FLASHCARDS DISAPPEARED

[fengxinzi]

Hi!

I just bought and installed Pleco today (complete version). It is great and I love it, but all the flashcards I had been entering today just disappeared. I am using a HP IPAQ Pocket PC (2003). The battery was getting low (although I only received the message on the battery afterwards), and Pleco stopped working. When I managed to get back into Pleco, all my flashcards were gone. For some reason, even though all my flashcards disappeared, my few new entries in the dictionary as well as the list of my previous searches are still there (are they saved by default in different places?) Any idea of why this happened and if there is a way to recuperate my flashcards? I had not done any backup on my pc yet since, as I told you, I had just installed the program a few hours before.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[mikelove]

Hmm... the flashcards certainly might still be there. Try this: exit PlecoDict (choose "Quit" from the "Dict" menu, don't just use the X button at the top right corner of the screen), then go into Start \ Programs \ File Explorer and navigate to your "My Documents" folder (tap on the menu at the top left corner of the screen - just below the start menu - and select "My Device," then tap on "My Documents"). Do you see two "PlecoDict Flashcards" files in there? If so, one of them will have a string of numbers after it; tap-hold on that file and choose "Delete," then open PlecoDict again and your flashcards should (hopefully) be restored.

 

[fengxinzi]

You are great! It worked! Thank you very much! I noticed that I also have 2 PlecoDict User DB C-E files and one of them has numbers after it. Should I also delete this one? Thanks again!

 

[mikelove]

Glad to hear it! And yes, you can delete the second custom dictionary.

 

[fengxinzi]

Thanks!

 

[mikelove]

A quick update on this, since we just had someone e-mail us about it. If anyone else has their flashcards disappear like this, it would be best if you e-mail us (or post a message here) first before you delete the extra files; in some cases, one of those files may actually be the one with your flashcards in it. This is particularly true if there are more than two "PlecoDict Flashcards" files (more than one with numbers after it).

 

[ssaito]

lost flashcards, and unable to stop plecodict

Hi Mike,

I lost flashcards recently and have two flashcard files with numbers at the end of the names in the My Documents folder, so I'm emailing this forum as you suggest earlier.

I have some flashcards on a palm os version of plecodict that i'd like to move to my ppc version. Is export/import going to work?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[mikelove]

Which of the (three total?) flashcard files is largest? That's almost certainly the one you want to keep. If you're not sure, quit PlecoDict using the Quit command in the Dict menu, then go to Start \ Programs \ File Explorer, create a new folder called "Temp Flashcards" in My Documents and move the two numbered flashcard files into it. Then, start PlecoDict again and see if you now have the correct flashcards. If not, quit PlecoDict again, move the un-numbered file into that folder and move the file with the lower number back into My Documents.

Cards should transfer over smoothly from the Palm to the Pocket PC version as long as you make sure to use the same text encoding (we recommend UTF-8 ). Just export the cards to a text file on your Palm's memory card, then import that text file on your Pocket PC.

 

[ssaito]

exporting flash cards from palm

Thanks, the flash fix worked great, and now I know how to fix it in the future.

This is a newbie question, but once you've exported flashcards to a text file on the SD card, how do you get them from the Palm to the PC?

 

[mikelove]

Put the card in your Pocket PC's SD card slot (removing the card that's already there, if you have one), then go to File Explorer and copy the flashcard text file from the card to your Pocket PC's My Documents folder. After that, you can replace your old card, start PlecoDict and use the Import command to import that text file into PlecoDict.

 

[ssaito]

works, but...

Thanks, Mike. I swapped the sd cards, but you should be aware that doing so screwed up Monster Chinese and Pleco such that I had to reinstall both. I'm not sure why.

Would there have been a way to transfer the flash card file from palm to pc, then from pc to ppc?

Also, I noticed I now have 4 "PlecoDict User DB C-E" files, 3 of which have numbers. To my knowledge I haven't created any user dictionaries. Are these all necessary?

 

[mikelove]

Yikes, sorry about that. Perhaps it would be better to soft reset the Pocket PC before attempting that kind of switch.

Unfortunately, transferring a text file from a Palm to a PC is rather tricky - you'd either have to get an SD card reader/writer for your PC or install a program like Card Export (http://www.softick.com/) and use that to access files on your Palm's SD card. Once you had it on the PC, though, it could easily be copied to the Pocket PC just by going to My Computer \ Mobile Device and dragging the file into there.

