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STASH Frequently Asked Questions

 

I'm on Vista, why does it want to open photos instead of install?
The CD does not install automatically each time you insert it, because one of the options is to leave the fabrics on the CD to save hard drive space. To run the installation on Vista, just choose to view the contents/files of the CD and double-click the setup.exe application file.

In other words, when you insert the CD, you may get a pop-up like this:


Click "Open folder to view files" option.



Then double-click the setup file.

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How do I link EQ6 to Stash?
STASH should link automatically. Go to LIBRARIES > Fabric Library. Click Link Library. Click Auto Add.

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Where is my serial number?
Your serial number is listed on the paper sleeve that the Stash CD came in.

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How do I register my software?
You can register Stash online or through the mail. Go to My EQ to register online. Or, fill out the registration postcard and mail it to our office.

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Does the Stash CD also contain the fabrics from the other Stash collections?
Yes, up to Stash Fall 2001. With the completion of Stash Fall 2001, there are now more fabrics than will fit on one CD. You will need to either switch CDs whenever you access a fabric collection from a different version, or, install the fabrics from all the collections you own to your hard drive.

You only see these other collections in Stash if you purchased them and installed them on your computer.

If you purchased earlier Stash fabrics, you can see them in the later Stash if you do this:

1. Choose FILE - Preferences.
2. Check the appropriate check boxes to show the respective editions of Stash that you own.
3. Close Stash and reopen it.

When you get back into Stash, you will then see the older fabrics in your list of fabrics, mixed in with the other fabrics. The different versions can be identified by the colored circle and year within the circle before each fabric line.

Most earlier versions of Stash are still available. Call or e-mail us for pricing and selection.

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How do I link EQ5 to Stash?
The installation of EQ5 does not automatically link to STASH if you have STASH installed on your computer. To link STASH, put the STASH CD in your CD-ROM drive, then:

1. Choose Preferences from the File menu.
2. Click on the Directories tab.
3. Click on STASH from the list.
4. Click the Modify button.
5. Navigate to the location of the STASH library files. These files are found ***in the LIB folder of the STASH CD*** unless you've copied them to another location. So have the STASH CD in the drive, navigate to the CD-ROM drive, then click on the LIB folder.
6. Click OK. If you have found the files correctly, you'll see the "Not Found" icon change to "OK."
7. When you open the Fabric Library, you'll see the STASH fabrics. If you don't get any fabrics when you click on STASH, then you should reinstall your last version of STASH (don't uninstall) and try steps 1-7 again.

ATTENTION EQ5 USERS:
The versions of Stash are so high now we have reached the limit of what the EQ5 library can show. Starting with Stash (19) Fall 2008 (and all future versions after that), you will be unable to link Stash to the EQ5 fabric library. This does not affect EQ6 or EQ7 users.
To use the newest Stash fabrics, you will need to 1) open Stash, 2) create and save a shopping bag in Stash, 3) and open that shopping bag in EQ5.

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How do I link EQ4 to Stash?
Depending on whether you installed Stash to the hard drive or left the fabrics on the CD, you will need to know where you *.FAB files are for Stash.

If you left them on the CD, the path is:
X:\ Lib (where X is the letter of the CD drive you always read Stash from)

If you installed them to your hard drive, the path is either:
C:\Program Files\Electric Quilt Company\Stash\Lib
or
C:\EQ4\Stash\Lib

1. Close EQ4.
2. Click Start - Programs - Accessories, then either Notepad or WordPad.
3. Click File - Open.
4. Change the Look in dropdown box to C drive.
5. Double-click the Windows or WINNT folder.
6. Change the Files of Type dropdown box to "all documents."
7. In the Filename box, type: EQ98.ini
8. Click OK.
9. Look for the line: Stash=Y:\Lib\
10. Make sure Stash=thePathYouNeed\
11. If it does not match the path you need, edit the file very carefully to put the new path in here.
12. BE SURE THE PATH ENDS WITH A SLASH \
13. Click File - Save.
14. Close Notepad or WordPad.
15. Open EQ4. Try Libraries - Fabric Library and see if you now have Stash in there.

