Cannot access internet from PSP X5 trial version

[CarolA]

I have just started a 30 day free trial of Paint Shop Pro X5 as I am undecided between Paint Shop and Adobe Photoshop.

Whenever I try to use help or learning centre, the program says it is unable to connect to the internet. I even tried clicking on 'Buy Now' and it would not connect.

My default browser is Google Chrome but I have also tried while connected via IE8.

I like what I have seen of the software but I am disappointed I cannot access help. I have also tried to download the user guide but the page is not available (I can download the guide for X4 but not X5).

This is the link it gives for the user guide.
http://product.corel.com/help/PhotoPro/ ... c=&single=

Also, there doesn't appear to be anywhere I can ask for help on this other than this forum. Is there no technical support email available?

Can anyone help?

Thanks

[hartpaul]

I went to Corel.com , clicked on Support > Patches and Updates .
Then in the Most Popular column clicked on Paintshop pro X5
Thsi gave a page for downloading SP1, SP2 and the Help files.
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index. ... id=5000003

Just tested and this allows download of a file PSPX5_LocalHelp_2.exe
You might check to see if your firewall is stopping a connection to the Corel help files.
The Learning Centre should be installed with your program and activated by F10. It is only when you click 'show more' that it attempts to access the internet and / or local help.

[CarolA]

I went to Corel.com , clicked on Support > Patches and Updates .
Then in the Most Popular column clicked on Paintshop pro X5
Thsi gave a page for downloading SP1, SP2 and the Help files.
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index. ... id=5000003

Just tested and this allows download of a file PSPX5_LocalHelp_2.exe
You might check to see if your firewall is stopping a connection to the Corel help files.
The Learning Centre should be installed with your program and activated by F10. It is only when you click 'show more' that it attempts to access the internet and / or local help.

It is when I want 'show more' that I have the problem. Without this I only get half the answers. I have checked my firewall (McAfee) and Corel SPS X5 is able to access the internet.

I do not want to spend a lot of money on software that is not able to give me full help facilities and also does not have any contacts when I have a problem. I do not consider a user forum is the answer when problems occur.

[photodrawken]

Corel's Support page has the links for the various support options (including online chat):
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index.jsp?pgid=800034

Their "Learning" page has various tutorials, etc.:
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index. ... d=12100072

This page has the link for the PDF file of the User Guide, which you can save to disk:
http://corel.force.com/index/articles/e ... 000000KzpB

In addition, if you download and install the LocalHelp files as hartpaul suggested, PSP will use them if it can't connect to the Help Server on the Internet.

[CarolA]

My comments in red

Corel's Support page has the links for the various support options (including online chat):
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index.jsp?pgid=800034

The only options I see under Technical Support are

Review supported products
Purchase Priority Support
Join a Discussion Group
Check your case status
Contact Technical Support - this just takes me to FAQs, none of which answer my problem

I do not have a support code to ask a question

am I missing something as I have the trial version?

Their "Learning" page has various tutorials, etc.:
http://www.corel.com/corel/pages/index. ... d=12100072

I can't see anything there that answers my query on internet access

This page has the link for the PDF file of the User Guide, which you can save to disk:
http://corel.force.com/index/articles/e ... 000000KzpB

This takes me to a page which lists the user guides. When I clink on PaintShop Pro X5 User Guide (2.86 MB, PDF format) it takes me to the link I posted previously which does not exist.

In addition, if you download and install the LocalHelp files as hartpaul suggested, PSP will use them if it can't connect to the Help Server on the Internet.

I have downloaded and installed the local help but when I ask for help it still tries to connect to the internet

At the moment I unable to test the product. I only have another 27 days left of the trial before it expires.

Apart from the help, if the program cannot access the internet, how will I receive updates?

[hartpaul]

I see you have XP Home as I do. X5 works on that and on windows 7.
I doubt that you will be able to get customer service on a product you have not bought.

You are debating about whether to get X5 or photoshop. In Australia I can get X5 for about $116 or $80 for an upgrade from a previous version.
To get a commercial version of Photoshop would cost me about $800 again with no garantee that it will work on your system (have you installed a trial version of photoshop to test).
You have not stated that the program is not working , just that when trying to access the extras it fails.
You do not need these extras to test it out to see if it is what works for you. (They include extra Picture Tubes, Frames, Brushes, KPT plugins, Textures Patterns, Line Styles, Gradients, Displacement Maps Preset Shapes, and Masks, none of which make the program ineffective)

If the program functions correctly on what it is supposed to do (barring internet access through the program)then you can save (in Australia at least) approx $700 . You could even work with PSP for a couple of years and if you find that there is some special function in Photoshop (eg Gradient Mapping) that you would like , then decide is that function worth paying an extra 600 / 700 to get. (note that there are still some features in PSP that Photoshop does not have - I find it puzzling that people expect PSP to surpass Photoshop in all things before they will buy it for 1/7 of the price.)

