Frequently Asked Questions

1. When I start Fiberworks a message appears saying "Can't Open File". What's gone wrong and how do I fix it?
2. I'm installing Fiberworks and I get Error 1925 "You do not have sufficient privileges". What's gone wrong?
3. Why do I only see dtx files when I try to open files in Fiberworks? Where are my wif files?
4. Help Files: HELP! I have Fiberworks version 4.1 or 4.0 and my Help files do not work on Windows Vista®. What can I do?
5. How do I change thread thickness?
6. Can I print numbers in my threading, treadling or tieup?
7. Can I print some parts of the design rather than the whole thing?
8. How do I print sideways or in landscape mode?
9. Can I modify a color in my design?
10. Can I save a palette that I created?
11. Can I save just a threading or a treadling? Can I get just a tieup from a saved design?
12. Can I use colors from two separate palettes? How can I keep both sets in one design?
13. I cannot set up a second e-dobby loom in Silver Plus.
    Or
    I cannot change the kind of e-dobby loom in the Loom setup dialog?
    What can I do?
14. Can I paste a draft into my word processing program?
15. My design printed out on one page and then a second page appeared with a skinny strip down the left edge. How can I stop this?
16. Can I use more than two colors in a draft?

1. When I start Fiberworks a message appears saying "Can't Open File" or "Can't Find File".

What's gone wrong?

Your copy of Fiberworks is set to re-open the last design file that you used in your previous session. For some reason, the designated file is not available, so can't be opened.

How do I fix it?

Why did this happen?

• After Fiberworks closed down, you used Windows Explorer to move the file to a different folder or maybe delete it altogether. Fiberworks does not know about this change, so can't find the file it last used.
• The file was on removable media such as a CD or a USB flash drive (aka memory stick, jump drive, thumb drive), and the CD or external drive are not in place any more.
• The original file came from the internet. Your web browser created a temporary file on your computer so that it could be opened by Fiberworks, and deleted this temporary file when your session was done.

How do I stop this happening in the future?

If you get files from the internet, it might be best to download the file, which makes a permanent copy on your computer, rather than opening directly, which only creates a temporary file.

Another way to prevent this happening is to turn off the feature that reopens the last file used. Go to File Preferences (version 4.2) or View Preferences (versions 4.0 and 4.1), select Misc. Settings, and uncheck the box that says Reopen most recent file at startup. Fiberworks will then always start with a blank drawdown instead of trying to look for a file that might not be available.

2. I'm installing Fiberworks and I get Error 1925 "You do not have sufficient privileges".

What's gone wrong?

The security measures for installing programs in Windows 7 require you to run as administrator when you install software. This is intended to block programs that install themselves without your knowledge.

It is not sufficient to be logged on as administrator; to run as administrator:

• right click on the icon or listing for the setup program
• select Run as Administrator from the menu that appears.

3. Why do I only see dtx files when I try to open files in Fiberworks? Where are my wif files?

The default file type for Fiberworks is dtx, so when you first go to open files that's what is shown in the File Open dialog. To change the file type, click in the box labelled Files of type (step 1).

A list of file types will drop down. Wif is third in this list. Click on Wif to select (step 2).

The File open dialog will now show the wif files in the current folder (step 3).

If there are no wif files listed, they may have been saved in a different folder on your computer.

Windows Vista and 7 no longer automatically include the WinHlp32 program which is required to display the help files provided with older versions of Fiberworks PCW. Instead, Vista and 7 use a new system called HTMLHelp. Window XP uses both types of Help file.

Fiberworks Version 4.2 with the new HTML Help file is now available at Bronze, Silver and Silver Plus levels. There is a small charge for this upgrade (free if you purchased version 4.1 after July 2009).

If you wish to continue to use your existing Fiberworks version with old WinHelp help files, you can download a copy of WinHlp32 (intended for Windows Vista) from the Microsoft website. Go to:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=82148

Microsoft does not permit us to distribute the Winhelp program with our Fiberworks PCW package.

"Help" refers to pages that are displayed when you go to the Help item in the main PCW menu and select Help Topics, or if you press the F1 key within the Fiberworks PCW program, or click a "Help" button in a dialog within Fiberworks PCW.

The Fiberworks manual is not affected and is fully functional. The manual is a separate item which appears as a separate icon or entry in the Fiberworks folder.

 5. How do I change thread thickness?

a.  With the mouse. Click in the thread thickness bar, which resembles an comb above the warp color bar or to the right of the weft color bar. Left click doubles width, right click halves it.

b.  With the keyboard. Click in the first thread to be changed and type a thickness from 1 to 64. Default thickness is 4, which results in a square cell in the threading or treadling draft. Move cursor to next thread and type in a number.

c. With the menu. The warp or weft thickness menu allow you to fill the draft with 5 different common thick and thin thread orders.

