SimUText allows you to read your assigned modules, make notes in chapters and tutorials, and get feedback to Questions when you are not connected to the Internet.
This feature, called 'offline mode', is helpful if you want to work somewhere without a network connection or for some reason you are unable to reliably connect to the SimUText servers.
Offline mode works the same way for both Mac and PC platforms, and for both the standard and USB versions of the SimUText application.
The steps recommended below will help you take full advantage of Offline mode.
- Install the SimUText application.
- Make sure you have an active, high-speed Internet connection.
- Launch SimUText and log in with your registered email address and password.
- In your assigned course, click on each of the lab or chapter modules to download them to your computer.
The next time you log into SimUText without an Internet connection, you will see a message indicating that you are Offline (in the upper-right corner of the My Assignments window).
While you are in Offline mode:
- You can open chapters and answer Questions. If you return later to a page with Questions you already answered, the answers you previously chose will still be selected.
- You can add highlights and write notes in SimUText chapters. The next time you log in while online, your local copies of saved notes and highlights will be saved back to the server.
- If you are working online and have trouble with a 'Server not found' or similar error message when you save answers to Questions, do the following:
- Exit the program.
- Disable your Internet connection.
- Launch the program and log in. You are now in Offline mode. You can enable your Internet connection again and SimUText will remain in Offline mode until you restart the program.
Important!
- You must log in at least once and enter each chapter or lab at least once before working with that module offline. If you are offline and have not downloaded the lab or chapter, it will be listed as Unavailable in the My Assignments window.
- If you do not see the message "Your answers were successfully saved in the SimUText database" and the green checkmark icon when you answer a question, your answer is not actually in the database and your instructor cannot see it. If you are unsure which answers have been submitted, make sure you are online and open the Question Progress window to review the questions you have submitted for each assigned module.
- If you answered a question while you were offline, and just want to submit it again, you can do that without selecting the answer again. You may change your answer when you submit if you wish.
- If you install SimUText on a new computer (and you are not using the USB version), you will have to repeat the process of logging in and downloading your chapters before you can work offline with them on the new machine.
- If you work offline, and then reset your password via the Student Portal or by sending a support request, you must log in while online with the new password in order to submit answers to Questions. Any highlights or notes or questions you saved while offline before you reset your password will be lost. Keep a record of your password!