The User DB file also stores custom flashcard entries (some of which are created automatically when you import a flashcard list and the dictionary can't match every word in it), so you probably do want to keep the valid one - in all likelihood this too will be the one with no numbers after its name, but it would probably be best to move and not delete the others until you're sure that you haven't lost anything.

 

[sfrrr]

It sounds like you've solved the problem, but you should be aware (which you probably are) that storage flash cards occasionally disappear on the Axim and some other PPCs running Windows Mobile 5. Check out Aximsite.com for a few fixes.

Sandra

 

[catherine]

flashcards disapeared

I have the same problem described by Feng Xin Zi above (19/07/06) on my palm (Tungsten E2) - I had to perform a reset (by pressing the button on the back of my palm) and when I went back into Pleco all my flashcards had disappeared. Again my user edited dictionary entries are still there as well as the previous searches - any idea of how I might be able to get the cards back on my Palm? Thanks!

 

[mikelove]

You have an SD card for your Tungsten, right? Here are some steps you can follow that should get this fixed:

1) Download the free utility FileZ (available at http://www.nosleep.net/) and install it to your Palm.
2) Open FileZ on your Palm, and tap the "View and Edit Files" button.
3) Tap on the triangle next to "Internal" to open the list of files in your Tungsten's memory. The triangle should appear as an outline; if it's a solid shape, tap on the "Internal" text to turn it into an outline again.
4) Scroll through that list until you get to "PlecoDict Flashcards." There should be another file in that list called "PlecoDict Flashcards" with a string of numbers after its name; if not, stop here and send me an e-mail and I'll try to help further.
5) Tap on each of the "PlecoDict Flashcards" files (if there are more than 2, tap on all of them), then go to the menu bar and select "Move" from the "Item" menu.
6) Tap on "External Card" (the triangle next to it should fill in) and press OK.
7) Go all the way back up to the top of the file list, tap on the triangle next to Internal to close it (again, make sure that it isn't filled in), and tap on the one next to "External Card" (it may have a different name but it should be the second one in the list).
8 ) Select the "PlecoDict Flashcards" file without any numbers after its name, go to the "Item" menu again and select "Copy".
9) Tap on "Internal" to select it, and press OK.
10) Start PlecoDict - the flashcards should (hopefully) be restored.

If this doesn't work, let me know and we can try something else.

 

[ryano]

so glad i found this... deleted files with numbers at the end.... and voila!

now i don't have to worry too much when i force quit due to freezing!

 

[raoul]

flashcard dictionary problem

Hello,
this is Mrs Raoul and a complete technophobe but my husband insists I solve this problem myself!

I was using my flashcards when all of a sudden I got the following info on my screen "sorry, the dictionary associated with this entry no longer appears to be available...etc" and I can not progress with the flashcards. it then freezes the whole program and I cannot get out either and have to reset my HP ipaq (uses windows mobile 5).

I read some of the suggestions about the files in explorer and tried the tempflash card folder thing but to no avail. I have three files there. One a flashcard file with no numbers after it and the other two are user dictionary fies one with numbers (the larger file) and one without. all three tell me that I cannot open them as there is no application associated with the programme.

If this makes sense to you then you are not only a real computer geek but also my hero!

thanks,
Mrs Raoul (aka Katerina.)

 

[mikelove]

Hmm... not sure why that error message would be completely freezing things. Try this: go to the "Edit Lists" screen (second tab next to Manage Lists) and in that screen, go through each of your flashcard lists and delete any entry listed as "INVALID." That should get rid of the error messages.

 

[raoul]

flashcard woes

Hi again

I went to my lists and none came up with an INVALID response, although I did notice that 3 of my lists have have a problem. In the manage lists menu when I check the properties for the lists that have a problem they show the correct number of words in the lists but when I try to view the lists in edit lists they are blank.

when I uncheck them from flashcard my flashcards work fine but obviously I am not being tested on these 3 lists.

I'm lost - got any other ideas?

Katerina.

 

[mikelove]

That sounds like a corrupted file, actually. If you have a backed-up copy of your flashcards, I'd recommend restoring from that backup; if not, to avoid any further corruption it would be a good idea to rebuild your flashcard database:

Export all of your still-working flashcard lists (you can try this with the blank ones too, but it probably won't work) using the Export command in Manage Flashcards, then exit PlecoDict (using the Quit command in the Dict menu), back up your flashcard database file on your PC (connect your Pocket PC to it, open up My Computer and Mobile Device and drag "PlecoDict Flashcards" to your PC's desktop), delete that file from your Pocket PC, reopen PlecoDict, and use the Import function to reimport those flashcards into a new and corruption-free data file.