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Provide All Info in the First Email

All Manifold^® product installation, serial number and activation questions are handled by email. This page provides instructions for contacting technical support for assistance with any question or problem involving installation, serial numbers, activations, or any other matters related to activation of any Manifold product.

Please read this entire page - No technical support token is required to obtain assistance with activation questions if you follow these instructions.

Important: Free Activation support is provided only for the current edition of Manifold System Release 9 or Release 8. Please make sure you have installed the current build for Release 9 or Release 8. Activation questions for non-current builds are not free: they require a standard support token. Release 8 Runtime or Release 8 License Server license questions require a developer level support token.

Important: All serial number and activation questions involving additional activation keys, whether free or procured via the Extra Activation Keys product require a standard tech support token. Follow the procedures in this page and in addition provide a technical support token. Questions involving additional activation keys for Runtime licenses or License Server installations require a developer level support token. See the Additional Activation Keys page for details.

Holidays: See the Holidays page for a list of holidays observed by Manifold. Technical support is not available on holidays.

Quick Troubleshooting

It is faster to solve a problem right away than to exchange emails with tech support. Here's how:

Serial Number

Manifold System licenses are protected using a serial number. You must have a serial number to run Manifold System. Serial numbers are sent by email when a license is purchased. If you have not received the serial number email, check for Email Problems.

Manifold Viewer is a free product that does not require a serial number. No activation is required for Viewer.

If you do not have a valid Manifold serial number you can procure a license on the Online Store to obtain a serial number. If you lost your serial number, you may or may not be able to recover it by purchasing a Key Recovery service product.

Installation

Locate the original serial number email that conveyed your license to you. That serial number email contains installation information for the license you procured. Read that entire email carefully and apply the instructions for installation.

If you do not have that serial number email, you might be able to recover it using a Key Recovery Service if available on the Manifold Online Store. Before ordering a Key Recovery Service product please carefully read the Key Recovery Service Instructions.

Almost all installation problems arise from one of two situations - the person installing Manifold was given a serial number but not the full serial number email with installation instructions; or, the person installing Manifold has the serial number email but hasn't read it attentively and thus has missed one of the simple steps involved. If you don't have the original serial number email, get it. If you have the original serial number email, read it. If a diligent reading does not help, use the free procedure in this page to get installation support.

Activation

Before seeking assistance with activation, please visit the Activation Guide page for a quick guide to activating your Manifold license. Reading that page carefully will answer 95% of activation questions.

If reading that page does not immediately solve your problem, please visit the Activation Troubleshooting page for a quick troubleshooting checklist. Applying that checklist carefully solves 99.9% of activation problems.

Check your Serial Number

Before seeking assistance, please check the status of the serial number you are attempting to use on the Status Page. This page will report the product authorized by that serial number and how many activations are left on that serial number.

• If a serial number is invalid, that usually indicates a typographical error. Please make sure to copy and paste the serial number from the original serial number email message.
• If you have used up all of your activations and cannot wait until more are available, you'll have buy a new serial number.
• If a serial number has been revoked, that usually indicates it has been traded in on an upgrade, such as an upgrade to a newer Manifold product. Locate the serial number obtained by upgrade and use that serial number instead. If you didn't keep track of the upgrade you might be able to recover it using the Extended Key Recovery Service product if available on the Manifold Online Store. See the Activation Frequently Asked Questions page for a list of other reasons why serial numbers may be revoked. If you don't remember what you did to get your serial number revoked, tech support is happy to investigate that for you at the cost of a standard support token.

Assistance Provided by Email Only

All serial number and activation questions are handled by email questions in English language sent to tech@manifold.net.

Technical support processes email inquiries from 9 to 5 Hong Kong time on business days and responds to installation, serial number and activation questions conforming to this page's instructions before any other questions. Installation, serial number and activation questions which do not conform to this page's instructions will normally get an automatic response but such responses may be delayed until after other valid tech support inquires are processed.

You do not need a technical support token for activation questions for licenses other than Runtime or License Server licenses if you follow the instructions in this page. Any serial number, activation or installation question involving Runtime or License Server licenses requires a developer level support token. If you do not want to obtain free support by using the instructions in this page, please provide a standard technical support incident for each question tech support will have to ask you to obtain the information that is required by this page.

Contacting Tech Support: Required Information

VERY IMPORTANT: If you do not provide all of the following information a support token will be required.

