Have you read the Help document that comes with PerfectTablePlan? This contains the answers to many questions. In particular you should consult the 'How do I' section for Windows or Mac.
To find out which version of PerfectTablePlan you have select in the PerfectTablePlan menu bar:
Q. Why haven't I received my licence key?
Q. Why doesn't my licence key work?
Q. Can I install my licence key on another machine?
Q. Can I share my licence key with someone else?
Q. Can I transfer my licence to someone else?
Q. I've lost my licence key, can you re-send it?
Q. What upgrades am I entitled to when I purchase a licence key?
Q. Can I buy a single licence for my whole organization?
Q. Can I upgrade edition, e.g. from Home to Advanced?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Windows?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for 64 bit Windows?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for 32 bit Windows?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Microsoft Surface?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Mac?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for M1/M2 (ARM) Macs?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Intel Macs?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for iPad/iPhone/Android?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available for Linux?
Q. What is the difference between Home, Advanced and Professional editions?
Q. Can people with different editions share plan files?
Q. How do I get the installer to work?
Q. How do I install a version upgrade?
Q. How do I transfer PerfectTablePlan from one machine to another?
Q. Can I use PerfectTablePlan from a memory stick?
Q. How do I download versions of PerfectTablePlan older than the current one?
Q. Can I install PerfectTablePlan 'unattended' on Windows?
Q. What formats is the installer available in?
Q. Can PerfectTablePlan be deployed via Windows Terminal Server/Citrix?
Q. Can I uninstall old versions of PerfectTablePlan?
Q. How do I copy a plan from one machine to another?
Q. How do I share a single plan file between multiple computers/users?
Q. How do I get PerfectTablePlan to start when I double click on a plan file?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support E-shaped tables?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support curved/serpentine/C-shaped tables?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support horseshoe-shaped tables?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support round-ended tables?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support triangular table layouts?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support oval tables?
Q. Does PerfectTablePlan support semi-circular tables?
Q. Can PerfectTablePlan help with social distancing?
Q. Can I buy PerfectTablePlan on CD?
Q. What languages is PerfectTablePlan available in?
Q. Is PerfectTablePlan available in my web browser?
Q. How does the automatic seat assignment work?
Q. How many guests can PerfectTablePlan handle?
Q. How do I decide who to put next to who?
Q. How do I get a receipt for my purchase?
Q. What is the ECCN for PerfectTablePlan?
Q. My organization is exempt from tax. How do I avoid paying tax?
Q. I still can't find the answer to my question. How do I get help?
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 a permanent key 24 hours before your temporary key expires please refer to the table below:
Problem | Action |
our email has been spam filtered | check your spam folder for an email from us |
you supplied the payment processor with an incorrect email address | email us with the correct details and request that we re-send the key |
your service provider refused our email (this is particularly likely with comcast, AOL and US military email addresses) | email us from a different email account (e.g. if your home address failed, try it from your work address, or vice versa) |
Yes. Use our automatic licence key retrieval system.
Licence key problems are usually a result of:
Note that we moved from v5 to v6 in October 2018.
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.
On Windows, PerfectTablePlan stores your licence key in the Windows system registry. It is possible that your anti-virus/security software is interfering with this. If none of the above works, try temporarily disabling your anti-virus/security software and trying again. A Windows program called 'reimage' seems to cause particular problems.
If that doesn't fix your problem please email us with the following information:
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.
Yes. Your preferences can be stored portably on a memory stick/USB key. Set Preferences>General>Store these preferences in to a portable .ini file. You might want to use the zip file installer on Windows when installing on a portable device.
Generally, no, unless you have an organizational licence. Standard individual licence keys are valid for one named person on any number of different machines and are not transferable. We make a special exception for couples or 2 immediate family members planning a wedding, who may share a licence key. For more details see licensing.
No, unless you have an organizational licence.
Yes, ask us to quote you for an organizational licence.
Yes, you can upgrade from v6 Home to v6 Advanced or from v6 Advanced to v6 Professional here. If you have v5 or earlier you need to upgrade to v6 first.
If you are having problems installing the software please read:
Windows: The step-by-step guides to download, installation, starting and the Windows troubleshooting guide.
Mac: The Mac troubleshooting guide.
You can download older versions of PerfectTablePlan from here. Alternatively, you can upgrade to the latest version for a small fee.
Yes, you can do an 'unattended' installation. 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.
