Midsummer's Day 2025 mailing – Scientific Word Ltd.

Version serial number: This was originally a question about Scientific Notebook, but applies equally to Scientific Word and Scientific WorkPlace. A user from the USA Emailed:

...regarding re-installing an active license of SNB 5.5 that was purchased back in 2021. I do understand that Mackichan is out of business and no longer able to assist in any technical support.
When our IT department tries to complete this particular installation, there is always an issue with the license number provided.
<snip>
Would you be able to help our IT guy out with this?
The License number in reference is:
103-E0400- <snip>

We replied:

Thank you for your Scientific Notebook serial number 103-E0400- <snip>
You say you bought Scientific Notebook version 5.5 but 103-E0400- <snip> is a serial number for version 4.1 (released in 2002): see our February 2019 mailing Item 1 for the format of serial numbers (giving the professional programs in the same family, Scientific Word and Scientific WorkPlace).
Accordingly, this serial number will not install and Register Scientific Notebook v5.5.

The most likely solution is that you previously bought Scientific Notebook v4.1, and subsequently upgraded it to Scientific Notebook v5.0 or v5.5. In this case, you will have been supplied with a Scientific Notebook serial number for the new version, either 103-E0500- (v5.0) or 103-E0600- (v5.5). Depending which serial number you find, you can install it using the program file scinoteb500.exe (v5.0) or scinoteb550.exe (v5.5) available from our Programs page (or from your CD). For either v5.0 or v5.5 you will be able to follow the v5.5 installation instructions.
We hope this is helpful. All the best.

Missing backslash: Someone who had requested a free 30-day serial number for Scientific Word asked:

I looked for SW6 and not SW5.5, but the download contains the latter.
How can I try SW6?

We replied:

Version 6 is also available on our download page (https://www.sciword.co.uk/download.htm#step1) in the "Version 6.1" section. Look for a yellow box saying "SCIENTIFIC WORD 6.1 FOR WINDOWS (162MB)" .
We assume you already have the 30-day serial number; be sure to follow the v6 installation instructions precisely (https://www.sciword.co.uk/pdfs/v6.0Installation.pdf).
Version 6 is significantly more complicated to install.

but he raised a novel problem:

Imagine that I have a Swiss original HP Keyboard without the backslash Key!

After a little research we said:

Google says "Swiss keyboards apparently have a key between z and left-shift that (in combination with alt-gr, another special key on the Swiss keyboard) types \ "

Alternatively, try using the Windows on-screen keyboard: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/use-the-on-screen-keyboard-osk-to-type-ecbb5e08-5b4e-d8c8-f794-81dbf896267a

Failing that, you could copy and paste a backslash from, for example, our PDF installation instructions.

Trust one or other of these suggestions works for you.

but instead he replied:

I have found the backslash on my MacBook Pro after hopeless search for Windows.
Therefore I have to purchase the Mac Version 6.

We added:

For the avoidance of doubt: when you install Scientific Word v6 for Mac according to the v6 installation instructions pp4-6, you must:

First install TeXLive 2024 (Step 3A)

Install Scientific Word v6.0 using the file https://www.sciword.co.uk/programs/sw-6.0.30-osx-installer.dmg (Step 3Ba)

Optionally: install the Scientific Word v6.1 upgrade using the file https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/download-mackichan-com/sw-6.1.2-mac-release.tbz (Step 3Bb)

The v6 installation is non-trivial but is well documented.

Page breaks: An academic in France with the low-cost Annual Subscription for Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 wrote:

When I use S.W. and I want to suppress the line obtained by using "page break" , how can I do? I did not find the way to suppress the line and the page break.

We said:

To see what you’re doing with line breaks and page breaks, turn on View – Invisibles. You will then see the green characters for line break / newline and page break, which you can delete (see screenshot attached).

We hope it's helpful to other users similarly.

Templates: Here are three related issues.

In December, a user in America Emailed to ask:

I have been using the SWP 5.5 for years. Great software! My only (significant) problem comes when I try to edit templates for papers in various journals (all publishers). Is there a simple way to handle this?

