Upgrading to InstallMate 9

If you are a registered user of a Tarma Installer or InstallMate product (including Tarma QuickInstall 2, Tarma ExpertInstall 3, Tarma Installer 5, InstallMate 7) and want to upgrade to InstallMate 9, then please take a moment to read the information below.

You can install all our installer products side-by-side on the same computer, and use them independently for evaluation or production use. InstallMate 9 will automatically convert projects from previous versions.

InstallMate 9 box  InstallMate 7 boxTarma Installer 5 box   Tarma ExpertInstall 3 box   Tarma QuickInstall 2 box

What's new in InstallMate 9

InstallMate 9 is an extensively rewritten and updated successor to InstallMate 7, which in turn was a development of the earlier ExpertInstall 3 and Installer 5 products. Among many other things, InstallMate 9:

  • Has a new, more professional color scheme
  • Uses improved icon images throughout
  • Presents cleaner, less cluttered panel layouts and visually cleaner tree views
  • Is oriented towards wide screen (16:9) displays instead of the traditional (4:3) screen aspect ratio
  • Introduces new-style components, which combine the functionality of the previous product options with components

There are many more changes; please read What's new in InstallMate 9 for details.

Upgrading your license

Your Tarma QuickInstall 2 registration code or Tarma ExpertInstall 3, Tarma Installer 5, and InstallMate 7 registration certificates do not work with InstallMate 9.

However, registered users of Tarma QuickInstall 2, Tarma ExpertInstall 3, Tarma Installer 5, and InstallMate 7 are eligible to buy an equivalent InstallMate 9 license at a substantial discount by using the appropriate Buy online links on the Buy InstallMate 9 page.

Converting your projects

InstallMate 9 can open projects created with QuickInstall 2, ExpertInstall 3, Installer 5, and InstallMate 7.

When opening a project from a previous Tarma product, its contents are automatically converted to the InstallMate 9 structure and conventions. The original project is not modified; when you save a converted project, it is stored in a new InstallMate 9 project file.

The following table summarizes the most important differences between the various project formats.

  QuickInstall 2 ExpertInstall 3/Installer 5 InstallMate 7 InstallMate 9
Project file extension .tin .tip .im7 .im9
Project file encoding ANSI (using the default code page) Unicode (UTF-8 or UTF-16) same Unicode UTF-8
Project file format Derived from Windows .ini files XML 1.0 XML 1.0; uses different tags QML (C-like syntax)
Localization Limited to the default code page Full Unicode support, except for surrogates same same
Editable? Yes, with any plain text editor or tool Only with Unicode-enabled text editors and tools same same
Structure Mostly flat, with a few nesting levels Fully nested, follows XML 1.0 syntax rules same Fully nested, follows C-like syntax rules