ExamWritePad

[DrBeaker]

2 minutes ago, Space_Munkey said:

 

We're running one of the latest builds 25.4.2?

 

We had an exam this morning, frustratingly we don't look after the exams laptops and they're kept locked away in the exams office and the officer was off over the holidays... meaning they hadn't been turned on since the update was deployed out or in the lead up to the exams..

 

Queue all the devices (thankfully only 6), suddenly pulling down the update mid-exam, breaking saving, PDFs and printing 😂. Some chaos ensued, but we got it sorted... the REALLY interesting this was that prior to the upgrade, the version 24.xxx still froze for a minute or two inititally, but soon loaded. 25.4.2 however literally took about 10 minutes of the exam to sort itself out...

...

 

Don't be too hard on yourself. e.g. Do they change the batteries in the calculators during the holidays?

 

[robintech]

Is there a guide on upgrading we have the config file stored on a network share and a custom logo,

 

will running the MSI upgrade or overwrite it and/or should we enable updates in the config?

 

"Remember to back up your ExamWritePadSettings.json file before applying any upgrade/install, then afterwards run the settings file in the ConFigEditorGUI app to allow it to add in any new config options."

 

[Space_Munkey]

Hey Rob,

 

It will only upgrade the local version of the file installed on the device.

 

.jsons stored on a network share are separate and ususally only referenced via the launching shortcut.

 

That does raise a very interesting point though, in that I haven't done done this once in many upgrades!

[Bird97]

We send out our config file and logo via GPO and when upgrading the settings are lost after the initial install then on the next reboot the config file and the logo are copied back over to the local location and then it works as we want it 

[robintech]

1 hour ago, Space_Munkey said:

Hey Rob,

 

It will only upgrade the local version of the file installed on the device.

 

.jsons stored on a network share are separate and ususally only referenced via the launching shortcut.

 

That does raise a very interesting point though, in that I haven't done done this once in many upgrades!

Forgot to say we copy the config file over through GPO, never done an upgrade just clean installs so far

 

1 hour ago, Bird97 said:

We send out our config file and logo via GPO and when upgrading the settings are lost after the initial install then on the next reboot the config file and the logo are copied back over to the local location and then it works as we want it 

Do you have to open the config file once with the new software and then save it and deploy it again.

[Space_Munkey]

OMG! I just saw a student load EWP in seconds since I opened all the .jsons with the config editor!

 

I'll have to test some more, but that's honestly the quickest I've ever seen it load in the last year!

[MisterTechMan]

It's that time of year again when we have one learner who needs EWP for an exam. 

 

The links previously provided for the last free version longer seem to be working... does anyone have the install files they are willing to share? 🙏

[STK91]

17 minutes ago, MisterTechMan said:

It's that time of year again when we have one learner who needs EWP for an exam. 

 

The links previously provided for the last free version longer seem to be working... does anyone have the install files they are willing to share? 🙏

I wish we only had one! We have about 30 with laptops moving between rooms spread out across the site

[robintech]

anyone have issue of page number only appearing on the first page

"Page 1/4 " in the footer first page 

nothing on the rest of them

Using latest afaik 26.1.1

 

If I start a new exam only the first page has the pagination the rest seem to be shifted over to the right maybe and invisible, if i exit and then open the same saved file all the pages have numbers, this is without making any changes to the document

Edited May 11 by robintech

[Driftingashore]

On 11/05/2026 at 13:37, robintech said:

anyone have issue of page number only appearing on the first page

"Page 1/4 " in the footer first page 

nothing on the rest of them

Using latest afaik 26.1.1

 

If I start a new exam only the first page has the pagination the rest seem to be shifted over to the right maybe and invisible, if i exit and then open the same saved file all the pages have numbers, this is without making any changes to the document

Yes, and we've only just noticed this is happening.. doh. If we rotate the page to landscape and rotate it back the numbers return. Also returns if I cange the page size away from A4, and then back to A4, but rotating the page is faster. Did you get anywhere with resolving this?

Edited May 19 by Driftingashore

[robintech]

@DriftingashoreSetting SignatureAppearance to 0 will add page numbers back but you lose the Signature

[Driftingashore]

@robintechWas that a suggested resolution from support or just an answer you've found? It's probably better than having the students rotate the page, so I suppose I'll get ready to deploy a new config file, but I'd much prefer them actually fix it.. 

 

Getting pretty disillusioned with EWP the moment after trying to recover a file the other day, and the config editor says that PreviousVersionsRecoveryMinutesDisplay is between 1 and 1440 (1 minute and 24 hours), but the GUI doesn't let me select anything over 200, and the new config files are encrypted so you can't change the value manually. Just about to report that too.. 

[robintech]

@Driftingashore that was from their support

[NorthernNoel]

I've been playing with ExamPad+ as an alternative. Seems to do what I want and it's free: https://exampadplus.co.uk/

Edit: Just seen there's a separate thread for it here: 

 

[midd]

 

On 11/05/2026 at 13:37, robintech said:

anyone have issue of page number only appearing on the first page

"Page 1/4 " in the footer first page 

nothing on the rest of them

Using latest afaik 26.1.1

 

If I start a new exam only the first page has the pagination the rest seem to be shifted over to the right maybe and invisible, if i exit and then open the same saved file all the pages have numbers, this is without making any changes to the document

@Driftingashore @robintech there is a hotfix available for this issue if you prefer, support can send the link if you report with them

[Driftingashore]

57 minutes ago, robintech said:

@Driftingashore that was from their support

@robintech FYI their support have just sent me a link to download a hotfix (version number: 26.1.2). I'll DM you the link, but you could chase their support if I don't look very trustworthy. Obviously I take no responsibility for the hotfix!

Edited May 19 by Driftingashore