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Perfect Table Plan Frequently Asked Questions
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Have you read the Help document that comes with PerfectTablePlan? This contains the answers to many questions. In particular you should consult the ‘How to’ section.
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To find out which version of PerfectTablePlan you have select in the PerfectTablePlan menu bar:
- Windows: Help>About
- Mac OS X: PerfectTablePlan>About PerfectTablePlan
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Q. Why haven’t I received my licence key?
If you pay by credit card our server automatically sends out a temporary licence key on completion of your purchase. We then check all your details and send you a permanent licence key before the temporary key expires.
If you do not receive a temporary key within 10 minutes and permanent key 24 hours before your temporary key expires please refer to the table below:
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Problem
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Action
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our email has been spam filtered
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check your spam folder for an email from us
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you supplied PayPal/Google/2Checkout with an incorrect email address
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email us with the correct details and request that we re-send the key
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your service provider refused our email (this particularly likely with comcast, AOL and US military email addresses)
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email us
from a different email account (e.g. if your home address failed, try it from your work address, or vice versa)
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Note that if you pay by PayPal echeck (bank transfer), rather than credit card, we send out your a temporary key manually. We will then send out the permanent key manually when your payment clears. As this is not fully automated there may be a delay of a few hours.
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Q. I’ve lost my licence key, can you re-send it?
Yes. Use our automatic licence key retrieval system.
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Q. Why doesn’t my licence key work?
Licence key problems are usually a result of:
- Incorrectly copying the licence key; or
- Using the wrong licence key (e.g. a version 3 key for version 4 of the software); or
- Confusing the licence key and the transaction code
It is easy to make a mistake copying a key 'by hand'. To ensure that you have correctly copied the licence key, please copy and paste it from the licence key email you have already received.
To ensure you have the correct version of the software installed, please check the About window (see the top of this page). You can download the latest version of PerfectTablePlan from here.
If that doesn't fix your problem please email us
with the following information:
- The version of PerfectTablePlan (e.g. 4.0.0 ).
- Your operating system (e.g. Windows Vista or Mac OS X 10.5).
- The error message you get when you try to enter your key.
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Q. Can I install my licence key on another machine?
Yes. You can install PerfectTablePlan on as many machines as you like, as long as it is for your own use. For more details see licensing.
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Q. Can I use PerfectTablePlan from a memory stick?
Yes, see this newsletter for details.
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Q. Can another person use my licence key?
No. Individual licence keys are valid for one named person on any number of different machines and are not transferrable. We make a special exception for couple planning a wedding, who may share a licence key. For more details see licensing.
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Q. Can I buy a single licence for my whole organization?
Yes, ask us to quote you for an organizational licence.
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Q. How do I get the installer to work?
If you are having problems installing the software please read:
Windows: The step-by-step guides to download and installation and Windows installation troubleshooting.
Mac OS X: The Mac OS X installation troubleshooting.
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Q. How do I download versions of PerfectTablePlan older than the current one?
You can download older versions of PerfectTablePlan from here. Alternatively, you can upgrade to the latest version for a small fee.
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Q. Can I install PerfectTablePlan ‘unattended’ on Windows?
Yes. Use the “/silent” switch, e.g.:
PerfectTablePlan.exe /silent
PerfectTablePlan installation does not require a reboot. More information on Inno Setup installer switches is here.
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Q. The guests names are too small to read on my A4/Letter sized floor plan. How do I fix this?
Assuming you have already increased the font size on the floor plan as far as possible, there are a few options:
- Have the plan digitally printed to poster size.
- Print the Floor plan across multiple sheets of paper and join them together (available from version 3.0.0).
- Print each table on a separate sheet of paper from the Table plan pane (available from version 2.0.0). You can hide the text legend.
- Print out seat numbers on the Floor plan, instead of names. These can then be cross-referenced against the Guest chart pane printed on a separate sheet.
- Select Name only (radial) from the Seats drop-down list at the top of the Floor plan pane (available from version 2.0.0).
- Move the tables closer together in the Floor plan pane. This will make them appear bigger when scaled to fit the page.
- Export the Floor plan as a PDF (available from version 3.1.0, before that use PDF-Creator) and ask a someone with a larger format (e.g. A3 or A2) printer to print it for you, for example Fedex Kinko or a print shop.
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Q. How do I print a guest list?
