vicons FAQ

We don’t offer a trial version because icons are graphical assets which cannot be rescinded but you may download a free sample icon in PowerPoint before purchasing. We aspire to provide all of the necessary information needed for you to make a purchase decision on the vicons product description pages. However, we strive to achieve 100% satisfied customers so please refer to our refund policy below.

The End User License Agreement provides full details which you must abide by but this is a summary:

What can I do with the software?

1. Use it for life, with as many PowerPoint, Excel and Word files as you like

2. Use it on a single computer

3. Receive free updates

4. Make unlimited distributions and copies of PowerPoint, Excel and Word files containing limited selections of the graphical assets

5. Use the product and/or the resulting files in public places

6. Make copies for backup purposes

7. Uninstall and transfer the license from one computer to another

What can I NOT do with the software?

1. Modify or decompile it in any way

2. Have it installed on or use it on multiple computers at the same time

3. Resell, loan or rent it for a fee or transfer the license to another person

4. Use it as part of a business service offering eg. for generating client presentations

5. Post any graphical assets on any electronic bulletin board, FTP or file sharing programs

6. Put any graphical assets online in a downloadable format

7. Use any graphical asset in a website at a resolution higher than 72dpi at 640×480 pixels

8. Create PowerPoint, Excel and Word files containing the full set of graphical assets or more than 50 in a single file, or the full set across multiple files.

The short answer is no. vicons has not been designed for non-Microsoft products, including those that have licensed various development platforms. However, icons may be inserted into Microsoft PowerPoint slides, Microsoft Excel sheets and Microsoft Word documents, formatted with the various tools available and then exported is PNG files (with transparency support) and finally imported as pictures into Word Perfect and any other non Microsoft Office applications. See the question on exporting as pictures for more information.

Yes you can and it’s very easy to do. Import your icon in your preferred Microsoft Office application (PowerPoint, Excel or Word). Use the Format tab to changed fill and outline colors, effects such as shadow and reflection and resize your icon as required. Once you’re happy with what you’ve designed, right click on the icon and select Save as picture. Form there, you’ll be asked to select the format and we recommend PNG because the areas that are not part of the icon will appear transparent when the icon is exported as opposed to white if you select another format such as JPG.

Because Microsoft Office applications used physical dimensions like inches and centimetres instead of pixels to size objects, you need to do a bit of math to work out what size to set your icon to before saving it as a picture.

These are the metric and imperial equations for PowerPoint : 

For example, if you wanted a square shape of 1500px wide by 1500px tall then you would need to size your square in PowerPoint to 10″ x 10″ or 3.94 cm x 3.94 cm.

Caveat : due to rounding errors, you will get very close to the output size but not always exactly as required and an external image editor may be required to crop and resize as required.

Although PowerPoint, Excel and Word are developed by the same company, they are not developed by the same team! That means that they all behave in slightly different ways. In software terminology, the object model in Word does not allow a programmer to design an add-in that can ungroup an imported vector picture which is why you need to do it manually before you can format it. This process also removes the jagged edges.

This is the way that all Microsoft Office applications render (display) imported vector picture files. After inserting the icon, an additional step is required to convert the vector file to something that Microsoft Office applications understand and that’s a Microsoft drawing object. This is done simply by ungrouping the inserted icon. In PowerPoint and Excel, the vicons add-in does this for you but Word doesn’t support that capability so you need to perform this extra step for each icon you insert.

Please visit our Support page for information useful to licensees.

We do release updates to all of our products from time to time. This is partly based on user feedback so if you have something you’d like to see in vicons, please contact us. It’s also based on our ideas to improve the product, including new features, icons and bug fixes. All of our updates are free to existing licensees. You can check for updates periodically by clicking the (?) icon in the vicons group within the PowerPoint, Excel or Word Insert tab and then clicking the Check Updates button.

Should you do decide to purchase vicons and are not happy with the product, for whatever reason, we will first try to resolve any issue you have with the product. We will do this by email and/or telephone. If we are unable to provide you with a satisfactory solution, you may apply for a full refund on the following conditions:

• You have not inserted icon(s) more than 3 times since installing the product.
• You follow our instructions to deregister the product and rescind the license.