I have received the zip file and tried to install the tool. The steps I took were:

Unzipped the file and a folder named mend + folder appeared. Inside the folder was a read me file and the mend folder. Inside the Mend folder were the relevant three atn's and a psd).

I then placed the Mend folder into the Effects Folder. Applications\Adobe Photoshop Elements 2\ Previews\Effects

Then Deleted the Previews Cache. Applications\Adobe Photoshop Elements 2\ Previews\Cache

Then restarted Elements.

I opened the Effects palette and choose Mend from the drop list and opened my image.

However when I opened the Effects folder and selected Mend all that appears on the Effects pallette is the Icon Original. There is no Set-up icon.

I have tried this several times ... and each time the same thing happens.

Am I doing something wrong?

My set up is G4 iMac OS 10.2.6 and I also have Lings Add ons installed.

Wendy

Try getting out of Elements and deleting the cache again. If you got back in to the Effects quickly, it is possible that the whole thing didn't have time to cache -- especially if you have many effects add-ons.

If you have edited the Mend.psd in any way, you may have 'enhanced' the links. If so, try reinstalling by trashing the whole Mend folder and replacing.

let me know!

Hi Richard,

I have trashed the mend folder and reinstalled a new copy but it was still just the same. I have also tried deleting the cache again and waiting a while before going into Effects. No change at all. I don't have any extra effects, only things I have extras of is brushes and layer styles.

I have even tried deleting prefs and restarting the Mac but no change. Everything seems to be in the right place but nothing apart from "original" shows under Mend in the Effects pallette.

Wendy

Open the mend.psd file and tell me the names of the layers there.

If I open the mend.psd in Elements it shows 3 layers Patron_info, Mend and Mend_setup

Wendy

Right at this moment i am at a loss...Being a Mac user and knowing how this should work, you seem to have all the pieces, so i can't be sure what on earth is wrong.

I looked for your registration information (under 'wendy'), and do not have anything. I would be able to track the exact package i sent to see if anything is wrong. Can you please try the Patron action and copy out the registration information and forward it to me? thebookdoc@aol.com

Thanks.

I have tested your package here and everything seems OK. The only thing I can think of is that the unzipping may have been a problem. If you still have the original email, please download the zip file again and try unzipping. Please let me know what utility you are using, as that may be a problem as well, and that is the type of thing i want to keep track of.

Thanks for your patience...it all works, really!

Wendy - I had this problem too - stuffit expander won't play nice with this file and gave me exactly the same symptoms..I had to use zipit to extract the file before it would install correctly....once I did this it installed correctly after deleting the cache. (I was hoping that using the latest and greatest version of stuffit expander would get around this problem - I've had it before on Elements add-ons - but it didn't)

(I think I mentioned this when I tested the file, Richard - if I didn't I apologise)

Susan S.

Susan, thank you for confirming. I don't remember that from your email, but I've been a little busy putting together the personalized packages! it might have slipped by me.

I'm having the same problem. The folder appears to have been unzipped as I drag it as a mail attachment to my desktop and then into the folder as instructed. What next?

Me, too. I am using Mail and OS10.3.1. I even tried the maczip utility you reference in the readme file, but it keeps giving me an error -43, "can't save to...". Mail seems to automatically unzip the file when you save it, and I can't see anywhere in preferences etc to change the default utility to unzip files with. If you ctrl-click the attachment, it allows you to open the attachment with another program (Open with...) which is how I used maczip, but without success. Any suggestions? Where can I find another unzip utility?

I saved the zip file to the desktop from mail, and then used zipit to extract the files from the zip - I deleted the extracted version that stuffit expander had produced first (as by that stage I knew it wouldn't work, and I'd already had this problem before with the Paul Shipley add-ons that install in the same plac (I don't have them installed any more since the Great System Crash of Dec 2003...))

maczipit:
http://www.maczipit.com/

is what I used (it's shareware but you can try it for free, and once is all that you need in this case!)

Susan S.

Susan...and Richard

Are you on 10.3? The attachment appears uncompressed when I drag it from Mail to my desktop. All the actions in the folder are there. Nothing left to Unzip. Is the uncompressing happening automatically? I think Dave and Wendy are having the same problem.

When I try to open the file from within Mail I get an error code. It's no go.

