Artisan Tip: Moving Artisan to a New Computer

We can spend a great deal of time sorting and arranging the projects, photos, and artwork used in Artisan software.  So when moving Artisan to a new computer, the last thing we want is to have to do that organizing all over again! Fortunately, you don’t have to!  But be warned – this method does involve some technical steps, so if you are not comfortable around computers, you might want to get some help. However, if you follow these steps carefully, you should not have any problems.

NOTE: This tip has been made available free to non-members; however, some of the links below may be available to members only.  Click HERE to join pixels2Pages or to start a 30 day free trial.

Preparation

Before moving anything from one computer to another, you should naturally back up everything.  I am sure you are backing up constantly, aren’t you?  If not, we have lots of tips about backing up – click HERE to view them. Make sure you have EVERYTHING backed up – your photos, your projects, your content, your fonts, and your activation codes (both the program codes and the digital art kit codes).

You will need to copy all of your Artisan-related files (projects, art kits, fonts) to your new computer.  Exactly how you do that depends on your preference and how you have your computer set up.  One suggestion would be to copy all your projects and art kits to an external hard drive (EHD).  Then it is easy to copy them from the EHD to the new computer, and you will have a backup copy on the EHD as a bonus.  If your projects and content are already on an EHD, you will save yourself that step.  If you are not sure how to use an EHD, click HERE.

Moving Artisan Software

You don’t actually “move” programs from one computer to another; rather, you need to install the programs onto your new computer.  To install Artisan you will need the most current download file, which can be found HERE.  Artisan is licensed for a single user on two computers, so if you are moving it to a third computer, you will need to uninstall it from the old computer; however, I recommend that you don’t do that until you have it up and running on the new computer.

NOTE: You will not be able to activate the third version until you’ve uninstalled it from your old computer.  You may need to contact Forever Support if this will be your third activation.

For instructions on uninstalling, click HERE. It is not sufficient to simply delete the Artisan icon.

To activate Artisan on the new computer, enter the software activation code. If you still have your old computer, you can retrieve your activation code. Click HERE for help with that.  If not, you hopefully have backed up your code, or you can retrieve it from your Forever account. The software should install without difficulty.  If this process does not work for any reason, you will see an on-screen message with instructions for manually activating the program.  And remember that contacting Forever Support is always an option.  You can email them at support@forever.com or call 1-888-FOREVER.

Keeping Your Content Organized.

THIS TIP details the process of backing up your content and restoring it.  Please read this information before proceeding further, and remember to back up your content on a regular basis!  Once you have followed the instructions in the backing up tip, you will have saved a folder called “Artisan 5” that you found in the following location (Replace USERNAME with your own computer username):

 C:/Users/USERNAME/AppData/Roaming/Forever/Artisan 5

You will need to copy that entire folder to the new computer. This must be done AFTER installing Artisan. Copy the folder to the SAME location on the new computer. You will almost certainly need to set the folder options to show hidden files, unless you have done that previously (see below). There will already be a folder of that name in that location – you should paste your Artisan 5 folder into the Forever folder in the location specified above. You will see a warning that there is already a file of the same name  in that location. Choose Copy and Replace.

If you can’t find the AppData folder on your computer, it may be a hidden folder. In that case you need to tick the option to show hidden files and folders. Exactly how to do that depends on your operating system. On the View tab, click Show hidden files, folders and drives. In Windows 8 & 10, open File Explorer, and on the View ribbon, make sure Hidden Items is checked.

In Windows 7, Click Start, and then click Control Panel, Click Appearance and Personalization, and then click Show Hidden Files and Folders.

Adding Your Content to Artisan

To add your content to the new computer, just copy the folders containing your art kits, both commercial and personal, to the same locations on the new computer as they were on your old computer. As well, copy the whole folder (C:Users/YOURNAME/AppData/Roaming/Forever/Artisan 5) that you had previously saved.

It is important that you restore the files to the same location where they had previously been (i.e. the same drive letter and path). The code for the art kits in the files includes the location (drive letter and path) for each art kit.  This means that when the file is restored, art kits will appear in the categories only if they are found in the same locations (drive letter and path) as when they were originally categorized.

If your content is on another internal drive (like the D Drive) on your old computer, or it’s on an EHD, you will need to make sure that the drive on the new computer has the same letter that it had previously. HERE are the instructions for changing the Drive letter.  Check those drive letters before opening Artisan.

When you open Artisan for the first time on the new computer, even if you have followed all the above steps, it may not look like there is any content. This is because you still need to tell Artisan where to look for content. In the Content Manager, click on Add folder to library. Browse to find the folder (or folders) where your content is located. Click the folder(s) to select it and click OK.

Reconnecting art kits in Artisan.

Even if you can see all your art kits in the content manager, you will likely notice that the folder names are grayed out with big question marks on them. DO NOT PANIC. This is as expected. Artisan doesn’t know that you have moved this folder, so you need to tell it where you moved it.

Right-click on the folder and select Change folder location or remove folder.

In the list that will pop up, choose 4. I want to remove this folder location from my content library.

A warning will appear. Click yes. You will lose any category organization that you had created, but this will happen anyway, so you can ignore the warning.

Now you need to add the folder back to the library from the new location.

Click on Library > Add folder to library.

Importing your Activation Codes

Since you have already backed up your activation codes, it is a simple matter to import them into Artisan on the new computer. This can be done all at once. The backup will be in the form of a text file. Simply copy the text file to the new computer, and follow the instructions HERE to import them.

Success!

If you have succeeded, you should now be able to see all your content, organized in the folders you painstakingly organized previously. Congratulate yourself and go make some pages 🙂

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Tech Tip: Uninstalling Programs

Artisan Tip: Backing Up Projects

Artisan Tip: Back Up Projects Using File Explorer

Artisan 5 Tip: Backing Up Content

Artisan 5 Tip: Backing up Activation Codes

Tip: Backing up the Fonts Group file

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