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Resolve Issues (FAQs)

BriefCatch Standalone Enterprise Onboarding Guide

Below are some known issues that admins or users may encounter, along with suggested steps to resolve them. If the issue persists, please contact our support team for further assistance.

Contents

BriefCatch S tab is missing from the Word ribbon

After BriefCatch Standalone is successfully installed, a BriefCatch S tab will appear within the Word ribbon:

briefcatch-standalone-load
If the BriefCatch S tab does not appear, or disappears after an update, it may indicate a corrupt add-in installation, missing prerequisites, or an Office-related issue. Follow the steps below to confirm installation and resolve common problems.

Please Note: You should always install BriefCatch Standalone as an administrator.

For Manual Installations or Updates

Always close all Office applications (Word, Outlook, Excel, etc.) before running the installer. Leaving them open can prevent the add-in from registering correctly.

For Mass Deployments (SCCM, Intune, or Similar Tools)

Closing Office apps is not always required during the install itself. However, the add-in will not appear until users restart Word (and in some cases, reboot their machines). To avoid confusion, we recommend scheduling deployments when Office apps are closed or prompting users to restart afterwards.

1. Check if BriefCatch Standalone is Installed

Check in Installed Programs (Windows)

Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features (or Settings > Apps > Installed Apps) and verify that BriefCatch Standalone is listed.
bcs-confirm-install
If it is missing, reinstall the add-in, ensuring that logging is enabled.

Check in Word’s COM Add-ins

In Word, go to File > Options > Add-ins. See if BriefCatch is listed under Active or Inactive Application Add-ins. 

If BriefCatch is listed under Inactive, at the bottom, select COM Add-ins from the “Manage” dropdown and click Go.bcs-com-addin-options

Ensure BriefCatch Standalone is listed and the checkbox is enabled.

If it is unchecked, select it and restart Word.

If it is missing, the installation may not have completed properly and you should attempt to reinstall the add-in, ensuring that logging is enabled.

2. Check the Installation Log

We recommend that you always enable logging for both install and uninstall scripts when deploying at scale. This provides traceability for troubleshooting across many endpoints. You can enable logging by adding the following to your installation script:

Enable Logging

/l*v "C:\path\log.log"

This will create a log file when installing (often in the same folder as the installer or in %temp%).

Review the log for errors related to prerequisites, permissions, or file write failures. You can also submit a ticket with us and our team will analyze your log file for any issues.

3. Confirm or Update .NET Framework

BriefCatch Standalone requires .NET Framework 4.8 or later.

To confirm, open Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off and verify the installed version.
bcs-check-net-framework
If missing or outdated, download and install the latest .NET Framework from Microsoft.

4. Confirm VSTO Runtime (Visual Studio Tools for Office)

The Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime must be installed for VSTO add-ins to run.

Check under Installed Programs for “Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office Runtime”.
bcs-vsto-tools-installed
If missing, download and install VSTO Tools for Office from Microsoft.

5. Uninstall and Reinstall BriefCatch

If BriefCatch Standalone is installed but does not appear in the Word ribbon, a clean uninstall and reinstall may be required.

Manual Reinstall (single machine):

  1. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features (or Settings > Apps > Installed Apps) and remove BriefCatch Standalone.
  2. Reboot the workstation before reinstalling.
  3. Ensure all Office applications are closed, then open the BriefCatch Standalone installer.


Mass Uninstall (enterprise deployment):

  1. Use the MSI uninstall command within your deployment tool (e.g., SCCM, Intune, PDQ). Example command:
    1. msiexec /x {ProductCodeGUID} /qn /l*v "C:\BriefCatch_Uninstall.log"
  2. Replace {ProductCodeGUID} with the actual product code for your version.
  3. Always enable verbose logging (/l*v) to capture uninstall details across endpoints.


Mass Reinstall Instructions

  1. Redeploy the latest BriefCatch Standalone installer using your preferred deployment tool, following the instructions from our Deployment & Installation section.
  2. Ensure the installer is executed with administrator privileges.
  3. For manual reinstalls, always close all Office applications before running the installer.
  4. For mass reinstalls, a restart of Word (and in some cases a reboot) may be required before the BriefCatch S tab appears.

Recommendation: Enable logging for both uninstall and reinstall actions. Log files provide critical information for troubleshooting issues related to permissions, file conflicts, or incomplete installs.

6. Perform an Office Repair

If performing an Office Repair, we recommend starting with Quick Repair, which is faster and does not require an internet connection. If the issue persists, perform an Online Repair to fully refresh Office components.

To repair Office, open Control Panel > Programs and Features.

Select Microsoft Office, or Microsoft 365 Apps, then click Modify. On the window that appears, choose Quick Repair.
bcs-office-repair
If the issue persists, repeat and select Online Repair (note this requires an internet connection and may take longer).

After repair, restart your computer. If BriefCatch still does not load, reinstall BriefCatch after the successful repair.


