License, PCs and the octoolo.com account

How Octoolo Cloud (the subscription) is turned on and kept on in the Octoolo app, and the account on octoolo.com. Prices, the trial, cancelling and refunds are in Plans and billing. The numbers (3 PCs, 7 days, offline limits) are in Prices and limits.

Messages that come from octoolo.com, and connection errors, appear in English even when Octoolo is set to Spanish, Portuguese or German. The app's own labels are translated; the English ones are used here.

#How Octoolo Cloud turns on in the app

Octoolo Cloud opens every app on up to 3 PCs. A PC gets it in one of two ways:

1. From inside the app: Start your free week (or Subscribe) opens the checkout in the browser; after paying, the app turns on by itself a few seconds later. No key to type.
2. With the license key: every subscriber gets one key (OCTO-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) by email and in their octoolo.com account. Typing it in Octoolo turns that PC on.

Signing in on octoolo.com does not turn on the app: the app has no email or Google sign-in. Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity never need any of this.

#Free apps and locked apps on the home screen

Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity are free and always open. While Octoolo Cloud is off on the PC, their tiles on the home screen carry a Free label, and every other app shows the paywall (see "The paywall: the page a locked app shows") instead of opening. The list of free apps is in Prices and limits.

#The paywall: the page a locked app shows

When an app needs Octoolo Cloud and it is off on the PC, Octoolo shows this page instead of the app.

When Octoolo Cloud is not on this PC (never turned on here, or the PC was removed from its account):

• Title: "<App> comes with Octoolo Cloud" (for example "PDF Editor comes with Octoolo Cloud").
• "Try every app free for 7 days. Then $4.99 a month, $13.47 every 3 months or $47.90 a year. Cancel before day 8 and you pay nothing."
• Start your free week: opens the checkout in the browser (see "Starting the free week from the app").
• I have a license key: shows the key form (see "Entering a license key").
• "Checkout and billing by Paddle. Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity stay free."

After the subscription ended (or Octoolo could not check it for too long):

• Title: "Your Octoolo Cloud has ended".
• "Subscribe again to open <App> and every other app. Your files are where you left them."
• The last problem, if any (for example "Could not reach octoolo.com. Check the internet connection and try again.").
• Subscribe and I have a license key.
• "Signed in as <email>." and Your account, which opens the octoolo.com account signed in.

All apps at the top left goes back to the home screen.

#The plan box in the home screen's sidebar

At the bottom of the home screen's sidebar, under Octoolo Cloud, one line tells the state of the subscription on this PC:

Dates are short ("17 Oct"); the year is added when it is not this year.

#Your plan in Settings

Settings (the gear at the bottom of the home screen's sidebar, or Ctrl+,) starts with Your plan, which shows Octoolo Cloud on this PC and what can be done with it.

• A status line, the same as the sidebar's (see "The plan box in the home screen's sidebar").
• Start your free week (no subscription on this PC) or Subscribe (ended); otherwise Check now, which asks octoolo.com about the subscription at once.
• Rows: Account (the account's email), Plan (Monthly, Every 3 months or Yearly), Free week ("ends ..., then the first payment", or "ends ..., then the subscription stops" after cancelling), Ends or Renews with the date, and License key with its last four characters ("…K7QX").
• With a failed payment: "Your last payment did not go through. Octoolo keeps working while Paddle tries again; update your card so it does not stop."
• When the PC is on an account (Octoolo Cloud on, or ended): Manage billing (opens the octoolo.com account signed in, on Subscription), Your account (opens the account signed in), Remove this PC.
• When the PC was never turned on (or was removed): Enter a license key and Sign in on octoolo.com (opens the account page in the browser; it does not turn on the app).
• At the bottom: "Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity are free. Every other app comes with Octoolo Cloud: 7 days free, then $4.99 a month, $13.47 every 3 months or $47.90 a year. Payments and invoices are handled by Paddle, our reseller."

#Starting the free week from the app

1. Choose Start your free week on a locked app, in the home screen's sidebar, or in Settings, Your plan (after an ended subscription it says Subscribe).
2. The default browser opens octoolo.com's checkout (Paddle's form in the app's language), with the Yearly plan picked. Pick a plan, fill in Paddle's form (email and payment method) and finish. Nothing is charged for the 7 days.
3. Octoolo shows "Finish in your browser" and "As soon as your free week starts, <App> opens here by itself. Your license key comes by email too." The sidebar shows "Waiting for your browser…".
4. A few seconds after Paddle confirms the order, Octoolo turns on by itself and the app opens. The license key email arrives too; this PC does not need it.

The email typed in Paddle's checkout becomes the octoolo.com account's email. The checkout opened from the app turns on only the PC it was started from; the other PCs use the license key.

#While Octoolo waits for the checkout

While a checkout started from the app is open, Octoolo asks octoolo.com every few seconds whether it went through, for up to one hour, even if Octoolo is closed and opened again in that hour. The waiting box has three buttons:

• Open the page again: opens the same checkout in the browser again (for example after closing the tab).
• Check now: asks octoolo.com at once. Problems show here, for example "Your Octoolo Cloud is already on 3 PCs. Remove one in your account at octoolo.com/account, then try again."
• Stop waiting: stops waiting. A purchase finished later still counts; turn the PC on with the license key from the email.

After an hour Octoolo stops waiting by itself. If the order went through after that, or the app was not waiting, turn Octoolo on with the license key (see "Entering a license key").

Two rarer messages while waiting: "This checkout link has expired. Turn Octoolo on with the license key from your email." (the checkout is more than 2 days old) and "This checkout already turned Octoolo on on another PC. Use your license key here." (a checkout turns on only one PC). Both mean: use the license key.

#The license key

• Every Octoolo Cloud customer has one license key, made when their first subscription (or free week) starts. It looks like OCTO-7K2QM-...: "OCTO" and four groups of five letters and digits. It never contains the letters I, L, O or U, so an O typed by mistake is read as a zero.
• It is emailed in "Welcome to Octoolo Cloud" (subject "Your Octoolo license key"), and always shown in the octoolo.com account under License and PCs, with Copy and Email it to me.
• It turns on Octoolo Cloud on up to 3 PCs at a time, for as long as the subscription runs.
• It stays the same when the subscription is renewed, cancelled and taken again, or when the account's email changes.
• Keep it private: the terms say anyone who has it can use the subscription.
• In Octoolo, Settings, Your plan shows its last four characters next to License key; the account's overview shows its last five.

#Entering a license key in Octoolo

1. Open the key form: I have a license key on any locked app, or Settings, Your plan, Enter a license key.
2. Type or paste the key under Your license key (shown as OCTO-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). The form says "It is in the email we sent when you subscribed, and in your account on octoolo.com."
3. Choose Turn on Octoolo Cloud. It says Checking… while it asks octoolo.com.

The key can be typed in lower case, with or without dashes, with spaces, and with the letter O for zero: it is read the same. The PC needs the internet to turn on. When it works, the paywall disappears and Your plan shows the account and plan. Cancel closes the form.

Enter a license key shows in Settings only when the PC has no Octoolo Cloud yet; on a PC whose subscription ended, use I have a license key on a locked app.

#License key messages

#How many PCs: the 3-PC limit

One Octoolo Cloud subscription works on up to 3 PCs at a time (number in Prices and limits).

• Each PC that turns on (with the key or a checkout from the app) takes one place. The same PC turned on again keeps its place.
• A fourth PC is refused with "Your Octoolo Cloud is already on 3 PCs. Remove one in your account at octoolo.com/account, then try again."
• PCs never leave the list by themselves, however long they are unused or offline, and also not when Octoolo is uninstalled. Remove the ones no longer used.
• More than 3 PCs at once is not possible, and extra places cannot be bought.
• The account's License and PCs shows each PC: its Windows name ("A Windows PC" when unknown), Windows version, Octoolo version and when it was last seen.

#Removing a PC in Octoolo

On the PC itself: Settings, Your plan, Remove this PC. Octoolo asks "Take this PC off your account? The apps that need Octoolo Cloud close here, and another PC can use its place. You can turn it on again with your license key." Choose Remove this PC (it says Removing…) or Keep it.

The PC needs the internet for this. Offline it says "Could not reach octoolo.com. Check the internet connection and try again. This PC stays on your account until octoolo.com hears about it." and stays on. Removing a PC does not cancel the subscription.

#Removing a PC on octoolo.com

From any browser, for a PC that is lost, broken, sold or reinstalled:

1. Sign in at https://octoolo.com/account/ and open License and PCs.
2. Under Your PCs ("2 of 3"), choose Remove next to the PC. The browser asks "Remove <PC name>? The apps that need Octoolo Cloud close there until it is turned on again."
3. "PC removed" confirms it. The place is free at once for another PC.

The removed PC learns about it at its next check with octoolo.com (a little after Octoolo starts, and every few hours): its paid apps close, and Settings, Your plan says "This PC was removed from your Octoolo account. Turn it on again with your license key." A removed PC that stays offline keeps its apps open until its offline pass runs out (see "Using Octoolo offline"). Message if the PC is already gone: "That PC is not on your account."

#Moving to a new PC, reinstalling or resetting Windows

• A new PC: install Octoolo from https://octoolo.com/download/Octoolo-Setup.exe, then Settings, Your plan, Enter a license key (or I have a license key on a locked app). If 3 PCs are already on the account, remove the old one first: in Octoolo on the old PC, or in the account's License and PCs.
• Reinstalling on the same PC: when Octoolo's data is kept, Octoolo Cloud stays on with no key needed. When the data was removed (the uninstaller's option to remove Octoolo's data, or a reset of Windows), Octoolo starts as a new copy: enter the key again. The old entry for that PC stays in the account's list and still counts, so remove it there (it has the same PC name and an older "last seen").

#Using Octoolo offline

Every time Octoolo checks the subscription with octoolo.com, it gets a signed pass that keeps the paid apps open without the internet until a set time:

• 3 days past the date the subscription is paid up to (the next renewal, or the end of the free week), but never more than 40 days after that check. A monthly plan renewing on the 10th stays open offline until the 13th; a yearly plan up to 40 days after the last check.
• A cancelled subscription: until its end date, with no extra days.
• Numbers: Prices and limits.

Online, Octoolo renews the pass by itself: about 20 seconds after it starts and then every 6 hours, so people who go online now and then never notice it. When the pass runs out offline, the paid apps close with "Your Octoolo Cloud has ended" until the PC is online and Octoolo checks again. Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity never need the check.

#What Octoolo sends when it checks the subscription

When Octoolo Cloud is turned on and at each check, Octoolo sends octoolo.com: this copy's random id, the PC's Windows name (so the account can tell the PCs apart), the versions of Octoolo and Windows, the secret this PC was given when it was turned on, and the license key the first time. octoolo.com answers with the subscription's state and the account's email, signed so Octoolo can trust it offline. Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity never ask. Files and their names are never sent.

#The octoolo.com account

The account at https://octoolo.com/account/ is where a customer manages Octoolo Cloud: the plan and payments, the license key, the PCs and their profile.

• It is made automatically when someone buys (with the email given in Paddle's checkout), or when someone signs in with an email or Google account octoolo.com does not know yet.
• There is no password. Sign-in is by an emailed code or link, or with Google.
• The free apps need no account.
• The page is in English and needs JavaScript ("Your account needs JavaScript. Turn it on for octoolo.com, or write to hello@octoolo.com.").
• Signing in keeps the browser signed in for 30 days, or until Sign out.

#Signing in to the account with an email code or link

1. Open https://octoolo.com/account/ ("Sign in or create your account").
2. Type the email under Email and choose Continue with email.
3. An email arrives with the subject "123456 is your Octoolo code": a button (Sign in to Octoolo, or Make my account for a new address) and a six-digit code. Both work for 15 minutes, once.
4. Click the button, or type the code under Six-digit code (it signs in by itself once the six digits are in, or choose Sign in).

"Nothing there? Look in spam, or send it again": send it again works after 30 seconds. Use another email goes back. A new code replaces the previous one.

#Signing in to the account with Google

When octoolo.com offers it, the sign-in page has Continue with Google above the email form.

• Google asks which Google account to use. Only a Google account whose email Google has verified is accepted.
• If an Octoolo account with that email exists, it signs in to it (and remembers the Google account for next time); otherwise it makes a new account with that email and the Google name.
• A Google account whose email differs from the email used to buy makes a separate account with no subscription. Sign in with the purchase email instead, then connect Google in Profile.
• Octoolo receives only the Google account's id, email and name.

When Continue with Google is not shown, Google sign-in is not available; email sign-in always is.

#Opening the account from Octoolo

On a PC that is on an account, Settings, Your plan, Your account and Manage billing (and Your account on the "has ended" paywall, and Update your card in the sidebar) open the octoolo.com account in the browser already signed in, with no email code. Manage billing and Update your card open it on Subscription. These one-time links work for 10 minutes; an old one says "That link has expired. Sign in with your email instead." On a PC without Octoolo Cloud, Sign in on octoolo.com opens the normal sign-in page.

#The account's Overview tab

Overview shows the plan card and three tiles:

• The plan and a label: Free week ("5 days left in your free week. Your first payment of $47.90 is on ..., unless you cancel before."), Active ("Renews on ... for $47.90 a year."), Cancelled ("You cancelled. Octoolo Cloud stays on until ..., and nothing more is charged."), Payment failed, Ended ("Your subscription ended on ... Subscribe again any time: your key and PCs are kept.") or Free apps only ("No subscription yet").
• Buttons: Start your free week or Subscribe again when there is no running subscription, Update your card after a failed payment, and Manage subscription (or See plans).
• Tiles: License key (its last five characters, or "Comes with your subscription"), Your PCs ("1 of 3 in use") and Octoolo for Windows (Download).

#The account's Subscription tab

Subscription shows the plan and price, a label, and facts: First payment or Free week ends, Next payment, Stays on until, Ended, and Billed to (the account's email).

• While it runs: Update payment method, Cancel subscription (or Keep my subscription after cancelling) and All billing details. These open Paddle's pages, signed in.
• When it is not running: Start your free week or Subscribe again, and Billing history at Paddle if the account ever bought.
• Payments and invoices: every payment with Invoice (PDF).

Details of each: Plans and billing.

#The account's License and PCs tab

License and PCs shows:

• Your license key: the key, Copy ("License key copied") and Email it to me ("Sent to <email>."), with "In Octoolo: Settings, then Your plan, then Enter a license key. If you started your free week from inside Octoolo, it is on already."
• Or No license key yet: "Your key comes with Octoolo Cloud. Calculator, Text Studio and Productivity are free without one." and Start your free week.
• Your PCs with "N of 3" and the list of PCs, each with Remove.

Messages: "You have no license key yet: it comes with your subscription." and "We have sent it a few times already. Check your spam folder, or copy the key from this page." (after 3 emails in an hour).

#Changing the account's name

In Profile, Your name: type the name and choose Save ("Saved"). It is only used to greet the person on octoolo.com.

#Changing the account's email

1. In Profile, under Email ("Your sign-in, your license key and Paddle's receipts go here."), choose Change.
2. Type the new address and choose Send a code.
3. The new address gets "123456 confirms your new Octoolo email" with Use this address and a code, valid 15 minutes. Click the button (in any browser), or type the code on the account page and choose Confirm. Keep my current email drops the change.
4. "Your email is now <new address>". The old address gets "Your Octoolo email changed".

With a subscription, Paddle gets the new address too, so receipts follow. The license key stays the same and every PC stays on; Octoolo shows the new email under Account after its next check.

#How you sign in: connecting or disconnecting Google

In Profile, How you sign in:

• Email is always On: "A code and a link to your inbox, every time. Always on."
• Google (when offered): Connect adds Google sign-in ("Google connected: sign in with one click from now on"); Disconnect removes it ("Google disconnected. Sign in with your email from now on.").
• "That Google account already signs in to another Octoolo account." means that Google account is connected to a different Octoolo account: disconnect it there first.

#Signing out and signing out everywhere

• Sign out (in the account's side menu) signs out this browser ("Signed out").
• Profile, Signed-in browsers ("Signed in on 2 browsers.") has Sign out everywhere, which asks "Sign out of your account on every browser, this one too?" and signs out all of them.

Signing out never turns off Octoolo on any PC and never cancels anything.

#Deleting the octoolo.com account

1. Cancel a running subscription first (Subscription, Cancel subscription). Until then the delete box says "Cancel your subscription first (Subscription, then Cancel subscription). Then you can delete your account here." and deleting answers "Cancel your subscription first (Manage billing), then delete your account. You keep Octoolo until the end of what you paid for."
2. In Profile, open Delete your account ("This forgets your account, your license key and your PCs. Payments stay on record, as the law asks. It cannot be undone.").
3. Type the account's email and choose Delete my account, then confirm "Delete your Octoolo account for good?". "Your account is deleted." (If the typed address is not the account's, it says "Type your email address to confirm.")

What it does: the email, name, country and Google link are removed; the license key, the list of PCs, every sign-in and pending link are deleted. Payment records stay without the name or address, as the law requires, and Paddle keeps its own records.

Important: the license key stops working at once. Every PC's paid apps close at its next check ("This PC was removed from your Octoolo account. ..."), even if the cancelled subscription still has paid time left. To use the paid time, delete the account after the subscription has ended. Deleting cannot be undone: the account and its key cannot be brought back, and the old key never works again. The free apps keep working.

#Emails Octoolo sends

Octoolo's own emails come from Octoolo <hello@octoolo.com>; replies go to hello@octoolo.com. Receipts and other payment emails come from Paddle, not from this address.

The welcome email for a trial says "Your free week has started. It ends on ..., and your first payment is then, unless you cancel before." Every one ends with "Questions? Just reply to this email, or write to hello@octoolo.com."

#Emails that do not arrive

• Look in spam, junk and promotions folders, and search the mailbox for "Octoolo".
• Check the address: the thank-you page shows it partly hidden ("jo*@g*.com"), and Paddle's receipt goes to the same one. A typo in the checkout sends everything to the wrong address. If Octoolo was turned on from that checkout, Settings, Your plan, Your account opens the account signed in, where Profile, Email, Change fixes the address. Otherwise write to hello@octoolo.com.
• Sign-in codes: wait a minute, then send it again (after 30 seconds). At most 5 codes per address and 20 per internet connection are sent in an hour ("We have sent a lot of codes in the last hour. Try again a little later."). "We could not send the email just now. Try again in a minute." means sending failed.
• The license key is never only in the email: it is in the account's License and PCs, and a PC turned on from the app's checkout does not need it.
• Company mail systems can hold or block messages: ask the mail administrator to allow hello@octoolo.com.

#Account sign-in messages

#Paid but the apps are still locked

A customer paid (or started the free week) and an app still shows "... comes with Octoolo Cloud". Go through these in order:

1. Was it paid with Paddle? The receipt comes from Paddle. If there is none, and the thank-you page said "Your order is still being confirmed", wait a few minutes: the app and the key follow Paddle's confirmation.
2. Where was it bought? A checkout in the browser that was not started from this PC's Octoolo (from octoolo.com, another PC, or after Stop waiting or the hour of waiting) does not turn this PC on: enter the license key (Settings, Your plan, Enter a license key, or I have a license key).
3. Which key? Copy it from the account's License and PCs, signed in with the email used at checkout (the one Paddle's receipt went to).
4. "The subscription for this key has ended...": the key belongs to an account without a running subscription. The purchase was probably made with another email, so it has its own account and key: sign in with that email and use its key.
5. "Your Octoolo Cloud is already on 3 PCs...": remove a PC in the account, then enter the key.
6. "Could not reach octoolo.com...": see "Octoolo cannot reach octoolo.com".
7. Still locked: hand it to the team with the account's email, what Settings, Your plan shows, and the exact message.

#"Your Octoolo Cloud has ended" though the subscription is paid

Octoolo shows it when its last pass says the subscription is not running, or when the pass ran out (offline too long, or the PC's clock is wrong).

1. Check the account at https://octoolo.com/account/: if it says Ended, Payment failed or No subscription yet, it is a billing matter (Plans and billing), or the purchase is on another email's account.
2. If the account says Active or Free week: connect the PC to the internet, quit Octoolo completely (if it stays in the system tray, right-click its icon and choose Quit Octoolo), start it again and wait about 20 seconds: it checks by itself and reopens the apps. In this state Settings, Your plan shows Subscribe, not Check now.
3. Check the PC's date and time (see "The PC's date and time are wrong").
4. If Settings, Your plan shows "This PC was removed from your Octoolo account...", enter the key again.
5. Still locked: hand it to the team with the account's email and what the app shows.

#The PC's date and time are wrong

Octoolo compares the end of its offline pass with the PC's own clock. If Windows' date is set later than the real date, Octoolo can believe the pass has run out and show "Your Octoolo Cloud has ended" even though the subscription is paid. Fix the clock in Windows (Settings, Time & language, Date & time, set the time automatically), then quit and restart Octoolo while online.

#Octoolo cannot reach octoolo.com

"Could not reach octoolo.com. Check the internet connection and try again." means Octoolo could not connect to https://octoolo.com.

• Check the PC is online and octoolo.com opens in a browser.
• A firewall, antivirus web filter, VPN, proxy or company network may block Octoolo: allow Octoolo.exe to reach octoolo.com over HTTPS.
• Already turned-on PCs keep working offline until the pass runs out (see "Using Octoolo offline").
• Turning on, checkout from the app, removing a PC and Check now need the connection.

#"This PC was removed from your Octoolo account"

"This PC was removed from your Octoolo account. Turn it on again with your license key." appears in Settings, Your plan when the PC was removed in the account's License and PCs (by the account's owner, or by the team on request), or the account was deleted. Octoolo forgets its license on that PC, and the paid apps show "... comes with Octoolo Cloud" again. Enter the key again to turn it back on; it takes a place among the 3 PCs.

#Bought with a different email, or two accounts

Each email address is a separate octoolo.com account with its own key. Common cases:

• Bought from the app with one email, signed in on octoolo.com with another: the account shows "No subscription yet". Sign in with the email Paddle's receipt went to.
• Signed in with Google, bought with another email: the same; connect Google to the account that has the subscription (Profile, How you sign in) after disconnecting it from the other one.
• To use one address for everything, change the email of the account that has the subscription (see "Changing the account's email"). An empty second account can be deleted first.

Accounts cannot be merged by the customer; write to hello@octoolo.com.

#What the license and account cannot do

• The app cannot sign in with an email, password or Google: only a license key or a checkout started in the app turn it on.
• More than 3 PCs at once is not possible; PCs do not drop off the list by themselves.
• A license key cannot be changed or regenerated from the account, and cannot be moved to another person.
• Removing a PC from the account does not close the apps there until that PC checks with octoolo.com.
• Octoolo cannot stay on offline forever: see "Using Octoolo offline".
• Deleting the account cannot be undone and ends Octoolo Cloud on every PC (at each PC's next check), even when paid time is left.