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How do I open a Stash shopping bag in EQ4 or EQ5?
To open a Stash shopping bag:

1. In EQ, click File - Open.
2. Click the small, yellow folder in the lower-left corner of the dialog box.
3. From the Files of type drop-down box at the bottom of the dialog, choose Stash Shopping Bags.
4. From the Look in drop-down box at the top of the dialog, choose the folder where you've saved your Stash shopping bag files. They are most likely in either:
   C:\EQ4\Stash\BAG
   or
   C:\Program Files\Electric Quilt Company\Stash\BAG
5. Click the name of the shopping bag you want to open.
6. Click the Open button.
7. You can now:
   • start designing blocks and quilts with these fabrics
   • add these fabrics to your User/My Library
   • save these fabrics as a palette in your EQ5 Palette Library

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I installed Stash, but now why don't I have Designer Fabrics in EQ4?
The Stash fabrics replace the Designer Libraries found on the original EQ4 CD-ROM. You still have the EQ4 Designer Fabrics. But you just see them in a different place. To see the EQ4 Designer Fabrics you must have the Stash CD-ROM in your computer's CD-ROM drive before you open the Fabric Library dialog.

1. Put the Stash CD-ROM in your computer's CD-ROM drive.
2. Choose Fabric Library from the Libraries menu in EQ4. The Fabric Library dialog box will display.
3. Double-click directly on the Stash Libraries book icon.
4. Double-click on a fabric manufacturer's name.
5. Click on a fabric line to see the fabrics. Copy the ones you want into your Sketchbook.

Tip: You will no longer need the original EQ4 CD in your computer when you access the Fabric Library. You will need the Stash CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive. Please save your original EQ4 CD for future installations.

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How do I save a Stash shopping bag project in EQ4?

You must navigate to find the PRJ folder in EQ4 and save it there.

The important part of "saving" any computer file is the name of the file and the location of the file. Whenever you open a Stash shopping bag file with EQ4, you automatically have a "named" EQ4 project file. It will have the same name as the shopping bag file (except for the three-letter extension). So part of the job is done for you. Since it is a good habit in any software application to "save often," it is recommended that you select the "location" for saving and do it right away.

Choosing a location to save your project

Since your shopping bag file has become an EQ4 project file, we recommend that you keep it with your other EQ4 project files. To do this, you will need to use the Save As command. If you choose Save As from the File menu, the Save As dialog box will appear. Use the drop-down box at the top of the dialog to choose the folder you want to save your project in. The default location for EQ4 projects is:

drive letter: \ EQ4 \ PRJ \

To find this:

1. Click the arrow beside the Save in box, to drop down the choices.
2. Click on your hard drive. (You only need to do this if your Stash folder is not in EQ4.)
3. Double-click on EQ4.
4. Double-click on PRJ.
5. Click Save.

Do not just use Save from the File menu, or your EQ4 project (*.PJ4) file will be saved in the same folder as your Stash shopping bag (*.BAG) file since that is where you opened it. The default location for these files is:

drive letter: \ EQ4 \ Stash \ BAG \

Tip: These steps require the upgrade version 4.1 of Electric Quilt.

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Why don't I see Classic Cottons and Cranston in EQ4?
EQ4 does not have the ability to display all of the manufacturers that you see in Stash. (The libraries, already programmed in EQ4, only have 25 places, so they can't show 27 different manufacturers.)

The two newest fabric manufacturers to join the Stash product (in the Fall 2001 edition) are Classic Cottons and Cranston. These two manufacturers cannot be displayed in EQ4. You can still use these fabrics in EQ4. Here's how:

1. Start Stash and copy the fabrics you want into a new Shopping Bag.
2. Save the Shopping Bag file.
3. Close Stash.
4. Start EQ4 and open the Shopping Bag project file.

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I get the message "cannot verify Stash access", when I use File - Preferences to link EQ5 to Stash. What did I do wrong?
Uninstalling and reinstalling EQ5 is not necessary.

The message "Cannot verify Stash access" can be caused for various reasons:

1. If you clicked on the Stash folder and not the Stash\Lib folder. (It looks specifically for the existence of *.FAB files.)
2. If the Stash.ini file does not exist in the Windows folder. (The access is checking for an installed version of Stash so an .INI file must exist, not just the *.FAB files.)
3. If the Stash.ini file does not have a "fully valid" serial number.

If you've received the "cannot verify STASH access" message, this is what we suggest.

• Reinstall your newest/highest version of Stash.
• Do not uninstall any versions of Stash.
• All the Stash programs must be installed in chronological order and should not be uninstalled when you install the next version.
• Each version must be installed with a valid serial number.

After the Stash installation is complete, start EQ5 and use the Preferences dialog to link Stash.