We Emailed back saying:
That depends what kind of changes you’re wanting to make: the idea of having templates to provide the typesetting specifications of certain journals is that you’re guaranteed that the typeset output conforms to the appearance of the chosen journal. If you make changes to the appearance, it negates that intention.

However, it’s possible to make minor changes such as:
1. The width of margins (see our August 2012 mailing Item 5)
2. Double-spacing (see our December 2013 mailing Item 2)
3. Font size (see our May 2011 mailing Item 2)
Our Training Course videos will give you various ideas: see the list of topics covered. We’ll temporarily give you access to Module 3-8 “Tweaks” from the Training Course. [Note: this may not still be available on our website.]
But for major changes to the journal templates (negating the principle of the templates) you would need to have some knowledge of the underlying language LaTeX.

More recently, someone in Japan asked a related question:

I forgot to import a journal template into SW5.5, although I used to do it. Recently, many journals have asked to use their own templates for submission.

We gave him a link to the December 2014 mailing Item 3, but on examining the sn-jnl.cls typesetting specifications he was trying to use, we wrote:
Let me save you some time: I don’t think it’s going to be possible to configure Scientific Word to use the sn-jnl.cls typesetting specifications you sent; essentially that’s because their typesetting specifications require many packages created since Scientific Word v5.5 was released in 2006. I’ve just spent about an hour on it, and even after giving it all the packages (.sty files) it needed, it still failed with an error about the font metric files.

We recommend that you arrange with the Journal to accept your article using one of the default LaTeX Acticle shell document, leaving them to finalise the typesetting specifications they require. Possible shell documents you could start with would be:
- File – New – Articles – Springer-Verlag Heidelberg Journal (the opening text says “The shell produces documents appropriate for journals published by Springer.”)
- File – New – Author Packages for AMS – Generic Journal
- File – New – Standard LaTeX – Standard LaTeX Article
Don't forget that you'll first need to save your document as Portable LaTeX before sending it. See our October 2022 mailing Item 3 and February 2019 mailing Item 4 (watch the video linked there from 6m10s).

And then last month, another professor in North America asked:

I am having a problem with a template for a AMS Journal Article.
In the Front Matter it creates AMS Classif. 2000, while now we have 2020.
Please, advise how I can change 2000 to 2020.

We replied:
There are two parts to updating your AMS template:
1. You need to go into the Typeset – Front Matter of [the document created from] your template, and change the Typeset – Front Matter – AMS Classif. field from [2000] to [2020]. <snip>
2. But in order for the change above to be implemented, you need to replace your existing 2004 copy of amsart.cls file (in C:\swp55\TCITeX\TeX\LaTeX\amscls\ ) with the updated amsart.cls attached (right-click – Save Link As); always keep a backup of the original file first.
To save this modified file <snip> as your Shell Document (also called a Template or Shell File), see Section 3.4 of our Scientific Word/WorkPlace Training Course. On this occasion only we will give you complimentary access to the video of that Section 3.4, available temporarily at https://www.sciword.co.uk/temp/3-4.TeXfields.mp4 ; watch from 4m08s to the end. [Note: this also may not still be available; why not invest in the Training Course videos so as to make the most of your Scientific Word/WorkPlace?]

For the record, we note that Scientific Word/WorkPlace's online Help – Search – typesetting specifications – typesetting specifications – ‘typesetting specifications from outside sources’ says (on the first screen):

Important We do not provide Technical Support services for shells and documents created with typesetting specifications obtained from other sources.

(This restriction does not apply to those with our paid Support options.)

PDF output: A retired user with the German version of Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 (see our April 2024 mailing Item 8) reported that:

My swp was working perfectly until I got a new harddisk. Now I noticed some minor bugs e.g. I can't produce a pdf output

We replied:

Not being able to produce a PDF from Typeset – PreviewPDF is a fairly serious problem. The first step is to determine whether:

Scientific WorkPlace is creating the PDF in c:\swp55\docs but just not showing it to you; or whether

SWP is not succeeding in creating the PDF in c:\swp55\docs.

See our June 2023 mailing Item 6.

If it’s No.1 above, then see our May 2022 mailing Item 7.
If it’s No.2, see our November 2021 mailing Item 8 (with its link to our November 2010 mailing Item 3).