Mark

Hi Susan,

Have downloaded maczipit ... When I double clicked on Mend+.zip a folder window came up with the mend folder in it and the read me doc. I then double clicked on the read me and it asked for a folder to unzip it to ... I told it and it went away and did it. Then I did the same with the mend folder ... so far so good BUT:

When I then went to the unzipped read me file and double clicked on it. I got the message access permission denied.

I then tried to install the unzipped Mend folder. When I opened Elements and clicked on Effects it started to build the cache but then came up with the message:

Could not complete your request because you do not have the necessary access privilages.

Am I doing something wrong?

Wendy

The file comes as an email attachment. It is automatically compressed by AOL and you should be able to both automatically uncompress and save the file for compression later. As there are a bunch of different ways to access email, I can't post instructions for all of them, you will have to consult your mail program help to find out how they work. However, I can give suggestions...what are you using to open mail?

Mark,

Are you using Apple Mail? .. if so have you tried:

Click on the E Mail attachement and hold down Control ... you will then get a sub menu. Take a look at "open with", that gives you options for opening the zip file.


Wendy

Susan,

I found some more instructions on how to open zip files with zipit ... tried them out but no luck. Still getting the same error messages ....

Any ideas?
Wendy

Hi Susan,

...
When I then went to the unzipped read me file and double clicked on it. I got the message access permission denied.

I then tried to install the unzipped Mend folder. When I opened Elements and clicked on Effects it started to build the cache but then came up with the message:

Could not complete your request because you do not have the necessary access privilages.

Am I doing something wrong?

Wendy

You've followed the same path that I did and it worked for me...(I'm on 10.3.2) Sound like you have a permissions problem here - check the info on the downloaded files and make sure that you have read/write accessto the files for your user...it's also possible that you have a more recent version of zipit which does something different - mine is a year old now...

Susan S

I hate to see this kind of thing because it is something I can't control. Let's take an easy step back...

the problem seems to be with those who are downloading onto a mac, more specifically, 10.3+. I have 10.2.8 and have done all I can to mimic the problem and failed miserably at making it fail.

One thing you might blame it on is that whatever is unzipping on 10.3 has not been optimized for that. This in itself is not a solution. However, has anyone looked on the apple site to see if there are similar troubles? i am not the only one forwarding ZIP files from AOL to people on Mac.

One other thing to try (and this would require having the files that have failed -- which I don't have. If someone has a set please forward), try dropping the folder on your unzip utility a second time. What some utilities do is they don't unzip past a certain level, and if the files have been compressed in stages, the initial decompression will LOOK like they have decompressed, but the files will act like ZIP files...which may be the reason for the very unusual behavior when installed. Just drag-and-drop the whole folder again, then try replacing in Element.

Please let me know if this works.

FWIW, I've had this problem about a year ago with 10.1.5, when trying to install Paul Shipley's tools, (which also install in the effects menu) - which makes it hard to troubleshot or find an explanation....and the copy Richard sent me did not come from AOL but from another email adress, so I may have received a slightly differently encoded version again....but I still got the probelm with the version that stuffit expander unzipped.
I have the latest version of stuffit, and I'm loathe to deinstall my working version to troubleshoot in more detail in case I can't get it back again! Must be very frustrating for you Richard - (and all those trying to install the tools on a mac).

mac users should please try to use this utility to unzip the file rather than relying on their email client:

http://download.com.com/3000-2254-5040047.html

Mark,

Are you using Apple Mail? .. if so have you tried:

Click on the E Mail attachement and hold down Control ... you will then get a sub menu. Take a look at "open with", that gives you options for opening the zip file.


Wendy


I've tried this already. It doesn't work. When I try to use Zipit I get an error message. Mac Zip as recommended by Richard is a pre OSX utility. Have you been able to get it to work? I saw your post at the Adobe forum. Once I move the file from Mail to desktop, I believe it is already unzipped as the contents of the Mend folder are there. So I can't unzip it from Terminal as suggested on the Adobe forum.

Richard,

The unzip utility you suggest in your post is not compatable with Mac OSX ... I tried that one as soon as Stuffit would not work and all I get is a series of error message to do with OSX, despite having loaded it into Classic.

I am using 10.2.6 so it doesn't seem to be just related to 10.3

Using the utility Susan suggested it is not possible to run it through again as it will only work on files that have a .zip ending. Stuffit will not either ... so I am unable to try that one out.