Yes. From v5 onwards PerfectTablePlan Advanced and Professional editions have an E-shaped table type that can be used to create E-shaped tables with a top section and 2-25 sprigs. Before v5 and in v5 onward Home edition an E-shaped table can be created by placing together head tables and rectangular tables with seats down 2 sides. See the masonic example plans installed with the software.
PerfectTablePlan can also handle an E-shaped table with no central sprig.
Note:
Yes. From v6 onwards PerfectTablePlan Advanced and Professional editions have a serpentine table type.
Yes. From v6 onwards PerfectTablePlan Advanced and Professional editions have a serpentine table type, which can be combined with custom tables to create a horseshoe-shaped table. See also the horseshoe-shaped table sample shipped with PerfectTablePlan.
Yes. From v6 onwards PerfectTablePlan the custom table type has an option to have 1 or 2 rounded ends.
Yes. You can lay out head, banquet or custom tables at 0, 120 and 240 degrees to create a triangular table layout.
Yes, from v4 onwards.
Yes, from v4 onwards.
There is no hard upper limit on the number of guests. Customers have successfully used PerfectTablePlan for events with over 4,000 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 1,000 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!
A version x licence key is valid for all version x releases of the software. For example a version 6 licence key will work for versions 6.0.0 and 6.1.0 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 at a discounted price.
If you want to be informed of future versions you should subscribe to our newsletter.
There are 3 automatic seat assignment modes: by guest proximity, by guest order of precedence and random.
The automatic layout by proximity tries to seat each guest according to their preferences (who they want to sit near to, or not near to). It 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.
Yes! PerfectTablePlan v6 supports Windows 11/10/8/7.
Yes! PerfectTablePlan is a 64 Windows application from v6.2.1. Earlier versions are 32 bit applications, but should also run fine on 64 bit Windows.
PerfectTablePlan is a 64 bit application from v6.2.1 and will not run on 32 bit versions of Windows. However all versions of PerfectTablePlan before v6.2.1 are 32 bit applications and will run on 32 or 64 bit windows.
We don't officially support PerfectTablePlan on Windows Surface ARM processors. However we understand that older 32-bit versions of PerfectTablePlan (v6.2.0 and earlier) might run on Microsoft Surface devices with the Windows Pro operating system. Download a free trial to check. The latest versions of PerfectTablePlan, which are 64-bit, will not run on Microsoft Surface devices. Neither 32-bit or 64-bit PerfectTablePlan will run on the Windows RT operating system.
Yes! PerfectTablePlan 6 supports macOS 13.x to 10.13, ARM & Intel.
Yes! PerfectTablePlan v6.2.1 onward is a Universal binary, containing both ARM and Intel binaries. PerfectTablePlan v6.1.2 to v6.2.0 contain just Intel binaries, but should work OK on ARM chips using Rosetta2 emulation. PerfectTablePlan v6.1.1 or earlier may not work correctly on ARM Macs. If you have v6.1.1 or earlier you should download the latest version.
Yes! PerfectTablePlan v6.2.1 onward is a Universal binary, containing both Intel and ARM binaries. PerfectTablePlan v6.2.0 and before contain just Intel binaries.
No. However from PerfectTablePlan on Windows or Mac you can:
Another approach is to use the free LogMeIn iPad app to access PerfectTablePlan on your PC or Mac from your iPad.
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.
That depends on what sort of event you are organizing. Check our tips pages.
To transfer PerfectTablePlan from one machine to another (e.g. work PC to home PC or an old PC to a new one):
See also copying plan files. Note that PerfectTablePlan is licensed per person (not per computer). So it is ok to have it installed on more than one computer, for your own use. See licensing for more details.
Yes! For more details please see our socially distanced seating page.
No. We no longer sell CDs. But you can download the PerfectTablePlan installer from our website and burn your own CD.
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 German, French or Spanish equivalents.
Your plan (including images) is contained in a single text (XML) file, with the extension .tp. You can copy a plan file from one machine to another by:
You can even move a plan file from Windows to Mac (or vice versa) without problems. Select File>Find... in PerfectTablePlan to search your harddisk for plan files. See also: How do I share a single plan file between multiple computers/users?
A Microsoft security fix prevents HTML based help being accessed from network drives. To avoid the problem you can:
PerfectTablePlan was designed to solve seating problems for events, particularly events where people are seated around tables. However it can be used to solve many of other types of combinatorial grouping problems. For example, if you want to assign people to golf fours according to their preferences you can use PerfectTablePlan:
you can use the Terms tab in the Preferences window to remove any references to 'Table' or 'Seat' in charts and reports.
