SpecAgent

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Author Message Randall A Chapple, AIA, SE, CCS, LEED AP Senior Member Username: rachapple Post Number: 34 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 12:21 pm:    For those of you that use Masterspecs and have updated recently what is SpecAgent and what does it do. It is a program that automatically with the update and there are no instructions as to what this program does. Richard A. Rosen, CSI, CCS, AIA Senior Member Username: rarosen Post Number: 67 Registered: 08-2006 Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 01:07 pm:    Call Josh at ARCOM tech services 800-424-5080 or 801-521-9162. He is always very helpful. Colin Gilboy Senior Member Username: colin Post Number: 229 Registered: 09-2005 Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 - 01:27 pm:    Here is a link to more information: [link updated below] Colin Gilboy Publisher, 4specs.com 435.654.5775 - Utah 800.369.8008 Randall A Chapple, AIA, SE, CCS, LEED AP Senior Member Username: rachapple Post Number: 35 Registered: 12-2005 Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2010 - 04:04 pm:    Thanks Colin, I did find that link and it was helpful in providing more information. This system does not appear to favor the services of your website. Matthew Johnson New member Username: specagent_mj Post Number: 1 Registered: 05-2010 Posted on Thursday, May 20, 2010 - 05:20 pm:    ARCOM has released this beta version of SpecAgent as a first step of a larger initiative designed to make finding and acting on manufacturer’s information more efficient for MasterSpec users. Specific details of SpecAgent’s functionality are detailed in the latest version of SpecPress. http://www.arcomnet.com/users/eSpecPress/1stQTR2010/specagent.html MasterSpec users can contact ARCOM via email at support@arcomnet.com with questions or comments or chat with us directly through the support chat feature included with SpecAgent. Harry Peck, CSI, CCS Member Username: harryspec Post Number: 3 Registered: 05-2010 Posted on Monday, July 26, 2010 - 10:33 am:    My attampts of e-mailing to support@arcom.com have been undeliverable so I am blogging here. 1. Does anyone know how to turn off the SpecAgent feature? Manufacture contact info is in the Supporting Documents - why be redundant? 2. SpecAgent is making more work for us to use current MasterSpec documents as we have to remove the underlined text (SA Hyperlink). When we use the "Revised Page Method" to show changes we underline added text. D. Marshall Fryer, CSI, CCS, Assoc. AIA Senior Member Username: dmfryer Post Number: 75 Registered: 09-2003 Posted on Monday, July 26, 2010 - 11:39 am:    Try arcomnet.com (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, July 26, 2010 - 12:10 pm:    To Mr. Peck - SA cannot be turned off; I was told by ARCOM tech, upon opening first MasterSpec section file, minimize SA window, thus, any subsequent opening of spec section file(s) will not open another SA window. Not the solution I was hoping, but the only one given. Matthew Johnson Junior Member Username: specagent_mj Post Number: 2 Registered: 05-2010 Posted on Tuesday, July 27, 2010 - 03:17 pm:    Hi Harry, Let me address both of your questions here. SpecAgent is very tightly integrated with the Word document and as such, cannot be turned on and off. The specific items you’ve mentioned; hyperlinks, are a part of the Word document itself and are present even if you were to view the documents on a machine where SpecAgent was never installed. We are planning to make a change to Masterworks in an upcoming release that will make turning these hyperlinks on and off easier in the future. While the MasterSpec supporting documents do contain manufacturer contact information, our goal is to provide more up to date contact and product information to our users. With a constantly evolving list of over 9500 building product manufacturers, we feel dynamic “live” data is a more reliable method of providing information to our users than static material that is updated periodically as sections are reviewed and released by our writers. Additionally, resources like the instant answers chat link feature are expected to make that direct communication even easier. If you have any additional questions about SpecAgent functionality, changes or enhancements you'd like to see, I am available directly at mjohnson@arcomnet.com. I hope that helps! David Stutzman Senior Member Username: david_stutzman Post Number: 62 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 09:40 am:    For anyone that is interested, it is possible to defeat SpecAgent by removing "BAS-12345-MS80" that is found in the keynotes field of the properties window and saving the file. Be sure to make a text change add a space and delete it to ensure the file is saved without the keynote. Apparently SpecAgent relies on this keynote to recognize the file a a Masterspec file. If you want a macro to perform this function, email me directly at dstutzman@conspectusinc.com. Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 448 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2010 - 09:01 pm:    I believe that if you remove the keynote from your MasterSpec sections as David describes above, none of the Masterworks multi-file automation software will run on those documents. J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 437 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - 12:15 pm:    What Mr. Kabza says about the content of the Keywords field being required to run various Masterworks multi-file routines is not true (I have been told this by others at ARCOM). I copy MasterSpec to a file with the project template set up to utilize varous fields. I have not found this to be an impediment to run any of the Masterworks routines. Using the various document properties allows me to make certain global changes to all of the document files very quickly from the MS Explorer window; much, much faster than using Masterworks. Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 449 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Wednesday, August 04, 2010 - 11:05 pm:    Dang. I shouldn't trust my memory. Just ran TOC, Header and Footer, and Delete metrics on a test folder of sections without the keynote, and they worked. Thank you Mr. Jordan. Mr. Stutzman, I stand corrected. David Stutzman Senior Member Username: david_stutzman Post Number: 63 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2010 - 07:41 am:    I rarely use Masterworks tools, because I have our our that are more suited to our own business. So I never even thought about testing that aspect. But I am glad the keynote does not affect its use. It annoyed me to no end that SpecAgent kept moving my documents between the dual screens and resizing the document to fill the screen. I never work the way SpecAgent wants me to. I am just glad I found a way to defeat it. Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 243 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 03:08 pm:    I did not like the intrusiveness of SpecAgent from the moment it opened. When I opened an old section, SpecAgent reared it's ugly head forcing my wide screen monitor to only display a single page at a time. My solution was to revert back to MasterWorks 6.2. So far so good. Unless I'm missing something, SpecAgent is only helpful when selecting products, so why does it need to be there all the time? (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 07:47 pm:    Mr. Harris, How did you revert back to MW6.2? Unfortunately, I uninstalled MW6.2 before installing MW6.3...and ARCOM told me MW6.2 is no longer available as download. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 70 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Monday, November 08, 2010 - 04:08 pm:    Mr. Johnson. Please get Spec Agent off my computer. I don't like, don't want it, never asked for it, and don't want to have to resort to 'tricks' just to use something that we're paying too much for in the first place! Since I don't have 'Administrator' rights, I can't even use David's fix. Please make it go away! (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, November 08, 2010 - 05:48 pm:    Ken - I'm with you. I use Masterworks constantly but hate SA; it would not be so terrible if it didn't resize and move existing/open document windows, but it always does! John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1266 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 08:39 am:    With the latest MasterSpec update, Arcom has released a upgrade to MasterWorks that includes changes to SpecAgent behavior. If you haven't upgraded MasterWorks, you should. You may find it more to your liking. (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 12:27 pm:    We have been burned on this thing to the point that we are now very nervouos about uploading the newer version, for fear that there is no turning back (which is what heppened to us last update with all the flaws of SpecAgent in full effect). John, can you please put our minds at ease by explaining how this "may be more to" our liking? Can you give us specifics about what the new version does, and tell what of the offending behaviors it no longer does? thanks for being the Guinea pig! John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1267 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - 04:03 pm:    I think the most tangible thing is that the SpecAgent window will now stay where you put it, without "reasserting" itself when another spec is opened. I'm assuming that is the thing that annoyed most people, but I don't really know what others may have found to be a problem. It definitely seems better in that respect, though I haven't run it through any sort of rigorous test regimen. Anonymous (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Monday, February 21, 2011 - 06:38 am:    In response to Mr. Johnson’s message of July 27, specifically, “We feel dynamic “live” data is a more reliable method of providing information to our users than static material that is updated periodically as sections are reviewed and released by our writers.” I have the following premonition: Arcom is going to use SpecAgent as a way to stop doing the fantastic, and perhaps costly, comparative research they provide in their evaluations. We can soon kiss goodbye the comparative charts of different manufacturer’s products. These charts are probably a big burden for Arcom to maintain. By just using links to manufacturer’s information, which we can all access online anyway, and repackaging it through SpecAgent, Arcom can both reduce the money they spend on research and ask more money from manufacturers to list their products in a dynamic new interface. Just my opinion. Posted anonymously to reduce the chances of my MasterSpec license being revoked. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 1121 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 04:53 pm:    to Anonymous: I don't think the comparison charts will go away, because the review committee usually wants them as part of the available information. What SpecAgent does do is keep Arcom from sending out what could be weekly updates with manufacturers product names, data and other stuff that they seem to change with no regard for anything. Since the spec sections (and supporting documents ) are typically updated every 3 years ... or so.. SpecAgent provides the fill-in product information between updates. I'm not a fan of Spec Agent either as a thing, but I understand the need to have dynamic product information out there. You don't want established technical staff doing nothing but updating products in the spec sections -- you really want them to do actual work to update the useful information. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 77 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - 05:12 pm:    Actually depending on the spec section many SA links take me to strange and not-so-wonderful places. I'll stick to 4specs.com to get my product information. SA links is a good idea, we used to do something similar in my previous firm, but the links need to be checked and updated whenever manufacturers remap their information. If Arcom doesn't have time to update the links, they become useless. I've uploaded Masterworks too many times now trying to get it to work right but it continues to give me headaches, including resizing my documents. I like the ability to use the macros for changing headers and footers and to some extent when doing edits. Some problems are that my headers and footers do not always come out uniformly from one Section to the next. When editing, I don't like skipping over text that needs to be changed but isn't in an edit field. Very often in multi-file, SA turns on my Track Changes even when I don't tell it to. Very frustrating. It needs an off switch or preferably a menu where we can choose which features we want to turn off or on. E Jones Advanced Member Username: ejonesspec Post Number: 5 Registered: 01-2011 Posted on Friday, February 25, 2011 - 02:12 pm:    With the latest version, I'm having no trouble with SpecAgent behaving now, it willingly submits to being minimized and leaving document placement alone, and it's there whenever I need it. It's very easy to report a bad link or similar issue by clicking the "Suggest a correction" button right in each mfr's listing. From talking with Arcom staff it is clear they are fully intent on maintaining this data, and giving the same level of evaluation that has always been in MasterSpec - of course it is a new system. It also has features that do not exist in the Evaluations. And comparison tables are not going away, in fact they are integrated into SpecAgent, actually easier to find now. Anne's right about it being for intermediate, real-time updates of manufacturer and product data. With what the economy has done to cause manufacturer and product changes at an accelerated pace, and the toll it has taken on architects' time to keep up with all the changes, there couldn't have been a better time for SpecAgent. Waiting years for section updates no longer works for specifying manufacturer data. Out of date information leads to ever increasing substitution requests, RFIs, and change orders. Arcom has been listening to the pains that firms deal with. You can also tell that by them quickly fixing the window placement problems. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1269 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 02:39 pm:    Well now SpecAgent is hanging up my system! I called Josh at technical services and he said that there is a problem with the SpecAgent website. My documents are trying to access the website and hanging. W. Dean Walker, AIA, CCS, SCIP Senior Member Username: wdwalkerspecs Post Number: 49 Registered: 08-2006 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 03:10 pm:    David I'm having a problem just trying to open spec documents in Word. Started this morning. Is there a workaround? They open real slow or crash my Word program. Jeffrey Wilson CSI CCS Senior Member Username: wilsonconsulting Post Number: 56 Registered: 03-2006 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 04:58 pm:    I started experiencing trouble opening MasterSpec sections yesterday, and continue to have slow opening specs (sometimes taking several minutes). I wasn't aware of SpecAgent causing the problem, but that would explain why it happens only w/ MasterSpec documents. If anyone finds a solution, please post here. Thanks. Marc C Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 421 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 05:03 pm:    I'm having no problem - I guess I'm special ...but I knew that.... and modest too! Dale Hurttgam, NCARB, AIA,LEED AP, CSI Senior Member Username: dwhurttgam Post Number: 93 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 05:42 pm:    We have been having the problem with opening documents - it has really slowed us down. I contacted Arcom - they indicated that the problem is at a third party server that they utilize as part of their system. They have been trying to get it corrected - thought they had it yesterday afternoon - but resurfaced this morning. We are anxious for a resolution - as Murphy's Law would have it - it has been a bad week to have problems. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 108 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 05:48 pm:    Well Marc, you're lucky. And, of course, special. Both spec writers at my firm are having problems with Word but no one else running Word seems to be having the same problem. Thanks again SpecAgent! So, how do we turn this off again? Marc, I have more modesty in my little finger than you have in your whole body (I stole that from a 60's sitcom). Unfortunately my kind of 'special' seems to be more like 'special education'. Liz O'Sullivan Senior Member Username: liz_osullivan Post Number: 9 Registered: 10-2011 Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 09:14 pm:    Wow. I was worried that it was my computer. I'm so glad I looked at this. It's reassuring to find out that I'm not the only one. I'll keep you posted - I've been experiencing the same very-slowly-opening spec files in Word that other posters have. Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 249 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2011 - 03:59 pm:    I spoke with Josh yesterday and was told that there was a server crash. SpecAgent reaches out to this server and if it doesn't get an answer, it keeps asking and hangs up the document. When I found this out I was livid. Friday, Monday and Tuesday were disasters for getting work done. SpecAgent needs an off switch and needs it now. Or, even better would be getting rid of it entirely. I'm going to ask IT if rerouting the SpecAgent IP address to one's localhost will stop the communication. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1270 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2011 - 04:11 pm:    I agree. Fortunately I was not under a deadline but needed to get work done. All I could do was stare at my screen hoping that my document would come up. My IT guy is upset because Monday he wasted time a bunch of time troubleshooting my computer and the company's servers. Spec Agent needs to be like the supporting documents where you can open the website as needed. Even when Spec Agent doesn't hang, it is annoying to have it open all the time. BTW, recently Spec Agent has been opening twice on my documents! Liz O'Sullivan Senior Member Username: liz_osullivan Post Number: 10 Registered: 10-2011 Posted on Wednesday, December 07, 2011 - 08:17 pm:    The problem seems to be fixed - no problems last night or today. I agree with Don - SpecAgent needs an off switch. I have never found it to be beneficial to me. Mark Gilligan SE, Senior Member Username: mark_gilligan Post Number: 431 Registered: 10-2007 Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 01:12 am:    What happens if there is a disaster that distroys the building where this critical server is located? Does it mean that no specifications get written? What are the liability implifications if this keeps a project from being submitted on time thus loosing funding? Marc C Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 424 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 10:55 am:    Next you'll be telling me that loose regulation of the banking industry and investment companies will lead to abuse of trust and a major financial meltdown It will never happen ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 110 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 11:08 am:    Does anyone know if BSD and e-Specs users are affected by this? My guess is that they're insulated from Spec Agent since they do their initial edits in their databases and then can finish editing using Word. What a mess. Marc C Chavez Senior Member Username: mchavez Post Number: 425 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 11:26 am:    BSD is a completely different company and has no connection what-so-ever with spec agent. I can't say about e-specs AND as far as BSD is concerned - as long as my server is running the rest of the country could go black and I'd still be up. J. Peter Jordan (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Thursday, December 08, 2011 - 11:24 am:    SpecAgent is a MasterSpec feature. As such, there should be no link to SpecAgent. [for BSD or Word - added by Colin] Greg Latreille (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Friday, March 02, 2012 - 09:21 pm:    Could you please describe the "trick" fix a little better. I found the text "BAS-12345-MS80" under the file properties, details tab, under description->tags. I deleted it, but Spec Agent still pops up. Not seeing "keynotes" anywhere. I am to be counted with those who are angry with another program that pops up and runs automatically without my wanting it or being able to disable it. I'm sure the programmers are all moist about their new baby, but many of us users just want to be able to write specs quickly, typically the day they are due, without having these annoyances to belabor the entire process. -Greg Latreille, PE - AK David Stutzman Senior Member Username: david_stutzman Post Number: 74 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Friday, March 02, 2012 - 11:34 pm:    Perhaps Arcom found a way to bypass reliance on the keynote deletion I first reported almost two years ago. We are using another method to defeat spec agent. Wesimply replace the Word startup file with a previous version. then specAgent doesn't open. Wemay be giving up the latest and greatest inmacor functionality,but don't care if we can get rid of Sec Agent. Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 251 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 12:36 pm:    Getting rid of BAS-12345-MS80 is working for me. David, can you explain "replace the Word startup file?" I changed the name of specagent.dot, but it still opens if the files still has the BAS...stuff in it. If the BAS...is gone, no specagent. Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 252 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 01:10 pm:    David, nevermind. I figured it out. It works beautifully and no need to change all the keywords. Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 253 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 01:14 pm:    But, changing the specagent.dot file disables Masterworks. David Stutzman Senior Member Username: david_stutzman Post Number: 75 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 02:08 pm:    It's not the specAgent.dot file that should be changed.  It is the mworks.dot file. At least that is how we manage to disable spec agent Richard Howard, AIA CSI CCS LEED-AP Senior Member Username: rick_howard Post Number: 259 Registered: 07-2003 Posted on Thursday, March 08, 2012 - 04:02 pm:    I don't mind SpecAgent running if I have a fast internet connection, but if I am offline for some reason or another, it makes it impossible to work because the Word file is never completely loaded while it waits for SpecAgent to call home. Word allows you to activate and deactivate individual add-ins. I disable SpecAgent in Word 2010 by opening the File tab, selecting Options, then selecting Add-Ins. In the pull-down menu, choose Word Add-Ins then click on GO. This opens the Templates and Add-Ins dialog box where I can uncheck SpecAgent and click OK. This prevents SpecAgent from loading until I go back and check the box to reactivate it. Other Masterworks features still work normally. Unfortunately, when I try this in older versions of Word, unchecking SpecAgent also prevents the Masterworks menu from loading and I lose all of the features of Masterworks. David Axt, AIA, CCS, CSI Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1290 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, March 30, 2012 - 02:27 pm:    I have been having an intermittent problem when I make PDF files from Word documents. Our IT guy has determined that SpecAgent is the problem. If I close SpecAgent I can then make a PDF file. But if I leave SpecAgent up, my Word/Adobe will most likely crash. Is anyone else experiencing this problem. Since SpecAgent can be accessed from the menu, I wish Arcom would just disable the automatic popup feature. GBurdell (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, November 07, 2012 - 02:49 pm:    To disable Spec Agent, delete the SpecAgent template file from the following folder: C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STARTUP May need to also delete SpecAgentLauncher from the following folder: C:\Program Files(x86)\ARCOM\Specware\Masterworks\ SpecAgent Worked for me without errors archmac (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - 05:05 pm:    Can anyone tell me how to get this infernal app to work? I have carefully selected my manufacturers, but there is no way to get them into my spec. Paste button churns for a half second, but nothing happens. No warning popup. Selecting the text to be overwritten does nothing. Can find no way to get the text into a format where I can use cut-and-paste. Worse than useless Curt Norton, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: curtn Post Number: 233 Registered: 06-2002 Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 03:12 pm:    Do you have MasterWorks installed? When I click on the hyperlink to select manufacturers, I get a Paragraph Builder box that pops up. After selecting manufacturers, I click on "Update Specification" in the lower right corner and a macro runs that adds them to my spec section. ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 966 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 05:30 pm:    I spent two months in Masterworks hell. I finally spoke with some tech folks at Arcom (Josh is gone) and after a couple of hours on the phone and giving them control of my computer they finally got everything to work. There has to be a better way to get our work done. Phil Kabza Senior Member Username: phil_kabza Post Number: 564 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Monday, November 30, 2015 - 02:19 pm:    If you have multiple MSWord executables running, Paragraph Builder gets lost. This often happens in the heat of battle, when we specifiers open and close 100 or more files in a day. Check Task Manager to make sure you have only one Winword.exe running. Also: once in a while Word tries to eat your computer. Close all Word windows and open a fresh version that's only using a couple hundred thousand K and that may make Paragraph Builder happy. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP, LEED AP BD+C Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 335 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Monday, November 30, 2015 - 05:51 pm:    If you are using an old version of Word e.g. 2003 they may not support it since they have gone all Paragraph Builder now and they ended support for non-ribbons versions of Word. If you are still seeing SpecAgent per se, then the Word version is possibly the reason. Arcom may have a workaround to re-enable your paste button, if you contact their support group.