How To Transfer Your Artisan Content To A New Computer

I honestly can't believe I haven't written this post before because I feel like I've explained it dozens of times.  I think I've left bits and pieces of this information in other posts, but I never fully wrote down the process to move Artisan, and more importantly, Artisan content, to a new computer.

I'm making a big assumption with this post that you still have access to the computer you are moving from.  If you don't, we need to have a different discussion.  I am also assuming that you have access to an external drive or something that you can use to backup/copy your content from one

The easiest way to complete this process is to first follow these steps on the computer you are moving FROM (the “old” computer).

On The Old Computer

1.  On the “old” computer, go to the Users folder on your C: drive and open Public.

2.  Under Public User, open Public Documents.

3.  Copy the whole folder called Commercial Art Kits to a backup drive.  You'll need something more than a flash drive unless you don't have much content.

4.  Open Artisan and go to the Content Manager (“Manage Content“, the top left icon on the Welcome screen).

5.  Click on Activation Codes in the ribbon on top.

6.  In the box that opens, click on Make a backup copy of my codes.  This will create a text file that you can save to your backup and then use to reactivate your content on the new computer.

On The New Computer

OK!  We made it!  Now comes the best part.

7.  Plug in that external drive with the Commercial Art Kits folder you backed up from the old computer.  Now, guess where it goes!  Yup, go back to Users on your C: drive, open the Public User and then Public Documents.  There won't be a Commercial Art Kits folder there yet (unless you already installed Artisan), so just drag the whole folder in there.  If you did already install Artisan, that's fine.  Just copy all of the contents of your backed up folder into the new Commercial Art Kits folder.

8.  Now, if you haven't done it already, install Artisan.  If you have previously activated two or more times, you may get a notification that Artisan is active on too many computers.  In this case, you will need to contact Forever (1-888-367-3837 or support@forever.com) to get them to release your activation code so you can activate again.  I promise, this process is painless.  I've had to do it more times than I could count on 2 hands because I've changed computers, had hard drive crashes and just reinstalled Windows so many times.  Just let them know what your situation is and they will get you running in no time.  *  Be sure to have your activation code handy when you call to speed things up.  You can find it in your Forever.com account under your Order History.

9.  Once you have Artisan installed and running, you may notice that it will pop up a progress bar showing that it's cataloguing the content you dropping into the Public Documents.  This is nothing to worry about, you WANT this to happen.  Now all you have to do (after it's done) is open the Content Manager and go back to that Activation Codes screen.  This time, you open that text document you saved with the backup of your codes and copy all of the text in that document, then click on Add a new activation code and paste it all in that box.  Hit OK, and you're set.  

I hope this little walk through helps.

One thing I like to suggest: if you have a regular backup set for your computer (which I HOPE you do), add that Commercial Art Kits folder in your Public Documents to your backup plan.  That way, if/when something happens, you don't lose your content.  Please also make sure that you backup those activation codes once in a while and save that in a place that will be part of your backup plan, too.

That's it!  Hope the process goes super smooth.  Please let me know if you have any hiccups or there's any way I can help.

8 thoughts on “How To Transfer Your Artisan Content To A New Computer”

  1. Thanks! I appreciate your easy to understand instructions! Do you know if I can run all of my art from an external only? If so, can you explain how to move the filled? When I save changes to an artisan page, the changes load painfully slow. I have a very large number of art kits.

  2. Hi, Pamela.
    You caught me while I was on vacation. Sorry about that.

    It IS possible to run your content from an external, but you have to train Artisan to look for it there and when I attempted that in the past, it caused some slow-down in the page making process. You’ll want to make sure you have a 3.0 USB connection to your external and anytime that connection gets interrupted (i.e. jiggled, unseated, etc.), it could have an impact on your page process. Just be careful with that connection.

    It’s a bit late tonight, but I will try to give you the how-to tomorrow. Sorry I didn’t see this sooner.
    Deb

  3. Hi Deb,
    Is there a way to transfer Tags and Categories when moving Artisan to a new computer?
    Thanks!

  4. Hi, Allison.

    That’s a question I’m not 100% sure I know the answer to. I think that when I backup my content in the location that Artisan stores it when it’s installed (Public/Public Documents/Commercial Art Kits), my information has come through. But I’m not positive on that. I’ve done it enough times that I think I’ve lost tags and categories previously and had to recreate them. Let me see if I can get a better answer for you.
    Deb

  5. First off let me say Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I’ve been dreading moving all of my artisan kits over to my new laptop Thinking I’d have to do 1 at a time! Your Tutorial was great! So easy to understand! I was able to move them all over. I’m somehow missing a few codes and can’t find them! I called them and they couldn’t retrieve them either. But I got 98% done! Woohoo
    Is there a way to transfer over personal art kits?

  6. You’re very welcome, Laurie! I’m glad it helped.

    I am looking into your question on the personal art kits because I think the default location has changed from what it was in Artisan 4 & 5. Currently with Artisan 6, my personal art kits folder is in the Public Documents folder just like the Commercial Art Kits, but I believe it used to be in my personal Documents folder. I apologize, but I’ve moved computers so many times that it’s going to take me a little bit to verify if the transfer is similar to the commercial art kits.
    Deb

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