Help! My notes disappeared a day after importing -> Win 8

[joanney]

Hi there,

I transferred all my notes to a new Windows 8 machine and the import process went smoothly. I was just using Cintanotes today and all the sudden all of my 300+ notes disappeared! No notes, but two new files have appeared on my desktop - "cintanotes.setting" and "cintanotes.db". I saw that other people have had the same issue, but the solution of directing the program to open the "cintanotes.db" isn't working.

Please help! I'm kind of panicking. I just kept the program open as usual, I'm totally confused on what I could have done to trigger this disappearance of notes en masse.

Thank you,
Joanne

[joanney]

This is CintaNotes 2 6.1

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hi Joanney,

It seems that you've inadvertently created a copy of cintanotes.exe on your desktop, instead of a shortcut to it.
When you ran it, it created a new notebook and settings file. Probably you need to delete it and run the original cintanotes.exe which is located elsewhere (probably in C:\Program Files (x86)\CintaNotes).

But first let's find out if this is in fact the problem.
Please do the following and tell me the results:

1) Press Win+E to bring up Exporer
2) Press Ctrl+F to go to Search box
3) Type

Code: Select all

name:="cintanotes.exe"

and press Enter (Warning! I'm assuming that you have English Windows. If your Windows
is not English, you'll have to translate "name" into the Windows's language first)
4) Please report the results

[joanney]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for getting back to me. I tried your instructions and found a "cintanotes.exe", opened it, and it still showed 0 notes.

Joanne

[CintaNotes Developer]

Joanne,
Was there just one cintanotes.exe? In which folder was it located? Thanks!

[joanney]

Hi Alex,

There was only one "cintanotes.exe" that came up in my search and looks like its located on my desktop. I just checked program files x86 for good measure and I don't see any executable files there.

Thanks again,
Joanne

[CintaNotes Developer]

Ok, this pops the question then: how exactly did you transfer CintaNotes and your notes to a Windows 8 machine?
Did you use a portable version of CintaNotes? (It seems that you didn't install CintaNotes using the installer, as in
this case it would be in Program Files.)

If you just copied CintaNotes to desktop, then the database "cintanotes.db" was also created on the desktop.
May it be that you've inadvertently deleted this file, not recognizing it to contain your notes?
Please check in Recycle bin, it might still be there.

[joanney]

Unfortunately it's not in the recycle bin, I checked. I transferred the notes by doing an export, saving as xml, and then importing to my new machine where I had downloaded and installed the latest Cintanotes. My 270+ notes were there for over a day after a transfer and then I checked after browsing the internet and they were gone.

Are there any other possibilities for fixing this?

[joanney]

Oh, and it was computer -> computer, I didn't use a portable version.

[CintaNotes Developer]

We need to understand what happened to fix this and find your notes.

If you installed CintaNotes using the installer, how come cintanotes.exe is on the desktop and not in Program Files?
Also, do you still have that XML file?

Could you also try searching for "*.db" files on your computer? If you just had one default notebook, you can
even just search for "cintanotes.db".

[RStroud]

It seems that the original poster has disappeared.

I do not mean to stir things up when I have no answer, but I am wondering about something.

First, I have no problem. I am just curious. I do not think that Joanne mentioned whether she had looked for the cintanotes.db file. I use Windows 7. My cintanotes.db is in this directory:

C:\Users\Roland\AppData\Roaming\CintaNotes

Has Windows 8 changed how things work? Does the default database file go somewhere else? Would her cintanotes.db file have gone to a similar directory under C:\Users ... Roaming?

Also, the fact that her installation ended up on the desktop is indeed suspicious. I remember that, in Windows XP, you could drag an .exe file to the desktop, and that the dragging would create a shortcut. However, I discovered, to my dismay, that in Windows 7 the dragging moves the executable itself to the desktop. I have to wonder if maybe Joanne did this and inadvertently moved the executable.

I have been using Cintanotes for years and have never had a problem. I use the professional version, though I have not really had to use the professional features. I upgraded mainly because I wanted to support this program, which is an indispensable tool for me.

I hope that Joanne was able to find her database file.

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hi RStroud,

Yes I also wonder why Joanne disappeared. Hope that her notes are ok.

Has Windows 8 changed how things work? Does the default database file go somewhere else? Would her cintanotes.db file have gone to a similar directory under C:\Users ... Roaming?

I don't think that Windows 8 changed this. If you install CintaNotes using the installer and accept the defaults, then CintaNotes executable goes into Program Files, and your data goes into %APPDATA%/CintaNotes.
%APPDATA% usually expands to C:\Users\<YourUserName>\ApplicationData\Roaming.

Also, the fact that her installation ended up on the desktop is indeed suspicious. I remember that, in Windows XP, you could drag an .exe file to the desktop, and that the dragging would create a shortcut. However, I discovered, to my dismay, that in Windows 7 the dragging moves the executable itself to the desktop. I have to wonder if maybe Joanne did this and inadvertently moved the executable.

Yes, that's exactly what I suspected. Of course, would be better if the system at least issued a warning.

I have been using Cintanotes for years and have never had a problem. I use the professional version, though I have not really had to use the professional features. I upgraded mainly because I wanted to support this program, which is an indispensable tool for me.

Thanks a lot for your support. It really means a lot!

I hope that Joanne was able to find her database file.

Me too