HomeGauge Support

Restoring HomeGauge Software on a New or Reformatted Computer

Need to start over with a new computer? Maybe your hard drive went bad or you were a victim of a virus. Or maybe you are upgrading from an old machine. The instructions below will walk you through the steps of how to set up your new machine with as much of your own HomeGauge setup as possible. The easiest way to restore files is retrieving them using the HomeGauge Internet Tools, however, there are also instructions provided if you do not use our Internet Tools and have access to the old computer or backup files.

NOTE: Vista does not use the "My" in "My Documents", so all Vista users will be saving files to "Documents\HomeGauge" instead of "My Documents\HomeGauge".

Step 1. Install the HomeGauge Software

Download the HomeGauge Software and install it on your new computer.
https://www.homegauge.com/inspector/home-inspection-software/trial.html

Step 2. Insert Your HomeGauge Software License Key

To insert your license number in HomeGauge software: (Your license can be found by logging into www.HomeGauge.com and going to "My Licenses and Services." Your license was also sent to you in an email when you first purchased.)

1. Open HomeGauge software.
2. At the top under the "Options" menu select "Inspector & License".
3. Enter your name, company name, and license key exactly. The key itself is either in the original email or can be seen by signing into the website. The inspector name and company name must be the same as the first time you activated the software. The name can be seen by signing in to the website and clicking on "My License and Services". The license key will look similar to: 4010-0131-6421-7796.
4. Click on the "Activate" button to activate your license.

Step 3. Insert Your Inspection Company Logo and Agreement

A) If HomeGauge has helped you with your logo and agreement previously, then you can get them back by following the steps below.

1. Be sure you are connected to the Internet.
2. Start up HomeGauge Software.
3. Find and click on the menu "SHGI" -> "Update Custom Pages".

This will install your agreement, logo and any other custom pages HomeGauge support has worked on for you.

B) Or you may need to insert your logo into the software manually as you did before:

1. Use the "File" menu and select "Printing Options".
2. Click on the tab labeled "Logo".
3. Click on the current default SHGI "Small Logo" or "Logo 1", and when prompted, select the logo file you would like to use that is saved on your computer. The file you select will need to be either .jpg or .gif format.

Step 4. Restore REPs (Agents)

From the HomeGauge Internet Tools:

1. Login to www.HomeGauge.com.
2. Click on the "My Agents" link on the left.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of that page and click on the "Export Agent List" link.
4. Save this file to "My Documents\HomeGauge".
5. Rename this file from "agentslist.csv" to "people.csv". If you do not see the .csv part of the name (the file extension), just rename the file from "agentslist" to "people". (If you are using HomeGauge 4, rename it "people4.csv".)
6. Restart HomeGauge software if it is running.

From a Backup or Old Computer:

A) Copy the "people.csv" or "people4.csv" file from your backup and paste in "My Documents\HomeGauge" on your new computer.

B) On an old computer you will need to copy the "people.csv" or "people4.csv" file from "My Documents\HomeGauge" and then paste this file in the same location on the new computer.

A USB removable storage device or a CD/DVD works great for transferring files from computer to computer*

Step 5. Restore My Reports

From the HomeGauge Internet Tools:

1. Log into HomeGauge and click on "My Reports".
2. After clicking the "My Reports" link, find the inspection that you want to download. Once you find it, click the "Download Report" link under the picture -- or from the menu "Manage - Download".
3. A new page will come up with instructions on how to download and install the report.
   
4. Restart the HomeGauge software and the report that you downloaded will be available for you to open. If you are using HomeGauge 4, you will need to click the "Rebuild Database" button to see any new reports that were copied over..

From a Backup or Old Computer:

A) From a backup:

1. Copy the report files from your backup source and paste them in "My Documents\HomeGauge\Reports" folder on your new computer.
2. Restart the HomeGauge software and the reports will be available for you to open. If you are using HomeGauge 4, you will need to click the "Rebuild Database" button to see any new reports that were copied over..
   

B) From an old computer:

1. You will need to copy the Report folders you would like to transfer from "My Documents\HomeGauge\Reports" and then past these files in the same location "My Documents\ HomeGauge\Reports" folder on the new computer.
   A USB removable storage device or a CD/DVD works great for transferring files from computer to computer*
2. Restart the HomeGauge software and the reports will be available for you to open. If you are using HomeGauge 4, you will need to click the "Rebuild Database" button to see any new reports that were copied over..

Step 6. Get Back All My Hard Work — Restore My Inspection Templates

From the HomeGauge Internet Tools:

1. Log into HomeGauge and click on "My Reports".
2. After clicking the "My Reports" link, find the inspection report that you want to download. The most recent report will include your most recent template. Once you find it, click the "Download Report" link under the picture -- or from the menu "Manage - Download".
3. A new page will come up with instructions on how to download and install the report.
4. Restart the HomeGauge software and the report that you downloaded will be available for you to open. If you are using HomeGauge 4, you will need to click the "Rebuild Database" button to see any new reports that were copied over..
5. Open the report that you downloaded and unzipped.
6. Go to the menu "File" and then "Save Template as..." and save your template providing it with a name.

From Backup:

1. You will need to copy the templates you would like to transfer from "My Documents\HomeGauge\Templates" and then past these files in the same location "My Documents\ HomeGauge\Templates" folder on the new computer.
   A USB removable storage device or a CD/DVD works great for transferring files from computer to computer*

*Here is some help with using a USB storage device or a CD/DVD:

For USB device or removable storage: Be sure the device is plugged in and recognized by Windows. You may have to install software which would have come with the device for Windows to use the product properly. Contact the manufacturer for help. You can either copy (Ctrl and C or right click and left click on "copy") and paste (Ctrl and V or right click and left click on "paste") the files by clicking the file, copying, and going to the removable disk directory (can be found in "My Computer") and pasting. You can right click on the item and choose "Send To", and select the device if available (not applicable for all products). Once the files are transferred, you can then remove the device and plug it into the next computer. Follow the directions to copy them from the device to the "My Documents\HomeGauge" folder on this PC.

For CD/DVD: The above method of right click, choose "Send To" and then your CD drive (i.e. DVD/CD-RW Drive (D:)) will work to copy files to a CD in Windows. Since there are several brands of CD burners and proprietary and third party software, you would have to contact them for the best way of burning a CD if that doesn't work. Once the CD is burned, follow the steps in USB device or removable storage on how to copy the files from the CD to HomeGauge.

Do you still have other questions? Check our support page.