Shortcuts & Troubleshooting
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+O | Open |
| Ctrl+S / Ctrl+Shift+S | Save / Save as |
| Ctrl+P | |
| Ctrl+T / Ctrl+W | New tab / Close tab |
| Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Next / previous tab |
| Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y | Undo / Redo |
| Esc | Put the current tool down; leave full screen |
In the form designer: arrow keys nudge the selection (Shift for bigger steps), Ctrl+A selects all fields on the page, Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V / Ctrl+D copy, paste and duplicate, Enter opens properties, Delete removes. See Build Fillable Forms.
The DocuWrit menu
The button with the DocuWrit logo, top left:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open, Open recent, New tab | Opening documents. The New tab page lists recent files with a preview. |
| Save, Save as, Export as pictures or text, Print | See Pages, Printing & Export. |
| Theme | Follow the Windows setting, or always light or always dark. |
| Scripts in documents | Ask / Always / Never. See Scripts in Documents. |
| Make DocuWrit the default PDF app | Opens the Windows Default apps page, where you choose DocuWrit for .pdf. |
| Install / Remove the DocuWrit Printer | See The DocuWrit Printer. |
| Open log folder | Opens the folder with DocuWrit's log files (useful when reporting a problem). |
| Combine PDF files | Joins two or more PDF files into a new document. See Pages, Printing & Export. |
| Check for updates | Asks jimran.com whether a newer DocuWrit exists and, if so, offers to open the download page. DocuWrit only does this when you click here; the request carries the DocuWrit version and nothing about you or your documents. Nothing is downloaded or installed by itself. |
| Credits and licenses | The open-source projects DocuWrit is built on, and their licenses. |
Where DocuWrit keeps its files
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| The program | C:\Program Files\DocuWrit |
| Your digital IDs (certificates and their private keys) | The Windows certificate store of your account (certmgr.msc > Personal). DocuWrit keeps no copy. |
Your settings, recent-files list, saved signatures, auto-fill values (autofill.json) and logs | %LocalAppData%\DocuWrit (per Windows user) |
| Extra languages for text recognition | %LocalAppData%\DocuWrit\tessdata — see Recognize Text |
| Printer setup log | C:\ProgramData\DocuWrit\printer-setup.log |
DocuWrit has no account and no telemetry, and it never contacts a server on its own. Your documents are opened, edited, read by the text recognition and saved on your computer only. The update check runs only when you click it in the menu.
Common problems
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Windows protected your PC” when running the installer | The installer is code-signed by JimRan LLC, but Microsoft shows this for any publisher until enough people have downloaded a release. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Compare the file's SHA-256 with the one on the download page if in doubt. |
| A tab shows “WebView2 failed to start” | The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is missing or damaged. Install the Evergreen Bootstrapper from Microsoft's WebView2 page, then start DocuWrit again. |
| A form's totals stay empty | Its scripts are switched off: click Run scripts in the yellow bar. See Scripts in Documents. |
| I cannot type into a form field | A tool is active. Press Esc; the Current tool box should read Select / fill. On the Form Fields tab the fields are being designed, not filled: switch to Fill & Sign. |
| Edited text changed its font | The document's font did not contain the characters you typed. See Edit Page Text. |
| “… is not possible in this document. Its author has restricted it” | See Restricted documents below. |
| Recognize text says it needs the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime | The installer normally fetches it. Download vc_redist.x64.exe from Microsoft, run it, and try again. Everything else in DocuWrit works without it. |
| A print job to the DocuWrit Printer shows Error | Start DocuWrit once; the job is delivered by itself. See The DocuWrit Printer. |
Restricted documents
Many official forms — tax, court, social-security, bank forms — are restricted (“secured”) by their author. They open without a password, but they are protected with a password only the author has, and they carry the author's rules: usually filling in is allowed, changing the form is not. DocuWrit keeps to those rules, and tells you when a document is restricted (the line at the bottom of the window says so when it opens).
| In a restricted document | |
|---|---|
| Works | Filling in the form, Auto-fill, Text box, Sign, Draw, Highlight, Image; a digital signature in a signature field the author provided; Flatten form; printing; export as pictures or text; the DocuWrit Printer. |
| Not allowed | X mark, everything on the Edit tab (Select & move, Edit text, Add text, Recognize text), the form designer and the script manager, everything that changes pages (rotate, move, delete, extract, split, insert), and using its pages in another document. |
For an X in a printed box, use Text box and type an X. If you need a copy you can change freely, print the form to the DocuWrit Printer — where the author allows printing — and work on that copy; its fields will no longer be fillable.
Uninstalling
Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps > DocuWrit > Uninstall. This removes the program and the DocuWrit Printer. Your settings, saved signatures and auto-fill values in %LocalAppData%\DocuWrit are kept; delete that folder if you want them gone too.
Reporting a problem
Use the contact form. It helps to say what you did, what you expected and what happened, and to attach the newest file from DocuWrit menu > Open log folder.
Back to the DocuWrit documentation overview.