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LarryBaxter4-Participant
4-Participant
June 26, 2025
Question

I need help with Help

  • June 26, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 380 views

Hi.

I'm using MathCad 14 with Windows 11.  When I click "help" and "Quicksheets,"  it says "Unable to open C\contents\qheet\*.hbk.  The C:\contents directory doesn't exist.  When I create it and load Quicksheets from the install disk, I get "Unable to open C\contents\qheet\toc_qs.xmcd.  Should I do a complete reinstall, or will it not work with the new Windows?

...Larry

larry@capsense.com

 

1 reply

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LucMeekes23-Emerald IV
23-Emerald IV
June 26, 2025

You could try a partial re-install, of the resource center and the help, if Mathcad 14 allows that.

Did it work under windows 10, and did you migrate your PC from windows 10 to 11?

 

A complete re-install may get you into more trouble, since Mathcad 14 is no longer supported, and you cannot license it anymore since the license server is shut: https://community.ptc.com/t5/Mathcad-Tips/Official-PTC-Mathcad-15-and-Prime-1-6-End-of-Sale-Announcement/ta-p/818870 

 

Success!
Luc

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LarryBaxter4-ParticipantAuthor
4-Participant
June 27, 2025
Hi.

Does PTC sell a MathCad version that will open my MathCad 14 files?

...Larry

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Werner_E25-Diamond I
25-Diamond I
June 27, 2025
@LarryBaxter wrote:
Hi.

Does PTC sell a MathCad version that will open my MathCad 14 files?

...Larry

PTC is only selling Prime on a subscription basis, so you will have to pay annually to have access to your IP.

Prime comes with an integrated converter for legacy Mathcad files (you have to actively check the option to install the converter when you install Prime).

 

This converter is all but perfect, though. As Prime still does not support all features of real Mathcad it can be that the converted sheets needs a lot of rework to make them run or sometimes its not possible at all to let them do what they did in Mathcad.

 

You can install the evaluation version of Prime for free and it will be fully functional for 30 days. During that time you can tes drive it and convert some of your legacy sheets and see if the converted sheets are usable for you.

After the trial period the free version will loose a lot of so called 'Premium features' (like converting legacy sheets, programming, symbolic calculations, etc.) but it still can open all Prime files and will show their content (the state it was before saving). If the sheet contains premium features you will see errors if you try to let the sheet recalculate, though.

 

If you own a perpetual license for Mathcad 14 you sure should try to keep MC14 running. First step would be to copy the license file to a save place to keep. The license file usually is bound to the MAC address of your network interface card (NIC). If you intend to run MC14 on a different machine it may be necessary to also install a virtual NIC there and assign it the correct MAC. You may need the help of an IT-savvy person to do this.

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