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Why is my opening screen frozen, why is there no list of fabrics on the side?
When the program starts, you should see a list of fabric manufacturers evenly spaced along the left edge of your screen. If you do not see a complete list, or your computer acts "frozen," try the following steps:

1. Reinstall Stash, making sure to enter the entire serial number.
2. If this does not help, you may not have the newest Windows Common Controls which you may need to update on your computer. Update your Internet Explorer at www.microsoft.com to version 5 or higher.

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Stash freezes at the opening screen, but I have the newest common controls.
Just after a brand new installation of Stash, there is a pop-up message showing you how to use Stash. At the bottom-left corner of this message is a checkbox marked "Don't show me again."

If you click off the window and ignore it, it may cause Stash to freeze because the program is still waiting to see if you want to see that message again the next time you start up the program.

Hold down CTRL + ALT + Delete (Taskmanager) and do and End Task on Stash.

At the pop-up message, put a check next to "Don't show me again," and press OK.

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Why don't I see Help files?
Stash HTML Help uses an online Help Viewer. This viewer uses the underlying component of Microsoft Internet Explorer to display help content. To display the help in Stash, you must have Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher. If these options are not available to you, see the file Help.txt in the Stash folder for a plain text version of the help files.

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Help I don't see a list of manufacturers.
Stash uses the latest version of Windows Common Controls to display the fabric manufacturers and their fabrics. Please make sure your Internet Explorer version is 5.0 or higher. You can update Internet Explorer from the www.microsoft.com website.

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I'm having trouble installing my STASH program.

Turn off User Account Control (UAC):
* Go to START > Control Panel.
* If you are in Category view, click User Accounts and Family Safety. If you see icons, skip to the next step.
* Click User Accounts.
* Click Change User Account Control Settings.
* Slide the bar all the way to the bottom.
* Click OK.
* Restart your computer, if necessary.

1.         Go to START > Computer.
2.         Double-click C drive.
3.         Double-click Program Files.
4.         Double-click Electric Quilt Company.
NOTE:
If you don't see Electric Quilt Company, you must be on a 64-bit version of Windows. Go back up a level and go into Program Files x86 instead. Then go into Electric Quilt Company.
Then, elsewhere in these directions if we say Program Files… you really need to go to Program Files x86.
5.         Right-click on a white empty space in the folder and choose New > Folder.
6.         Name it “Stash” without the quotes.

Grab all your Stash CDs and sort them. These need to be installed from oldest to newest. Put the oldest one on top.

The trick to installing Stash is that they all need to be installed to the same folder. Anything before Spring 2002, you’ll need to Browse to change the path and we’ll need to move some files from the CD. Spring 2002 and later will install to the folder I had you create automatically and give you the option during the installation “Install all fabrics to hard drive” (which you should choose).

For Stash Fall 1999 through Stash Fall 2001:
1.         Insert your oldest Stash CD.
2.         The installation won’t start automatically, go to START > Computer. Double-click your CD-ROM drive. Double-click the setup.exe application (setup launcher).
3.         Go through the installation until you get to the part where it asks you about the path where you want to install it.
4.         Click Browse.
5.         Go to the folder you created earlier in C drive > Program Files > Electric Quilt Company > Stash. You may need to click OK.
6.         Click Next all the way through the rest of the installation.
7.         You do not need to restart or view the read me file.
8.         Leave the CD in after the installation.
9.         Click START > Computer > CD-ROM drive. Right-click on the LIB folder in the CD and choose Copy.
10.        Go to START > Computer > C drive > Program Files > Electric Quilt Company > Stash.
11.        Right-click on an empty white spot and choose Paste. This should place a copy of the LIB folder and its contents at the root of the Stash folder.
(If your computer freaks out at the number of files being moved, you may need to go create that LIB folder manually in the Stash folder and then copy and paste the files in smaller groups.)
12.        Insert the next oldest CD and repeat these steps for it. When pasting the LIB folder for a second time, click “Yes to All” if you get a message about files already being there.

For Stash Spring 2002 through the present:
1.         Insert the CD.
2.         The installation won’t start automatically, go to START > Computer. Double-click your CD drive. Double-click the setup.exe application (setup launcher).
3.         Click Next all the way through the installation. When you are asked if you want to leave the files on the CD or Install all fabrics to hard drive, choose Install all fabrics to hard drive.
4.         You do not need to restart or view the read me file.
5.         Insert the next oldest CD and repeat these steps for it.