To print a list of all the guests:
- Bring the Guest chart pane to the front of the Top pane.
- Select All from the Show drop-down list at the top of the pane (available from version 2.0.0).
- Select File>Print or the equivalent Main tool bar button.
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Q. Can I have a rectangular table with seats down 1,2 or 3 sides?
Yes.
- For a rectangular table with seats on 1 side use a head table.
- For a rectangular table with seats on 2 sides use a banquet table (available from version 3.0.0) For versions before 3.0.0 use a rectangular table and just set one of the sides to have 0 seats, for example 8 seats down two sides will be 8x0 seats.
- For a rectangular table with seats on 3 sides or a different number of seats on each side use a custom table.
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Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support ‘C’ and ‘E’ shaped tables?
Yes. ‘C’ and ‘E’ shaped tables can be created by placing together head tables and rectangular tables with seats down 2 sides (see above question). See the ‘masonic’ example plan installed with the software.
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Note that tables can be moved by dragging and rotated using Edit>Rotate .
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Q. How do I change the order of tables in the Table chart/Schematic pane?
The Table chart pane shows tables in the same order as the Schematic pane. You can change the order in which tables are listed by either:
- Clicking on the Table order... button in the Table chart pane (available from version 2.0.0); or
- Dragging a table up or down the order in the Schematic pane; or
- Selecting a table and using the up and down arrows at the top of the Schematic pane to change its position in the table order.
To sort the tables in alphanumeric order:
- Go to the Table chart pane.
- Click on the More/Reveal button at the top-right of the pane.
- Click on the Table order... button.
- Click the Sort button.
- Click OK.
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Q. How can I liven up my floor plan/table chart/guest chart?
Try using customised colours. We have also put together a collection of free fonts that you might find useful.
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Q. How many guests can PerfectTablePlan handle?
There is no hard upper limit on the number of guests. Customers have successfully used PerfectTablePlan with over 3,000 guests. However, if you use the automatic seat assignment, the time required does go up considerably with the number of guests - this is in the nature of combinatorial problems. If you have more than 1000 guests you might need to take a tea/coffee break if you run the automatic seat assignment. If that seems a little slow, imagine how long it would take you with scraps of paper!
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Q. How do I add a special characters not on my keyboard, for example ∴,ψ or å
PerfectTablePlan supports a very wide range of symbols using Unicode,which is now the leading standard for encoding non-latin character sets. However you need to have another Unicode compliant application to create the symbol and copy from. If you copy and paste from another application that isn't using Unicode (such as from Insert>Symbol in MSWord 2000) it may not work.
The simple way around this is to copy and paste the symbol from your web browser to PerfectTablePlan. For example copy the symbol from this page:
http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/entities/symbols.html
and paste it into PerfectTablePlan. We have tested this with recent versions of both IE and FireFox browsers and it works fine, but older AOL and Netscape browsers may have problems. Just be careful not to paste in unwanted characters (such as ‘end of line’ characters).
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Q. What upgrades am I entitled to when I purchase a licence key?
A version x licence key is valid for all version x releases of the software. For example a version 4 licence key will work for versions 4.0.0 and 4.1.1 of the software. If we make a new major release within 3 months of your purchase we will upgrade your licence key to the next major versions for free. If we make a new major release more than 3 months after your purchase you will be able to upgrade for a small fee.
If you want to be informed of future versions you should subscribe to our newsletter.
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Q. How does the automatic seat assignment work?
The automatic layout uses a scoring approach to determine how good an assignment is and a genetic algorithm to try to find the best one. Because of the vast numbers of possible seating layouts it cannot be guaranteed to find absolutely the best (highest scoring) layout. However it will usually get quite close very quickly.
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Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Mac OS X?
Yes! for Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.
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Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Linux?
No. We have been informed that it runs fine under WINE, but we haven’t tested for this and recommend you try it yourself before purchasing.
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Q. How do I decide who to put next to who?
That depends on what sort of event you are organizing. Check our tips pages.
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Q. How do I arrange multiple seatings for an event?
If you have an event that includes several meals you might wish to have each person sit with different people at each meal. PerfectTablePlan can help you achieve this.
- Do the first seating plan as usual and save the plan.
- Right click on each table and set the proximity to Not near to.
- Select File>Auto assign seats.
- Use drag and drop to fine-tune the seating plan as required.
