WinEdt setup and default settings have been carefully prepared to make installation and integration with MiKTeX automatic. It is recommended to install WinEdt, MiKTeX, Ghostscript, GSView, and Adobe Reader as a power user in order to allow the programs and their installers to properly update Windows Registry and make automatic integration with WinEdt possible.
Download and execute the setup file winedt55.exe. The Installer Wizard will guide you through installation. After WinEdt's Installation is completed it is recommended that you let the installer start WinEdt for the first time.
WinEdt presents you with its Configuration Wizard where you can make some essential choices (eg. your preferred method of wrapping) pertaining to WinEdt's Configuration and Appearance. It is strongly recommended that you do so before you start working on your TeX projects. In particular, you should make your choices pertaining to the Wrapping Method and Backup Strategy:
After the installation or upgrade you should check the About Dialog to verify that you have successfully installed the new build:
If you use the Uninstall Command (eg. from Windows Control Panel) to uninstall WinEdt the folder where you installed WinEdt and WinEdt's Application Data folder (if you created a User Profile) will be removed (as they should!). Thus make sure that you don't place your documents in the same folder. By default the root folder and application data folder are:
{program files}\WinEdt Team\WinEdt
{user application data}\WinEdt
These are certainly no places for your own documents! However, should you decide to specify a custom folder during WinEdt's Installation keep the above warning in mind: uninstall will delete it!
Whatever custom location you might specify it should end with "\WinEdt". In particular, \WinEdt is not automatically appended to the specified location (as one might erroneously assume with possibly disastrous consequences should WinEdt be uninstalled and thus the destination folder erased)!
You need administrative privileges in order to install WinEdt. If you are planning to use WinEdt as a restricted you should enable the user profile creation during the installation (default). If you later change your mind you can create or remove a user profile through WinEdt's Configuration Wizard (it is just a matter of pressing a button in the Wizard). Help in the Wizard explains the details...
IMPORTANT: You should not be upgrading, if
If you don't fall in any of the above categories read the rest of the instructions and proceed accordingly...
If you are upgrading from a previous version of WinEdt 5 you should execute the command Maintenance -> Backup in WinEdt Options Menu and then exit WinEdt before attempting an upgrade. This allows you to restore your old settings (eg. special menus and/or dictionaries, etc...). If preserving your old settings is a priority you can disable the option "Overwrite Existing Settings" in the installation Wizard:
This way all your custom settings will be preserved (although this may not be such a good idea!). If you have modified any macro scripts you should manually back them up or even better make sure that such scripts are placed in the Local folder where they are always preserved during upgrades! If you have created a user profile your old settings are preserved in the Application Data folder.
If preserving any of your old settings is an issue you should not uninstall the old version before installing the upgrade. The new version should be then installed over the old one!
However, if after upgrading you preserve all your custom settings you also miss on many/most new features and functionality (including some menus that have been rearranged for this release). Thus it is strongly recommended that you execute the command: Maintenance -> Default in WinEdt's Options Menu (in older versions this command was in Options -> Configurations Menu). WinEdt will present you with a special interface that allows you to choose those default configurations components that you want to import into your custom setup:
Here you can select only those components (including individual menus) that you did not modify. The following menus have been modified in the default settings and should be imported in your custom settings:
Search Insert Document Project Tools Options Help
This is how the new Options and Help Menu should look:
If your menus look different you should load the default ones or else you may completely miss on the new (enhanced) Help System and Macro Manual and many other new features will be lost as well!
As long as you created a Backup you can always switch between Default and Custom Settings (Restore command also found in the Maintenance menu displays an identical interface allowing you to import your custom configuration components).
You may want to be on the safe side in the event of encountering problems with the new version: in such a case to be able to restore WinEdt to exactly as it was before the upgrade. To this end you should make a backup copy of WinEdt's Root folder (usually inside Program Files Folder) and if you have created a user profile also WinEdt's folder inside your Application Data folder. Restoring these two folders will restore WinEdt exactly to its previous state!
If preserving your old settings is very important and importing the modified default menus listed above is out of question you'll have to make a few manual changes through the Menu Setup Dialog. Here is what you should know:
The old Menu Item Tools -> Erase Output Files will not work! You should change its definition to:
Exe('%b\Exec\Erase Working Files.edt');
The old Menu Item Search -> Errors... will not work! You should change its definition to:
[FindError(1,1,0,4,1);]
The new categories of Errors are not compatible with WinEdt 5.4 (or earlier). You should import the default Errors Settings (easy) or else read the documentation and make manual changes to your configurations through the Settings| Errors Dialog: otherwise some warnings in TeX documents will be treated as errors and vice versa...
The What's New? document (Help Menu) describes all major the changes in functionality and the default settings from the previous version of WinEdt...
