Goalscape provides a total of 5 levels of subgoals below the main goal since we believe that this should be adequate for analyzing even the most complex problems, programmes and projects. If you end up with a goalscape that has too many levels it may be a sign that you need to be more rigorous and discriminating in your analysis. Goalscapes that are too big may also become cumbersome to use and difficult to read.
There is a workaround though! Save your main goalscape then open a new one and start building it with one of your lower level subgoals as the main goal. This will effectively give you 5 more levels below that one. Save this subsidiary goalscape with a different name, then open your main goalscape. Select the relevant subgoal and attach your subsidiary goalscape to it by using right-click, Attach files. Then when you want to look at the detail underneath that subgoal you can simply open the attached goalscape by clicking on its filename in the Attached files window.
I right-clicked on a subgoal, then selected Delete subgoal. It deleted the one I had previously been working on! I was able to recover my work using Undo but I am confused. Why doesn't right-click select the goal I am pointing at?
That is due to a small idiosyncracy in the way Flash works with the mouse buttons. We are intending to implement a context-sensitive right-click in the next version but for the time being you will have to select subgoals using left-click, then right-click to access the relevant functionality (or use the relevant icons to add or delete subgoals).
I bought Goalscape to manage my business goals and to help with presentations to my team. I would like to copy it onto my laptop so I can access my goalscapes from home but when I install it I keep getting the message that my trial period has expired. What can I do?
The single-user license is just that: it covers only a single installation on one piece of hardware (like most other desktop applications). If you want to install Goalscape on multiple machines please buy another license. If however you have changed or upgraded your hardware, please notify us and we will issue you a new license key.
Why doesn’t the Undo function work?
It does work… unless you try to Undo the FIRST action on a new goalscape. Sorry about that: we will of course fix this bug in the next release!
No, it doesn’t work! I just tried to Undo some of the text amendments I had made in the Notes field and Undo removed the whole subgoal I had just added.
Yes, sorry – I did not make myself clear: Undo only works on amendments to the goalscape itself (Add/Delete subgoal, change Importance, Move subgoal, amend Progress, Shift to center, etc). Undo does not apply to text amendments in Notes, Next Actions or names of subgoals; nor does it apply to the Attach files functions (Attach file, Open Attached file, Remove Attached file).
Goalscape is great for managing my tennis training (my goal is to make the quarter finals of my club tournament this summer). My wife has also been using it to plan our daughter’s wedding and finds it really helpful and easy to use. Can I combine the two goalscapes into a “Home” goalscape?
Right now you cannot, unfortunately. You will have to create a new Home goalscape and C&P your and your wife’s subgoals into it. In the next version there will be a facility to Export goals (or individual subgoals) and Import them as subgoals of a different goalscape.
In the meantime there is a workaround: start a “Life” goalscape and create a “Sport and Hobbies” Level 1 subgoal for your tennis goals. Then simply attach your Tennis goalscape to that subgoal. You can also create a “Family” subgoal, with the wedding and any other activities (like holidays) as Level 2 subgoals of that and attach the relevant goalscapes. Furthermore you can easily incorporate your work activities as another Level 1 subgoal – then you will easily be able to set the relative importances of all your life areas!
The coach of my football team used Goalscape to show us his vision for the club and specific training plans for the team and for all the players. I use Goalscape at work so I asked him to send me a copy by email. He had attached some video clips to various subgoals but when I received the copy I could not run the videos. Where are they?
Files attached to goalscapes are copied to a new folder on the hard drive under “My Documents” called: Goalscape_Files\Goalscape_Attachments\[goalscape filename]\[subgoal #]
If you (or your coach) want to send goalscape files with their attachments you need to copy and send the relevant attachments folder as well so that the recipient can copy it into the right place in THEIR environment in order to open the attachments. You may need to zip up the folder before attaching it to an email. We know that this is rather a complicated process right now and we will make the Attachments function much slicker in the next release.
My “Life” goalscape is quite big and I have many, many subgoals under my “Work” subgoal. The ones at the lower levels show up as thin slices and their names have disappeared. How can I read them and make sure they appear when I use Goalscape to talk about work goals with my boss?
You can of course make the text smaller by using F8 – although of course there will come a point when the font itself becomes too small to read. We recommend that you use the “Shift to center” facility to present (say) ONLY your “Work” area when discussing these goals with your boss: all the subgoals will then be displayed as larger slices and their names will be easier to read. Rest assured that we are working hard to address this issue by making better use of the available subgoal area on the goalscape.
When I click File, New, why does the new goalscape appear with goalnames from the previous goalscape?
Yes, that happens very occasionally when the previous goalscape has the default shape and configuration (ie a main goal and three Level 1 subgoals of equal importance). This text persistence is due to a small bug in the Flash interface. You can of course change any affected goal names in the relevant Form area of the new goalscape. We apologise for any confusion or inconvenience caused.
I just changed the name of one of my subgoals and added some text in the Notes field, then I opened another goalscape. When I opened the first one again it had not kept my changes. How can I get them back?
If you did not save your work before you closed that goalscape or opened another one, your text changes will not have been preserved. Sorry about that. Future versions will have an Autosave function; until then you will have to remember to save frequently while working on a goalscape - and always save when closing it.
If you wish to work on more than one goalscape simultaneously you can start multiple instances of Goalscape, open a goalscape in each instance and switch between them.
I want to add four subgoals to my Work subgoal. Why can't I do this by clicking the Add subgoal icon four times? Instead I have to move the mouse off the icon and back onto it each time, or repeatedly use the right-click function.
This is due to the way Flash interprets a 'change': it only recognises new instructions when accompanied by a mouse movement. Apologies for any inconvenience: we will implement the necessary "multi-clicking" function in the next full release.
I just pasted some text into the Notes field. When I moved to another subgoal then went back to or the original one my text had disappeared. What's going on?
The Flash interface “prefers” the use of Ctrl C, Ctrl V to copy and paste text (rather than the corresponding right-click functions). If you are concerned about losing information you have entered, simply press Return after entering or pasting text and Save the goalscape immediately in order to “cement” it in place.
I built a goalscape and Saved it. When I opened it again I changed the names of a couple of subgoals then Saved it again and closed it. When I opened it again all that appeared was a blank form on the right and NO GOALSCAPE CHART - the left side of the screen was completely blank. How do I recover my goalscape?
If you Save a goalscape (using the same filename and location) without substantial changes it may overwrite your file with a "blank" so if you do not have an earlier version Saved under a different name you will not be able to recover it. Substantial changes include adding or moving subgoals, re-sizing them or entering Progress. You can also perform a "Shift to center" and that will ensure the goalscape Saves properly.