If the BriefCatch S tab still isn’t showing up after troubleshooting, please contact our support team for further assistance.


“You don’t have a valid license for this product.” or “Your trial is expired.” error message

This error message occurs if BriefCatch Standalone isn’t properly licensed.

First Time Installation

If this is the first time installing BriefCatch, make sure you attached the license key file to your deployment using the LICENSESOURCE parameter, as outlined in Deployment & Installation: Mass Deployment. If manually installing the software, reference our manual license installation instructions.

Updating License Keys

If this occurs after a renewal or when updating the user’s license key, please see User license key doesn’t refresh after updating below.


User license key doesn’t refresh after updating

If your users aren’t properly licensed after following the Renewals & License Activation instructions, you may need to grant full access to the directory where the license is stored. The location of the directory varies depending on which installer was used:

  • User installation: C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\bcms\
  • Machine installation: C:\ProgramData\bcms\


It may be necessary to add an extra step while deploying the software to account for permission issues, similar to the following example:

icacls.exe "C:\ProgramData\bcms" /grant "Authenticated Users":(OI)(CI)(F)

In rare instances, or if multiple installers were used, the license key may exist in both locations.

If that happens, it may pull the old license key information. If it does exist in both places, try removing the license key from the other installer. For example, if you're using the machine installer, remove the license key found in the user profile (C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\bcms\) then trying the installation again.

 

Disabling update notification for your users

In BriefCatch Standalone versions 3.0.0 and newer, a flag appears in the ribbon when there is a new version of Standalone available.
update-notice-ribbon
This can be disabled in two ways.

First, download the noAutoUpdate.txt file, along with the software and your license from the BriefCatch Portal. The file can use any extension, but is set to .txt from within our Portal.

1) While Deploying the Software

Use the DISABLEAUTOUPDATE parameter with the full path location to the noAutoUpdate file. For example:

Sample Installation Script

msiexec /i "BCMSSetupLM.msi" /qn LICENSESOURCE="C:\path\license.key" DISABLEAUTOUPDATE="C:\path\noAutoUpdate.txt"


2) If the Software is Already Installed

Add the noAutoUpdate.txt file to the bcms directory. The location of the directory depends on the installer used:

  • User Installation: C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\bcms\
  • Machine Installation: C:\ProgramData\bcms\

If the noAutoUpdate file exists in the \bcms\ directory, the update message will never be shown.

 

Adding BriefCatch as a Trusted Publisher

After installing BriefCatch Standalone, the below message may display when opening Word for the first time.
bcs-verified-publisher-confirm2
You can instruct your users to click Install to complete the installation. This will add BriefCatch to the list of trusted publishers on the user's machine.

You can also manually add BriefCatch to the list of trusted publishers via the Trust Center so this message will not show for your users. This can also be done using a group policy update. See the below articles for more details:


We provide our code signing certificate in the BriefCatch Portal. Click the BriefCatch Standalone tab, then download the BriefCatch.cer file.

Following the above instructions, you can import the BriefCatch.cer file into the Trusted Publishers store for your users.

 

Preventing the “Welcome to BriefCatch” panel from auto-opening

The default behavior when opening Word for the first time after a successful installation is to show a welcome display as a side panel. This explains the different Catch functions. Currently, we don't have a way to disable the side panel when installing the software. However, it can be hidden after installation.

After BriefCatch is installed a file called bcms.settings is created. This file can be found at:

  • User Installation: C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\bcms\bcms.settings
  • Machine Installation: C:\ProgramData\bcms\bcms.settings


If you open this file with a text editor, you will see this option:

<AlreadyLaunched>false</AlreadyLaunched>


If you change this to:

<AlreadyLaunched>true</AlreadyLaunched>


Then the welcome side panel will not display when Word is opened.

After the software has been deployed, you can replace the bcms.settings file for your users with the AlreadyLaunched option set to true. This can be done with a group policy update.

 

 

Repositioning or customizing the BriefCatch S ribbon tab

The BriefCatch S tab and buttons in the Word ribbon can be moved into another tab using the built-in Office feature. BriefCatch Standalone uses Ribbon Designer to create ribbon commands.

The ribbon changes can be made at the user level, or for all users. Please review Customize the ribbon in Office from Microsoft for instructions on how to manage the Word ribbon.

 

 

Which installer was used to install BriefCatch Standalone?

The easiest way to confirm is looking at the list of installed programs. This will declare which installer was used, as shown below:

If you used BriefCatchInstaller.exe

bcs-installed-exe
The app will be listed as BriefCatch Standalone 3.0.74.0 (with your version number.)


If you used BCMSSetup.msibcs-installed-msi
The app will be listed as BriefCatch Standalone for Microsoft Office


If you used BCMSSetupLM.msi

bcs-installed-msi-lm

The app will be listed as BriefCatch Standalone for Microsoft Office (Per Machine)

 

 

 

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