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The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing
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Help: Appendix C

General Error Conditions

Preferences file not found (Macintosh) Macintosh message: Your Mayfield Preferences file could not be found. Please create a Preferences file by running the "Configure Mayfield" application.

The Macintosh implementation relies on a Preferences file which is stored in the "System Folder:Preferences:Mayfield Preferences" folder. If that file is missing, or not in the correct location, this error will be triggered.

Action:

  1. Open the Mayfield Handbooks folder.
  2. Double-click on Configure Mayfield.
  3. Follow the directions on screen.
  4. For more information, see Installation for the Macintosh in Chapter 3.
  5. Save changes and quit. This will ensure that the Preferences files is properly created and in its correct location.
Error in Preferences file (Macintosh) Macintosh message: Your Mayfield Preferences file contains an error or does not have all the information it requires. Please run the "Configure Mayfield" application to correct the Mayfield Preferences file.

The Macintosh implementation relies on a preferences file which is stored in the "System Folder:Preferences:Mayfield Preferences" folder. If that file is has missing information, this error will be triggered.

Action:

  1. Open the Mayfield Handbooks folder.
  2. Double-click on Configure Mayfield.
  3. Follow the directions on screen.
  4. For more information, see Installation for the Macintosh in Chapter 3.
  5. Save changes and quit. This will ensure that the Preferences file is properly created and in its correct location.
Application not found (Window / Macintosh) Windows message: The application "" could not be found. Please run "setup.exe" and choose Modify Settings to reset the browser location.
Macintosh message: The application "" could not be found. Please run "Configure Mayfield" to select a <browser or word processor>.

The most likely reason for seeing this message is that the browser or word processor Handbook has been moved, renamed, or deleted.

Action (Windows users):

  1. Run the "setup.exe" program as for installation.
  2. On the first Handbook window, choose Modify Settings.
  3. Click the Next buttons in each window until the program finishes updating the installation.
  4. For more information, see Installation for Windows in Chapter 2.

Action (Macintosh users):

  1. Open the Mayfield Handbooks folder.
  2. Double-click on Configure Mayfield.
  3. Follow the directions on screen.
  4. For more information, see Installation for the Macintosh in Chapter 3.
  5. Save changes and quit. This will ensure that the software knows where the applications are to be found.
Links file not found (Macintosh) Macintosh message: The "Mayfield.lnk" file could not be found. Please mount the disk containing the HTML files, or re-run the "Configure Mayfield" application, or reinstall the Handbook.

The Macintosh implementation relies on a links file. It is installed once by Install Technical Handbook, and is used to map reference link text to the actual corresponding HTML file. This message will be triggered if

  1. the disk containing the file is not mounted (e.g. the CD-ROM is not in the drive), or
  2. the Handbook folder containing all the files has been moved or deleted, or
  3. the links file is not found in the same folder as all the HTML files.

Action:

Handbook not properly installed (Windows) Windows message: The Handbook is not properly installed on your computer. Please reinstall the Handbook.

This error will occur if information in the Registry (Windows 95) or the Mayfield.ini file (Windows 3.1) is incorrect or incomplete.

Action:

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