Technical Support

Support Resources for Every Budget

Paid Support / Free Support

Support is great

Manifold® product licenses do not include technical support. Technical support services may be obtained for a fee, usually in the form of a "token" that normally is very low cost. Technical support is provided by email and is available only for the current product release with the latest update installed.

Manifold Viewer is a free product that is supported by the community, not by tech support. Hey, it's free!

Important: To avoid wasting support incidents, please read the Contacting Technical Support page before attempting to obtain technical support.

Important: You do not need a technical support token for most activation questions if you follow the instructions in the Activation Support page. Please read that page carefully to learn how to get priority support for installation and activation questions without use of a technical support token.

Support Resources

  • Contact Technical Support - The name says it all: use the procedure in this page to contact Technical Support. Please read the page carefully and follow the simple instructions to get rapid service that solves problems on the first contact, getting the most out of the technical support tokens you spend.
  • Activation Guide - Activation problems are rare because activation is very simple. Almost all activation problems are caused by very simple user errors that are easily fixed. This short page provides an overview that solves most problems. It includes a link to a short troubleshooting page that fixes 99% of problems.
  • User Manuals - User manuals provide thousands of pages of detailed information on every aspect of Manifold System. Hundreds of examples, including thousands of full color illustrations and hundreds of detailed, step-by-step examples, show how to use Manifold. Almost all incidents processed by tech support involve questions that are answered in the user manual.
  • Videos - For an extensive gallery of YouTube videos, including practical tutorials, quick introductions to new features, and spectacular demonstrations of Manifold speed, visit the Videos page.
  • Product Downloads and Examples - The product downloads page includes links to the latest versions of products, useful downloads and options, and numerous example files used in videos and user manual topics. Study all published examples carefully in addition to viewing videos and careful reading of the user manual.
  • georeference.org Forum - The Georeference forum provides a meeting place for the world-wide Manifold user community. Visiting the forum is a good way to make contact with other Manifold users. The forum allows users to share information and to voluntarily support each other. Note: the Georeference forum is a user forum - it is not a communications link to manifold.net technical support.
  • Prepaid support incidents - Some Manifold System licenses may include two prepaid standard support tokens for technical support by email (low cost products do not). See the discussion on this page as well as in the Support FAQ.
  • Additional support products - Manifold licensees may purchase additional support incidents if desired. Technical support by email is available for a low fee per incident as standard support incidents or as developer support incidents. For a complete listing of available support products, see the Products page.

Support Incidents

Manifold products are supported by email for a fee. Technical support service products are sold that allow Manifold users to choose what level of support they prefer, from a single incident to ten incidents at a discount. Technical support processes email inquiries during business hours on business days. See the Contact page for details on hours and holidays.

Technical support incidents are available as standard support incidents or as developer support incidents. Standard incidents provide answers to routine interactive usage of Manifold. Developer support incidents provide answers to more technical questions, such as those involving programming, SQL, customization, IMS, License Server, Runtime licenses or Enterprise features.

Some Manifold licenses may include two prepaid standard technical support incidents (low cost products do not). Additional incidents may be acquired at very low cost; however, experience shows that those users who read the user manual in the recommended order and who participate in online user forums will never use a technical support incident, not even one of the two prepaid standard incidents provided with the license.

Each question asked of technical support constitutes a separate incident, regardless of whether the question is a trivial question or a sophisticated question. A technical support incident provides an answer at the lowest resolvable level of operation of Manifold. General questions will receive very general replies, normally a citation to a topic in the user manual or other general comments to help the user get started.

Using tech support as a replacement for reading the user documentation is not efficient: tech support incidents are used for highly specific question, and relate to one function or to the lowest separable usage level of Manifold in a specific task. If a particular issue or question is discussed in the user documentation, a response to a tech support incident will not reprint that documentation. Instead, the incident will cite topics to read and any subsequent discussion will assume you have read, in full, the topics cited.

Almost all questions can be answered by careful reading of the User Manual. The User Manual provides immense detail on every aspect of Manifold, and includes many dozens of major examples and hundreds of step-by-step procedures. Do not waste technical support tokens on questions that may be easily answered by reading the user manual.

Contacting Technical Support

Very important: To get the fastest possible response and to avoid wasting support tokens, please read the Contacting Technical Support page before contacting Manifold for support.


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.

 Click to begin shopping

Engineering

About Manifold

Manifold is a deep technology company creating advanced, parallel algorithms, next-level technology, and computation know-how that powers faster performance and smarter operations.

License Manifold® technology to power your company's products, or take advantage of Manifold's off-the-shelf commercial products. Jump decades ahead of your competition.

Manifold® brand products deliver quality, performance and value in the world's most sophisticated, most modern, and most powerful spatial products for GIS, ETL, DBMS, and Data Science. Total integration ensures ease of use, amazing speed, and unbeatably low cost of ownership. Tell your friends!

Questions? Contact sales@manifold.net. We're happy to help!