When things are very broken and confused it’s important to slow down, take a deep breath, and then start with what does work – and build from there one step at a time. 
By changing just one thing at a time, and then checking if things are working well at each step – then we’ll be able to see exactly what step introduces the problem. And if we know what’s causing the problem it should be easy to fix. 
So let’s start again with the absolute basic system:
- Create new user account
- Download a brand new copy of RapidWeaver
- Install RapidWeaver
And then let’s test.
- Can you launch RapidWeaver?
- Can you create a new project?
- Can you add a Styled Text page to the project?
- Can you preview the Styled Text page?
That’s seven steps.
Did each step go well?
Or did something fail?
If something fails – don’t worry – that’s good news! Each of these steps is so simple we should be able to identify the problem immediately.
When something does fail – either in one of these seven steps or later on – please provide an exact error message. A screenshot of the error message, or a crash report is useful too.
If there is no error message and no crash, then explain exactly what happened. The more detail you can provide, the better. Explain the entire sequence of events like we’re 3 years old. It sounds silly, but that can really help.
The more detail you provide, the more help we’ll be able to give you.
Next steps
If you get the basic things working, then it’s time to take the next steps. Again, let’s just take a few simple steps, one at a time , and see what breaks. If/When we find something broken, then – just as before – report what happens in as much detail as possible. Try these steps:
- Download the Stacks plugin from Stacks 5 Plug-In
- Install Stacks
- Quit and re-launch RapidWeaver
- Create a new project
- Add a Stacks page
- Add a Text Stack to the page
- Preview
Repeat
- Repeat this process for each plugin, hopefully there are not too many
- only add the plugins you absolutely need
- if you don’t need a plugin today, then don’t install it today
- download each one fresh from the developer.
The big step
If you manage to get this far it’s time to try to open your project file. For this step, simply do that one thing. That’s plenty!
Since you have not yet installed any 3rd party stacks (no cheating – don’t jump to the end ) – you should expect the project to open, but all 3rd party stacks to display as “missing”. That’s OK for this step.
If the project doesn’t open, or crashes, or does something else strange – report it – lots of detail – include error messages and screenshots.
The final step
Install 3rd party themes and stacks. Usually these can’t be downloaded fresh from the developer since you download them after purchase. So just use what you have here.
If this step fails report back here with the exact error.
Congratulations
If you make it past that, congratulations – that’s everything. Try using RapidWeaver for a little while and see how it goes. If all goes well, then it sounds like things are working. If there are crashes or problems – report the exact details – be as specific as you can, include screenshots and crash reports if possible.
Good luck. I’m rooting for you. I know you can do this. 