For assistance with any serial number and activation question you must provide the following information in your initial email message:

• You must write from the email address to which the original serial number email was sent. Support services for any assistance of any kind involving installation, activation or serial numbers are available only to the original licensee at the original email address.
• Your email must use English language.
• Please use a subject line that includes the words Manifold and either installation or activation. This will assure your message gets through any spam filters and receives maximum priority for a reply. Installation, serial number and activation questions are answered before all other questions.
• Please do not use any attachments. All information must be provided in ordinary text form within the body of your email message. (Attachments are removed enroute by spam and security filters.)
• Please do not use HTML mail. Send ordinary text mail to be sure all information gets through.
• Write to tech@manifold.net - Please do not cc any other Manifold email address and do not cc any third parties. Serial number, activation and installation questions are confidential.
• At the bottom of your email you must include the full text of the original serial number email that provided your serial number for this license. Copy and paste this text into the body of your email. Do not attach it as an attachment. Possession of this serial number email is proof you have licensing rights to this license. If you do not have that serial number email, you might be able to recover it using a Key Recovery Service if available on the Manifold Online Store.
• Specify the full name of the installation file from which you installed Manifold.
• Confirm you are physically present at the computer system you are using and are directly logged in to the keyboard and monitor that is the console for that machine. That is, confirm you are not working with any remote machine in some other place.
• Specify the exact computer system hardware you are working with, including computer brand and model, CPU, hard disks and memory configuration. Specify if you are working in a virtual machine, and if so, what virtual machine software you are using.
• Specify the exact version of Windows you are using.
• Have you installed or are you using any other systems software besides Windows? For example, such as any antivirus package, any virtual machine software, any registry protectors, uninstall packages, network utilities, or emulators? If the answer is "yes," please specify all such software that is running when you either install Manifold or when you try to activate your Manifold license.
• Give the system date and time as reported by your system at the time you try activation.
• Include in your email the exact serial number you are using. Use copy and paste to insert these into your email message to avoid typographic errors.
• State exactly, step-by-step what you are doing. Report the exact error messages displayed or provide a detailed description of the problem if no error messages are displayed.

All of the above information is important. Without all details a support engineer cannot solve the problem quickly. Please provide all of the above information within a single email. If you do not provide all of the above information and receive a form letter from tech support asking you to provide all required information, please re-submit your question as a new, complete, standalone email that includes all of the above information in a single letter. Tech support will not try to parse threads you forward from other people. Contact tech support using a new, original email message so all information is clear.

Do NOT Send: Do not send information not requested. Focus on sending the above information. If additional info is required, tech support will ask. Some people send pages and pages of logs, copies of emails exchanged with other people, copies of postings they've read on the web and all sorts of other stuff. Please do not do that. Send only the information required, as listed above.

Details are Essential

"State exactly, step-by-step what you are doing." - Make sure to tell tech support exactly what has been done. Here's a unhelpful description: "I installed the latest version of 9." Here's a helpful description: "I double-clicked on the manifold-9.0.173.exe file I downloaded and then clicked through the dialogs with a successful installation reported." Here's a description that immediately shows an error: "I downloaded the manifold-9.0.173.exe file and installed it by copying it into the C:\Windows\System32 folder, but Manifold does not appear in my Windows Start menu."

Additional Information

When writing to tech support, please make sure to send email only from an email address that can accept a reply from manifold.net email addresses and which is the email address that was used to receive your serial number email.

Support is available only to customers who have acquired Manifold licenses in a direct transaction with manifold.net, using the original email address provided for the license. If you did not acquire Manifold directly from manifold.net you must contact whoever provided you with a Manifold license with any questions. If you are in an organization the designated licensee is the sole and exclusive contact with manifold.net.

Tech support may contact you with questions as part of the processing of a request for activation assistance. Please respond within two business days to those questions, answering all questions asked. Incomplete responses or tardy responses will not allow rapid assistance. If you need to drop out of an interaction for a while due to more pressing business that's OK, but when it is time to restart the support interaction, please do so from the very beginning with full information provided in a fresh start. Do not quote old threads - just make a fresh start.

Runtime licenses and License Server licenses are for tech professionals who have programming expertise, substantial web mastering skills and expert Manifold skills. Any tech support questions involving Runtime or License Server licenses require a developer level technical support incident. This includes questions about activation, which normally do not require a tech support incident for other types of licenses if the procedure in this page is followed.

For general information on technical support for Manifold products, please see the main Support page.

How to Buy Technical Support Services

Purchase Manifold^® technical support products on the Online Store. Purchase the technical support product desired and you receive support tokens by email. You can then use them when contacting tech support.The store is open 24 hours / seven days a week / every day of the year. Orders are processed immediately with emails sent out in seconds.