Help Topics Does Not Open/The Display Map does not open

[Ron Lane]

I've noticed recently that the Help Topics does not open. I get an error "The System cannot find the file specified." Also the display map does not open when you click globe icon. However, the map does show up using the web info tab. Everything else works really, really well.

[gmartin]

The file path that 'Help Topics' is looking for on XP is: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Sage Software, Inc\Sage ACT!\14.1.108.0\WebHelp.

It should contain 4 folders and 5 files.  If this path or the contents are not there, it can be recreated by copying from the installation media.  In the installation media, the path is:  C:\ACT_Pro_2012\Guide.

[Ron Lane]

Greg,

Curiously, the help file and the Map Icon work on my XP Laptop. The desktop does not work and it is Win7-64. Is the files located in the same place on a Win7 machine?

Ron

[gmartin]

The location on a Win 7 machine is: C:\ProgramData\Sage Software, Inc\Sage ACT!\14.1.108.0

[Ron Lane]

Thanks. I will report back.

[mebeatty]

Hello,

I am also having this problem.  When I select help topics or most of the other items in the help pull down menu, I get the "The system cannot find the file specified" error message.  The files are all in the proper directory.  If I manually put the URL file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/All%20Users/Application%20Data/Sage%20Software,%20Inc/Sage%20A... into IE8, the page comes up properly.  It only fails from the ACT! Help pulldown menu or the ACT! tool bar.

I have other installations of ACT! 2012 on other machines that seem to work fine. 

The version is Sage ACT! Pro 2012 Version 14.1.108.0, Hot Fix 3

I have uninstalled/reinstalled ACT! twice with no improvement.  Is there a file somewhere or registry item that contains the URL that has possibly become corrupted?

Thanks very much.

[gmartin]

Hello Mebeatty,
Welcome to the Sage ACT! Online Community!

I haven't seen this issue, where the files were actually in place. Since they are in place, it may be a pop-up blocker within Internet Explorer causing the issue. Disable the pop-up blocker within IE and test.

This can be found in IE: under Tools > Pop-up Blocker

[mebeatty]

Hello Greg,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I tried turning off the pop-up blocker, but that did not work.  Just to be sure, I completely restarted the system but it still did not help.

It seems like it truly cannot find the file.  Is the URL hard coded or is it in an ini file or a registry key?

Best Regards,

Mike

[gmartin]

The file path is hard-coded within a configuration file, but it is only opening IE and feeding it the path... Since the path fed to IE is correct but it is not able to open it, and can open when the path is manually entered into a browser, it appears it may be a permissions/blocking issue.
Try updating the security for the path itself. At the 'Sage Software' level, add 'Everyone' with full access. Then test.

Also, try disabling anti-virus/firewall on the workstation and then test.

[mebeatty]

Hi Greg,

Changing the permissions on the files and folders did not help, but the fact that the path is hard-coded got me thinking.  I tried typing "iexplore.exe" into a cmd window and got a "file not found" error.  Searching through the registry I found that for some reason the IE start path had been altered to point to a non-existant directory, probably by some malware.  I corrected the path and it began working just fine.

Thanks for your help,

Mike