Forgive me if everyone has already visited the HELP tab @ grants.gov, but just in case I thought this would be noteworthy and useful when pointing others in the right direction. This should help ease the pain for others.

Truthfully, it could be a hassle and I'd highly suggest having a TECH GUY, like me, on hand 24/7/365!

ADOBE READER COMPATIBLE TESTER

This link will test your adobe reader to see if it is compatible with grants.gov. If you receive an error, then you need to do some technical stuff on you MAC or PC.

http://grants.gov/applicants/AdobeVersioningTestOnly.jsp

DOWNLOADABLE SOFTWARE needed to successfully manuever through grants.gov can be found on this page.

http://grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp#pdf_conversion_programs

Trouble Shooting Tips can be found here:

http://grants.gov/help/trouble_tips.jsp

SET ADOBE READER AS A DEFAULT

Set your computer's default to use the correct version of Adobe Reader for opening all files with a PDF extension.

Please note: This option will cause your computer to always use Adobe Reader to open files having a PDF filename extension. Therefore, each user will need to stay aware of these settings and know when they would like to open a document using something like Adobe Pro etc.

How to do this will vary with each user's installation of the Operating System. See link below.

http://grants.gov/help/trouble_tips.jsp#14

Cheers,
Homer Scott Cavazos, MBA
xxxxxx@gmail.com
210-875-3227
xIRB/xIACUC/xBCRSC ADMIN
SharePoint 2007 Guru!

________________________________

From: Research Administration List on behalf of Andrea Rusin
Sent: Thu 4/9/2009 11:05 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] Grants.gov problems, was Adobe Acrobat 9 Runtime error Solved (at least for now)

I presume he means "this essay".  That's what I would mean, anyway.  I would love to be able to refer people to it and second the idea of a poster session.

Andrea

>>> Bob Beattie <xxxxxx@UMICH.EDU> 4/9/2009 10:39 AM >>>
What "this" do you mean?
Bob
------------------------------

On Apr 9, 2009, at 11:31 AM, Mark Ace wrote:

Bob, Do you have this on your web site or anywhere with a URL?

Robert R Beattie 1 wrote:
>
> Steve discovered the "secret" of Grants.gov submission problems.
> Most errors are just random. Try one time, and fail. Try another
> time and succeed. Call the help  desk and get told a myth. Monday
> we got the Myth that you had to use just one version of Adobe for
> downloading, filling in and submitting. Today one of our staff got
> the Myth that you can use only Internet Explorer. Earlier on the
> listserv I read the Myth that you cannot use Adobe 9 for some
> applications. I am afraid that OMB and agencies think the problems
> with Grants.gov are just server related -- add more servers -- The
> Big Burst and problems will be solved. Instead, the biggest problem
> is in the programming. There are too many false errors. Too many
> cryptic error messages that lead us to call and jam up the help
> desk, while they take our names and phone numbers and DUNS numbers
> and then give us a myth. We often think the help we get works
> because we close all of our programs and restart our browsers and
> download a new version of Adobe, or re-do the application and
> resubmit and it goes in. It would have probably gone in anyway,
> even with out all that extra work. It's mostly just random. We are
> submitting the same application multiple times thus clogging the
> band width and making it _seem_ as though there needs to be more,
> new servers. We did not have this problem with PureEdge (but lots
> of others with the forms themselves). Thus the new problems came
> with Adobe, and it must be, sad to say, with the company that
> installed the Adobe based system. This concept is reinforced in our
> minds when we consider that the Adobe system was supposed to be
> live in April of 2006, but did not come up until November, 2008.
> Almost none of the 20 some forms management issues that have been
> brought up are yet addressed. For example, we still cannot print
> the whole application, and worse, now, only one budget year gets
> printed. Anyway, being in "Help Desk Hold Land" so long this week
> has given me too much time to think about all of this. I keep
> thinking that if OMB wants to fix things, instead of going back in
> time to the bad old days of "every agency goes it own way" why
> don't they ever ask us users what we want. I have heard that the
> current Administration considers Grants.gov to be a Bush
> initiative, and thus needs to be changed. They are so shortsighted
> that they do not realize it is an initiative of the Grants
> Submitting Community. We have been seeking this since the Clinton
> administration, if not earlier -- remember the Federal Commons that
> we all wanted? Anyway, please do not get down on the idea of One
> Form, One Portal, and One System. Do we want to go back to paper
> submissions, or even emailing them to agencies. Do we want
> Education's eGrants, the NIJ system, INSPIRES, FedConnet or its
> evil twin IIPS, or even FastLane unless it lets us keep our data.
> It is true that we are going through a bad time with the current
> version of programming with Grants.gov. I hope we can just throw
> out the bath water, and get a fresh tub. Bob Robert Beattie
> University of Michigan 734 936-1283 By the way, if any of you have
> heard any Myths from the help desk, please pass them along to me,
> directly, xxxxxx@umich.edu I was thinking of doing a poster
> session at the FDP of these. On Wed, 8 Apr 2009 15:14:42 -0700,
> "Hunter, Steve :LPH SUP-LRS" <xxxxxx@LHS.ORG> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you to everyone who responded to my plea for help. Acrobat
>> Pro 9 still has some compatibility issues apparently. However, I
>> took the same completed formset to my laptop, and using Reader 9.0
>> -- that's the Reader 9.0 not Acrobat Pro 9.0 -- had NO problem
>> submitting and getting confirmed. This listserv is great! It's
>> wonderful to be able to tap such a source
> of
>>
>> expertise! I had lots of prompt responses to my post -- even after
>> 5pm Eastern. Regards, Steve
>> =====================================================================
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-- Mark Ace VP Business Development 503-297-2108 ext. 240 Cayuse,
Inc. http://www.cayuse.com <http://www.cayuse.com/>  http://www.subawards.com <http://www.subawards.com/>
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