Frequently Asked Questions

What about 64 bit?
You can download a 64-bit version for macOS 10.15 Catalina. The first time you launch it, right-click to open.

What does it cost?
US $32 (or the equivalent in your local currency). If you’ve purchased our Addressix envelope utility, you can get a discount.

You can also purchase in Japanese from Stands Co.; the price is 3980 JPY.

I lost my serial number
Click here to look it up.

What happens after the 30 day free trial?
Your free evaluation ends 30 days after you first try Opal. You will still be able to open (and even edit) any outlines you created, but you won’t be able to print them or save any changes.

Because you don’t need to buy Opal in order to view an outline, you can send Opal documents to any other Mac user, and know that they can open them.

Is purchasing secure?
Yes, it uses the same WebKit routines as does Safari.

Does it read Acta outlines?
Yes. Sound annotation and publish & subscribe information aren’t used. Typestyle information is converted, but you may need to have Classic fonts installed so that Opal can identify them.

Will it output Acta outlines?
No; it’s difficult to output Classic-style font information for many modern fonts.

Opal is great, but English is not my native language. Will there be a ___ version?
Opal is localized in Japanese as well as English. Contact us if you’re interested in helping create a localized version.

What’s next?
We don’t like to say much about future releases, since timetables can be so uncertain. But we will be taking advantage of some of the new features in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).

Can you make Tab indent?
No, because tab will tab between columns. (Yes, that’s under consideration for a future release.)

Will there be a Windows version?
No.

What about an iOS version?
Unfortunately, the routines used to save and restore exist only in Mac OS X.

Why aren’t Expand and Collapse just one menu item?
Expand and Collapse are separate menu items because when you select multiple topics, it’s possible that both commands are applicable to at least one selected topic. A single menu item would thus hide one of the possibilities. (The same applies to Grow and Shrink.)

There’s a preference (Combine Collapse and Expand menu items) in the Interface tab which may be useful if you seldom use multiple selection.

How come the keyoard equivalent for Split Daughter doesn’t work? The Dock is taking precedence. Choose Apple > System Preferences, click Keyboard & Mouse, then choose the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Disable (or change) the keyboard equivalent for Automatically hide and show the Dock.

I can’t open the .dmg file
First, be sure you’re running 10.4 or later — we’re taking advantage of its better compression.

Second, be sure you’re opening the .dmg with DiskImageMounter (ctrl+click or right+click on it and choose Open With...). This utility is at /System/Library/CoreServices/DiskImageMounter.app, should you need to navigate to it.

Finally, be sure it’s a .dmg file! In some cases, it seems to get an extension of “.dmg.bz2” (but is otherwise the correct size). If so, rename it to end in just “.dmg” and it should open.

What .dmg file?
Opal is distributed as an Internet-enabled disk image. According to Apple, “After a user downloads an Internet-enabled disk image from a network using a web browser, the image is automatically opened, its contents placed at the user’s download location, and discarded (in the Trash).” Safari performs these steps for you if you’ve enabled its Open “safe” files after downloading preference.

How do I make a feature request?
See how to submit feedback.

I think I found a bug.
Please let us know.

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