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E-mail Technical Support

I'm Ed Hamrick, the author of VueScan, and I personally read and respond to all e-mail sent to edhamrick@aol.com. However, please note the following:

  • I answer roughly 50 e-mails every day.
  • If you ask a question, please make the question as brief as you can. Simplify it to one or two sentences and be sure to mention what operating system you're using.
  • You'll probably get a brief, one line answer.
  • If you reply, please attach the text of our previous correspondence in the reply.
  • If you're sending a Problem Report, please carefully read below and make sure you attach vuescan.log.
  • The e-mail can't contain inline images and must be less than 5 MBytes or it's discarded as spam mail.
If you're having a problem with a scanner, we'd really appreciate it if you'd send a VueScan Problem Report, as described below, and be sure to include a vuescan.log file. You don't need to purchase VueScan to send a Problem Report (and if VueScan isn't working with your scanner, you shouldn't purchase it until it works).

VueScan Problem Reports

Better to light the candle than curse the darkness.

The main thing we use to diagnose problems is a file called vuescan.log that's written by default when you run VueScan. On Mac OS X, it's written to "/Users/yourname/Library/Preferences/vuescan.log". On Windows, it's normally written to "c:\vuescan\vuescan.log" or the default folder when VueScan starts.

The vast majority of VueScan problems can be solved by running VueScan and choosing "File|Default options" from the menu and then doing a scan with minimal options changes. Be sure to try this before submitting a problem report, and be sure you're using the latest version of VueScan.

Use the procedure below to submit problem reports and suggestions. All problem reports and suggestions are carefully read, and fixes and improvements are prioritized based on the number of times a problem report or suggestion is received.

If you want to find out whether a given scanner works with VueScan, the best way to find out is to consult the list of supported scanners and then download VueScan and test it on your system.

If you've lost your serial number, or need a replacement serial number, you can get a new serial number online.

You can report a problem or make a suggestion for improving VueScan by sending e-mail to edhamrick@aol.com with a subject of "VueScan Problem Report" or "VueScan Suggestion".

A problem report should begin with:

  1. The operating system you're using
  2. The version of VueScan you're using (must be the latest)
  3. The scanner you're using
  4. A list of other USB and SCSI peripherals
  5. A brief description of the problem
  6. Things you've already tried to solve the problem
  7. Make sure you attach vuescan.log, preferably zipped
  8. Make sure you attach the exact procedure used to produce vuescan.log, and make sure this procedure is comprehensive, detailed, and is the simplest procedure needed to duplicate the problem
  9. If we've exchanged e-mails about this problem, please be sure to attach them to the Problem Report.
The problem report should then have a detailed, step by step description of the procedure you use to reproduce a problem. Each step of the procedure should itemize a single option change, a single mouse action, or any other single action. The procedure should be of the form:

  1. Turn off power to scanner and computer
  2. Turn on scanner, wait till scanner ready
  3. Turn on computer
  4. Run VueScan
  5. Use the "File|Default options" command
  6. (do the bare minimum number of steps to reproduce the problem)
  7. Exit VueScan
Be sure to attach a zipped vuescan.log to the problem report along with the exact procedure that was used to produce the log file.

Please note that any e-mail larger than 5 MBytes is automatically discarded by our e-mail server, so if you have any large files, please upload them somewhere and send a URL that points to these files in your problem report.

Please note also that the heavy volume of e-mail makes it impractical to keep track of multiple e-mails about the same problem, and that each problem report needs to be completely contained in a single e-mail. Each e-mailed problem report should only describe a single problem.

General Scanning Resources

There's an excellent web site with scanning tips maintained by Wayne Fulton. It contains a scanning tips for flatbed scanners and film scanners. There's also a summary of the available film scanners , a review of VueScan and an example of using VueScan's cleaning, intensity, and contrast options.

Non-functional Serial Number

VueScan 0.1 was released on 3/3/98. VuePrint serial numbers issued prior to this date don't work with VueScan (starting with version 7.5.53). If you purchased VuePrint prior to this date and want to use VueScan, you need to purchase a new VueScan serial number.

VuePrint Technical Support

Please note that Hamrick Software does not provide e-mail technical support for VuePrint.

If you need help using VuePrint, you can access the VuePrint help file by running VuePrint and pressing F1. There is an "Introduction" section that gives an overview of running VuePrint, a "Hints" section for improving display quality, and a section on "Internet Graphics" describing how to decode files from Internet newsgroups.

There is also a document containing the answers to the VuePrint Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) so you can quickly get answers to the most common questions.

The most common question about VuePrint involves file associations, and how to associate VuePrint with files (or how to put file associations back the way they were before installing VuePrint). All you need to do is run VuePrint and use the Utilities|Configure extensions command to do this.

Warranty and Return Policy

You can use a free trial version of VueScan with your scanner before buying it. Consequently, all purchases are nonrefundable and have no warranty.

We've always strongly encouraged people to test VueScan with their scanner before purchasing it, but if you find that VueScan doesn't work with your scanner, note that VueScan works with more than 750 different scanners, and your copy of VueScan will work with scanners that you may purchase in the future.

Copyright © 2008 Hamrick Software
Last updated: March 25, 2008