AeroPoint - Read Me (macOS)

Be sure to use your computer's local Downloads or Documents folder (not iCloud or other cloud storage). Open Finder and go to your Home > Downloads or Documents folder for easy access.

Getting Started - your first hour#

If you are new to AeroPoint, do these five things in order. Everything else in this document is reference you can come back to.

1. Install it (next section). One download, one drag.
2. Open it once and look around. Nothing runs until you press a button.
3. Read the Assumptions document - Settings > Assumptions. It is short, and it lists the judgement calls the software makes when it reads an assessment. If you disagree with any of them, that is worth a conversation before you rely on a table.
4. Set up one data folder the way "Setting Up Your Data Folder" describes, using a SMALL batch - three or four candidates you already know the answers for.
5. Run a Company Table on that batch and check the spreadsheet against what you expected.

That last step is the one people skip, and it is the one that matters. The software reads third-party PDFs on a best-effort basis; a first run you can check by eye tells you what to trust before a real deliverable depends on it.

Everything stays on your computer. AeroPoint reads the folder you point it at and writes the spreadsheet back there. Nothing about your candidates is uploaded anywhere.

Questions at any point: Sean@AeroPointAutomation.com, or Settings > Report a Bug from inside the app, which sends your version and what your last run did.

Installing and Updating#

The app checks for updates when you open it and will walk you through installing one. To install it the first time:

1. Download the .dmg and double-click it to open it.
2. Drag AeroPoint.app onto the Applications shortcut inside it.
3. Open AeroPoint from your Applications folder. The first time, macOS will refuse to open it and say it cannot verify the app is free of malware. Nothing is wrong with the download - macOS says this about any app that is not signed by a developer registered with Apple, whether or not it has ever seen the app before. To let it through, once: You do this once, not on every launch, and not again after an update.
   • Click Done on the message.
   • Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
   • Choose Privacy & Security in the sidebar.
   • Scroll to the bottom of that page. There is a line saying AeroPoint was blocked, with an Open Anyway button next to it. Click it and confirm with your password or Touch ID.
   • Open AeroPoint again. It starts normally.
4. If instead you see "app is damaged and can't be opened", open Terminal (search in Spotlight) and type: xattr -cr /Applications/AeroPoint.app then press Enter. That is the same caution in a blunter form, not a real problem with the download.

The AeroPoint Window#

Open AeroPoint and you get:

• Company Table - the one tool. Press it and follow the steps below.
  • A status line at the bottom telling you how the last run ended ("finished", "cancelled", "stopped: data error", "crashed").
  • Cancel - stops a run that is in progress.
  • The gear button - Settings (below).
  • Close - closes the window. If a table is still being produced, it is left alone to finish; closing does not throw away work in progress.

You can leave the window open all day and run it as many times as you like.

Settings (the gear button)#

• Show log pane - shows the running output inside the window. Off by default. With it on you also get a Clear Console button.
  • Dark mode - switches the whole app to a dark theme.
  • Results database (Extract Data), by default - the starting answer to Extract Data's Append / New / Skip question, and Change folder for where the database is kept (it starts in the app's own data folder). A file named hierarchy.csv beside the database lists each company and its parent company; correct a row there if a folder was wrong.
  • View database - browse everything in it as parent company > company > person, with each person's number of results and latest test date. Select any of them and: Export... saves a spreadsheet (CSV, opens in Excel) of just that parent company, company or person - by default only each person's latest result per test; Set parent... moves a company under a different parent company (or none); Set company... moves a person to the right company. Both corrections are remembered (in hierarchy.csv / people.csv beside the database), so later runs agree with them.
  • Keep tools loaded (faster repeat runs) - the first run of the day takes a few seconds to start; with this on, every one after that starts immediately.
  • Check for Update - checks now rather than waiting for the automatic check.
  • Open Log File - opens the folder with the log in it.
  • Report a Bug - see below.
  • Assumptions, Read Me and License - three documents that open in TextEdit. "Assumptions" is the one worth reading: it lists the judgement calls the software makes when it reads a test - how Watson-Glaser II and III subscores differ (II only gives a Low/Average/High band, so it is recorded as 55/75/90), why CPI Sensitivity is reported inverted, and how a missing test is handled. "Read Me" is this file.
  • Apply saves your changes. Main Menu goes back WITHOUT saving them.

Setting Up Your Data Folder (do this first, every time)#

You point the app at ONE folder and it works on everything inside it. Getting this folder right prevents almost every problem.

1. Make a NEW subfolder for each job, for example ~/Documents/Reports/Acme March.
   • Do NOT point the app at Downloads itself. It will refuse to run - it would try to process every unrelated file you have ever downloaded.
   • Keep it out of iCloud Drive. Files that have been "optimised" off your Mac look empty to the app. If Desktop and Documents are synced to iCloud, use a folder in your Home directory instead.
2. Put the candidates' assessment folders or zips into it. You do not need to unzip anything - the app opens .zip files, flattens subfolders and tidies up filenames on its own.
3. Check the PDF filenames. This is the one thing the app cannot guess for you.
   • The expected shape is Last, First - TEST.pdf, for example Doe, Jane - CPI.pdf.
   • The TEST part must be one of these markers. Capitals are conventional but NOT required - the app matches them regardless of case:

• Use SII, not SCI, for the Strong Interest / Skills Confidence report. The app looks for "SII" in the filename; a file named - SCI.pdf is not read, and you will be told that person is missing that test.
  • A filename the app does not recognise is reported at the END of the reading step, not the start - so you find out after the slow part, not before it. Getting the names right up front is what saves the time.
  • Spell each person's name the SAME way in every file. "Bob Smith" and "Robert Smith" will otherwise arrive as two different people, and the app will stop to ask you which is which.

