Making Apps Portable

First, it should be made clear that App Briefcase can not make every app portable! There are many reasons that you may not be able to run a particular app from a USB drive on different computers even with the help of App Briefcase. Examples of apps that may only run on the computer they were originally installed on are:

•	Apps that need to install their own drivers, such as PDF writer apps (e.g., PrimoPDF).

•	Apps that extend the Windows operating system in some way (e.g., WindowBlinds).

•	Apps that use piracy protection schemes that lock the app to the computer it is installed on.

•	Apps that embed pieces of themselves in multiple areas of the Windows drive (e.g., Microsoft Office).

In general, App Briefcase tends to work the best for free apps since they are unencumbered by piracy protection schemes and they usually do not have complex dependencies to the computer they are installed on.

Even in cases where an app can not successfully be made portable, App Briefcase can still be used to keep the app's program settings synchronized between multiple computers. In this case, install the desired app on all computers on which you wish to use it. Then select the app in the list of non-portable apps in App Briefcase's main window. App Briefcase can now be used to keep the program settings for that app synchronized between your computers thus gaining some of the benefits of a portable app.

Follow these steps when installing new apps whose you wish to manage using App Briefcase:

1.	Start App Briefcase if it is not already running.

2.	Install new apps to your USB drive using the app's provided installer, as you normally would. Be sure to install the app to the drive letter assigned to the USB drive by App Briefcase, rather than the drive letter assigned by Windows!

3.	Start the app and then exit it. This will ensure the app's registry entries and user app data folders are established so App Briefcase can find them.

4.	Click the Refresh button on App Briefcase's toolbar.

5.	Find the app in App Briefcase's non-portable app list and check its check box.

That's it. You can add the app to App Briefcase's tray menu for quick access. When you open and save files to/from the USB drive while using the app remember to always use the drive letter assigned by App Briefcase, not the one assigned by Windows.

In some cases, the same app will appear more than once in the app list but with a different spelling. There are the main reasons this can occur:

•	The app's vendor was not consistent about using exactly the same name for an app in the system registry as in the Windows user app data folders.

•	The app's name, as used in the registry and app data folders, may have changed slightly between different versions of the app.

•	Some vendors will append a version number to the app name thereby causing multiple entries to appear as program updates are applied.

Normally, it is fine to simply select all app names which look like the name you wish to select.

If you can not find the app name in App Briefcase's app list then try the following:

•	Look for the name in the column of vendor names since the app name can show up as the vendor name in rare cases. Note that you can click the Vendor column header to sort the vendor names.

•	Look for the vendor name in the vendor column in case the app name appears under a name you are not expecting.

If you still can not find the the app in App Briefcase's non-portable app list then the app is probably already portable and therefore does not need to have its program settings managed by App Briefcase.