Purchasing Licenses

If you are currently using GEDCOM Viewer under a demo license, each time you start the program you will be presented with a "Purchase Standard License" screen that gives you the opportunity to purchase a standard license. Demo licenses expire after a limited period of time, and there may also be limitations in functionality imposed by the program when running under a demo license. In contrast, a standard license gives you the right to continue using the program for an unlimited period of time, without artificial limitations on the functionality.

There are two steps involved in purchasing a standard license: (1) making the payment; and (2) obtaining the license key file from the server. If you click on the "Make purchase button", a browser will be launched and you will be directed to this page at Kagi.com. Kagi is a service that I have engaged to do payment processing for me.

Once you reach my order page at Kagi, select the product(s) you wish to purchase and enter a quantity of 1 (one) in each case. For example, if you just want to purchase a standard license for the basic GEDCOM Viewer application, then you would enter 1 under GEDCOM Viewer. It is also possible to purchase licenses for add-ons in the same transaction (currently only HTML Export Add-on is available). This is not necessary, however, and you can always come back later and purchase an add-on license separately if you want. However, please do not purchase any add-on license unless you have already purchased GEDCOM Viewer. Click on "Add to cart" to proceed to the payment form. Complete the payment form following the instructions provided. Various kinds of payment methods are accepted by Kagi, including credit cards, PayPal, wire transfer, and check or money order.

Once you have successfully made payment to Kagi, you will be sent an acknowledgement email. Kagi apparently does not send this email instantly -- expect about 5-10 minutes for it to arrive. If it does not arrive promptly, then contact me via the links provided on the Kagi website. The acknowledgement email will contain a transaction ID that you will need in order to obtain the license key file. Note that the receipt screen you are shown after completing your purchase from Kagi also displays a transaction ID. That transaction ID, though similar to the one that will arrive in the acknowledgement email, is not identical to it and cannot be used to obtain the license key file. You have to wait for the email acknowledgement to arrive in order to proceed.

When you have received the email purchase acknowledgement from Kagi, return to the "Purchase Standard License" screen in GEDCOM Viewer and this time select "Get license". You will be presented with an input dialog into which to enter your transaction ID. Enter the transaction ID exactly as it appears in the email you received from Kagi. It is best to use cut-and-paste to accomplish this, to avoid typing mistakes that could prevent the server from recognizing your transaction. Once the transaction ID has been entered, click on "OK". After a few seconds, a response should be received. If it says that the license was successfully received, you are good to go! If not, then contact me via links on the Kagi site or here and send me as complete a description as you can of what you did and what went wrong, including the specific error message. I will look into it and either help solve the problem or issue you a refund.

Important! If you are not fully satisfied that the software will serve your purposes, please do not enter your transaction ID into the "Get license" screen. As long as you have not yet been issued a license key file, I will happily agree to refund your purchase if you are not satisfied for any reason. However, once you have entered your transaction ID, clicked on "OK", and successfully received the license key file, your transaction is complete and your copy of the software is fully enabled. At this point, you have received what you purchased and I will not issue you a refund for any reason.

The license key file itself is saved in a sub-folder of the installation folder corresponding to the particular release of GEDCOM Viewer that you are running. This is also where the executable JAR file gv.jar that contains the program code is stored. Do not attempt to edit the license key files -- doing so will invalidate them. The license key file can, however, be copied for backup purposes only. It is your responsibility to make backup copies of the license key files, as well as the executable JAR file itself. In fact, I recommend that you back up the entire installation folder, including all release sub-folders, as a single unit. The program will not run unless the proper license key file is present in the installation sub-folder, so it is important that you do not lose or destroy these files. Although I might issue updates to the program at my discretion, I do not guarantee to supply you with any additional copies either of the program itself or of the license files, beyond the initial versions that you receive.

For more information, please refer to the Software License Agreement which states the conditions under which you are licensed to use the program.