Once you have the program bought installed and working if the problem still exists then you have a right to contact Corel about the internet problem. In any case if it continues it would be easy enough to get these extras from other paid up users.

Your worry about

Apart from the help, if the program cannot access the internet, how will I receive updates?

You do not need to use the program to download the updates (Service packs) I have already given you a link to the page where you can separate from the program download the 'updates' and the offline help.

[CarolA]

I see you have XP Home as I do. X5 works on that and on windows 7.
I doubt that you will be able to get customer service on a product you have not bought.

You are debating about whether to get X5 or photoshop. In Australia I can get X5 for about $116 or $80 for an upgrade from a previous version.
To get a commercial version of Photoshop would cost me about $800 again with no garantee that it will work on your system (have you installed a trial version of photoshop to test).
You have not stated that the program is not working , just that when trying to access the extras it fails.
You do not need these extras to test it out to see if it is what works for you. (They include extra Picture Tubes, Frames, Brushes, KPT plugins, Textures Patterns, Line Styles, Gradients, Displacement Maps Preset Shapes, and Masks, none of which make the program ineffective)

If the program functions correctly on what it is supposed to do (barring internet access through the program)then you can save (in Australia at least) approx $700 . You could even work with PSP for a couple of years and if you find that there is some special function in Photoshop (eg Gradient Mapping) that you would like , then decide is that function worth paying an extra 600 / 700 to get. (note that there are still some features in PSP that Photoshop does not have - I find it puzzling that people expect PSP to surpass Photoshop in all things before they will buy it for 1/7 of the price.)

Once you have the program bought installed and working if the problem still exists then you have a right to contact Corel about the internet problem. In any case if it continues it would be easy enough to get these extras from other paid up users.

Your worry about

Apart from the help, if the program cannot access the internet, how will I receive updates?

You do not need to use the program to download the updates (Service packs) I have already given you a link to the page where you can separate from the program download the 'updates' and the offline help.

I can't really test the program as I cannot access help. The local help is not working - the program is still trying to access the internet - even when there is no internet open.

The Photoshop I am looking at is actually Photoshop Elements 11 which is £20 more than Paint Shop. I have a trial version of that and, although I prefer what I have seen in Paint Shop, I am concerned about Corel's help and support.

[LeviFiction]

First, for the PDF have you tried right-clicking on the link and saving the target? When I went to the link you posted the Corel Guide was opened up for me, took a minute, but it did open.

As for the help files. PSP doesn't always act the way it's supposed to which is annoying where the help files are concerned.

Here's how I understand it is supposed to work:

PSP checks to see if you have an internet connection. If it finds one then it just opens a link on your default browser. If, however, it does not find an internet connection it tries to open the local help files in IE8. It will always use a browser, but it's supposed to only try to access an actual Corel webpage if you have an internet connection.

Obviously, this doesn't always work. Why? I do not know

Now I don't know if the location of the help files is slightly different in XP vs 7 or not but try opening up the following file.

C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel PaintShop Pro X5\Languages\EN\Help\wwhelp\wwhimpl\js\html\wwhelp.htm

That should open up the local version of the help files for you. Then you can just book-mark it for offline use.

[CarolA]

Can you explain why, having downloaded and installed local help, I cannot get help?

The program still says it cannot access the Internet. How do I get it to go to Local Help.

[LeviFiction]

As I said I don't know why it doesn't always work.

First, PSP does not try to access the internet unless you're looking at the Guide or downloading updates or uploading photos. At all other times it just sends a request to your Browser and the browser tries to access the internet.

Corel Guide tries to pull information from the web because it uses YouTube videos in it but inspite of its name it's not the User Guide or help files. The Help Topics, however, where the actual help files are, should try to open a web browser.

If no internet connection is found it should attempt to open the local HTML help files in Internet Explorer. If it does find an internet connection it should try and open the Corel URL in your default web browser.

When I disabled my internet and clicked on "Help Topics" PSP did exactly what I expected it to and opened the local help files in Internet Explorer. Why it doesn't do this for you, I cannot say. I never installed the Help Files, they're just there.

That is why I gave you the physical location on your HDD for the help files. Open that page in your favorite browser, and create a book mark. Then any time you want the local help files just open the browser and use that bookmark. I know it's not ideal but it works and honestly it's hardly an inconvenience.

Again that location is:

C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel PaintShop Pro X5\Languages\EN\Help\wwhelp\wwhimpl\js\html\wwhelp.htm

[photodrawken]

if you find that there is some special function in Photoshop (eg Gradient Mapping) that you would like

Just a note that the KPT Collection (available as a free download for PSPX5) has the KPT Gradient Lab, which is a far more powerful gradient mapper than anything in PSE....

[RAS]

I had this same problem of not being able to get the help files to open for any PSP X5 tools when I opened them and clicked on the Help button. I couldn't get help to open under the Help drop down menu either. I had Chrome as my default browser. I changed the default browser to IE and the help files then opened normally ( I had tried many things befor stumbleing on this fix).I don't know why IE worked but Chrome didn't.