Help

An Introduction

• An Introduction

Getting Started

• Installing and Removing the Program
• Creating a User Profile
• Logging In

Adding a New Item

• The Wizard
• Adding an Item
• Adding and Editing a Category
• Uploading an Image
• Uploading Files
• Finishing

Main List Screen

• Main List
• Home Map
• List
• Printing

Editing an Item

• Edit an Item
• Extract a File
• Printing Item Details

Home Map Maker

• Home Map Maker

Trouble Shooting

• Trouble Shooting; problems solved

An Introduction

Virtual Safe is a centralised, secure place for you to keep an inventory of your home and contents items and documents. It's not a shoebox, but an easy-to-use, password protected Virtual Safe located on your own computer. What's more, your Virtual Safe is free. All it 'costs' is a little of your time, but with that comes peace of mind.

It's ideal for keeping important information, like a list of your home contents, meaningful documents, valuations or certificates and even allows you to scan important images or photos.

This Help document will introduce you to the Virtual Safe and help answer any questions you may have.

The Getting Started section will run through the process of: installing and removing the program; creating a User Profile; and Logging In.

The Wizard section will run through the process of: Adding an Item; Uploading an Image; and Uploading Files.

The Main List screen displays an overview of all the items within your safe.

Installing and Removing the Program

If you are downloading a PC version of the Virtual Safe, the installer will launch automatically, and step you through an easy set-up process. (If the installer doesn't start, locate it on your hard drive, and double click). During this process you will need to accept the License Agreement. Once this is complete, a Virtual Safe icon will appear on your desktop, and also in your Start Menu. Start the Virtual Safe like any other program. To un-install the program, go to the 'Add and Remove programs' function in the Control Panel. Locate the Virtual Safe in the list, and click the remove button. This process will remove the whole Virtual Safe, and all of the contents. This process is not reversible.

If you are downloading a MAC version of the Virtual Safe, the .sit file will automatically expand (if it doesn't, locate it on your hard drive, and double click to expand). Then double click the disc image, and accept or reject the License Agreement. If you accept, the Virtual Safe disc image will be mounted. Open this and follow prompts to start the program.

Creating a User Profile

You will need to create a user profile to use the Virtual Safe. You are responsible for creating your own unique identity and password. These details won't be stored anywhere, so be careful to remember your password.

To Create a User Profile simple follow the next steps:

1. Read through the introductory copy.
2. Click Create login to proceed or more info to find out more information.
3. Enter a username, password and hint text, to remind you of your password.
4. For additional information about these fields, click on the "Info" icon next to each field.
5. Click on the Disclaimer link to read our disclaimer information or read FAQ or Your Privacy, accessed via the Help file menu.
6. Click save to proceed.

Logging In

You will be prompted to login each time you run Virtual Safe.

To login follow these steps:

1. Enter your user name.
2. Enter your password.
3. If you've forgotten your password click the Hint button to see your hint text.
4. Click the login button.

The Wizard

The Wizard is an easy 3 step process, allowing you to add a new item to the list in your Virtual Safe. When you log in to the Virtual Safe for the first time, the Wizard will start up automatically. Each time you enter a new item from the Main List screen you will also go through the Wizard's step-by-step process.

Adding an Item

Clicking the 'Add a New Item' button on the Main List screen will launch the Wizard. The first step allows you to enter the item details, associate it with a category and place it within a room.

To add a new item follow these steps:

1. Enter details - Enter the details for your item. Make sure you fill in all the mandatory fields.
2. Select a category - Select a category from the category dropdown or add a new category.
3. Add a new category - To add a new category, simply click on the Edit list button next to the category dropdown. (For more details see Adding and editing a category)
4. Estimate the Item's Value - This is a mandatory field, so you must estimate the current value of the item. Remember, this is one of the purposes of your safe - to help you create and maintain a home contents valuation.
5. Select a room - To select a room, click on the room dropdown or add a new room.
6. Add a new room - To add a new room click on the edit list button next to the room dropdown. Make note that in the first instance of using the Wizard, the list will reflect a simple, default home map, which you can edit to make just like your home! (For more details see Home Map Maker)
7. Cancel - To cancel the Wizard simply click the Cancel button.
8. Save and progress to step 2 - Click Next to save the item to your item list and proceed to the Upload image screen.

Adding and Editing a Category

1. Overview - To edit the Category list, select the edit list button next to the category expanding menu in either the New item Wizard or the Add new item popup, or from within the Display category expanding menu filter on the Main list screen.
2. Changing the name of an existing category - To change a category name click on the category in the list to select it. The name will then appear in the Category name field. Make your changes to the name in the field and click Save to save your change.
3. Deleting a category - To delete a category name click on the category in the list to select it. The name will then appear in the Category name field. Click the Delete selected button to delete the selected category.
4. Adding a new category - To add a category, click the Add New Category button. A prompt "Enter new category" will then appear in the Category name field. Type in your new category name then click save to save your new category.
5. Close - Click the close button when you've finished with the Edit category list popup.

Uploading an Image

In the 'Add new Item' Wizard the second step allows you to upload images to your item detail. Below are the steps for uploading images.

1. Add new image - To upload an image click on the Add new image button. Browse and select the image you want to attach then click open. Once uploaded the image will be automatically saved with your item detail.
   
