Technical Support

 

If you have received an issue of Culinary Online and are having trouble viewing or printing it, please check the list below for common problems.

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You can't find the FREE complimentary issue of Culinary Online on your computer?

Are you having trouble finding the monthly newsletter on your computer?

Did you have trouble downloading Acrobat Reader?

If you tried to read the newsletter but nothing came up (or it was blank)

If you didn't get the newsletter (file attachment)

Did you just get "gibberish"?

How to check that you have the right version of Adobe Acrobat Reader

How to check your configuration

Does your email program support MIME-encoded file attachments?

Are you using America Online?

Are you using WebTV or Juno?

Does Acrobat run on your computer?

Have you tried all the above and still can't get it to work?

 

Do you have Adobe Acrobat version 3.0 or later?

This is absolutely necessary. You can't read the newsletter without Adobe Acrobat Reader. This is the most common problem we encounter.

Some people have an older version (2.1) installed in their computers. It can't read the latest files and should be upgraded to version 3.0 or later.

You can find out which version you have by running Acrobat and choosing "Help ... About Acrobat".

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If you don't have Acrobat, or have a version older than 3.0, visit http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html for the latest version.

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If you tried to read the newsletter but nothing came up (or it was blank)

There are several possible causes for this problem. Please check all of these before writing to us for assistance.

  1. Do you have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3.0 or later installed on your computer?

    (Click here if the answer is "no")
  2. Are you using a version of Netscape older than 4.0? Some people have had trouble when using Acrobat and older versions of Netscape. (We haven't been able to reproduce this problem yet.) However, upgrading to Netscape 4.0 has solved the problem for all of these people. You may want to consider that option.

    If you don't want to upgrade, try re-installing your current version of Netscape instead.
  3. Read the tip below on "Checking Your Configuration"
  4. Are you not sure what to do? If you're not particularly computer-literate, you might want to ask a friend to help you the first time. Although it's not hard, sometimes people have trouble properly installing Acrobat or starting the program. A helpful friend looking over your shoulder is worth 10,000 online support pages like this!
  5. If you are still stuck, you may have a faulty copy of the newsletter. Email us and tell us exactly what happened. Make sure you tell us what kind of operating system you have (Windows 3.1, Windows95, Mac O/S), what kind of computer you have (486, Pentium, etc), what version of Acrobat you have, and what version of Netscape you have.

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If you didn't get the newsletter (file attachment)

If you filled out the sample request form but never heard back, it may be because you mis-typed your email address. If you aren't sure you typed it correctly, go back to the request form and try again.

AOL users: Please use your full email address, which always looks like this: "myname@aol.com". If you put "myname@aol" or just "myname", your free sample will not arrive.

The free sample issue you receive should be named "CULONLINE.PDF". Subsequent issues are named by the month and year they are issued; in other words, June 1998 will be called "CO9806.PDF". If you received an email message but you think you didn't get the attached PDF file, click here for tips.

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Did you just get "gibberish"?

This is often an indication that you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. Installing Acrobat should cure the problem.

Also, if you are trying to open the file from America Online or another program such as Word, that won't work either. You need to open the file with Adobe Acrobat Reader (if you don't have Acrobat, click here)

Another possibility is that your email system doesn't support MIME encoded files. Click here for advice.

If you are sure you are opening the file in Acrobat, email us and we'll send you a replacement. (We may request you send the original file back so we can check it.)

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How to check your configuration

Some people's computers are configured differently. If you double-click on the Culinary Online file you received and you see Acrobat Reader, but it stays blank, you may need to take the following steps:

  • If you use Netscape for your email, you may see something like this in the address bar (at the top) of your browser: "file://C:\AOL\DOWNLOAD\FILENAME.PDF" If so, please email "support@culinary-online.com" for details -- we are working out this problem now. You may find that selecting "File ... Save As" and saving the file to another place on your hard disk will help.
  • On Windows95 computers, start Windows Explorer. Select "Tools" from the menu, then "Options". In the window that opens, click the tab at the top that says "File Types". In the list of "Registered file types" you should be able to scroll down and see "Adobe Acrobat Document" in the list. Click on it once. Under "File type details" it should say,

Extension: PDF
Content Type (MIME): application/PDF
Opens With: ACROREAD

(or something very similar). If not, Acrobat may not be installed, or it may be installed properly. You might have to re-install Acrobat Reader.