Running a Company Table#

Produces Customer Table.xlsx - every candidate in the folder, one row each.

1. Open AeroPoint and press Extract Data.
2. "Do you want to generate a Company Table?" - press Generate Table.
   • "Standard Extract All" reads the PDFs and writes the data out to CSV but makes no spreadsheet. It is useful for preparing a folder ahead of time; it is not what you want if you came here for the table.
3. Select the folder you prepared and click "Choose".
   • "Save this run's results to the database?" - it shows which database file and what it already holds, and starts on your Settings choice: Append adds this run's results (a result already in it is not added twice); New starts a fresh database and keeps the old one, renamed; Skip leaves the database alone. Each person is filed under the company ("1 - ...") and parent company ("2 - ...") folders their files sit in.
4. "Do you want to run parallel extraction - its faster but less stable?" - the left button is Run It Parallel! (all your processor cores, much faster on a big group); the right is Slow and Safe! (one PDF at a time, the reliable choice). Start with Slow and Safe if a folder has given you trouble before.
5. The app reads the PDFs. This is the slow part - a large group can take several minutes.
   • If it cannot read a score off a PDF, it opens that PDF and asks you to type the number in. Read it off the page carefully; it goes straight into the spreadsheet.
   • If anyone is missing a test the filenames led the app to expect, you get a summary with Continue Anyway and Abort. "Continue Anyway" produces the spreadsheet with that data missing - nothing downstream checks it - so read the list before choosing.
6. "...filter typo and nicknames based on folder names?" - Filter lets the app resolve nickname and spelling differences itself using the folder names. Manual Oversight asks you about each one. Choose Manual Oversight when the names matter and you want to see what it is doing.
7. "...filter position and company based on folder names?" - same choice again, this time for the Position and Company columns, which the app reads from the folder each candidate was filed under. Manual Oversight is recommended: these two columns go into the deliverable and nothing downstream checks them.
8. When it finishes, the folder opens with Customer Table.xlsx inside it.

Where Your Files End Up#

Your spreadsheet goes into the folder you selected at the start of the run, and the app opens that folder when it finishes. (The one thing kept elsewhere is the diagnostic log - see Log Files below.)

The run also REARRANGES that folder, which surprises people the first time:

• A PDF folder - your PDFs, unzipped and flattened out of their subfolders.
  • A raw_pdfs folder - loose PDFs that were sitting in the folder you picked.
  • Your .zip files are moved up to the top of the run folder.
  • DataExtracted.csv - every score the app read, after names were tidied up.
  • DataExtractedRaw.csv - the same before the tidying.

The only files the app removes are coach-report PDFs (anything with _coach in the name), which it does not read - keep your own copy elsewhere if you need them.

Re-running on the Same Folder#

Re-runs REUSE the CSVs instead of re-reading the PDFs, which is what makes a second run take seconds instead of minutes. The Company Table reads DataExtractedRaw.csv.

If you have added, removed or renamed any PDF, delete BOTH DataExtracted.csv AND DataExtractedRaw.csv before running again, or the app will keep using the old data. Deleting them is safe; the PDFs are what matter.

Reporting a Problem#

Settings > Report a Bug sends a message straight to support. It always includes which version you are on and what your last run did. There is a tick box to attach the diagnostic log - that log contains candidate names and scores, so it is OFF unless you tick it, and the box underneath shows you exactly what will be sent before you press Send Report.

Automatic Updates#

The app checks for a new version when you open it (once per session, with a 12-hour gap between checks that is overridden for critical updates). If an update is ready, follow the prompts. The app closes while it installs; reopen it when the installer finishes.

Log Files#

Every run saves a log of what happened. If anything goes wrong, sending this file is the fastest way to get it fixed - it records who ran it, when, which people were processed, and any error.

• Settings > Open Log File opens the folder directly.
  • Send the file named AeroPoint_log.txt (if asked, also AeroPoint_log_old.txt).
  • You don't need to do anything with these day-to-day - just know where they are.

Troubleshooting#

• "Do not run direct from Downloads":
  • The app will not work on Downloads itself. Make a subfolder and put the data in that.
• A row is missing a whole test:
  • The PDF for it was probably named in a way the app did not recognise. Check the filename against the list above, fix it, delete BOTH CSVs, and run again.
• The same person appears twice:
  • Their name is spelled two different ways across the PDFs. Fix the filenames, delete BOTH CSVs, and run again.
• "CSV File Unable to be Written To":
  • DataExtracted.csv or Customer Table.xlsx is open in Excel. Close it and run again.
• Unclear error messages:
  • Easiest: Settings > Report a Bug, which sends the details automatically.
  • Or turn on Show log pane in Settings, copy the text, and send it.
• A dialog seems to be hiding:
  • The app's windows can end up behind the main window. Click the AeroPoint icon in the Dock to bring them all forward.

For questions or issues, contact Sean@AeroPointAutomation.com.