Yes!
Go to Preview and Print and select Print Options. Make a check mark in the box next to Numeric if possible. This will allow numbers to printed in the draft if the epi in the printing is 12 or less.
When thick and thin picks are used, the numbers appear to be misaligned, especially if very thin picks are used

Yes. It’s easy.

a. To print only a threading, treadling, tieup or cloth:
Go to Preview and Print and select Print Options. From the drop down text box select the part of the draft you want to print. If you make a check mark next to Print on one page if possible, threading will be printed in several rows across the page or treadling will be printed in several columns on the page.

b. To print a specific portion of the whole design:
Resize the window containing the design. Take the cursor and place it at the edge of the Window until it turns into a double headed arrow. Then drag till the Window is the desired size. Adjust the magnification as necessary. Use the scroll bar so that only the desired part is visible.
Go to Preview and Print and select Screen View Only in the Print Setup dialog.

c. To print specific pages only:
Go to Preview and print and set up the pages as you desire. Use next page until you see what you want to print, adjust the Print Setup until it is all to your liking. After you hit the Print button, the Print dialogue appears. This allows you to print all, some or one specific page.

Note: If you have a design that requires 5 pages across and 3 pages down, 15 pages are needed not 8.

Before beginning printing, go to File / Print Setup. Select the landscape or portrait orientation, paper size, printer and printer properties.

Note: Set the paper size and orientation before going to Preview and Print. Otherwise you will get some odd results!
Note: You cannot print a drawup, threading at the bottom, or with treadling on the left.

Yes.
To modify a color in the design, use the color picker tool and click on the color to be changed.
It now appears in the active color patch on the top right of the screen.
To modify the color, right click on the patch, and the Color Modify dialogue will appear. Watch the color change as you work. Instantly.

If you have modified the colors in the palette, save the design you are working on, then clear all data except the colors in the draft and save it as a new file. Use an obvious name such as palet01.dtx to make it easy to find in the future.

Note: If the colors in the warp or weft color bars are the default values, the new palette will not be saved. You must use the new colours in the warp or weft to be saved.

To copy a palette from one design to another, go to the Edit menu and click Select All. Uncheck all the boxes except Color Palette, and click Copy.

Open the design where you want the palette, and click Paste.

To save just a component of a design, such as the threading or the tieup, go to the Edit / Select All and copy the components you want to use. Open a new design and paste into the blank design in the normal way.

To extract a component from a saved design, open it in the normal way. Copy the component by Edit / Select All. Check only the parts you want to copy and then paste into the design you are working on. Only the selected components will appear in the new design.

It’s a little devious, but it can be done.
When colors from from a design using palette A are pasted into a design using palette B, the colors are combined by rejecting unused colors in palette B.
Open two designs with the appropriate palettes, either from the Color Palette menu, or custom designed ones. Enter the colors needed into the warp color bar of each design, copy and paste the set of colors from the first design into the weft bar of the second design. This will ensure that you keep all of the colors from both designs.
If there are more than 80 colors being used in total, then the added colors will be changed to nearest best match.

If only one or two new colors from one designs are needed. Open the Modify Color dialogue and look at the color codes for each of those colors. Go to the new design and adjust unused colors in the existing palette with the Modify Colors dialogue.

 13. I cannot set up a second e-dobby loom in Silver Plus.
Or
I cannot change the kind of e-dobby loom in the Loom setup dialog?
What can I do?

Some of the internal settings for the looms have not been reset. This may cause a conflict, and may also force PCW4.x to close.
To reset the loom registry, you need to download a file called loom reg utility.exe

Use Edit/Copy image:
The drafts should be set up exactly as you want it to appear in the destination software. Adjust the magnification, the view, the size of the design window, until it shows only what you want to have in the word processing document.
Go to Edit/Copy image. A small beep may sound.
Open the destination software, such as Word, email message or a paint program.
Go to paste (or use Ctrl V and the image should appear.
The normal cut and copy functions in Fiberworks copy weaving information
, not the graphic image, and other programs don't understand the weaving information. So you can't use the Fiberworks cut and copy for outside applications.

Either decrease the left and/or right margins, increase the epi, or select Fit to Page in the Print Setup dialogue.
Use the preview to see how the printout appears. Always view all pages to see that it is arranged as desired. Look at the Pages across and Pages down information boxes to see that only the desired number of pages will be printed.

The warp and weft menus provide simple repetitive 2 color schemes. To enter more complicated orders you may proceed in a couple of different ways.
a. Choose the main warp colour and fill the entire draft with it. Then choose two different colours with the left and right mouse button. Add these colors to the warp draft in the chosen placement for instance at the points of twills.
b. Select colors from the palette bar as needed. If the color order is complicated, this becomes tedious.
c. Click in the color bar to place the insertion point where you want the colours to appear. There are small numbers and letters next to each colour chip in the palette. Use these symbols to type colours in from the keyboard. Remember that the insertion point moves right to left in a threading draft.