FastKeys has gone insane

Suggestions, feature requests and bug reports.
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lomacar
Posts: 6
Joined: Jan 21st, ’18, 23:46

Post by lomacar » Jan 22nd, ’18, 00:11

This morning I went to add a hotkey to FastKeys but it wasn't running, at least I didn't see the the icon in the notification area. So I launched it from the Windows menu. But when it loaded up, there were no entries in Shorcuts or Text Expander or anywhere. I tried using the restore feature, but it didn't matter what restore point I chose, it was always empty. I checked the FastKeys program folder and all the subfolders were empty! I used Windows "Restore Previous Version" to get the files back. Now the files are there but it still shows nothing when I open the UI. But I can add new shortcuts if I want to. I tried updating from 4.04 to 4.05, but it didn't help. This makes no sense! This is the only problem I have ever had with FK since I began using it a few years ago.
lomacar
Posts: 6
Joined: Jan 21st, ’18, 23:46

Post by lomacar » Jan 22nd, ’18, 00:13

Oh, and I should mention that I only had to restore from the Windows backup that was just 1 hour old, to get the files back.
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Marko
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mar 2nd, ’13, 21:02

Post by Marko » Jan 22nd, ’18, 12:24

Hi and sorry to hear about the issue. You say whatever backup file (File > Restore Backup) you try to load it is always blank?

Could you try running FastKeys as administrator and see it this helps? Could you check that the access to your files is not restricted by some security software?

If nothing helps, could you please verify the following
- go to Program files/FastKeys/Data folder and open Settings.fdb (or whatever you named it) file (right click, Open with... Notepad). Do you see the text contents or is the file empty?
- go to the Preferences > General > Folders and see your backup folder. Open the folder in Windows Explorer - are the backup files there? Are they empty?
lomacar
Posts: 6
Joined: Jan 21st, ’18, 23:46

Post by lomacar » Jan 23rd, ’18, 01:01

I tried everything you said. Running as Administrator did not help. The settings files were there and looked fine when I opened them in Notepad. I ended up reinstalling FastKeys and it wiped out all the settings including the backup in my user folder! That is very disturbing and improper behaviour. I shouldn't lose all the work of setting up various hotkeys just because I wanted to re-install. If there was an option in the uninstaller about preserving settings then I overlooked it.

Anyway, fortunately I could restore a previous copy from my hard drive backup. But when I restored the the most recent FastKeys folder backup it stopped showing anything in the shortcuts and other lists, just like before I re-installed. I found an older but still recent backup that did work and show all my old stuff, so I am good now.

I guess something in the settings got corrupted then, but I don't know what. In a version of the folder that doesn't work I can see a phrase file I made and it looks fine in Notepad. But it doesn't show up in FastKeys if I use that "corrupted" version of the FastKeys folder. I suppose I could send it to you if you are curious. But I am not sure about sensitive data if I attach it here. I don't use the User Variables feature, but what about the clipboard history?
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Marko
Posts: 1719
Joined: Mar 2nd, ’13, 21:02

Post by Marko » Jan 23rd, ’18, 12:37

Yes, please send the corrupted files (files which do not load properly) to our support mail for inspection. Please do not attach it here.

FastKeys uninstaller indeed deletes all the settings. We may need to change this in one of the next releases, to prevent similar cases.
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