Effective 2011: Crate Pro 5 has been dreprecated and is no longer available for purchase, phone support, live training sessions. Please refer to the solution articles locates on the member support portal . 

Effective Dec 2013. Crate Pro 5 is end-of-life and no longer eligible for additional downloads.


Effective Dec 2018: No support is available. Downloads and activations are fully discontinued.

 Please consider purchasing a current license for Crate Pro 6 and taking advantage of the annual maintenance.( Data from Crate Pro 5 will not migrate into Crate Pro 6 as of Crate Pro 6 r3001 (released 2016). You may print out your data from Crate Pro 5 to retain the information if you need historic documentation.)


Crate Pro 5 was certified on operating systems up to WIndows 7. To ensure you do not run into corrupted files due to Microsoft updates. we suggest removing your legacy computer from your network and turning off all updates on all programs on this computer. Most corruption is unrecoverable on this end-of-life version.


If your installation fails you may use your latest good backup files into the entire Crate Pro 5 program folder.  Your backup files should open normally. Crate Pro 5 can only be used on the original computer it was activated for and your backup files will not transfer to a different computer.


Or you may use your original ZIP installation file and install as a new installation. You will need a copy of your CPSetup.cp5 file which contains your activation. Crate Pro 5 can only be used on the original computer it was activated for and your backup files will not transfer to a different computer.

Always remember to exclude your Crate Pro 5 files from all utilities such as backup, scanning and malware software. These utilities will corrupt your files.

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To work from a good backup of your Crate Pro 5 files:



  • Locate your current Crate Pro 5 working folder: Depending on your configuration and operating system the default directories for your Crate Pro folder were any of the following 3 locations:

    C://Program Files (x86)/Deploy Tech/Crate Pro

    C://Deploy Tech/Crate Pro

    C://Program Files (x86)/Filemaker/Filemaker Server/Crate Pro

    Crate Pro did not need to be installed in the default directories so the installer may have chosen a different location

We recommed making a copy of this entire folder and pasting the files into a folder called CRATE PRO BACKUP before transferring your backup files. You may need access to some of the originals.


  • Locate your latest good backup copy of your Crate Pro 5 folder and files
  • Copy / paste it back to the working installation location - you will overwrite the files of the same name
  • Open Crate Pro 5 by double clicking on the CratePro.exe file or from your shortcut which should still work  Make sure you see the license information at the bottom of the screen.
  • If it appears to function correctly, you can right click on CratePro.exe and select to Create Shortcut which can be saved on your desktop if the original shortcut doesn't work
  • Delete the corrupted files so as not to confuse the corrupted files with any good backups you may have.



To work using a new installation: Crate Pro 5 can only be installed on the original computer it was activated for or your activation will fail

  • Make a copy of these 4 files in your current installation and save to a location you can easily locate them

    • CPSetup  (this is your activation file AND IS REQUIRED if you install as a new)

    • CPDesigns (needed only if you would like to attempt data transfer)

    • CPJobs  (needed only if you would like to attempt data transfer)

    • CPInventory   (needed only if you would like to attempt data transfer)


Install as new using your original ZIP download. The CPSetup file from your current installation or from a backup made after you activated your installation, will be required.  The activation is specific to the computer that it was activated for and will not work on a new computer. 


  • Using your original ZIP file,  extract and run the executable. 
  • Close Crate Pro and replace the CPSetup.cp5 file with one that was already activated
  • Crate Pro 5 should open normally though you may have a new shortcut.


You may wish to attempt the data migration explained below, however, you may find that due to the age of the program, operating system updates and utilities run on your system, that data migration may fail. Please make a full copy of the Crate Pro Working folder before attempting any data transfer.



Do NOT allow any utilities or backup software to touch your working database files. You can make a copy of the entire Crate Pro 5 program folder and save it in another folder clearly marked Backup



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DATA MIGRATION: Done after a new installation only


Disclaimer: The Best Practice Guide is provided with the original installation documents. The purpose is to help reduce the risk of corruption in your Crate Pro program files, which can occur over time due to virus scanning software, backup software, updates to operating systems and other processes that pull resources from Crate Pro while it may be running a calculation. Crate Pro can overcome many small corruption causing issues but over time they can become insurmountable and you may find the program will not be able to complete a process or even open. Running Crate Pro 5 on any operating systems other than recommended will usually cause data corruption. Performing a data migration is at your own risk.



 These instructions may allow you to retrieve some or all data if the specific data files are not corrupted. Assumes that your CPSetup.cp5 file was replaced and your new installation is active. Close Crate Pro 5 before backups or replacing any data files. 


Make a copy of the newly installed Crate Pro 5 files shown below. Save them in a folder called CRATE PRO DATA  in case your old data files are too corrupted to use and you must return the new files back into your working Crate Pro 5 folder


The following files contain the majority of your data and do not contain computer specific restrictions. No other files can be copy/pasted into a new installation. Replace each file one at a time, open Crate Pro 5 and test! Create several designs and check them. These three files should be copied into your new installation first.


  • CPInventory
  • CPJobs
  • CPContacts
  • CPDesigns
  • CPItems

  • CPDesigns & CPItems: (Most likely if there are problems they will occur in these files because they're the most often modified. If you receive errors either delete these files and replace them with a different back-up or use the clean copies that were created in the new install. Before changing any other files, create at least 5 designs and check them for accuracy. One indication your design file has corruption is the design process will take longer than the normal 30-60 seconds. Look at the list of crate designs and click through them to confirm the designs are not showing unexpected light indicators on the panel tabs. Lights are an indication there is a miss match of material sizes. This occurs most often because of hidden characters that your new installation is trying to read. Enough hidden characters bump data sets into the wrong fields. You will have problems if you continue to use this file.)


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Changing Client Machines in the Peer-to-Peer: This does notn apply to the Host computer.

Changing client computers should not require contacting us for support. Activations are not required on Client PC's.

  • Install Filemaker Pro 6 using your original license keys for Filemaker Pro on the new Client computers. This is NOT your Crate Pro activation code which will not be needed.
  • Start Crate Pro from the Host computer or any Client computer that will not be changed.
    • With Client-Server configuration you have the option of stopping Filemaker Server services on the server and starting Filemaker Pro to open Crate Pro on the server.
      • Very important that you stop and close Filemaker Pro on the server before restarting the Filemaker Server services when you are finished. Otherwise you risk corruption.
    • Click on the Setup module -> Maintenance -> Clients tab
      • The first ID number in the list is the Host computer or the Server ID. Do NOT remove this number.
      • All additional numbers are Client computers. You may delete any client ID that will no longer be active. This will free up a spot or spots for the new client/s.
        • If you did not write down the Client ID numbers when you initially installed the Client computers and are unsure which numbers to remove, delete all ID numbers except the first ID number.
      • Once you have removed the desired Client ID’s
        • Install Crate Pro Client.exe from your original installation download or discs on the new Client computers
        • Start Filemaker Pro on the new Client then use  File – Open Remote
        • Locate the server or host computer and click on Crate Pro.fp5

 

Crate Pro 5 is a database with almost every field a calculation field. This can make the program susceptible to corruption if you do not follow some common sense practices. Please download and review the document Best Practice Guide For Installation to help ensure you have trouble free use of your program.