If you, like me, are a user of one or more of the TreePad database / personal information manager (PIM) software packages, you may have noticed that TreePad's website (TreePad dot com) has been down for over two weeks as of August 31, 2019, as has the website of their parent company, FreeByte (FreeByte dot com).
This small company has been very tardy with software updates for their products for years, and has not been responding to tech support queries from customers sent via email (or via the site contact form) for at least the past 8 months, and now, with their website having been down for over two weeks, I wonder if this latest event is the death knell for this tiny software company based in the Netherlands?
Personally, I hope not, because I feel that their software products -- each of them hierarchical tree-structured data organizer / database / PIM / notes organizer / data organizer software programs -- filled a unique niche, and that their higher-end products, such as TreePad X Enterprise (aka TreePad Enterprise), offered capabilities, functionality, and features that none of the other contenders (such as OneNote, Evernote, KeyNote, Cherrytree, etc. ) in the field were ever able to offer.
So, personally, I am hoping that this latest event is just a bump in the road for the company, and this small company manages to resurrect itself.
tags: #TreePad #websitedown #sitedown #TreePadsitedown
keywords: TreePad website down, TreePad site down, TreePad Lite, TreePad Plus, TreePad Safe, TreePad X Enterprise 12 Gb, TreePad X Enterprise 384 Gb, TreePad Enterprise, Tree Pad software, www.treepad.com website down, www.treepad.com site down
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Even if there were no further development in the Treepad suite, I would have been happy to send them an occasional Thank You donation. But there doesn't seem to be any contribution paths, either.
ReplyDeleteA sad day.
I too was saddened to see the website down. I have been Treepad user since 2005 (Treepad Business Edition), I've used it for many projects and I am now using it for novel outlines. I've yet to see an equal for the software. As dated as the interface is the functionality has stood the test of time. Thank goodness the last version is still compatible with the latest version of windows! I plan to keep using program, supported or not?
ReplyDeleteold and classic, gone with the wind......
ReplyDeleteI do not even remember when I first started using Treepad, but I do remember when they brought out Treepad Biz! I bought a license, then, and have been happy ever since. There is a theme that comes up often when discussing software - and Treepad was golden - e.g. "it just works". They've long been one of my goto programs. For years, I used the encrypted version for a password manager and financial records manager.
ReplyDeleteA few weeks ago, I was traveling. And Treepad unexpectedly told me that my "trial period" was over, and I needed to enter my registration data. BTW, that registration key was stored in a Treepad file - an ENCRYPTED Treepad file. Ooops. Couldn't open the file, couldn't access Treepad files at all. And THEN, I discovered that the Treepad website was down, and had been down for a while. Oh, dear.
I am saddened. It is like having a friend die - which is happening more frequently as I get older, but still. I hope they are able to recover, but I don't expect they will, or we would have had some message. So, I am moving on to other programs. Not sure exactly what, yet . . .
The registration code sometimes drops out, by clicking the add registration button it may reapply it. Failing that, search in your email for the original reg code that Freebyte sent you. Copy it in to a text file and save it as 'tpreg' in the main program file. The program is capable of generating this file if it is used as a portable app.
DeleteCrowB,
DeleteYou might be able to get your Treepad back. I've used Treepad Business Edition for many years and as a portable. This meant that I would use it on different computers (and often from a USB stick).
What I frequently found happened when I first used it on a different computer was that Treepad would launch as a 'Trial'-- and from there I would just enter in the registration info (which I had stored in a text file) and I would be back to having a non-Trial Treepad. However, on doing this I would look in the folder from which I was running Treepad and would note that a new 'key' file had been placed in the folder by Treepad. This new key file, which for example would have a name like 'tpbef696a14.key', contained the registration data for the particular computer I was using at the time I (re-)registered the Treepad. Treepad frequently thinks that if it is launched on a 'new' computer that you are making a new 'install' of Treepad and so it wants the registration data again.
In the Treepad folder there was also created on registration a file titled 'tpreg.txt' this contains the data necessary to register Treepad. So I would suggest the following to you:
(1) Copy the entire Treepad folder over to a computer you used where you successfully had Treepad running in non-Trial mode. Then launch TreepadBiz.exe and you might find that you will get the full edition running just fine.
(2) If '(1)' worked in Treepad go to (menu) Help > Registration information. And from there you will get your registration data back. And hence can use Treepad as you normally would. Remember to store off the registration data for future use.
I'd give the above a try and see if you can recover your Treepad.
On a more general note I am very disappointed that Treepad has now vanished off the map. I used Treepad Lite for years before buying Treepad Business Edition once it became available. I'll keep using it and have some remaining hope that maybe some day Treepad will resurrect itself. Sad to see it gone for now, there really is nothing else available that comes anywhere near close to Treepad.
Dear CrowB,
ReplyDeleteI really connect to your story. Luckily I kept my programs installer and product keys in a pendrive. If you can borrow someone's laptop, install the Treepad biz, and try to open your file from there.