I have forwarded the file, as unzipped by Stuffit, to you. The other one will not attach as it seems to have major problems.

I have downloaded many things before and Stuffit has always worked so I know my system is set up OK.

Hope this helps

Mark,

What error message do you get when you try zipit?

Wendy

Mark,

What error message do you get when you try zipit?

Wendy

Something like -1409

Susan,

The version of zipit is now 2.2.2 ... I have tried it on several other .zip files and it does them fine.

You said in your message "check the info on the downloaded files and make sure that you have read/write accessto the files for your user" .... Sorry I don't understand how to do that and do you mean the files from Richard or the Unzip file.

As I said above the Unzip has worked OK on the other .zip files I have tried it on.

The Mend file when unzipped using Unzip will not even attach to an email it puts the image of a sheet of paper on the email. If you click on it ... the message is (mail was unable to extract the attachment "null").

Wendy

Susan,

Just realised what you mean't. I clicked on the unzipped (Using Zipit) Mend folder then did Info (Apple I) and the user access was read only. I have changed it to read/write then installed it in Elements ... I now have 3 icons in Effects/Mend Pallette.

Haven't time to check if it works now but will do so later this evening and let you know.

fingers crossed
Wendy

Mark ... Try dumping the Mend folder and any connected files from your desktop. Then go to Richards original email and start again. Try to move a copy of the .zip file using the instuctions I gave you before.

Susan,

Just realised what you mean't. I clicked on the unzipped (Using Zipit) Mend folder then did Info (Apple I) and the user access was read only. I have changed it to read/write then installed it in Elements ... I now have 3 icons in Effects/Mend Pallette.

Haven't time to check if it works now but will do so later this evening and let you know.

fingers crossed
Wendy


Wendy -I'm sorry I wasn't clearer - but I'm glad it looks as though my guess was accurate (I spent three hours the night before last trying to get the Sims unleashed to work, and that was (one of) the problems I had there....!). I'm not sure why your permissions got tangled like that - I have the same version of Zipit.

Mark - I'm not sure what is going on with your files - there should be an option in Mail in the email message to save the attachments - just a button to click.. Doing this in mine just saved the zipped file to the desktop and I could unzip it from there. I have pretty much the same set up as you I think (G3 imac running 10.3.2) and I'm not sure why it is different unles you have your mail preferences set up differently...there is also a save attachements command in the file menu which allows them to be saved anywhere - try saving to the desktop, delete any unstuffed version that comes up and then use zipit to unzip.
Susan S.

Well it works!!.

So the way I did it was:

Moved a copy of the .zip file from the email to the desktop
Downloaded Zipit from maczipit:
http://www.maczipit.com/
Let Stuffit unzip it
Then I went to the Zipit folder double clicked zipit
File>Open ... selected the .zip file
Edit>Select All
Zip>Extract
And saved the unzipped folder (Mend) to the desktop
Clicked on the mend folder and held down Apple and I
this brought up the file info
Went to Ownership & Permissions and changed the Group Access and Others from Read only to Read and Write
Clicked on ... Apply to the enclosed item.

I then placed the Mend folder into the Effects Folder. Applications\Adobe Photoshop Elements 2\ Previews\Effects

Deleted the Previews Cache. Applications\Adobe Photoshop Elements 2\ Previews\Cache

Restarted Elements.

Now all I have to do is work out how to use it.

Thanks Susan and Richard for all the help

Wendy

Hi Susan,

We must have been typing at the same time ... just wanted to say thanks very much. Not sure I would have managed it without you.

Great that its working and also I have learned something new :)

Regards
Wendy

Well it works!!.

So the way I did it was:

Moved a copy of the .zip file from the email to the desktop
Downloaded Zipit from maczipit:
http://www.maczipit.com/
Let Stuffit unzip it
Then I went to the Zipit folder double clicked zipit
File>Open ... selected the .zip file
Edit>Select All
Zip>Extract
And saved the unzipped folder (Mend) to the desktop
Clicked on the mend folder and held down Apple and I
this brought up the file info
Went to Ownership & Permissions and changed the Group Access and Others from Read only to Read and Write
Clicked on ... Apply to the enclosed item.

I then placed the Mend folder into the Effects Folder. Applications\Adobe Photoshop Elements 2\ Previews\Effects

Deleted the Previews Cache. Applications\Adobe Photoshop Elements 2\ Previews\Cache

Restarted Elements.