   Note that image formats are limited to jpg, gif, png, bitmap and tif. We also recommend that you upload files smaller than 5mb in size, because, depending on the performance of your computer, storing hundreds of larger files may slow down the speed of the safe when in use.
2. Delete image - To remove the current image, click the Delete image button.
3. Close - To close the Wizard, simply click the Close button. Any images already added will have been automatically saved. Doing this won't progress you to step 3.
4. Finish and save - To save your uploaded image/s or progress to step 3 click the Next button.

Uploading Files

In the 'Add new Item' Wizard the third step of the Wizard allows you to upload files to your item detail. Below are the steps for uploading files.

1. Add new file - To upload a file click on the Add new file button. Browse and select the file you want to attach then click open.
2. Extract a file - To extract the file (save the image to your computer for access outside Virtual Safe) click on the Extract button, choose where you want to save it and click choose.
3. Delete file - To remove the current file, click the Delete file button.
4. Close - To close the Wizard, simply click the Close button. Any files attached will be automatically saved.
5. Finish and save - To save your uploaded files click the Finish button.

Finishing

1. Finish and save - To save your change to the item details click the Save button.
2. Close - To close the popup without saving any changes simply click the Close button.
3. Delete item - To delete the item altogether, click the delete item button. You will need to confirm this by clicking Yes, delete.

Main List Screen

The Main List Screen is an overview of the contents of your Virtual Safe. It contains 2 main areas: the Home map and the List.

Main List: Home Map

The Home map represents the map of your home, and displays each item you have added into your Virtual Safe room by room.

1. Home Map - Roll over a box icon to view the name of that item, Roll over the room to find out its name.
2. Edit an item - If you need to edit the details of an item, click on the item box icon to launch the item detail popup.
3. Edit map button - Click on the edit map button to launch the Edit map popup and edit the rooms within your home map. (See Home Map Maker for more details)

Main List: List

The List allows you to easily view and sort your items by category, value, item name as well as photo or attached document. You can also add a new item, filter your list by category and find out the sum total of the item values.

1. Sort items - you can sort your items by category, value, item name as well as photo or attached document.
2. Add new item button - If you need to add a new item click the Add New Item button to launch the new item Wizard.
3. Edit an item - If you need to edit an item click the item within the list to launch the Edit item popup.
4. Display filter - You can choose to display all categories or specific ones via the Display filter menu. The total estimated value will change to reflect the filtered items in the list.
5. Sum of estimated values - This area is located at the bottom and shows the sum total of the estimated values appearing in your list. If the Display filter is set to display All, the sum will be a total sum of all your items. If the Display filter is set to filter by category, the sum will be a sub-total of those filtered items.

Main List: Printing

You can print the list by clicking the Print List button. This button will print the list in its current sorted and filtered state. The list will be organised in a tabular format - item, category, room, item value and total value.

Edit an Item

You can edit the details of an individual item in the Edit Item screen. To access this screen simply click on the name of the item in the Main List. This will launch the Edit Item screen, and give you access to add information or edit information for the item. This screen is an 'all in one' view of the Wizard, and includes all the same functionality.

Extract a File

At any time you can 'extract' a file out of your Virtual Safe, and save a copy onto your computer. Extracting a file does not remove it from your Virtual Safe. To extract the file (save the image to your computer for access outside Virtual Safe) click on the Extract button, browse to where you want to save it on your local drive and click choose.

Printing Item Details

You can print the item details from the Edit Item screen by clicking the Print item details button. This button will print the item details and a list of the attached documents.

Home Map Maker

The Home Map Maker is a simple drawing application that represents the layout of your home. To get you started, we've created a simple default home map layout. This can be edited, moved about and added to, to replicate the layout of your home.

1. Edit room name - If you want to change the name of a room simply select the room in either the construction area or the room list and edit the name in the room details area then click Save room to save your change.
2. Edit room colour - If you want to change the colour of a room simply select the room in either the construction area or the room list and edit the colour in the room details area then click Save room to save your change.
3. Add new room button - To add a new room simply click on the Add new room button and drag the room icon (which will appear attached to your cursor) onto a blank space in the construction area. To confirm this action click down and the room icon will appear as an editable room.
4. Arranging and resizing your rooms - Click on the room and drag it into an available position in the construction area. To resize it, click to select it and move your cursor to a corner, (when the resize handles will appear) and drag to enlarge or shrink. Repeat this until the room is where you want it on the map.

Trouble Shooting

Why can't I see items in my Main List?
You need to add items to your Virtual Safe before they appear in the list. If you have done this and still cannot see any items in your list, double check the display filter. Select 'All' in the filter to show all items in all categories.

What happens if I upload a file into my Virtual Safe, and then delete the file from my hard drive? Is my file deleted for good?
No. When you upload a file into your Virtual Safe, the file is encrypted and saved separately into the safe. You can 'extract' files out of the Virtual Safe the file back onto your computer at any time.

If I extract a file, does this remove it from my Virtual Safe?
No. The only way to remove a file from your Virtual Safe is if you 'delete' it from the file list of an item, or if you delete the Item the file is attached to. Extracting a file is simply a process of saving an un-encrypted copy of that file back onto your local drive.