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Does your email program support MIME-encoded file attachments?

MIME is needed to "encode" and "decode" the issues of Culinary Online so we can transmit them to you via email. If you are using Eudora, Microsoft Outlook, or Microsoft Exchange, this probably isn't your problem. But, if you have another email program, or you got a long email which looks like a lot of gobbledy-gook, check your documentation to be sure you can receive MIME-encoded files.

Another indicator that you didn't get the file properly is the filename. The sample issue of CO is named "CULONLINE.PDF". All regular issues are called "COyymm.PDF", ("yy" is the year and "mm" is the month of the issue -- for example, CO9806.PDF is the June, 1998 issue.) If the filename is different, you may have received a corrupted copy.

If you are using America Online, read the tip below for more advice.

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Are you using America Online?

The most common cause of corrupted copies is America Online. AOL is not good at consistently decoding MIME files. If you have America Online and you got a file where the filename extension has been changed from ".PDF" to ".MME" or ".MIM", go to AOL keyword "MIME" for assistance.

Unfortunately this problem is not under our control and re-sending the issue won't usually help. You need to follow AOL's advice to cure this problem, or get another Internet provider and you won't have this problem anymore.

If the file is on your computer (see #6 below) and the filename appears correct (has a ".PDF" extension), then this isn't your problem.

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Are you using WebTV or Juno?

At this time, WebTV doesn't support Adobe Acrobat files. This is a limitation of WebTV and we can't do anything about it.

Juno doesn't allow you to receive file attachments over 60k, so we can't send issues of Culinary Online to Juno users. We suggest instead that Juno users consider free web-based email services like Hotmail, RocketMail, NetAddress, or MailCity.

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You can't find the FREE complimentary issue of Culinary Online on your computer?

Attached files such as the sample file we are sending you can end up in a lot of different places on your computer. If you have Windows95 (or Windows98), use Find to locate the newsletter:

  1. From the Start button, select Find.
  2. Next to the box called "Named:", type in CULONLINE
  3. Double-click on CULONLINE.
If you have Acrobat Reader correctly installed, the file should open and be visible on your screen.

Note: With Windows95 you can also use Windows Explorer. Use the "Tools ... Find ... Files" command in Windows Explorer to look for a file called "CO*.PDF".

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Are you having trouble finding the monthly newsletter on your computer?

Attached files such as the sample file we are sending you can end up in a lot of different places on your computer. If you have Windows95 (or Windows98), use Find to locate the newsletter:

  1. From the Start button, select Find.
  2. Next to the box called "Named:", type in CO*.PDF
  3. Double-click on the issue that you want to view.
If you have Acrobat Reader correctly installed, the file should open and be visible on your screen.

Note: With Windows95 you can also use Windows Explorer. Use the "Tools ... Find ... Files" command in Windows Explorer to look for a file called "CO*.PDF".

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Does Acrobat run on your computer?

If your computer is older, it may not be able to run Adobe Acrobat. See the Adobe "Minimum Requirements" page for details, at http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readersysreq.html

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Weblinks Don't Work?

If you can read Culinary Online, but links to websites don't work when using Acrobat Reader outside of a web browser, you must specify your preferred web browser in Acrobat Reader's Weblink Preferences dialog box. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences/Weblink.../WWW Browser Application.

Note that our free sample issue does not have weblinks implemented, so this advice only applies when you are a regular subscriber.

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Are you having trouble getting a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader for yourself?

Sometimes people will have problems downloading Acrobat from Adobe's website. This is particularly a problem for people with slower connections (slower than 28.8kbps modem).

If you are having trouble, you can:

  • try again later (particularly at an off-peak time of day)
  • try one of Adobe's alternate sources
  • contact Adobe Technical Support
  • or order Acrobat on a CD-ROM. Adobe sells the CD-ROM for $15.

To try one of these solutions, visit Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html

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If you're still stuck ...

Wow, you're a tough one! We appreciate you trying so hard to read Culinary Online -- it's worth it!

If none of these suggestions help you, and you are sure the problem is with Acrobat Reader, you may wish to contact Adobe Software for technical support at http://www.adobe.com .

If you use AOL, MSN, or CompuServe, and you think the problem is in downloading the Culinary Online file, you may wish to contact technical support for those companies as well.

If you think you have found another problem which you think we should know about, please write to support@culinary-online.com

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