A. No. PerfectTablePlan is a native desktop application for Windows or Mac. It is not a 'cloud' application. This means that you have to install it on each computer that you want to use it on. But the installation is very quick and there are significant advantages to native applications, including:
Furthermore PerfectTablePlan v5 onwards has the ability to export to web. Allowing you to access (but not edit) your plan on any device with a web browser.
A. There are various different ways you can share a plan file between multiple computers with one or more users. Which is best depends on your circumstances:
Approach | Advantages | Disadvantages |
Copying plan files backwards and forwards by email attachment | No effort to set up. | Time taken to email plans. Requires careful coordination if more than one person is editing a plan. You have to be careful not to lose changes by copying an old file over a new one. |
Storing the plan file on a USB memory stick | No synchronization problems. | Requires a USB memory stick. Only one person can be accessing the plan at any time. |
Shared network drive. | On Windows a plan will be locked when one user has it open to read. Other users will only be able to open it as 'read only', preventing conflicting changes. You will be notified if your 'read only' plan is updated by another computer. | Requires access to a shared network drive. File locking can be restrictive when you have multiple users trying to access a file. File locking is not supported on the Mac version of Perfect Table Plan. |
Store your plan in Dropbox, synchronised across all your machines. | Changes on one machine are automatically synched to all other machines. Conflicts (.e.g. two users making changes to the same file at the same time) are handled automatically. Easily manage sharing with other users on a plan by plan basis. You can still access your plan even if you have no Internet access. Dropbox keeps a 1 month history of changes and allows edits and deletions to be undone. Works across Windows and Mac. | Requires a small amount of effort to set-up. Changes only sync to other machines when you have Internet access. If 2 users simultaneously edit the same plan on different machines at the same time you will end up with 2 versions of the plan. An encrypted copy of your data is transmitted to and stored on the Dropbox server. This may not be appropriate for highly confidential plans. Dropbox requires a payment if you want to store more than 2GB of file. |
Dropbox is our preferred approach. It works really well, even for multiple users across multiple computers, and it is easy to set up and (in most cases) free. Note that you need a licence key for each PerfectTablePlan user.
If you purchased PerfectTablePlan through the payment page on our website, then you will have purchased from our authorized reseller 2Checkout/Verifone. For legal and tax purposes we sell the software to them and then they resell it to you. Consequently you have to get your receipt from them, not from us. To get your receipt:
Each different version of PerfectTablePlan is treated as a different program. So you can have as many different versions installed as you like. For example, installing v6.0.1 won't overwrite v6.0.0. Just uninstall versions you no longer need.
If you have previously added a valid licence key to your computer you shouldn't have to add it again for a minor upgrade.
You need to associate plan files with the appropriate PerfectTablePlan program. This is normally done for you during installation. But you can also do it yourself.
For Windows:
For Mac see How can I change what program opens a certain file on a Mac?
The Windows installer is available as a .exe file and as a .zip file. We don't have a .msi installer, but we understand it is possible to repackage the .exe as a .msi using EMCO MSI Package Builder.
The Mac installer is available as a .dmg file.
PerfectTablePlan for Windows is a standard Win64 executable like Excel or Word, so it shouldn't be a problem. We haven't tried it ourselves, but customers have told us that it works fine.
Yes, each version is installed as a separate application and can be uninstalled separately. But note that the PerfectTablePlan install is quite small (about the same as a few digital photos), so even multiple versions won't use a lot of disk space.
The Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) for PerfectTablePlan is EAR99 (encryption functionality limited to intellectual property or copyright protection functions).
There may be a problem with the Windows registry entry. This can sometimes be fixed by installing a new printer (e.g. a virtual printer, such as PDF creator) or removing and reinstalling an existing printer. If your printer has more than one driver, try choosing the Postscript driver. All such changes are at your own risk.
Pay as usual through our online payment processor, 2Checkout, then send your tax exemption documents to pay@2checkout.com to request a refund of the tax charged.
The 3 different editions have different levels of features.
Yes, but you need to be careful if you are reading in a plan from a higher edition of PerfectTablePlan. For example, if you save a plan with 5 custom fields in PerfectTablePlan Professional edition and then open it in PerfectTablePlan Advanced edition, then only 2 of those custom fields will be kept (you will be warned of this). If you then save the plan from the Advanced edition, the other 3 custom fields will be lost. So we don't really recommend mixing different editions of PerfectTablePlan in the same organization.
Please contact support.