- Select File>Save as... to save the plan to a new file.
- Edit>Unassign all seats to ensure the maximum chance of a different layout.
- If another seating is required go to step 2.
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Q. How do I handle sponsored tables?
Corporate and charity events will often have tables sponsored by companies or individuals. One way to accommodate this is to:
- Include the sponsor name in the table name, e.g. ‘Table 1 (Acme Corp)’.
- If a guest is associated with a particular sponsor, add a comment to the guest’s Notes field. If you don’t know the name of the sponsored guests you can set their last name to ‘Acme guest 1’, ‘Acme guest 2’ etc.
- Select a host for each sponsored table and make them a VIP guest. Drag them to a seat on that table and Edit>Lock them there.
- Select a sponsor and all the groups you would like to sit with them by Ctrl+clicking the sponsor and the groups in the Groups pane. Set them to have proximity ‘near to’ using Edit>Proximity.
- Run the automatic seat assignment File>Auto assign seats.
- Use drag and drop and visualisation to fine-tune the assignments.
If you have PerfectTablePlan Advanced Edition, you can use a custom field to record which sponsor each guest is associated with.
If you have PerfectTablePlan Professional Edition, you can use a custom selection field to record which sponsor each guest is associated with and then set the proximity for that field so that all guests with the same sponsor sit together.
We don’t recommend you group people by sponsor unless they have the same contact details.
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Q. Can I add dance floors, stages etc to the floor plan?
Yes. You can insert circles, ellipses, squares and rectangles into the Floor plan. Click on the Insert shape button at the top of the Floor plan pane (available from version 3.1.1).
In the Advanced and Professional Editions of PerfectTablePlan you can also insert images (e.g. an image of a dance floor) into the Floor plan pane.
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Q. How can I output a PDF file from PerfectTablePlan?
In version 3.1.0 or later:
- Select File>Export, the Export window will appear.
- Choose the appropriate pane (e.g. Floor plan to PDF/PNG/JPG/BMP image file).
- Click OK, the Export floor plan window will appear.
- Choose the file name ensuring that the file type is set to PDF.
- Click Save, the Export PDF window will appear.
- Choose the appropriate Size and Orientation and click OK.
Before version 3.1.0:
- The ability to output to a PDF file, instead of a printer is built into Mac OS X.
- On Windows you can use the free PDF-Creator software.
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Q. How do I transfer PerfectTablePlan from one machine to another?
To transfer PerfectTablePlan from one machine to another (e.g. work PC to home PC or an old PC to a new one):
- Install the software on the new machine from your PerfectTablePlan CD (if you have one) or our download page (if your key is not for v4 you can download older versions of PerfectTablePlan here).
- Transfer your licence key to the new machine, either by:
- forwarding the original licence key email or emailing/printing the licence key from the Licence window on the original machine (select Licensing>Licence from the main menu); or
- retrieving it from our key retrieval page
- Re-enter it in the Licence window of the new machine.
See also copying plan files.
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Q. How do I add a guest to an existing group?
To add a guest to an existing group:
- Select Insert>Single guest, the Insert guest window will appear.
- Choose Add to existing from the Group drop-down list in the Group tab.
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Q. How do I move a guest between groups?
Select the guest in the Groups pane and drag them to the appropriate group. From version 3.0.0 you can also use Edit>Change group.
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Q. How do I track the details and RSVPs of guests who aren’t attending the meal?
You may have guests that are attending your event, but won’t require a seat at the dinner. We recommend that you track their RSVPs as normal but lock them with no seat assigned to ensure they won’t be inadvertently assigned a seat. You might also want to add a reminder in their Notes field, e.g. “evening only guest”.
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Q. How do I import guests names with Unicode characters (e.g. Chinese names) from an Excel spreadsheet?
In version 4.0.0 and later:
In PerfectTablePlan v4 you can import directly from Excel .xls/.xlsx files. This should avoid any problems with Unicode characters.
In version 2.1.1 and later:
Excel 2000 (and possibly later versions) doesn't support exporting Unicode characters to .CSV files. However, there is a workaround. Save your Excel spreadsheet as Unicode text (*.txt) instead of .csv and then import it to PerfectTablePlan as:
Format: Custom
Field separator: TAB
Record separator: CARRIAGE RETURN
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Q. How do I change the font size?