If you plan to move on, checkout Cherrytree, Treedbnotes, Keynote may be choices. All the best..Amy
Couldn't agree more with the above sentiments. It's been my workhorse since 2004, including storing passwords etc in an encrypted Treepad file. Would also love to donate if that's what it would take to keep the business going.
ReplyDeleteIn 2004 I was going to write my own outline editor (sidekick+ didn't cut it anymore back then ;) until I saw Treepad. I was blown away by its features, and now for 15 years amazed by its reliability. Its programmer (a fellow Dutchman whose ) certainly knows his stuff!
I hope all is well with him...
Welp, the treepad.com website is back up, but unless you're wanting to purchase Canadian pot it won't be of much use to you anymore.
ReplyDeleteLuckily just found my old registration info for the business edition -and the database file in a folder in an old external backup drive- after realizing they are sadly dead. It's where I always put my Windows tips, tricks and fixes pre Windows 10. A lot of Facebook Windows groups have users from other countries who still use the outdated OSs and I no longer have a tower running any of them.
ReplyDeletesad it's now gone to become 'Abandonware'.
ReplyDeleteeveryone seems to be shifting to online-sync notes like Evernote, StandardNotes, etc.. where you pay lots of wasted money for yearly subscription, just so you can take a peep of your notes in your smartphone..ridiculous
Treepad with files saved on googledrive or dropbox does the same.
Well here we are in 2020,
ReplyDeleteTreepad seems dead. But in a moment of inspiration I found my old registration email on my seldom used iMac . I was able to scrape the registration out of the email and it seemed to authenticate on my ver 8.1 treepad biz I down loaded from CNET.
In the original email it said it was a one year license .. Any chance it will just keep on working since it cannot talk to the mother ship?.
I think I would like having a portable app with some security. Happy Day
The only problem I've ever had with installing Treepad on a new desktop, is that they ask me to enter the registration key again. But it always works.
ReplyDeleteI'm still using the most recent version of Treepad Enterprise.
Unfotunately, I never downloaded the most recent version of the Business Edition, from 2018.
I just tried downloading Treepad business from the web archive. (I also purchased that, and therefore have a legitimate registration key). Unfortunately, the Web Archive doesn't have the last version. It says 8.2.2, but the executable or zip has 8.1.
I never thought to download the 2018 8.2.2 upgrade, from 2018, because Enterprise was doing fine.
The developer/owner of Treepad (and freebyte) passed away. That's why it disappeared. Learned this from his sister in a comment on alternativeto.net website.
ReplyDeleteJenn, thanks so much for this information! I had guessed that something akin to this is what had happened, but I was unable to confirm it, and I simply stopped researching the matter about 6 months ago.
DeleteBTW, the best replacement software that I have found so far for Treepad X Enterprise -- in terms of the UI being rather intuitive and free-form -- although not perfect, is Milenix MyInfo v. 7.
--Vinny
Thank you for that update Jenn, however I can't seem to find his sister's comment. Would you be able to post a direct link to her message? Thanks, Bernt
DeleteBernt,
DeleteGo to this page, and for each comment click any "Show entire comment and replies" link. You'll find Elisa's remarks there, about her brother.
https://alternativeto.net/software/treepad/about/
Thanks from me for the information too Jenn. I too would like to read his sister's message if you could post a link to it. I had been trying the freebyte site once a week with my fingers crossed that it would come alive again -- sad to see that it is gone for good.
ReplyDeleteOn Milenix MyInfo v7 I downloaded the installer, haven't tried installing it as yet. My first impression is the installer file is 119MB in size. What?! My Treepad Business Edition install is under 10MB and the Treepad Manual (exe) file takes up about 6MB of that. So on that score alone no competition between MyInfo and Treepad. Whoever it was that was coding Treepad really, really must have known what they were doing. So sad to see it gone for good now.
In any case I'll be sticking with my Treepad Business v8.2.2. It does just about everything I'd like it to do.
https://alternativeto.net/software/treepad/about/
ReplyDeleteIt's in the replies to the first comment there. I only ever used the free version of Treepad, still works for me.
Thanks very much for the link, Jenn. Much appreciated.
DeleteI've been using Treepad Business for years to store computer programming notes and code snippets. Still works great and I have no plans to replace it.
ReplyDeleteTo any folks lamenting that they have TreePad Biz but never got the 8.2.2 update I found a source for the 8.2.2 files. I just discovered today that someone created an archive of TreePad on the WayBack Machine. The archive can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttps://web.archive.org/web/20190720190155/http://www.treepad.com/treepadfreeware/
If you click around that archive you eventually find that you can arrive at this webpage:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190725152433/http://www.treepad.com/download/tpbiz.html
On that webpage there are three links to download an installer (purportedly for v8.2.2) I cannot comment on what those installers will actually install but checking the SHA1 hash keys suggests that they are not installers for version 8.2.2. However, below those links for the installer there are three links to download the zip file containing (purportedly) TreePad Biz v8.2.2. The first and third of those links actually download a zip file of version 8.1.0. However, the *second* of those three zip files does contain TreePad Biz v8.2.2 -- and the SHA1 hash does match the correct value. Even if the three installers don't contain 8.2.2 you can do an install via the zip download anyway as the zip does contain the files needed to do install if you so wish. (Personally, I've always used TreePad Biz as a portable, so I've never tried the installer capabilities of the zip file.)