Now all I have to do is work out how to use it.

Thanks Susan and Richard for all the help

Wendy



Wendy,

I changed file permissions but still no go. I don't know what these steps are about

File>Open ... selected the .zip file What zip file? I don't see zip on my Mend folder

Edit>Select All
Zip>Extract


Nothing on my Mend folder has a .zip on the end. And when I save it to the my desktop it appears to be already uncompressed (104kb). Now I'm getting really frustrated. This shouldn't be so difficult.

Mark,

When you go to Richard's original email ... does the file (on the email) say mend+.zip (16.4KB)?

Wendy

Mark,

When you go to Richard's original email ... does the file (on the email) say mend+.zip (16.4KB)?

Wendy

Wendy,

No...just Mend+

What are you doing up so late? Aren't you in UK?

Mark,

The file should be Mend+.zip .... maybe Richard needs to check it for you ... something strange has happened to it.

Yes I am in the UK but do tend to stay up late ... its now nearly 1AM so I guess its time I signed off.

Hope you get something sorted out soon.

Wendy

I tried the Maczipit utility that Susan used, but I still get the same problem in PE, that is all I see in the Mend window is an icon called "original" that does nothing. I have tried deleting the cache again but this doesn't work either. I am on 10.3.1 and use Mail (by Apple). Mail does appear to automatically decompress the file, but if you ctrl-click on the attachment, you pull up a menu that allows you to open the file with another utility. This is how I decompressed the file with MacZip and with Zipit, but no luck with either. The files are there in both cases; the mend.psd has 3 layers, I can read the readme, the actions have the appropriate icons, but PE doesn't seem to recognize them. Perhaps it has something to do with Panther (10.3)?

OK, so here's what I had to do to get this to work. I have been on OS 10.3.2, and nothing I tried worked, so I changed my startup disk to an external drive with OS 10.2.8. I then started up PE on my hard drive and what-do-you-know?, the actions now work! PE gives me a message saying "some files needed to run PE in OS X are missing, ...reinstall it" (I didn't) but everything seems to work anyway. Now here is the wierd part. I shut down, restart using 10.3.2 again (so I can post a message saying the actions don't work in 10.3), restart PE, and NOW the actions work!

Anyone have any ideas? My guess is 10.3 organizes program information subtly differently than 10.2.x, and that PE under 10.3 requires something more than placing the mend folder in the previews/effects folder to work. (Or that PE in 10.2 automatically places the info from the effects folder into some other folder as well, but this step doesn't function in 10.3?) Starting PE up in 10.2.8 seems to have automatically fixed this. I'll look into the PE files to see what, if anything, has changed, but this will have to wait 'til tomorrow--reading over this paragraph just fried my brain.

Anyone have any ideas? My guess is 10.3 organizes program information subtly differently than 10.2.x, and that PE under 10.3 requires something more than placing the mend folder in the previews/effects folder to work. (Or that PE in 10.2 automatically places the info from the effects folder into some other folder as well, but this step doesn't function in 10.3?) Starting PE up in 10.2.8 seems to have automatically fixed this. I'll look into the PE files to see what, if anything, has changed, but this will have to wait 'til tomorrow--reading over this paragraph just fried my brain.

Good theory - except mine worked fine in 10.3.2, once I'd used zipit rather than stuffit expander...I may have also deleted Elements prefs as well as the cache file without checking whether it was necessary as I found I needed to do this with the Shipley tools to get them to work - but I can't remember whether I did this on the unzipped version as well as on the unstuffed version (where it didn't help) ...it's a bit of a mystery this one...
Susan S.

It seems like the 10.3 saga discussed by dave_m confirms Susan's experience...10.3 must do something in preferences to retain information from the effects cache (though that seems unlikely). My bet is that the change to 10.2.8 saw the cache was deleted and re-wrote it -- like it should have. There is a missing link there somewhere. It may have to do with users and ... administration. However, the solution for 10.3 users would seem to be:

1. DOWNLOAD the zip file (instead of using native stuffit to unzip). It doesn't matter that the file has no apparent extension. It may be a preference whether you see it or not.

2. Unzip using maczipit (which must use a slightly different algorythm, or as I have stated elsewhere, some utilities may only unzip one level of files -- someone might try dropping the once-unzipped folder on unstuff a second time...).