IMPORTANT: The default setting for Wrapping of TeX Documents has been changed to Soft Wrapping (Notepad-like). This was done because many (would be new) users report any different behavior as a bug. If you are accustomed to work with Smart Wrapping (default setting in previous versions of WinEdt) you should remove TeX; or any other unwanted mode from the filter for which soft wrapping is enabled:
This should be done before you start working on your documents!
There is little point in complaining about this change (as it can be modified in a matter of seconds). The opinions on how this should work differ from one user to another and the default setting cannot please everyone...
Again, if you are upgrading from some pretty old version of WinEdt (5 years of more) you will be better off if you make a fresh install with the new default settings and then make your customizations from there. That's why such upgrades should be done when you can spend some time learning about changes and new features and then making your personal choices...
In an unlikely event that after an upgrade of old (customized) version you experience problems with launching some TeX accessories (eg. DVI Viewer) you can fix the situation by restoring the default Startup Sequence and possibly load the appropriate configuration (MiKTeX or TeX Live). WinEdt heavily relies on the Startup sequence and macros in order to detect and initialize external accessories from Windows registry. This (and other problems with external applications) can be adjusted through the Execution Modes interface (Options Menu):
Help in the Execution Modes Interface explains the details!
WinEdt Setup (winedt55.exe) is compiled with INNO Setup Compiler (see www.innosetup.com). INNO setup source files for WinEdt installation are included in WinEdt's WinShell\INNO Setup folder. WinEdt Installation is pretty straightforward (Installation Wizard will guide you through it). WinEdt's Help has a section explaining details for Network Installations (under "WinEdt Wizards" topics). If you are interested in silent install please read the following information explaining available switches for INNO Setup...
The following relevant information is from INNO Setup Help file:
The Setup program accepts optional command line parameters. These
can be useful to system administrators, and to other programs
calling the Setup program.
/SP- Disables the This will install... Do you wish to continue?
prompt at the beginning of Setup. Of course, this will have no
effect if the DisableStartupPrompt [Setup] section directive was set
to yes.
/SILENT, /VERYSILENT Instructs Setup to be silent or very silent.
When Setup is silent the wizard and the background window are not
displayed but the installation progress window is. When a setup is
very silent this installation progress window is not displayed.
Everything else is normal so for example error messages during
installation are displayed and the startup prompt is (if you haven't
disabled it with DisableStartupPrompt or the '/SP-' command line
option explained above)
If a restart is necessary and the '/NORESTART' command isn't used
(see below) and Setup is silent, it will display a Reboot now?
message box. If it's very silent it will reboot without asking.
/LOG Causes Setup to create a log file in the user's TEMP directory
detailing file installation actions taken during the installation
process. This can be a helpful debugging aid. For example, if you
suspect a file isn't being replaced when you believe it should be
(or vice versa), the log file will tell you if the file was really
skipped, and why.
The log file is created with a unique name based on the current
date. (It will not overwrite or append to existing files.)
Currently, it is not possible to customize the filename.
The information contained in the log file is technical in nature
and therefore not intended to be understandable by end users.
Nor is it designed to be machine-parseable; the format of the
file is subject to change without notice.
/NOCANCEL Prevents the user from cancelling during the installation
process, by disabling the Cancel button and ignoring clicks on the
close button. Useful along with /SILENT.
/NORESTART Instructs Setup not to reboot even if it's necessary.
/LOADINF="filename" Instructs Setup to load the settings from the
specified file after having checked the command line. This file can
be prepared using the '/SAVEINF=' command as explained below.
Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/SAVEINF="filename" Instructs Setup to save installation settings to
the specified file.
Don't forget to use quotes if the filename contains spaces.
/LANG=language Specifies the language to use. language specifies the
internal name of the language as specified in a [Languages] section
entry.
When a valid /LANG parameter is used, the Select Language dialog
will be suppressed.
/DIR="x:\dirname" Overrides the default directory name displayed on
the Select Destination Location wizard page. A fully qualified
pathname must be specified.
/GROUP="folder name" Overrides the default folder name displayed on
the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page. If the [Setup] section
directive DisableProgramGroupPage was set to yes, this command line
parameter is ignored.
/NOICONS Instructs Setup to initially check the Don't create any
icons check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page.
/COMPONENTS="comma separated list of component names" Overrides the
default components settings. Using this command line parameter
causes Setup to automatically select a custom type.
WinEdt INNO uninstaller (unins000.exe) allows the following command
line switches:
The uninstaller program (unins???.exe) accepts optional command line
parameters. These can be useful to system administrators, and to
other programs calling the uninstaller program.
/SILENT
When specified, the uninstaller will not ask the user any questions
or display a message stating that uninstall is complete. Shared
files that are no longer in use are deleted automatically without
prompting. Any critical error messages will still be shown on the
screen.
/NORESTART
Instructs the uninstaller not to reboot even if it's necessary.