Alamode is Holding me Hostage

[Brian W Street]

Hope you do not need to retrieve anything for a board or court action during this time.
For peace of mind, I would find some way to pay the subscription fee, especially if this is just a temporary exit from appraising.

When the time comes to hang up the clipboard I will start printing my own PDF's but like I said it is more of a pet peeve. Total came up with this grand idea that it could be our entire work file yet if you don't have a paying subscription you don't have access to your files when every one of them is nicely packed away in that Zap file.

 

[DWiley]

I get that, and wish that I did take the time to do that with every report but when Total does that for us in their work file it seems counterintuitive to create a 2nd PDF and store that file when everything is already in the Total work file. More of a pet peeve than anything, this has pissed me off since they started Total and its work file. That Zap has everything in it that I created, no different than a Word document, I am not asking them to let me open and work on a file after I have left my subscription stop but rather I only want to see the items that are my files and I would not even need their software to view those files.

I understand it is their software and they make the rules but I have been a paying customer for over 20 years and all I want is access to my files if I need them after I shut down the shop. Now as I get closer to that date I will have to stop using their work file and start printing those PDF files.

Since you have been a customer with them for so long, perhaps you could float the idea to them of creating some sort of "viewer" that could be obtained at a reasonable cost. Given the number of appraisers near retirement age, it might be something that would at least consider if enough of their long term customers asked.

 

[Brian W Street]

Since the company was sold to a much larger corporation I don't think that would be high on their priorities. Maybe if the original owner was still around that would be possible, he was even active on this forum for many years and would openly discuss ideas on how to make the software better. But that is a good idea and I will send in a support request to see if it goes anywhere. If all else fails and 4 years after I hang up the clipboard and the state comes calling I can always spend the money and reactivate the software or I need to simply forget about using the work file in Total and start keeping my digital version in addition to the items that I keep in my paper folder.

 

[J Grant]

They may have some yearly storage vault for a few hundred bucks. A friend of mine did it after she retired.

 

[djd09]

you will own nothing and like it...

 

[Brian W Street]

They may have some yearly storage vault for a few hundred bucks. A friend of mine did it after she retired.

I did have Vault for many years but you would still need a service subscription to have that service.

It is not like I don't know of the workarounds, it is simply one of those things that I truly hate about Total, otherwise, I will highly recommend the software to all. Just do not use the work file feature of the program.

 

[djd09]

is this an alalogic infomercial...the op hasn't posted in 13 years

 

[Brian W Street]

is this an alalogic infomercial...the op hasn't posted in 13 years

Well that is silly now isn't it, then I need to get off this forum and get some work done. Time to go drive around and take comp pictures!

 

[Tom D]

well, lesson learned. you should have backed up to more than 1 place. i have yearly folders with pdf & work file folders for each appraisal backed up, to more than 1 place.
and you might open it on a friends total program, of course it will have his imprinted name.

 

[Brian W Street]

well, lesson learned. you should have backed up to more than 1 place. i have yearly folders with pdf & work file folders for each appraisal backed up to more than 1 place.
and you might open it on a friends total program, of course it will have his imprinted name.

Yeah and the OP could have also paid for a silver membership but if one is under the impression that the Total work file system is a true work file that stores all of the files that I put into it then why do they lock it up and not allow me to have access to that file? Instead of a software feature that makes our life easier, they lock it up when every single file in that Zap file is created by us. Again, I'm not asking to edit any of it, only to see what I put into that work file. I fully understand it is their software and they have every right to make the program run however they want but that doesn't make it right. If the OP used the Total work file as they intended, as the only file folder that you would ever need thinking that they would have access to it because it is their work then I find that kind of misleading. Not everyone uses that feature and I know the limitations but again I find it redundant to save everything to a separate folder when everything is already saved to the Zap file. I can understand if someone thought that they were using a service but then found out later that they did not have access to it.