Help us diagnose Windows installation and launch issues

Despite out best efforts testing each version of our app on a range of Windows computers, with the large variation in Windows systems out there, our users sometimes encounter issues that prevent Aeon Timeline from launching correctly on their Windows computer.

If this happens, there is some information you can capture that will give us the best chance to quickly reproduce and fix any issue you encounter. This will help us get you back up and running as quickly as possible!

Backup existing install/config files

Before trying to fix the issue, it helps us immensely if you can first backup important aspects of your current installation, so that you can send those files to us if requested. This is often the fastest way for us to reproduce and fix an issue that we cannot easily reproduce on our own computers.

Please use Windows Explorer to navigate to the following 3 locations, and create a zip backup of the Aeon Timeline folder located in each.

  1. C:\Program Files
    • This is the default install location, but if you chose to install elsewhere, copy that folder instead
    • Right click on the Aeon Timeline folder and create a zip file
    • Click 'Yes' if Windows asks to save the zip file to your Desktop folder instead
    • Rename the zip file to: Aeon Timeline - Program Files.zip
  1. C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local
    • Replace your_username with the username of your Windows account
    • AppData is a hidden folder, so you may need to copy this into the address bar directly
    • Right click on the Aeon Timeline folder and create a zip file
    • Rename the zip file to: Aeon Timeline - AppData.zip, and copy it to your Desktop
    • If this folder is too large to zip (this is where backups of your timelines are stored), you could individually backup the files and folders inside that folder instead.
  1. C:\ProgramData
    • ProgramData is a hidden folder, so you may need to copy this into the address bar directly
    • Right click on the Aeon Timeline folder and create a zip file
    • Rename the zip file to: Aeon Timeline - ProgramData.zip, and copy it to your Desktop

Windows 10 users: To create a zip file, right click on the folder you wish to compress and choose Send To > Compressed (zipped) folder.

Windows 11 users: To create a zip file, right click on the folder and choose Compress to ZIP file.

Troubleshooting steps to resolve issue

Once you have created those backups, follow the steps in our troubleshooting article to try to resolve the issue:

https://help.timeline.app/article/267-aeon-timeline-windows-wont-launch

What to report back to us

Any time you encounter an issue, we want to hear about it, even if you were able to resolve the problem using our troubleshooting steps. This helps ensure we can fix any issues and prevent them from becoming a recurring issue for you or any other user!

Please send an email to support@aeontimeline.com to let us know about the issue, including the following information:

  1. The version of Aeon Timeline you currently have installed
  2. When was the last time you used the app? Did the app update recently? Do you remember what version you last used?
  3. A description of the problem you encountered
  4. Which troubleshooting steps you have tried to fix the issue
  5. Whether those steps were successful or not
  6. If successful, which step in particular was successful
  7. Any attachments that might be relevant (see below, you may need to use a transfer service)

If the main system language on your computer is not set to English, please let us know what language is being used instead.

Which attachments would be helpful to us

If you created the backup zip files described at the top of this page, here are the steps to work out if they might be helpful to us.

If you could not get Aeon Timeline up and running at all:

  • Please send us a copy of all 3 zip files (backups of Program Files, App Data, and Program Data).

If Aeon Timeline is working, and you could successfully restore the original App Data folder:

  • Please send us a copy of the Program Files and Program Data backup files (we will not need the App Data backup).

If Aeon Timeline is working, but you could NOT restore the original App Data folder:

  • Please send us a copy of the App Data backup files (the issue has been successfully isolated to something inside this folder).

If Aeon Timeline can't open a specific timeline file:

  • Please send a copy of that specific timeline file to us.

How to send large attachments

Note that the Program Files and App Data zip files will be too large to send via email, so please use a large file transfer service such as Hightail.com or Dropbox to transfer them to us.

Files containing sensitive information

Note that the App Data folder includes backup copies of your timeline files. Any files you send to us will be treated confidentially. However, if the timeline files you create contain sensitive information that cannot be shared with our support team, please do not send the backup copy of that file to us.

Instead, create a zip file containing everything inside that folder but excluding for the following folders:

  • Backup
  • Special Backup
  • Cache
  • Autosave

You could try renaming the folders and files inside the App Data folder one-by-one to determine exactly which file is to blame, and send us only the relevant file (if it is not listed in the group above).