3. Delete the cache for effects. Find this in the Elements program folder:
Applications>Adobe Photoshop Elements 2>Previews>Cache

4. Delete the Elements preferences. Find this in the USER PREFERENCES:
System>Users>[your user name]>Library>Preferences>Photoshop Elements 2 Prefs. You can delete the entire preferences folder either physically moving it to the trash, or by restarting Elements and holding down Command+Option+Shift when you restart Elements. Keep holding down the keys until you get the confirmation for deleting all preferences, and accept that. Preferences will be rebuilt to factory defaults.

I'll add the delete Preferences for Mac users to the instructions.

The only thing I am noticing here is that there is a Paths file for Elements, and I am not at all sure what that does. Someone might try removing that before the preferences to see if it is the culprit...not having the problem I can't test it.

I would assume the problem may be that Adobe will need an update for 10.3 (which was not around when Elements 2 was created). I would be surprised if Adobe bothered to put out any type of fix before releasing PE3 (whenever that comes out...if it does). One of the reasons I DON'T update my OS as they come out (and sometimes a hidden cost) is there is always lag time between an OS release and programs catching up to it (or bugs being washed out). I'm pretty happy with 10.2.8, and Elements seems to play nice with it.

Please Please let me know of success and/or failure with the instruction change -- especially if you are an OS 10.3 user having the problem...I will have other things coming out and want to know if I should find yet another installation solution before I bother. Thank you all for your interest and dilligence in working around the problem. I hope we can turn to discussing USE of the tool.

Richard - I'm still not sure whether or not I did delete prefs the second time - but it's still worth a try. I'm still not convinced it's a 10.3 issue as I had exactly the same problem with 10.1.5 installing Paul Shipley's add-ins into the effects menu. I've not had any problems with 10.3.2 installing anythig else into Elements (and as I reformatted my harddrive before installing 10.3, I have reinstalled Elements and both the book tools and HPA3 with no problems under that OS). The problem seems to be unique to installing through the effects menu and occurs in various flavours of OSX.

Susan S..

As I had no issues using 10.2, and have not had reports of issues from those on OS 10.2, I have to assume it is a 10.3 related problem. In any case if someone follows the suggestions (use the right zip utility, delete cache, delete prefs), I would be surprised if they came back with install problems...it really can't get much easier than unzipping a file and placing it in a folder. That is not to say people aren't having genuine problems, but the issues are not related to the tool or the distribution. I can only do so much from my side of the computer terminal. As to OS10.3, it may be something as simple as there is a node missing on some code tree that needs to be created and is initiated by removing the preferences and once there it knows to check -- who knows. All I know is I can't reproduce the problem. Doing all these things should take care of it. If not, I look for something else.

I believe that I've finally gotten it to work. In Effects the three crosses appear and they respond to clicking. I must say, using MacZip is not a slam dunk. I had to approach the unzipping in several different ways and finally one of these approaches worked. Unfortunately I don't remember my steps should someone else have the same difficulty. I will try to find my approach should someone else have the same problems.

Well, now I'm going on to the next step and trying out Mend.


Upon reading your discussion regarding 10.3 problems, I must say, that did not seem to be the issue for me and so I don't think it is OS X.3 related. It sounds like Wendy, Dave and I have resolved our problems in three entirely different ways. I'm puzzled.

Richard, I have not had any problems ( except email won't work with Photoshop Elements 2) with my upgrade from 10.1.5 to 10.3. I would highly recommend it.



BTW: Richard or anyone, do you have an image that I can practice on to use the Mend tool? Richard mentioned that he was going to put up an example on his web site. Maybe this would give me something to learn on. Otherwise, I'll have to tear a photo and scan it. Let's see, any old photos of ex girlfriends laying around here?

Well ... I'm still using 10.2.6 and not too sure if I should upgrade on the iMac or not. However we have just ordered an iBook so that will come complete with 10.3 ... will let you know how I go on with that.

I suspect that now it is unzipped there should be no problems.

