Using your trial licence

Now that you've got your trial licence, here's what to do next.

1. Download and install Cardbox

Download the Cardbox installer. The file is about 4.5MB in size.

Cardbox 3.0 installer	4.5MB. You must download this. It contains the Cardbox program and help files, and the "Getting Started" tutorial.
	If for any reason you want to download using the FTP protocol instead of the usual HTTP, press the symbol next to the description of the file you want. Some firewall configurations may need adjusting before you can use FTP.

Note: Web browsers are variable and they change constantly, especially where security settings are concerned. The messages and procedures shown here may be slightly different on your system but the principles remain the same.
Internet Explorer: you will be asked what to do with the Application file called instcbox.exe. Whether you choose Run or Save is up to you. Since you only need to install Cardbox once, Run is perfectly adequate. If you choose Run, Internet Explorer will save instcbox.exe to a temporary folder. It will then ask you for further confirmation before it runs the program for you. If you choose Save, Internet Explorer will save instcbox.exe to a folder of your choice. Remember to make a note of which folder you have chosen! After the file has been saved, Internet Explorer may offer to run (or open) the program for you: if you want to install Cardbox on this computer, accept the offer.
Mozilla Firefox: you will be asked what to do with the Application file called instcbox.exe. Accept the default option, which is 'Save to Disc'. Make a note of the folder where Firefox is saving the file, so that you don't need to search your hard disk for it afterwards. If you want to install immediately after the download, click on the Open link in Firefox's Downloads window. If a warning appears saying that instcbox.exe is an executable file, press OK to accept it.
Opera: you will be asked where to save the file instcbox.exe. Make a note of the folder where Opera is saving the file, so that you don't need to search your hard disk for it afterwards. The Transfers window will show you how far the download process has progressed. Once the download has completed, you can double-click on the filename instcbox.exe to start the installation.

To start the installation process

Depending on the details of how you downloaded the installer, your web browser may have started the installation automatically. If it hasn't, then:

Locate instcbox.exe on your hard disk (if you made a note of where it was saved, this is easy, otherwise you will have to use the search facilities of Windows).
Double-click on it.
After you have finished the installation, you can delete the downloaded instcbox.exe file.

2. Download and install the sample databases

The sample databases help you to explore and discover Cardbox. The "Getting Started" tutorial (which is part of Cardbox itself) also uses these databases.

Sample databases (recommended)	samples1.exe	1.0MB. Basic sample databases for use with "Getting Started".
Additional sample databases (optional)	samples2.exe	8.5MB. Sample databases of documents and photographs. These databases are not absolutely essential, so you don't need to download this fileif you have a slow Internet connection.
	If for any reason you want to download using the FTP protocol instead of the usual HTTP, press the symbol next to the description of the file you want. Some firewall configurations may need adjusting before you can use FTP.

The installation procedure is exactly the same as for Cardbox itself.

3. Discover Cardbox

A good way of starting your discovery of Cardbox is to open Cardbox and use the command "Help > Getting Started" to open and print the Getting Started tutorial. You need the Adobe Acrobat reader for this. If you don't already have it, you can download it free from Adobe's web site.

What happens when your licence runs out

Your trial licence will last a month. During the last few days Cardbox will warn you that the licence is expiring.

After the licence has expired, we hope that you will buy Cardbox - see the Buy Now page. But your data will be safe even if you don't buy Cardbox after your licence expires. After the expiry date you will not be able to make changes to your data but you will still be able to use Cardbox to view, search, print, or export data from any databases you have created.