FAQ & Troubleshooting
Common questions — SmartScreen, fixing older clients' cities, offline behaviour, and re-activating a license.
"Windows protected your PC" — is the app safe?
Yes. The installer isn't yet signed with a paid code-signing certificate, so Windows SmartScreen shows a one-time warning. Click More info → Run anyway; you only do it once. See Installation.
A chart looks slightly off — why?
Almost always it's the birth city. If a client was added with a free-typed place (no coordinates), open their card, click Edit, and re-pick the exact city from the list. The houses and angles are only as accurate as the coordinates behind them. See Add your first client.
Does ChartVault need the internet?
Only once, to activate your license. After that everything — charts, the CRM, the feed, receipts — works fully offline. The two features that reach out are geocoding a new city and the optional Gemini AI calls; both are on-demand and optional.
I'm moving to a new computer.
Install ChartVault on the new machine, activate with the same license key, and restore your JSON backup. Nothing is tied to a specific device.
The ✨ Interpret buttons don't do anything.
They need a Gemini key. Add one (it's free from Google) and they activate. Everything else works without it.
Where is my data, exactly?
In an encrypted local database on your computer — never a server. See Privacy & data model.
Still stuck?
If something isn't behaving as these docs describe, check that you're on the latest version, and keep a backup before any major change.