RTG Bills Support FAQ

Support FAQ

These are the Frequently Asked Support Questions for RTG Bills and RTG Timer.

We also have a separate FAQ for general questions typically asked by people before they start using RTG Bills and RTG Timer.

If your question does not appear here, look in the RTG Bills Knowledge Base for a much larger list of questions and answers.

We also offer How-To Guides that provide step-by-step instructions for specific tasks.

 

Send bills by email

Q: Can RTG Bills send bills to clients by email?

A: Yes. First print the bills normally. Then choose Bills > Reprint As PDF to create a PDF file for each bill and, optionally, email it to the client.

Before this, you must complete two one-time tasks:

  1. RTG Bills uses your email system to send the bills, so you must provide information about your email system. In RTG Bills, choose Setup: Email and click Help for instructions.
  2. To send a bill, a matter must have two options checked: Reprint Bills As PDF Files and Send Bills Automatically. These options are on the PDF tab when you edit a matter.

There are two special cases:

  1. Microsoft: You must enable SMTP AUTH in order to use the Office 365 email server. Instructions are here.
  2. Google: RTG Bills cannot send email to the Gmail server. You must use a different server, such as your ISP's email server. (However, RTG Bills Online can send email with Gmail.)

Note:
You do not need RTG E-Bills to send bills by email. E-bills are specially-formatted bills designed to be read by other software.

 

Could not start
RTG Update

Q: When I choose File > Update > Yes, I get this message:

Could not start RTG Update
What's wrong?

A: Windows requires that you have administrator privileges to update RTG Bills or RTG Timer. Instead of double-clicking RTG Bills or RTG Timer, right-click and choose Run as administrator. Then click Allow or Yes. RTG Bills or RTG Timer will start, and you can now start RTG Update.

This extra step is only necessary when you need to update RTG Bills or RTG Timer.

 

Moving to a new
computer

Q: How do I move RTG Bills to a new computer?

A: Use File > Backup to back up your data, install RTG Bills on the new computer, then use File > Restore From Backup to put the data on the new computer. When you do the backup, be sure to check both Include archived data and Include historical bills. For a full discussion, see Moving To A New Computer.

 

Installing on a new
hard disk

Q: My hard disk crashed and was replaced. How do I install RTG Bills and restore my data?

A: Install RTG Bills, then restore your data. The details vary somewhat depending on how the backup was created. For a full discussion, see Restoring RTG Bills On A New Hard Disk.

 

Re-installing
RTG Bills

Q: I deleted some files and now RTG Bills doesn't work. How do I re-install it without losing my data?

A: Just install RTG Bills in the same location it was in before. Your existing data will be preserved (assuming you didn't delete it). RTG Bills never overwrites existing data during an installation.

The answer is more complicated if you don't have the installation file (bills.exe). For a full discussion, see Reinstalling RTG Bills.

 

No data after
upgrade

Q: I installed a new version of RTG Bills and all of my data has disappeared! Where is it?

A: Your data is exactly where it was before the upgrade. The installation program never overwrites data.

Starting with RTG Bills Version 2.17, we suggest that you always install the RTG Bills programs in the standard location:

C:\Program Files\Rtgbills
or
C:\Program Files (x86)\Rtgbills

This is called the Destination Location by the installation program.

The installation program also asks for the Data Location, where the data files are located. Apparently you did not enter the right location at that point, so an empty database was installed.

You need to uninstall RTG Bills and install it again, entering the correct Data Location this time. For help finding your data, see No data after upgrade in the Knowledge Base.

 

No valid
timekeepers

Q: When I start RTG Timer, it says No valid timekeepers. What's wrong?

A: Start RTG Bills and choose Edit > Timekeepers. Edit the first timekeeper and check that you entered a Timekeeper Key. You always get one Timekeeper Key with the purchase of RTG Bills and RTG Timer. For instructions, see the section entitled Enter A Timekeeper in the RTG Bills Tutorial.

If you have entered at least one Timekeeper Key in RTG Bills and you still get this message, then the information isn't getting from RTG Bills to RTG Timer. See No valid timekeepers in the Knowledge Base.

 

Installing on
a network

Q: Can I install RTG Bills on a network or do I need a special version? What about user licenses?

A: Yes, you can install RTG Bills on a network. No, you don't need a special version. No, you don't need user licenses. See Network Installation for instructions.

 

Using RTG Timer
without a network

Q: Can I use RTG Timer without a network connection?

A: Yes, you can use RTG Timer with or without a network connection to RTG Bills.

RTG Timer needs to know your clients, matters, timekeepers, billing rates, and codes. It can get that information directly from RTG Bills over a network. However, remote users and portable computer users can use RTG Timer without a direct network connection. We call that standalone operation. See RTG Timer: Standalone Operation for instructions.

 

Help system
doesn't work

Q: I upgraded RTG Bills and now the help system doesn't work. It says I don't have an Internet connection! What happened?

A: Starting with Version 2.17, RTG Bills uses a more modern help system. We were forced to do this because the old system does not work with recent versions of Windows.

Unfortunately, this newer help system does not work over a network. This is a Microsoft "security feature."

The solution is to install RTG Bills and RTG Timer on the local PC but leave the data on the file server (or the PC that acts as a file server). See Upgrading RTG Bills V2.16 or below on a Network for instructions.

 
 
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