if the topic is already very old or is about a different application version, it is better to reply to an existing topic which has the same topic as what looking for than creating a new one. Because of the topic sort order based on the last reply date, the old topic is moved automatically to the top of the list and the power forum members surely view it. There is the button Full Editor & Preview at bottom below the edit field to open a page with a preview of already entered text and with additional options to attach images and other files and change options of the post.
Create a new thread only when not finding something similar to your request.
Note: Use the Quote button at bottom of each post only when you really want to reply to a specific post of another user or a specific part of a post with quoting. Remove from inside the quoted text everything which is not important for the reply writing now. Often a reply with quote is only used to answer a specific question of another user. So the quoted text should contain only that question.
3. How to create a new topic?
First, think about what you want to write about. To which application does your new topic belong? For which forum is it best-suited? Choose the appropriate forum. If there are announcements or sticky forum topics there, at least read their subjects, and it could be helpful for you to also read their contents before you create your topic.
Note: The power users always use the view new posts special search. So the power users always see all new posts, regardless of where a new topic was created or a new reply was added.
Now enter a good subject which summarizes the topic. Please don't forget, the subject should be descriptive enough to be also helpful for other users searching in the future for what you have written about. In general avoid writing the version of the application in the subject. That could let other users think your topic is specific for that version only. You may not know that.
4. What should every new topic or new reply contain?
Please always take into consideration that not all users have installed the same version as you on the same operating system as you or use it with the same settings as you.
Almost all questions require that you also post
- the exact version of the application with information about 32-bit or 64-bit - see Help - About, File - About or Support - About
(version string can be selected and copied with Ctrl+C to clipboard), - the operating system and the desktop theme you use
(just Windows or Linux is often not enough, because there are many versions and different distributions like Windows 7 x86/x64 (32/64-bit), UAC enabled or disabled on Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11, desktop theme (Aero, Windows XP, Windows Classic), 32/64-bit Debian/SUSE/Ubuntu/etc. version xx.yy, MAC OS version X), - other configuration settings or command options which are maybe important.
Even if you use the most current available version, include the version number because tomorrow it may NOT be the latest version anymore, and when another user reads this topic in six months, it is definitely not the latest version anymore.
For UltraEdit and UEStudio related topics, often the file format (encoding) and the type of line termination is also important. Please tell us the encoding of the file displayed in the area right to "line, column, clipboard" area in the status bar at bottom of the UE/UES window which can be:
U- or UTF-16 ... UTF-16 LE (Little Endian) without BOM (Byte Order Mark)
UB- or UTF-16 BOM ... UTF-16 LE (Little Endian) with BOM
UBE- or UTF-16BE ... UTF-16 BE (Big Endian) without BOM
UBEB- or UTF-16BE BOM ... UTF-16 BE (Big Endian) with BOM
U8- or UTF-8 ... UTF-8 without BOM
U8B- or UTF-8 BOM ... UTF-8 with BOM
UESC- or UESC ... ASCII-escaped Unicode
nothing or code page ... ASCII/ANSI/OEM (= no Unicode encoding) according to not displayed or displayed code page.
Starting with UltraEdit for Windows v19.00 and UEStudio v13.00 the status bar changed and contains separate fields for line termination type and encoding. The encoding field displays for ASCII/ANSI files also the code page. With activating setting Use basic status bar at Advanced - Settings or Configuration - Application Layout - Status Bar the status bar layout of previous versions of UE / UES with showing only status information can be selected.
The line termination type DOS/UNIX/MAC is either appended to one of the different encodings above on using UltraEdit for Windows < v19.00 or using the basic status bar, or displayed before the encoding selector in the status bar.
UltraEdit/UEStudio for Windows have nowadays three GUI modes: ribbon mode (UE ≥ v23.00, UES ≥ v16.00), contemporary toolbar / menu mode (UE ≥ v23.00, UES ≥ v16.00) and traditional toolbar / menu mode (UE ≤ v22.20 and UE ≥ v23.20, UES ≤ v15.20 and UES ≥ v16.20). Don't forget to add especially on an editor display related question the information about the used GUI mode. UltraCompare for Windows has nowadays also a ribbon and a toolbar / menu mode.