So now you know where to get a copy of TreePad Biz v8.2.2.
I should say that from that WayBack archive I was able to download a copy of TreePad X Enterprise 7.17 (which I believe was the latest version at the time that Freebyte folded). Also from the archive I managed to get a copy of the Manual exe file for Enterprise, version 7.11.1 (there was no manual offered for Enterprise 7.17). I'm now using the evaluation period of Enterprise and if it works okay for me then I'll try contacting Elisa and see if she can sell me a licence for it (I hope she will able to do this).
In any case, I hope the above helps someone, sometime.
P.S. I found the WayBack archive difficult to negotiate at times but just be patient and creative with your mouse-hovers and clicks and you should get the hang of it. It seems not a entirely complete archive but my experiments seemed to indicate that if you want a download then chances are you can get one -- be patient and creative.
Greetings!
ReplyDeleteAs a long-standing user of Treepad Biz I'm ever grateful for Henk's creation and deeply saddened by the news of his passing. My present situation, arisen since learning of it, leaves me lamenting it all the more in that I cannot seek his help resolving it. Accordingly I'm here with a plea to anybody who might have enough knowledge about the software's underlying program and its handling of TPD files' user-entered content (i.e., articles) to be able to do so in his stead, or who's been in a like situation to mine and successfully figured out a workaround solution for it.
My situation arose a few days ago as the result of a power outage that occurred just as Biz was autosaving an open TPD file. On eventually re-starting Biz the file would not reload, returning an access violation error instead, having presumably been corrupted - and, to my horror, I then discovered that my setup for automatically backing it up had, given the date of its most recent backup, ceased working more than 2 years age - since when, I'd been adding original material to the working file almost by the day.
My first course, of tweaking Windows system-settings options to exclude BIZ from its memory-address monitoring process proved in vain, doing nothing to stop the access-violation error and its preventing the file's loading. And since Biz's provided facility for repairing/optimizing a database is only available in respect of a loaded file, that remedy is obviously precluded in my own case. I also installed Treepad X Enterprise on the offchance that it would load the file, but to no avail. As I learned thereafter, Enterprise databases employ a modular, multi-file architecture that bears no resemblance to how TPD files are constructed, so the two are totally incompatible.
Proceeding from there in hope of retrieving my content from the file by opening it in Notepad++ it was immediately clear that it contained almost no human-readable material of any kind, only ANSI encoded stuff, which is similarly the case for all uncorrupted TPD and HJT files. Subsequently, by experimenting with adding text to another TPD's articles, I established that Biz doesn't in fact store article-content in TPD files, or possibly only represents its characters in the form of totally unreadable null-byte references - null-byte strings of various lengths are distributed throughout the ANSI encoded substance. So that approach seems a dead-end one. Likewise the possibility of detecting any points in the ANSI code that would trigger an access-violation error is way beyond my non-programmer's competence. I also tried using data-recovery/retrieval software (Ease-US and FoneLab), but these merely recover the file per se, not the data within it. In addition a lengthy manual search through my Windows temp. folder for a file of autosaved material left behind by Biz at the moment of the outage yielded nothing identifiable as such.
That sums up my situation's state of play so far, and I can't think of any further ploys for recovering my articles. If anyone reading can suggest to me any you've found successful or reckon to be worthwhile my pursuing in quest of a solution, or point me to someone elsewhere who might be able to help, I'd be grateful beyend measure to you!
Meanwhile, it's a real pleasure to have found my way to your page, Vinny, and likewise to read everyone's posts. My very best to you all.
Switched to MyInfo 7 this week. Didn't maintain the internal links though - just the external ones. But, it converted the .hjt and .tpz files Treepad saved for me. So -- I am happy once again. Sorry to hear that the dev died. Treepad was a great package. A labor of love, obviously.
ReplyDeleteI'm a technical writer. Many years ago, I tried one of the early versions of TreePad, and was so impressed I contacted its author, Henk Hagedoorn, and offered him some suggestions for his English documentation (which, naturally, he provided as a TreePad file). He turned out to be a very friendly fellow, and we corresponded for quite a while. When my wife and I had a chance to visit the Netherlands, Henk met us at our hotel and took us all around town. He was a great guy. I'm glad you appreciated his efforts.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone knows the date of Henk's passing, I'd much appreciate having it. I haven't been able to locate his obituary, for the past year.
ReplyDeleteI assume he was either in the Netherlands or the U.K. when he passed away.
Dear Radish,
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving us a way to download Treepad Business Version 8.2.2. Today, I have searched for it so much and to my happiness got into this forum and even more happy to see your Comment with details to download it. I much appreciate you for sharing it. Thanks again...Cheers!