I hope

Glad to hear that we now all have it installed

Wendy

Mend Tool v. 1.0 really works very well on my iMac OS 10.1.5. First, as Richard had to remind me to follow the instructions in the Readme.html. First, Stuffit would not expanded the Mind + .zip correctly, yes I tried it and it would not work in PE2. Downloaded zipit, to expand it, but it would only work in the "classic", but it expanded it too "Mend+.zi0" folder. Then it worked in PE2. At first I could not figure out what I was doing, as I thought the Mend tool was about the same as the Clone tool. I should have know better, with what Richard has put together in HPPE 2 and his newsletters. Again not following the instructions in Readme.html III. TO APPLY 1 - 11. You must double-click the Mend_Setup icon, which sets up the clone layer and clone tool. Make repairs, then I double-click the Mend icon and it does the magic and allows me to make settings. The final repair is to good to be true. I have never used the healing brush in Photoshop, but this Mend Tool is FANTASTIC. Thank you Richard Lynch.

Mark,

Just notice the last section of your message ... if you want to practice on something then just load any image and using the brush tool simply make a mark on it. One you have done that you can practice removing it.

Wendy

Richard,

It is now working fine and I am "healing" everything in sight!. Just a quick question .....

When I have finished an area and wish to "heal" another area in the same image ... I need then to flatten the image ... is there any workaround I could use so that I could keep the original layers open in case I want to do more adjustments?.

Additionally, by accident I merged just the colour and tone layers and doing that changes the colour etc ... what is happening that causes this? ... Just curious really!

Wendy

jdhagin: Thank you for emphasizing the instructions. I realize many are impatient to get to the result, but the basic steps are certainly important as you note here. I am glad you like the tool -- that's the first real reaction to what it does, I think!

>> When I have finished an area and wish to "heal" another
>> area in the same image ... I need then to flatten the image ...
>> is there any workaround I could use so that I could keep
>> the original layers open in case I want to do more adjustments?

Well, I never thought to try that, only because the goal of the correction would be to commit it...You see, once you make some changes, you will sometimes want to sample from the Mended spot. There might be a way to change this up to do what you want, but it wasn't designed for it (at least not in this version). Additional applications will flatten the image -- it was just a better way of dealing with all the potential layers.

>> Additionally, by accident I merged just the colour and tone
>> layers and doing that changes the colour etc ... what is
>> happening that causes this? ... Just curious really!

The adjustment layers are Luminosity and Color modes, and when you merge them they switch to Normal mode (which is 'normal'). It isn't really possible to achieve the same effect using one layer, unless, perhaps, you copy the background under the Mend, paste to a new base layer, and merge those three...you'll then have the right result on a separate layer -- and I guess you can make changes by duping the layer, changing to the appropriate mode, and making a grouped adjustment.

So, in other words, what i just said you couldn't do, you probably can...but the image will still flatten between applications if you use the Set-Up. There is potentially the option of manually creating the clone layer and running the mend (as you would using the 'patch' instructions at the end of the readme). If you test that out, I'd be curious if it works!

Richard - From Wendy's and your comments the final version must be a little different from the beta that I have....my copy finishes the action by merging everything up into one layer and I don't have the option of playing with things in that way - if there is a significant difference I need to buy the final version, I think!
I really like the tool - it's very good in particualr at wrinkle removal and lightening of dark shadows under the eyes, which are harder to do with the clone tool alone

Susan S.

Hi Richard,

Thanks for all the information it has helped me understand some of background.

I did a try out by:

Using the mend set up & mend for the first "heal" then manually created the clone layer above the tone and colour layers. Then used mend and it worked fine until it gave the message:

The command group is not currently available.

Am I right that this command simply links the three layers? ... if so it is easy enough to do that manually and it leaves all the layers intact !!

Thanks for all the help

Wendy

I had the same problem as Wendy, but was able to correct it by using MacZip crypt downloaded from the url in Richard's email for installing mend.
I first copied the enclosed zip (intact) to the desktop and then dragged it into the MacZip icon.
MY original attempt to unzip with default Stuffit would not install. Stuffit must do something to the files to corrupt them. I hope this is of some help.
Aloha, Bob

>>Am I right that this command simply links the three layers? ... if so it is easy enough to do that manually and it leaves all the layers intact !!

That would be what it does. If you don't link them, you can't just hit Command/Ctrl+E to merge at the end...so that would be up to you. Thanks for testing!

The file comes as an email attachment. It is automatically compressed by AOL and you should be able to both automatically uncompress and save the file for compression later. As there are a bunch of different ways to access email, I can't post instructions for all of them, you will have to consult your mail program help to find out how they work. However, I can give suggestions...what are you using to open mail?

Richard,

I am still having problems. I have tried everything the other people here have tried and no go.
I use OSX 10.3.2 Mac Mail. Mail un-compresses the file automatically, I never see the compressed file.
How can I get a compressed file to un-zip?

