Options Profiles

Options Profiles make it easy to share settings with others and choose which settings to share. You can also use them to easily copy settings to a different computer.

Local Options

TaxCycle and DoxCycle use the same system to store your local options and for options profiles you share. Local options profiles are saved on your computer and are available only on that computer unless you move or share the profile that contains them.

1. To open Options from the TaxCycle Start Screen, click Options on the left side. If you have a file open, go to the File menu, then click Options

2. Click on Manage to expand the Options Profile section.

3. Right-click your Local options to open a menu with the following actions:

   1. Click Browse to load an existing options profile located on your computer or network.

   2. Click New to create a new profile. You can start from a blank profile, clone an existing profile or import a profile .zip file.

   3. Click Clone to copy the profile settings to a new options profile.

   4. Click Open in File Explorer to see where the files are stored on your computer.

   5. Click Reset to defaults to revert to the default options installed with TaxCycle or DoxCycle. This requires you to restart TaxCycle.

4. Click OK to save your changes.

Choose an Options Profile on Start

1. When you start TaxCycle, you can select an Options Profile at the top right of the Start screen.

2. TaxCycle will remember the last profile you used and load it automatically the next time.

3. If you only see one item in the list, it is because you are using the Local (with your computer name) profile.

4. Click Browse to load a profile from your computer or network.

5. To select a profile when you start TaxCycle, check the option to Select profile at startup.

6. You can also choose the profile you want to use from the dropdown list at the top of the Options dialog box.

Create an Options Profile

1. To open Options from the Start screen, click Options on the left side. If you have a file open, go to the File menu, then click Options.

2. Click Add Profile.

3. Select Start from a blank profile to create a new profile with TaxCycle’s default settings.

4. Select Clone an existing profile to use another profile as a starting point. Select the profile you’d like to clone from the dropdown menu.

5. Select Import a profile .zip file to upload a profile from a saved file. Browse to the folder where the options ZIP file is saved on your computer or network and double-click it to load it.
   

6. Click Next.

7. Enter a name for the profile.

8. Enter a description.
   

9. Click Next.

10. Browse to the folder where you want to save the profile on your computer or network. To share it on the network, click Share or enter a full network path. For example,\\mycomputer\sharedfolder.

11. To see what is already in the folder you selected, click View files.
    

12. Click Next.

13. Check boxes in the tree on the bottom left to include pages of options in the profile. This allows you to share only the options you want. Clear the boxes in the tree on the bottom left to exclude pages of options from the profile. Anyone using the shared profile can set Local options for pages not in the profile. If you are pointing all computers in your office to the same Client Manager server, remember to select that server and share the page in the Options Profile. The workstation will connect to the Client Manager server provided by the Options Profile.

14. On the right, choose from a list of common personal options to exclude from shared profiles.

15. Click Next to review the details of your profile.
    

16. Click Create to complete the profile. 

Modify Options Within a Profile

1. In the sidebar, any pages in the Options Profile have a white background.

2. Options stored locally have a green background.

3. To edit options on a page, click the page on the left then change the settings on the right.

Share an Options Profile

1. Create a new Options Profile and save it in a folder on your computer or network server. (You do not need to install TaxCycle to create the Options Profile on the server; save the zip file on another computer and copy it to the server.

2. Use a full network path to the profile, so others can also access the folder. For example, \\mycomputer\sharedfolder.

3. If the folder is on your computer, make sure you share the folder using Windows^® permissions so that others can see it. An easy way to do this is to click the Share link above the path. TaxCycle respects the Windows^® permissions set on the folder you share. If only your Windows^® user account can make changes to the folder, other computers will be able to read the options but not change them.

Move an Options Profile to a New Computer

Options profiles are saved as ZIP files. To move an options profile to a new computer, copy the ZIP file to a location the new computer can access, then load it in Options.

On your old computer:

1. Open Options, then click Manage at the top of the window.

2. Right-click the options profile, then click Open in File Explorer. This opens the folder where the profile is saved.

3. Copy the ZIP file to a shared network folder. If you don’t work in a network environment, copy it to a USB drive or cloud storage.

On your new computer:

1. Copy the ZIP file to the new computer. If possible, save it in a folder similar to the one on your old computer.

2. Open Options, then click Browse at the top of the window.

3. Go to the folder where you saved the ZIP file, then double-click it to load the options profile.

Load an Options Profile

After someone else shares an options profile on your network, or if you copy an options profile to a different folder on your computer, you must load it in Options before you can use it:

1. Open Options, then click Browse at the top of the window.

2. Go to the location of the profile and double-click the ZIP file, or select it and click Open.

3. The profile appears in the dropdown menu.

4. If you load an options profile that is on your network, but it only contains some options, TaxCycle will look at your local options to fill in the rest. For example, someone can configure office-wide settings for print sets and transmission credentials, but can leave return preparation preferences up to the user.

5. Options pages stored locally will have a green background in the sidebar.

6. You can also drag the ZIP file onto the Options dialog box to load it.

Reload an Options Profile

1. Open Options, then click on Manage.

2. Right-click on the options profile, then click Reload to refresh the options from the zip file.

Remove or Delete an Options Profile

1. Open Options, then click on Manage.

2. Right-click on an options profile in the list.

3. Click Remove to remove the profile from TaxCycle and retain the ZIP file in the folder.

4. Click Delete to remove the profile from TaxCycle and delete the ZIP file in the folder.

Automatic Backup of Options Profiles

Any time you add a file to an options profile, save a template file that is in an options profile, or click Apply or OK in the Options dialog to save changes to a profile, TaxCycle automatically creates a copy of the ZIP file before saving the changes. 

You can find backups of the ZIP files in the same folder as the original options profile. The files have the extension .zipbak and the file name includes the date the file was created. 

To revert to a backup copy of your options profile:

1. Close TaxCycle.

2. Delete or move the old profile.

3. Rename the file to remove the date.

4. Change the file extension to .zip.

When you reopen TaxCycle, the restored profile will show in the list of available options profiles.