DFW Troubleshooting
Frequent DFW Opening Issues
SmartWare is Not Installed
If you attempt to load your DFW file, you experience a message such as "Can't Open DFW Files". Usually, this is because you do not have SmartWare for %%os%% installed. This will prevent you from double-clicking to open the DFW file because the OS doesn’t know how to handle it.
Tip: Another DFW-related program can be selected to open the file by clicking "Show Apps" and finding the application.
SmartWare Requires Update
Occasionally, you might have an outdated version of SmartWare installed that's incompatible with your SmartWare Cross-tab Definition type. If you do not have the proper version SmartWare (or any of the other programs listed above), you may need to try downloading a different version of it, or one of the other software applications listed above. This issue mainly occurs when your SmartWare Cross-tab Definition file was created by a newer version of SmartWare than you have on your PC.
Tip: You can sometimes get hints about the right program version by right-clicking on the DFW file, selecting "Properties", and looking at the version information.
Primarily, problems experienced when opening DFW files are due to having the incorrect version of SmartWare installed on your computer.
Other DFW File Opening Causes
You can still experience errors opening DFW files even with the latest version of SmartWare installed on your PC. There can be other issues - unrelated to software - preventing you from opening DFW files. Problems unrelated to software:
- DFW file type Registry entries are wrong
- Mistaken removal of the Windows registry DFW description
- Corrupt install of SmartWare or other DFW-related program
- Your DFW can't be loaded properly (file corruption)
- The DFW is infected with a virus
- DFW-related hardware has device drivers that obsolete
- Your computer does not have the adequate system resources to open the SmartWare Cross-tab Definition format
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