Two questions

[ecbritz]

I bought the various versions of Softmaker over the past decade and am currently running Softmaker 2018. An upgrade to Softmaker 2021 seems to cost US$14.99 . That sounds like a bargain. Is it really only US$15? How do I prove that I bought Softmaker 2018 and thus qualify for the discount?
Something I did not like about Softmaker 2018 was the choice of interfaces offered. I prefer the traditional interface and had to struggle to recover from switching to one of the new interfaces by accident. Do I at least have the option to stick with the traditional interface using Softmaker 2021?

[martin-k]

This price is only available in the poorest developing countries which cannot afford much of anything. As I remember, you are in South Africa, so this price does not apply to you. Your price is R1199.

[martin-k]

Both SoftMaker Office 2018 and 2021 allow switching between ribbons and classic menus. It is actually rather simple to do so, just right-click on any toolbar or ribbon and choose "User interface".

[ecbritz]

Thanks for the tip about right-clicking in the toolbar to select a user interface. I am not located in South Africa but since 2018 I have been living in Kenya. This might be the reason why the US$15 price popped up when I visited your website to find out how I could upgrade my 2018 version of the Softmaker suite. What needs to be paid when the product is bought while staying in Kenya?

[martin-k]

I'll send you the details by PM.

[ecbritz]

Good morning! PM as in Post Meridiem?

[martin-k]

PM = private message, the board-internal mail system. Click on the "Private message" link in the top right of the forum page.

[ecbritz]

Hi Martin-K. Thanks for your PM and sorry about my late reply. I have a number of questions about changing my address and placing my order and was not able to reply to your PM. My attempt at responding was rejected as if you cannot be reached by PM. I have now sent a letter to Customer Support, addressing you there. My email is given at Customer Support. I hope my message will reach you and that I will soon be able to order Softmaker 2021.

[ecbritz]

Please don't make any changes to my Support Forum settings, such as the password, before we have discussed my issues through email correspondence.

[ecbritz]

Hi again, Martin-K. I hope to hear from you via email, see above. In the mean time, I have managed to find the Softmaker Shop on the internet. However, it does not seem possible to log into or out of the Shop, as advised by you. But one can click on "Account" and then log into (and out of) your Account. And at your Account, you can change your physical address, including a new country where you live. I did that and should now be officially recorded by Softmaker as living in the developing country we discussed. I notice that the price for a registered owner of the previous versions of Softmaker Office -- in South Africa -- is US$ 30. So it cannot be the ZAR amount you mentioned, rather about 50% of that ZAR amount. In the new country where I live, the amount is US$ 15. I am prepared to pay either amount, as long as the conversion to ZAR is correct. Please guide me to the spot on the internet where I can upgrade my Softmaker Office 2018 suite to the 2021 version, after checking my new address entered into my Account today.

[martin-k]

Since you have already sent an e-mail, this will be handled by our sales team.

[ecbritz]

I have not written an email and have not been contacted by your Sales Team. I do not have an email address for any party at Softmaker. The only access a Softmaker user has to your company, is through this forum or otherwise Customer Support, which I tried in this case.

What happened here, is that I opened the Softmaker website in Kenya, where I am stationed, and saw the price of $15 quoted for an upgrade to Softmaker 2021. This price seemed unlikely, so I asked on this forum if $15 is really the price. You answered that $15 is the price in poor, developing countries, and told me to change my South African address to my current Kenyan address (which I consequently did). You also quoted the ZAR price for a new customer (not a returning customer upgrading his existing Softmaker programs).

I think I should now simply buy the upgrade at whatever price is quoted when I open the Softmaker webpage I am directed to automatically. May I say that I do appreciate the special $15 price for poor developing countries. It seems like a charitable gesture like discounts for educational institutions I associate Softmaker with.

The other problem I have, is that I have forgotten my Softmaker Forum password. Please do not change the current setting. It allows me to enter the forum without having to log in. I'll write to Customer Support about this.

[martin-k]

Sorry I was inexact in my wording. You created a ticket using our support assistant page, and this in turn creates an e-mail into our ticket system.

We will discuss this there.

You can change your password right here in the forum software. We don't know your password, so there is no point in asking us for it

[ecbritz]

I managed to change my Softmaker password so I also managed to log into the Softmaker Shop. The Softmaker Forum requires its own password. Unless I'm thinking of another password change I recently tried to make, a Softmaker Forum password change requires that you know the password you want to change. So if you have forgotten it, you are stuck. The reason for choosing a new password is often that you forgot your old password! Perhaps you could look into this possible issue. I bought two previous versions of Softmaker Office (and other Softmaker products) so Softmaker 2021 will be an update. The price for an update is US$ 30. I'm ready to buy. But what happens when I purchase an update? Do I get a normal installation file, which can be used after uninstalling my current Softmaker 2018 program?

[SuperTech]

If you forgot your existing password and want a new password you can simply logout from your forum, click on forgot password, enter your registered email ID and you will receive an email containing a new password.

To install Upgrade from SoftMaker Office 2018 to SoftMaker Office 2021 you can simply uninstall SoftMaker Office 2018, restart your computer, install and activate SoftMaker Office 2021.

Thanks