Contents

1. Download Home Manager from the website at http://www.kzsoftware.com/products/homemanager/demo.htm

2. Open/Run the downloaded file, HomeManagerSetup.exe.

3. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation.

To install from the CD:

1. Place the CD in your CD-ROM drive.

2. If the Setup program doesn’t start automatically, click Start à Run, and then enter D:\Setup.exe

3. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard to complete the installation.

Note: Home Manager software requires the .NET framework in order to run. If your computer is missing the .NET framework, the installation program will prompt you to install it.

Getting Started

If you already have a license key, go to the Menu item Help à Enter license key, and enter it in the space provided. The button will be disabled until the License Key is entered correctly. You may then click on the button to license Home Manager and remove the trial limitations.

If you don’t have a Home Manager license key, you may click the link to purchase it, or open your web browser and go to: http://www.kzsoftware.com/purchase/homemanager

Navigation

Navigate through the 3 main screens by clicking on the buttons in the Home Manager toolbar.

Residence Screen

The first time you open Home Manager, it will open to the Main (Residence) screen. You may access this screen at any time by click on the button in the toolbar.

Enter the information on the Residence screen, and then click the Save button.

Enter your residence information: Address, Specifications, Features, Mortgage, Insurance, Appraisals, and Home Warranty Information.

When you’re finished with the Residence screen, be sure to Save your updates by clicking the Save button:

Inventory Screen

To add a new inventory item:

1. Click the “New Inventory Item” button on the General tab.

2. Fill in the item details.

3. Click the Save button on the General tab.

Notes:

· Select the Category and Location for the item from the drop-down list. You may add, edit, and remove Categories and Locations from the list by clicking on the button next to the drop down field.

· You may select the Purchase date by clicking on the down arrow and using the calendar, or you may type it directly in to the field.

· Currency symbols are not required. The reports will display the currency symbol set in your Windows Regional Options.

To find previously entered inventory items:

Select the Location or Category on the left side of the Inventory window, and then look for your item in the Inventory List view, or use the search feature to search across all Locations and Categories at once. Items matching your search criteria will appear in the Inventory List view. The search function will look for inventory items with words on the General tab matching your search criteria.

Example 1: Searching for your “Computer”

Example 2: Searching for an item with brand “Dell”

To add a new Maintenance/Repair item:

1. Select the Maintenance/Repair History tab at the bottom of the Inventory screen.

2. Click on the “Add repair” button.

3. Enter the repair details in the repair item form.

4. Click the OK button to save your changes.

5. The repair item will be added to the list.

To add the Warranty/Insurance information:

1. Select the inventory item in the list view, and then select the Warranty/Insurance tab.

2. Fill in the Manufacturer and Warranty information, and then click the “Save” button.

Managing Categories and Locations

To add, edit, or remove categories in the list view:

1) Click the button to the right of the category drop-down field.

2) Select the category in the list and then click “Edit” or “Delete”, or click the “New” button to add a new category.

Adding Pictures

To add a picture to an existing inventory item:

1) Select the inventory item.

2) Click the “Add” button.

3) Select your picture, and then click the OK button.

Or, to drag and drop a picture to the inventory item:

1) Select the inventory item.

2) Drag a picture file into the picture box.

Drag a file to the picture box to add it to the inventory item.

Working with pictures (Advanced)

If you already have a lot of digital pictures of the items in your house, you can create new inventory records for them automatically by dragging and an entire group of pictures onto the Inventory List View.

Drag picture files to the list view to automatically create a new inventory item for each picture.

Home Manager will process each one, creating a new inventory item for each picture file. Then you can go in to each inventory item and update the details (Description, Purchase Price, etc.) To move the items to a different category or location, simply select “Category” or “Location” from the “Filter by” selection on the left, and then drag the inventory items from the List View to the appropriate Category or Location.

Drag inventory items to a new category or location.

Backing up your Home Manager database

To backup your Home Manager database to a compressed file:

1) Select File à Backup to file… on the menu.

2) Click the browse button and select the location where you want to save your file.

3) Click the “Backup” button.

To backup your Home Manager database to your email account:

1) Select File à Backup to email… on the menu.

2) Enter your email address.

3) Click the “Send” button.

4) A compressed backup file will be sent to your email address as an attachment. If you don’t find it in your Inbox, be sure to check your bulk or junk mail folder.

Restoring your Home Manager database

To restore your Home Manager database from a backup file (.hbk):

1) Select the menu option File à Restore from backup file…

2) Click the “Select” button and select your backup file (.hbk) that you created earlier.

3) Click the “Restore” button to begin the restore process. Note that this will overwrite the data in your current file with the data in the backup file. If you’re not sure whether you want to overwrite the current file, you may create a new database file first and then restore the data into the new file. See the next section for creating a new database file.

Creating new Home Manager database files for multiple residences

If you have multiple residences, or manage the inventory for your clients, you may create a new Home Manager database for each one.

To create a new Home Manager database:

1) Select File à New… from the menu.

2) Choose a location and name for your database file and then click the OK button.

Note that Home Manager will open the most recently used database when the application is started. To open another database, select File à Open from the menu, or double click the .hdb file that you want to open.

Technical Details

· Home Manager 2007 stores your data and pictures in a single database file.

· Home Manager Database files have the file extension “.hdb”.

· Home Manager backup files are compressed to save space and have the file extension “.hbk”.

· The file path to the current database is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the Home Manager window.

· You can import data from Home Manager 2005 into home Manager 2007 using the import function by going to File à Import.

Installing Home Manager Software

To install from the web: