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SIL FieldWorks - Archived Releases

A suite of software tools to help language teams manage language and cultural data, with support for complex scripts.

The releases listed here have all been superceded by a subsequent release. The latest stable release can be found here.

A stable release contain new features, improvements and bug fixes since the last corporate release, but these may not be completely covered in the documentation. Stable releases go through a shorter and less thorough period of testing and bug fixing than corporate releases.

Projects will be migrated when you open them in a newer version of FieldWorks. It is not possible to go back to using an older version of FieldWorks unless you made a FieldWorks back-up of the project in the older version, and you are prepared to restore and use that back-up.

SIL FieldWorks 5.4.1 - November 2008

This stable release superceded FieldWorks 5.4, and contains a small number of critical bug fixes, in particular in Translation Editor.

SIL FieldWorks 5.4 - October 2008

This stable release has been superceded by FieldWorks 5.4.1, which has a small number of critical bug fixes, in particular in Translation Editor.

SIL FieldWorks 5.2 - March 2008

This version supercedes FieldWorks 5.0. It contains new features, improvements and bug fixes made since previous releases. Documentation has also progressed.

We recommend that you upgrade to Speech Analyzer 3.0.1 and SIL Converters 2.6, if using previous versions of those products.

SIL FieldWorks 4.9 - October 2007

FieldWorks 4.9 was a prerelease beta version of FieldWorks 5.0.

The specific purpose of this release was to test some changes we made to the FieldWorks installer. The changes were well tested by the development team, but we needed user feedback to truly validate that everything is working the way it should.

FieldWorks 4.9 supercedes FieldWorks 4.2. It contains new features, improvements and bug fixes made since previous releases. Documentation has also been enhanced.

Given the specific nature of this beta release, we are only producing the Bible Translators' Edition at this time.

Known Issues

The following known issues concern installation and should be taken into account prior to installing. Other known issues are listed in the ReadMe documents which are included in the download package.

SIL Encoding Converters

If you use SIL Encoding Converters 2.6 or earlier versions, the FieldWorks 4.9 installer will automatically uninstall SIL Encoding Converters. This is due to some incompatibilities between these earlier versions of SIL Encoding Converters and updated core components which are used by FieldWorks 4.9.

FieldWorks 4.9 will install the core functionality of SIL Encoding Converters 2.6.1. To install the full package of SIL Encoding Converters 2.6.1, you will need to download the and install SIL Encoding Converters 2.6.1 separately. We intend to make this available to download here before the end of this week (October 26, 2007.)

Speech Analyzer 3.0

Speech Analyzer 3.0 uses core components of SIL Encoding Converters 2.6. FieldWorks 4.9 uses core components of SIL Encoding Converters 2.6.1. Speech Analyzer 3.0 and FieldWorks 4.9 can be installed in either order, and will work until one or the other program is uninstalled. Uninstalling one of the programs will break some functionality in the other program. The lost functionality can be restored by saving this batch file to your hard disk and executing the batch file from an administrative account.

If you have Speech Analyzer 3.0 installed on a Vista machine and you have added some encoding converters, if you subsequenlty install FieldWorks 4.9, the previously installed encoding converters will no longer be available. This is because Vista makes a virtual copy of the converter repository. This repository is being moved to a new location during installation of SIL Encoding Converters 2.6.1 core, but the installer doesn't know about the virtual copy. Either you can reinstall the needed converters, or you can copy your virtual copy to the new location. To do this, copy the contents of the Repository and MappingFiles directories from c:\Users\YourLoginName\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Common Files\SIL\ to c:\ProgramData\SIL\ where YourLoginName is your Vista login name.

Vista users upgrading to FW 4.9

When a non-administrative Vista user creates a file under Program Files, instead of writing the files under Program Files, the files are created under c:\Users\YourLoginName\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\ where YourLoginName is your Vista login name. If multiple users log on to a machine, there will be multiple copies of these files. FieldWorks 4.9, Speech Analyzer 3.1, and SIL Encoding Converters 2.6.1 and later versions no longer write any files under Program Files, so this problem will be avoided. When upgrading from older versions of these programs, user files from Program Files are copied to the new location under c:\ProgramData\SIL. However, the installers do not catch files from these virtual directories. If you are missing encoding converters after an upgrade, you should copy the contents from the MappingFiles and Repository folders from your VirtualStore\Program Files\Common Files\SIL to similar directories under c:\ProgramData\SIL. If you have any files in Pictures or Media directories under VirtualStore\Program Files\FieldWorks, these files should be copied to similar directories under c:\ProgramData\SIL\FieldWorks.

SIL FieldWorks 4.2 - updated July 6 2007

This version supercedes FieldWorks 4.0.1. It contains new features, improvements and bug fixes made since previous releases. Documentation has also progressed.

Patch

After releasing FieldWorks 4.2, two rather serious problems were discovered and fixed:

  1. When a FieldWorks application is open and the computer comes back from hibernation, the application typically fails with a “Database General Error” message. This error also occurs at various other times during normal work.
  2. In Language Explorer, particularly when using Keyman keyboards in the Find Lexical Entry and New Entry dialogs, some keystrokes can be lost or context may be ignored, resulting in the inability to enter certain strings. This is particularly relevant for Indic scripts.

A patch has been developed to fix these two problems. If you are experiencing either of these problems with FieldWorks 4.2 applications, contact to obtain the FW 4.2 patch.

Other Known Issues

When first running Language Explorer, a window appears asking your permission to send us an email. Language Explorer pauses, waiting for your input. However, this window sometimes comes up behind the Language Explorer splash screen (or another window). Language Explorer will therefore appear to hang. Look on the task bar, and click on the appropriate icon to bring the notification window to the front, so that you can answer the question and proceed.

When you install FieldWorks 4.2, it will uninstall SIL Encoding Converters, if you had it installed (version 2.5 or earlier). If you need the SIL Encoding Converters package (in addition to what comes with FieldWorks) you need to download and install the latest version of SIL Encoding Converters (2.6).

SIL FieldWorks 4.2 - June 2007

The original version 4.2 posted did not install on non-English Windows Operating Systems. This was fixed and a new download has been posted above.

SIL FieldWorks 4.0.1 - January 2007

This version supercedes FieldWorks 4.0. It is basically a bug-fix release of 4.0 with minor additions of functionality and documentation.

Known Bug

You should not use version 4.0.1 if you will be operating your computer as a non-Administrator. It will crash frequently and keyboarding may not work properly. Use FieldWorks 4.0 instead.

SIL FieldWorks 4.0 - October 2006

This corporate release was superceded by FieldWorks 4.0.1.