Technical Support & Help

How To Contact Us For Help

Troubleshooting Unexpected Problems or Crashes
Helping Yourself, Online

Automatically Checking for Updates
A "To Do" List For Email Help
Help Us to Help You

How To Handle Problems

"Reunion quit unexpectedly" Messages
Printing Problems
File Corruption Problems
Change of Address

How To Contact Us for Help
Email and Live Chat:
Visit this web page for contact information.
Web site:
ReunionTalk Forum:

Troubleshooting Unexpected Problems or Crashes

Here are some troubleshooting techniques...

Try Rebuilding the Cache Files...

Open your family file and choose File > Rebuild Cache Files. Then see if the problem persists.

rebuild cache

Reunion builds and stores some hidden, cached files inside your family file. If something goes awry, rebuilding these files may solve the problem.

In addition, when opening a family file, you may see a message "Building cache files" which usually means Reunion was improperly shut down. This could be caused by a power failure, a crash, or some other program interruption. The next time you open a family file (that was open during the crash or power failure), Reunion will check the family file for problems and rebuild internally cached files.

Delete the Reunion Preferences folder. Follow these steps...

  1. Quit Reunion.
  2. Locate the Reunion Preferences folder.
    In the Finder, hold down the Option key and, from the menus at the top, choose Go > Library.
    It's here: Home/Library/Application Support/Reunion/Reunion Preferences
  3. Drag the Reunion Preferences folder to the trash in the Dock.
  4. Empty the trash.
  5. Double-click the Reunion 14 application icon in your Applications folder and see if the problem persists.

Send us a crash log and console message if "Reunion quit unexpectedly"

If a message appears saying "Reunion quit unexpectedly" (or something similar), it may be helpful for us to see the crash log and console messages. We would also like to know what you were doing in Reunion just prior to this happening and whether or not the problem is repeatable.

Helping Yourself, Online

Here are a few valuable resources to exploit...

  1. Choose Help > Reunion 14 Support Page. This will open your web browser to a web page containing links to frequently asked questions, the latest maintenance update, video tutorials, web publishing examples, and more.
  2. Visit ReunionTalk, a free online forum that provides a community for Reunion users to share their experiences, questions, suggestions, comments, and ideas pertaining to Reunion. ReunionTalk also offers a free, daily, email digest.

Automatically Checking for Updates

You can check, anytime, to see if you're using the latest version of Reunion. To do this, open Reunion and choose Help > Check for Updates.

Reunion will, by default, automatically check for updates once-a-week (i.e., check to see if you're using the latest app version).

This option can be configured by choosing Help > Check for Updates and clicking the button in the bottom-right, as shown below.

We recommend leaving this option enabled, so that you'll be alerted when a maintenance update is released. (We do not release frequent updates and we do not constantly pester you with annoying messages.)

A "To Do" List For Email Help

If you send us an email, be sure to...

Help Us to Help You

The single most important thing to do when contacting us for support is to explain the problem accurately. Please be careful about the terms you use to describe the problem. Misuse of words like file, folder, application, and window are the most common obstacles to communicating the specifics of a problem. For example, if you say, "I have Reunion open," what do you really mean? Are you in the Finder with a window open showing the contents of a folder? Or is the Reunion application running? The more carefully you explain your situation and the steps that led to the trouble, the more quickly we can help resolve the problem.

How To Handle Problems

The co-author of Reunion once had a very unorthodox philosophy professor whose favorite saying was, "When the going gets tough...Quit! Why bang your head against a wall?" Sometimes it's a good idea to apply this simple notion to problems with computers and software.

When you get stuck and you just can't seem to get something to work, first, make sure you've searched this manual for the answer. If you have, and still can't solve a problem, by all means, Quit! — and send us an email message. Or, visit ReunionTalk and post a message. Often, you'll receive an answer in minutes from a Reunion user a thousand miles away.

It's sad to hear somebody say, "I tried such-and-such for three hours and couldn't get it to work!" Or, "I read the manual three times and couldn't find an answer." Please don't squander your time! In most cases, it just takes a brief interaction with another human being who has been there: a short ReunionTalk post, a quick email message to a support person, or a chat session.

Printing Problems

If you're having difficulty printing a report, chart, or picture, try these suggestions:

1. Choose File > Page Setup in Reunion and make sure the correct printer is listed in the Page Setup window.

2. Experiment with different fonts. For example, if a chart window is open, select all boxes and choose a different font from the toolbar to see if different fonts yield different results.

3. Download the latest version of the print driver for your printer. Print drivers are updated from time to time. Bugs are fixed and features are added in newer versions of print drivers. Hewlett Packard, Epson, Canon, Brother, and Apple all have Web sites that provide the latest versions of print drivers for their printers. In general, it's a good idea to use the newest version of the print driver for your particular printer.

4. Before contacting us for help, try printing a different document in Reunion. For example, if you can't print a cascading pedigree chart, try printing a family group sheet. Also, try printing a similar document using the Sample Family file.

File Corruption Problems

Experience has shown that files may become damaged due to...

Unless you know when lightning will strike, the best way to recover from damaged or corrupted data files is to have a recent backup. Learn more.

If you have reason to believe that the Reunion application file has become damaged, you can re-download the installer from our web site and trash the damaged Reunion application file.

Change of Address

If you change your email address, change your name, or sell the entire Reunion package (as described here), please send an email so that we may update our records accordingly. Be sure to indicate which version of Reunion you have and also include your old email address (if you are changing your email address).

To find the Reunion version number, open Reunion and, from the menu at the top, choose Reunion > About Reunion.