Please don't insert hard returns while you are writing a post, except if you need to end a paragraph or insert a blank line. In the edit field and later when the text is displayed, the text is automatically wrapped by the browser. You don't know the window width used by the readers of your text.
5. How to add a code example (preformatted text)?
According to HTML standards, browsers display a sequence of spaces/tabs only with a single space, and spaces/tabs at start of a line are completely ignored except in preformatted text areas.
So, if you want to add to your post an example of your file which contains important spaces/tabs at the start of the line or anywhere else, you must code the text so readers' browser know that your post should be displayed as preformatted text. To do this you must select your example lines and click Code symbol which is the last but one symbol button above the edit field. Make sure the Disable BBCode option below the edit field on Options tab is not checked when you use formatting features. The Options tab is only available after clicking on button Full Editor & Preview or on editing an existing post.
Tabs are always displayed by the browsers as spaces, even in a preformatted area. If it is important for your question that the readers should know where are the tabs and how many tabs are in a sequence, you must replace them with a different character as a place holder for the tab character. In a new file, copy the sample lines and search with UltraEdit or UEStudio for ^t and replace all occurrences with something different, for example # or ». Make sure the option Regular expressions is NOT checked when you run this replace. Copy the modified text into the edit field of your browser and write that every # or » is a place holder for a tab. We then can easily paste those examples lines into a new file and run the replace with reverse search and replace strings to get the tabs.
If the tab characters themselves are not important, but the spaces used to align it are, then instead run the replace command Format - Tabs to spaces (traditional menus) or Format - Tabs / spaces - Tabs to spaces (contemporary menus and ribbon mode) on your example lines in the new file, and copy the new lines then into the edit field of your post.
For hex mode related examples, select the hex bytes and use Edit - Hex functions - Hex copy selected view (traditional menus) or Edit - Copy selected (contemporary menus) or command Copy selected in last group Hex mode on ribbon tab Edit (ribbon mode).
6. How to upload and attach files and snapshots (screenshots)?
You can attach file(s) to your post. But the number of files per post, the file types (extensions) and the size of the files are restricted because this is a forum and not a file sharing platform. To avoid file attaching problems always pack your text/binary file(s) with 7-Zip, RAR or ZIP compression and attach the archive file with a good description. The number of attached files and their file sizes are limited too.
You can also attach a snapshot of the window, especially if you write about a display problem. On Windows use Alt+PrtSc to copy only the active window instead of entire screen to the Windows clipboard, open any image viewing/editing application, paste with Ctrl+V the graphic data into the imaging application and save the data as PNG file. The image type Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is supported by all applications which can display or edit images and is the best format for snapshots because of the lossless compression (like GIF) with true color support (like JPEG). JPG is not good for snapshots because this image format adds more or less pixel noise depending on the compression level and the size of a JPG snapshot is often larger than a PNG snapshot.
7. Use the preview button!
There is the Full Editor & Preview button at bottom of a topic page which can be used at any time even after text has been already entered in the edit field. There is the button Preview on having the post editing page already opened right to the button Submit (and the button Save draft). Although I have written thousands of posts, I often click on this button and read over my post again before I click on the button Submit. If I spot an error, I correct the mistake in edit field of the post below the preview area, and preview it again. I submit the post when everything is fine finally.
Please use the preview capability, especially when using BBCode entered manually or when you have added example lines. Frequently the power users are unable to write a useful answer because of missing information like the application's version or a poorly-formatted example. You save us all a lot of time when you review your post with the preview before you submit it.
8. Submit the new topic or your reply.
Finally, submit your topic or reply.
Note: You can edit your own replies, but you cannot delete them. Please always edit your post before adding a new post with additional information if nobody replied in the meantime.
Thanks for saving your and the (power) forum members' time by reading and following the steps in this article!