He subsequently told us that he'd reinstalled Scientific WorkPlace which, as the November 2021 mailing points out, is an effective way of solving this problem.

Fonts: Here are two font questions.

In December, someone asked:

I was unable to find the symbol for expectation, ie double-barrel E. Your help would be much appreciated.

We Emailed back saying:

Did you mean the Blackboard Bold characters shown in the document attached?

and:

The Blackboard Bold characters have always been available on the Text tag popup (see screenshot).
If that Tag toolbar isn’t showing, you can add it in from View – Toolbars – Tag; and then place the toolbar where you want as demonstrated <snip>.

To change back to normal text, select ‘Normal’ from the same text tag popup, or use F4.

Then in February, someone with our Individual Annual Maintenance asked a related question:

I was wondering whether Scientific Workplace 5.5 had the copperplate font. The font that looks like flowing curly slanted script!

We replied:

I think you might be disappointed unless you can see something you like on the text tag popup (the [third] one at the bottom of the screen).
For interest, v6 allows you to use any font: see our https://www.sciword.co.uk/mailings/March2023.htm#8 which gives a link to the April 2019 mailing...
...and watch the videos there referred to at https://www.sciword.co.uk/v6-0.htm#otherfonts and https://www.sciword.co.uk/demovideos.htm#changingfonts.

and also:

Are you sure it’s Copperplate you’re wanting (see attached)? I didn’t recognise it from your description ‘flowing curly slanted script’.
If you let me have a screenshot of the effect you’re wanting – and whether it’s for text or within mathematics – I’ll see if anything comes to mind. But basically version 5.5 does not give you that kind of flexibility with fonts, beyond (on the Text tag popup <snip>) access to Fraktur and – for a few symbols such as capital H, J and L – Calligraphic.

Already included: A long-time user of Scientific WorkPlace wrote:

IMO, SWP5.5 is one of the most useful scientific processing packages available. It's been incredibly valuable over the years.

and sent us a helpful list of suggested improvements if ever there were to be an update to v5.5. (That’s not on the cards at the moment, to be honest: we see our role as primarily providing licensing, training and Tech Support based on our 35-year experience of this family of software.)
He anticipated what was indeed the case, writing:

It's possible that some of this is now available in 5.5 and I just don't know how to use it.

We were able to point out that some of his ideas were available, writing:

Looking down the list there are certainly some that are already available – for example:

Continuous screen zoom (vs only discrete zoom levels): View – Custom gives a user-defined Working View setting adjustable in percentage points

…colored text .pdf options: See File – Open – swp55\SWSamples\PackageSample-color.tex (PDF attached)

Closed-space integral symbols (i.e., circle over the integral sign): See document and screenshot attached

Ability to compute complex function magnitudes and phases under the assumption of user-specified parameters as being purely real: Is that related to our October 2024 mailing Item 8?

But there were many other excellent suggestions he made which – unfortunately – it's no longer possible to include. The best we could offer was:

The two general points we think you might want to consider for yourself and the students/users in your department/university are:

Licensing our Scientific Word/WorkPlace v5.5 Training Course videos to make sure you are all getting the full benefit of the program

<snip> If you have a university site licence or many users in a large department, then you probably want to join the Annual Maintenance scheme (which includes Licence security)

Affording support: One of our very earliest University customers (early 1990s) had a reasonably urgent need for our Technical Support, but was having difficulties finding available funds in their budget for either:

<snip> the Annual Maintenance scheme; or

You could pay for Consultancy Time (£500/hour + VAT). One hour could well be enough to get you up and running <snip>; but you should probably budget for two hours just in case (we would cap our Invoice at 2 hours, even if it took longer).

So we offered some creative options, writing:

...the question is not whether it would be good to do this now, but simply how to pay for it. You might want to consider:

Using some special one-off grant or emergency fund

Selling unused Fixed SWP licences back to us (see our Buyback scheme).

Negotiating terms with us for deferring payment to your next financial year.

Of the above options, our preference would be No.2. Can you find any unused Fixed licences you could trade in?

We understand that (University) budgets are very tight at the moment; we're always happy to think creatively to help you pay for the support you need. Just let us know how we can help.