Click on the Colours and fonts button at the top of the Floor plan, Table plan, Table chart or Guest chart pane.
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Q. How can I create standard table layouts to use as templates?
To Create a table layout template:
- Create a new plan with a standard table layout.
- File>Save as to a new file, e.g. 'template.tp'.
Each time you need to create a new plan based on the template:
- File>Open the template plan you created.
- File>Save as to a new plan file, e.g. ‘event.tp’
- add guests.
Note that you can have 2 instances of PerfectTablePlan running and drag guests from one to the other. Or you can import guest from a .csv file.
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Q. How do I copy guests from one plan to another?
Just drag the guests from one plan to the other:
- Start 2 instances of PerfectTablePlan (on Mac OS X you may have to copy PerfectTablePlan.app before you can do this).
- Select the guests you want to copy from the Guests or Groups pane of the first instance of PerfectTablePlan (Ctrl+A to select all).
- Drag the guests/groups to the Guests pane of the second instance of PerfectTablePlan.
You can also export the guest data and re-import it, but drag and drop is easier.
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Q. Can I add a graphic/logo to a plan, chart or stationery?
Yes, from v4.1.0 but only in the Advanced and Professional Editions.
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Q. How to I change the pagination to stop names being cut in half by page boundaries?
Use the fine adjust controls in the Print window. Click on the More/Less button to reveal them. This is available from version 3.0.0.
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Q. How do I import guests in groups (e.g. as couples)?
See the Importing groups section here.
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Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support oval and semi-circular tables?
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Yes, from version 4.0.0.
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Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support serpentine (curved) tables?
Not at present.
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Q. How do I rename/renumber a table?
- Select the table in the Floor plan, Table plan or Schematic pane.
- Select Edit>Properties from the menu bar.
- Change the name.
- Click OK.
You can also display the Properties window by double-clicking on the table or selecting Properties from the right-click menu.
To rename large numbers of tables:
- Go to the Schematic pane.
- Select Edit from the Mode drop-down list at the top of the pane.
- Retype the table names.
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Q. How do I copy a guest or table chart into Excel or Word?
- Bring the Guest chart or Table chart pane to the front.
- Select Edit>Copy from the menu bar.
- Start Word/Excel.
- Select Edit>Paste in Word/Excel.
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Q. How do I print place cards, address labels etc?
You can create these in the Stationery pane. Substitution text, such as {guest_display_name}, is substituted by data from your plan (similar to a mail merge). For more details see the tutorial. You can also load sample stationery we install with the software.
You can order place cards here.
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Q. What languages is PerfectTablePlan available in?
PerfectTablePlan is currently only available in English. However the software is fully Unicode enabled, so it can handle a wide range of non-English characters. Also, from v4.1.0, you can change any of the words that appear inside the Guest chart, Table plan or Report panes, e.g. you can change the column headers in the Guest chart pane into Spanish equivalents.
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Q. How do I copy a plan from one machine to another?
Your plan is contained in a single text (XML) file, with the extension .tp. You can copy a plan file from one machine to another by:
- attaching it to an email; or
- via a shared/networked disk drive; or
- via a USB memory stick
You can even move a plan file from Windows to Mac (or vice versa) without problems.
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Q. I can’t remember where I saved my plan. How do I open it?
When you save your plan, it is saved to a single file on your computer with the extension “.tp” (e.g. plan.tp). It is not stored on the Internet. If you want to work on another machine you need to copy the plan file across first.
If you select File>Open recent you will be shown a list of recently opened/saved plan files on your computer. You should be able to open it from there.
If that doesn’t work look for files with the extension .tp in Documents\tableplans (Windows Vista and Mac OS X) or My Documents\tableplans (Windows XP).
If you still can’t find the file search your computer for all files with the extension “.tp”. You should also look in the recycle bin/trashcan in case you have inadvertently deleted it.
If all else fails check the automatic back-up files. To find out about backup files select Help>PerfectTablePlan help from the PerfectTablePlan menu bar and read the section entitled 'Back-up files' .
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Q. Why do I see “Action cancelled” when I try to access the online help in Windows?
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A Windows security fix prevents HTML based help being accessed from network drives. To avoid the problem you can:
- reinstall PerfectTablePlan on a local drive; or
- use our online help instead; or
- apply the fix described here
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Q. I still can’t find the answer to my question. How to I get help?
Please contact support.
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