Thanks for the help
Jack

You need to be able to isolate the zip file. As I've suggested, depending on your email client, the means of doing this will be different. You might try saving the email, dragging the attachment file to the desktop, or looking in the help files for the program you use to read the email. A search of your hard drive may also reveal the file stored in some temporary area or download folder.

Once you have the file isolated, you need to use an unzip utility. There are a bunch around, and I will list some of the options here for Mac:

Maczipit:
http://www.maczipit.com/

Stuffit Expander (OS X users choose .dmg version 8):
http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/download.html

MacZip (you need Classic/OS 9 installed):
http://download.com.com/3000-2254-5040047.html?tag=lst-0-1

ANY of these programs should work...however, they may, conversely, not all work on the first try.What you need to do is:

1. Choose a utility
2. Download the utility
3. Install the utility (um, this may actually require some type of expanding!)
4. Drag the zip file to the utility icon.

At this point the utility should expand the files. HOWEVER, the utility may also not expand the different levels of the zip. You can take care of this by;

1. Note where the 'expanded' files are -- these are the resulting files from the previous steps. It should be a readme.html file and the Mend folder.
2. Drag the mend folder to the unzip utility a second time.

This really should take care of the problem, no matter what utility you are using. I have tried all of them and they all work. A really radical approach might be to download AOL's software, create an account, forward the email to that account and download the file from there. You may already have (and likely you do) unzip utilities in your system as part of browser and email software 'helpers'. You may be able to change the preferences for the utility that gets used.

Unzipping a file SHOULD be the easy part of this, but regretfully, due to various reasons (mostly the plethora of ways that email is handled) it can be a little troublesome. You need to get the latest download and unzip utilities for OS X, and will, most likely, have trouble using older versions. You may have to learn to use your email software, which will, most likely, allow download of a file without unzipping; read the help files, or turn off automated decompression in the software preferences. It would be impossible for me to list instructions for every email package in use.

Please let me know if you have continued trouble. Please name the email software and let me know the steps you are taking.

OK Richard I got it to work.

I use mail, the one that comes with OSX 10.3.2, there is on way, that I can find, to change the settings for compressed files.

I moved the un-compressed folder to the desktop, then using MacZip 1.0.6 zipped the folder them un-zipped it. This gave me a Mend folder with a extension name of Mend.ziO, did all the rest of the stuff in the instructions for installing and presto... it works.

Thanks for all your help and I hope this helps others.

Jack :nod:

I suspect that many OS X users use the mail program, but i am not one of them. Can you please let us know how you achieved saving the file to the desktop?

About the saved file, it may not matter at all that it is Mend+ or Mend+.zip. My suspicion is that you can drop the saved folder into the Utility for unzipping and skip the zipping step.

let me know, and thanks for keeping at it! I sure a few people will benefit from your effort.

I suspect that many OS X users use the mail program, but i am not one of them. Can you please let us know how you achieved saving the file to the desktop?

About the saved file, it may not matter at all that it is Mend+ or Mend+.zip. My suspicion is that you can drop the saved folder into the Utility for unzipping and skip the zipping step.

let me know, and thanks for keeping at it! I sure a few people will benefit from your effort.

I tried many programs to just drop the folder on but until I zipped and unzipped it again it would not work.

Just dragging the folder off mail places it on the desktop however it’s unzipped at that time.

This method also worked on my iBook, it too had the same problems as my G4.

Well, sounds cludgy, but if it works I guess it'll have to do. Thanks for taking the time to respond, and perhaps it is enough of a solution for other people with the problem to go on!

Richard

I too was initially unable to get the Mend tool to install properly into Photoshop Elements 2 running on my iMac 17" G4. I believe that the problem was with Mail's automatic decompressing of the Mend+.zip file. My workaround was to forward the email from Richard containing the Mend+.zip file to a friend with a PC. I was then able to detach the Mend+.zip file, save the file on a disk, load it onto my Mac, decompress using Zipit, and install it following Richard's directions. Voila! The missing icons appeared in the Mend dropdown under Effects and it works just fine.

Regards, Jim

A new solution for mac users that I heard was as simple as this: Open the Mend.psd with Elements and resave, then restart elements...

I can't test as i can't get it to NOT work...but perhaps someone else can?