If you're encountering "Invalid Use of Null" errors the cause may be a blank contact listed in the contact data. This blank contact gets created when a staff member goes to add a new contact and immediately cancels the action. If this happens we want to remove the blank contact to eliminate any errors the blank contact may be causing.

If you see a blank contact listed above (Unspecified) you will want to remove it. The best way to remove it is to merge the blank contact into (Unspecified) using the Move Contact Information Tool.

You can find the Move Contact Information tool listed under Contact > Move Contact Information.

This is the Move Contact Data screen. It will allow you to merge information from the contact in the top field into the contact listed in the bottom field.

We want to merge the blank contact into unspecified. So we're going to select the blank contact in the top field.

We will select the (Unspecified) contact in the bottom field.

Once we've selected the correct contacts we'll select the "Delete the old contact, after moving the data" check box and click OK

Office Tools Pro will prompt you to confirm the merge and delete. Once you hit yes the blank contact will be gone. You may need to refresh the contact list; this can be done by searching for any contact in the Search box.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 has a known issue with certain models of Dell Poweredge servers. If you plan to install the Office Tools Professional Server software on a Dell Poweredge server, please review the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900495

Download and extract

1. Download the Office Tools Professional Installation file from http://www.OfficeToolsPro.com
2. Run the Setup.exe file to begin the extraction of the Office Tools Professional Installation components
3. Once the main installation menu (aka 'Green Screen') is visible, click on 'Server' to begin the Server Installation
4. When the installation is complete, it should return you to the main screen. Exit this screen.
5. In your 'Start' Menu, find the 'Microsoft SQL Server' program group, and open the program "SQL Server Management Studio"
6. When the program opens, you should see a connection window. Drop down the box that says 'Server' and look for one with 'NORTH40SYSTEMS' in the name.
7. If you do see an item with 'NORTH40SYSTEMS' somewhere in the name, then the server installed properly
8. If you do not see an item with 'NORTH40SYSTEMS' in the name, then you most likely have run into the Dell Poweredge installation issue.

Please call technical support for more assistance at (661) 951-9900

Today, most of the more common Windows Server backup utilities are incapable of backing up a live SQL Server database file. If you are one of our users that are unable to backup your Office Tools Professional database, please download the Office Tools Professional Database Backup Utility from our website. (located at http://www.officetoolspro.com/support/downloads/2011/01/office-tools-database-backup-utility.html). This utility will create backups of your Office Tools Professional database that your normal Server backup utility will be able to copy. Once installed, please configure the backups to run several minutes before your normal server backup, and specify a location on the local hard drive that will be scanned by your normal backup utility.

In the second half of 2008, Microsoft released a Service Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 that can cause extensive damage to your Office Tools Professional Server installation. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 is a comprehensive update for Microsoft SQL Server that consists of many stability, performance, and security updates. Unfortunately, the Windows Update utility will automatically download and install this Service Pack. Under most circumstances, this is not an issue. But if your Office Tools Professional database is active at the time the update is applied, the installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 will fail, rending the current installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 unusable.

If this happens to your Office Tools Professional Server, do not worry. Your Office Tools Professional database will not be damaged. Please call Technical Support at (661) 951-9900 to speak with a trained technician that will repair your Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Installation, and will restore your Office Tools Professional database to full working order.

Some system configurations can adversely affect the performance and stability of Office Tools Professional. If you are thinking about using Office Tools Professional with a wireless network, keep in mind that wireless networks are not as consistent as a normal wired connection. Wireless networks can briefly disconnect from the router. This does not cause any issues when doing things like browsing the internet, but due to the 'constantly on' design of Office Tools Professional, any disconnection in the network can cause issues when using Office Tools. It is for this reason that we do not support wireless network configurations, and we strongly believe that not only are wired connections more consistent, but they are also much safer when dealing with sensitive data.

If you experience connection issues or are unable to connect to your Office Tools Professional database, please call Technical Support at (661) 951-9900 for more assistance.

Antivirus programs can be one cause to slowness on an Office Tools Network. Unfortunately there are a vast number of anti virus programs with different user interfaces that we cannot instruct specific instructions. However, if you exclude the path below you should see a performance increase. Check with your antivirus provider for instructions on how to exclude paths.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\NORTH 40 SYSTEMS\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data

DNS setting are very critical in a networked environment. If DNS setting are not set up or are not configured correctly you will have network connectivity issues especially within Office Tools Professional. In these instances we recommend you contact your firms IT company and have them instruct or configure these settings for you.

Unfortunately with certain network and system configurations our server install configurations get changed. This will cause a few problems including the database changed to read-only and causing Office Tools Professional workstations not to function since they cannot access the database. Logins is another configuration that may need to be adjusted. SQL management may not enable a few logins that we need to grant access to the workstations in order for them to link to the database. In this instance we would need to run certain scripts to enable and adjust these settings.

If you have a problem that is similar to this issue please refer to this article before you call tech support.

Prior to your SQL appointment we require your computers to be fully patched. This will expedite the process and ensure a successful conversion. Failure to meet any of these requirements and/or not being on time could result in rescheduling your appointment and a rescheduling fee.

