2 Installation and update

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This chapter guides you through the installation of your personal copy of think-cell. If you are about to prepare the deployment of think-cell in a larger organization, you should skip this chapter and read the ‘Deployment guide’.

2.1: System requirements
2.2: First installation
2.3: Automatic update
2.4: Trouble shooting
2.5: Online quality assurance
2.6: Temporarily disabling think-cell

2.1 System requirements

To install and run think-cell, the following software must be installed:

Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista or 7.
Microsoft Office XP, 2003 or 2007 with at least PowerPoint and Excel installed

The installation of think-cell requires about 20 MB of disk space.

2.2 First installation

2.2.1 Installing think-cell

Please close all instances of Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel before installing think-cell.

The installation can be started directly from the online source. When you download the setup file you may

choose Open in order to install the software directly from the internet.
or choose Save to Disk and start the installation by double-clicking the downloaded setup file.

The installation wizard asks for the installation path, then copies the required files and updates the registry. The default installation path is:

C:\Program Files\think-cell

If the installation wizard detects that you do not have sufficient privileges for a regular installation, a single-user installation will be performed. This means that think-cell can only be used with your current Windows login name. The default installation path for a single-user installation is:

C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\→
Local Settings\Application Data\think-cell

or, for Windows Vista and 7:

C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Local\think-cell

2.2.2 Missing system components

When you start PowerPoint for the first time after installing think-cell, the software checks for the availability of all required system components. On most computers, the required components are already installed.

If think-cell detects that a required system component is missing, a dialog box opens with either a link to Microsoft’s download web page for the respective component or an explanation how to install the missing component using Microsoft Office Setup. You need to restart PowerPoint for the installation to take effect.

Components required by think-cell are:

Visual Basic for Applications component. In Microsoft Office Setup, choose Add or Remove Features and select it under Office Shared Features.
Microsoft Graph. In Microsoft Office Setup, choose Add or Remove Features, then under Office Tools, select Graph.
Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) 3.0. This is included in Windows XP or later and in Internet Explorer 6.0 or later.
Microsoft Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) Client Component. This is included in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 or later.

2.2.3 Macro security warnings

The think-cell add-in requires the file tcaddin.dll to be loaded by PowerPoint and Excel. Depending on the security settings of your computer, you may be prompted with the following security warning when starting one of these products after installing think-cell.

Security warning when starting think-cell after installation

You can examine the file’s certificate by clicking on Details. Make sure the certificate belongs to think-cell Software GmbH, Berlin, Germany. We recommend that you check the box Always trust macros from this source and then click Enable Macros.

If you do not check Always trust macros from this source, the security dialog will continue to show up whenever you start PowerPoint or Excel.
If the security on your computer is set to High, you must check the box before you can click Enable Macros.
If you choose Disable Macros, you will not be able to use think-cell. To enable macros, close PowerPoint or Excel and open it again; you will then again be prompted with the security dialog.

2.2.4 Entering the license key

The public version of think-cell requires a valid license key, which expires after a fixed period of time. When you start PowerPoint with a think-cell trial version for the first time, or when your license key has expired, you need to enter a valid license key.

Please contact us to receive such a license key for the first time or as a prolongation of your existing deployment. In any case, you can always click the Cancel button and continue using PowerPoint without think-cell. To enter the license key later, click the Activate think-cell button in the think-cell toolbar or ribbon group.

2.3 Automatic update

think-cell regularly checks online to see if a new release is available, and if so, attempts to download the updated installation file. The automatic download is subject to the following conditions:

The check for a new release is performed once when PowerPoint is started with think-cell installed and enabled.
The automatic download runs quietly in the background and only occupies unused bandwidth. If the internet connection is interrupted or there is other network traffic, the download is paused until the network is again available.
While PowerPoint is in on-screen presentation mode, any automatic update activities are suppressed.

A dialog box appears after the download is completed, indicating that a new release of think-cell is available for installation. You have the option to either immediately Install the update, or click Later to postpone the installation until the next start of PowerPoint.

Security note: All files that are executed and installed by the automatic update are digitally signed by think-cell. The signature is checked for validity before any code is executed or installed. For additional security, the automatic download uses an SSL-encrypted connection. If you have further questions on security issues, please contact your local administrator.

2.4 Trouble shooting

For latest information on known issues and workarounds, please refer to our website at:

http://www.think-cell.com/kb

If you cannot find a solution in the knowledge base or this manual, feel free to contact our support team. Open the More menu in the think-cell tool bar and click on Request Support... Choose from the opening window whether you would like to attach certain slides to an e-mail to think-cell’s support team. This is often useful to point up a problem. After confirming with OK your e-mail application will open with an e-mail template.

2.5 Online quality assurance

At think-cell we are committed to stability and robustness as key factors for the professional use of our software. If desired by your firm’s IT department, think-cell offers automatic error reporting. When an error condition arises while you are using think-cell, the software automatically generates a report that helps us to understand the problem and fix it in the next release. The error report only contains information about the internal state of our software. No user data is included in the error report.

The software sends the error report encrypted. You might notice a short delay while an error report is being sent, but in most cases you can continue using think-cell as usual.

If automatic error reporting is disabled for your firm’s version of think-cell, it can be temporarily enabled until the end of the current PowerPoint session by typing senderrorshome into any textbox within PowerPoint. Our support staff may ask you to do so if some problem cannot be reproduced in our laboratory. A message box confirms that automatic error reporting is now enabled.

For more information on think-cell’s automated error reporting, refer to section ‘Online quality assurance’.

2.6 Temporarily disabling think-cell

To quickly work around compatibility problems, or other issues arising from the use of think-cell, you have the option to temporarily disable think-cell without uninstalling the software.

In the More menu in the think-cell toolbar in PowerPoint, there is an option called Deactivate think-cell. When you select this option, think-cell will be disabled immediately. With think-cell disabled, charts are presented as normal PowerPoint shapes. To re-enable think-cell, click the Activate think-cell button in the think-cell toolbar or ribbon group in PowerPoint. There is no need to close the PowerPoint application in order to switch between think-cell and plain PowerPoint.

Before you alter smart-elements without think-cell, be aware of potential compatibility issues (chapter ‘Exchanging files with PowerPoint’).

Note: You do not need to disable think-cell in order to make your presentations accessible to coworkers or clients who may not have think-cell installed. Simply send them the same file you are working with – if think-cell is not installed, they will find a presentation with normal PowerPoint shapes.