The full requirements are as follows:
At this time we are not vista compatible.
Server Requirements:

Microsoft updates

• MSXML 6.0
  (link to download)
• Microsoft .NET framework 2.0
  (link to download)
• MDAC ver. 2.8 or newer
  (link to download)

Server updates, Hard Drive Space, and Other

Operating System

• Windows XP SP2 or later
• Windows 2000 Professional SP4
• Windows 2000 Server SP4 or later
• Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter Editions SP2 or later
• Windows Small Business Server 2003 SP2 or later
• Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate
• Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007
• Windows Embedded for Point of Service SP2

System Requirements

• Pentium IV (or equivalent) 2.0 GHz or faster
• 2GB Hard Drive space on the C drive.
• 1 GB RAM
• Must be able to access internet also you must have administrator rights to the server.
• Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 or later
• Super VGA (1,024x768) or higher-resolution video adaptor and monitor

Pre-Download 2009 SQL installation CD:

(link to download)

If you are using a Dell PowerEdge Server please contact tech support for further information.

Workstation Requirements:

Have Office Tools Professional 2007.003 or newer installed on the C Drive; Download the latest patch of 2009.xxx for your workstation.

If you do not have 2007.003 or newer Backup your database and uninstall from the control panel Office Tools Pro then run the workstation installation from the 2009 installation CD.

Have Access 2003 runtime installed. (Should already be installed for existing customers.)
(link to download)
Update to Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3.
(link to download)
Update Service Pack 3 Hotfix.
(link to download)
Pre Download 2009 SQL installation CD:
(link to download)

Alert:

If you have Quick Books please check for a program called Support Soft Assisted Service, under Add and Remove programs.

If you have this program please uninstall it. Then make a backup of your Office Tools Pro database, uninstall Office Tools Pro, and reinstall Office Tools Pro. Support Soft corrupts our program so just uninstalling will not fix the problem.

To learn more about Support Soft please click on the link below.
http://www.officetoolspro.com/pages/support/KB0006.htm

Notes:

SQL Server 2005 does not support the Banyan VINES Sequenced Packet protocol (SPP), Multiprotocol, AppleTalk, or NWLink IPX/SPX network protocols. Clients previously connecting with these protocols must select a different protocol to connect to SQL Server 2005.

• SQL Server 2005 software works on the hardware certified for use with the Microsoft Windows operating system.
• Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration and the applications and features you choose to install.
• Additional available hard-disk space may be required.
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition will also run on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 64-bit x64 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter edition with Service Pack 1 or later running in Windows on Windows.

You can find these updates on our website www.officetoolspro.com or www.microsoft.com.

Most firms do not experience this issue due to the Windows firewall being shut off. Sometimes Microsoft Windows Firewall does not allow SQL Management Studio to communicate with workstations even with the proper exclusions. Turning Microsoft Windows Firewall off does not mean you cannot incorporate a third party firewall. Many third party antivirus and firewall programs besides Microsoft's firewall have been fully functional with our program. If Microsoft Windows Firewall is enabled it can cause connection errors such as "Connection Failed" or "SQL server does not seem to exist or is not responding." If you are unaware of Microsoft Windows Firewall status you can check or edit it by clicking Start > Control Panel > Windows Firewall.

The registration key "accesssecurity" should be applied to resolve a security warning when launching Office Tools Professional stating the "Program.MDE" is a possible security warning. Once you have acquired the registry key, extract and apply on the workstation experiencing this security warning. Restart Office Tools Professional, the message should not reappear.

The accesssecurity registry key can be found in the following location:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Access\Security]

Inside this registry key, create a new DWORD value named 'Level', set 'Base' option to 'Decimal' and set the value to '1'.

Another method to add this registry key is to create a .reg file.
To create this file, open Notepad and paste the following 3 lines into the window:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Access\Security]
"Level"=dword:00000001

Click 'Save As..', name the file 'accesssecurity.reg' and save it to your desktop. Once the file is saved, you should be able to run the file by double-clicking it. You will then be prompted with the message 'Are you sure you want to add the information in accesssecurity.reg to the registry?'. Click 'Yes'. Once you receive the message 'Information in accesssecurity.reg has been successfully entered into the registry', you are finished.

When experiencing errors with new downloads, make sure it is a full download. It is possible you might have received a partial download. Simply check the size of your download and reference the size stated on www.officetoolspro.com. Before you try to download the file again clear your cache (internet browsers temporary files and possibly cookies). Once done, reattempt the download, once it is completed make sure the size matches on our web site.

Syncing Office Tools is a very sensitive issue; the "Name" information must match across the board. Duplicates or multiple copies of your contacts is due to different Name information. This means everything from being case sensitive, any spaces, periods, commas, abbreviations, and punctuations.

There is an issue with many Dell Power Edge servers and network setting configurations. Unfortunately, there are so many Dell Power Edge Models out that we have not been able to narrow it down to which specific models are affected. If you do have a Dell Power Edge server there are a few ways to check for certain errors with the SQL Server Studio.

To check configurations with the server itself download the SQL 2009 install disk and proceed with the server install portion of the disk. If the install process is successful you would be able to go to "Start" then programs and locate Microsoft SQL server 2005 under that directory there should be a Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express and "Configuration Tools." Start the SQL Management Studio, once it comes up you should see the "Connect to Server" screen. Under the "Server Name" it should be your servers name \NORTH40SYSTEMS.

If you can verify that this is correct then this Power Edge Server does not fall into the problematic category.

Supportsoft assisted services is a program that is introduced into most systems through Intuit products, such as QuickBooks. This program severely damages Office Tools Professional. If you find this program installed on your system, please use the "Add or Remove Programs" in the Windows Control Panel to remove it. (this does not damage Quick Books or any other Intuit product) Once you have removed SupportSoft Assisted Services, you will need to uninstall and reinstall "Office Tools Professional" from the original installation media.