Great News! FreeTrak received a 5-STAR Editor's Rating from CNET (DOWNLOAD.COM)!

If you are having issues using Download Current Config (e.g. year other than 2009 is showing up), right-click on the following link and do "Save Link As...". Save this file (must keep name FTCONFIG.XML) into your FreeTrak installation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\FreeTrak) -- overwrite the existing one. After that file is saved, try using Instant Import (From Web) to see if 2009 teams show up.
Download standalone 2009 Configuration File (XML) here -- FTCONFIG.XML

If you go into Download Current Config and it DOES show 2009 as current year, but you are still getting old teams when doing Instant Import, you can right-click on the following link and do "Save Link As...". Save this file (must keep name TEAMS2009.XML) into your FreeTrak installation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\FreeTrak), and then do Import From File (vs. Instant Import) on the Teams/Regions setup screen.

Download standalone 2009 Teams File (XML) here -- TEAMS2009.XML

If you would like to use FreeTrak for the 2009 Women's NCAA Tournament, a kind user (Paul G.) has sent me the XML file. The XML file is not used once teams have been imported, so theoretically you could set up two different tournaments for 2009 (one MENS, one WOMENS) -- but BE CAREFUL! Right-click on the following link and do "Save Link As...". Save this file into your FreeTrak installation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\FreeTrak), and then rename it to "TEAMS2009.XML" (dropping the 'W') -- you might want to rename your men's file first (e.g. to "MTEAMS2009.XML"). Then do Import From File (NOT Instant Import).
Download WOMENS standalone 2009 Teams File (XML) here -- WTEAMS2009.XML

Daily Notes:

(Wednesday - 3/18/2009 - 1:00PM CST)  IF YOU WANT REGION NAMES TO PRINT ON YOUR BRACKET REPORTS... download the following file and save it into your FreeTrak installation folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\FreeTrak), overwriting the existing one (I realize this is probably too late for most folks, but at least it will be there for 2010): FTBracket.frf

(Monday - 3/16/2009 - 7:00AM CST)  IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DO INSTANT IMPORT, OR ARE GETTING OLD (PRE-2009) TEAMS...
Make sure that your first step each year is to do Download Current Config from the Setup menu. First of all, it will tell you what year FreeTrak "sees" as the current year -- obviously, it SHOULD say 2009. If not, you need to click the "Download FreeTrak Configuration File for Current Year" button. It doesn't hurt anything to do this more than once. Once your Current Config shows as 2009, you should be set. NOW, go into Teams/Regions setup and do Instant Import (from Web). This should pull the correct files. If it doesn't, you can try the manual steps listed above --or-- you can send an email to support@freetrak.net and I'll help you get things set up (manually if necessary). And don't forget, you can always just type in the team names (on the Team/Regions setup form) from any bracket (vs. using Instant Import) -- the only thing you would lose (other than a few minutes of your time) is team records showing up as a mouse-over tooltip.

(Sunday - 3/15/2009 - 8:30PM CST)  2009 Team Files are available -- in Setup menu, (1) do Download Current Config and get 2009 file, and then (2) in Team/Regions setup, do Instant Import (from Web).

(Tuesday - 3/10/2009 - 12:00PM CST)  Well, I'm sure everyone has been wondering about the current (and future) status of FreeTrak. Honestly, I have debated (with myself) about whether or not to continue development. Why? Primarily because most people I know now use online bracket managers to run their office contests. I had intended to work (in the off-season) on a new .NET version of FreeTrak, but just couldn't justify (to myself or my family) the time and effort it would take to complete such a task (at least not at this time). So, in a nutshell, the answer is "I don't know what the future holds". The answer primarily depends on feedback from you folks -- the users. If you have strong feelings regarding FreeTrak and its future, send me an email. Or a donation :) Seriously, while my long-standing goal with FreeTrak has always been to provide a FREE piece of software to manage basketball tournament brackets, the generous donations over the years helped to pay for web hosting, development tool upgrades, and perhaps even provide a little spending money for the annual family vacation (which, needless to say, certainly helps to justify the time spent developing this software and answering emails). But honestly, donations last year were almost non-existent, which indicates (at least to me) that the active number of FreeTrak users has decreased significantly (moved on to other options?). Now wait just a minute, Mr. FreeTrak -- didn't you just say that your goal was for FreeTrak to be FREE? What's all of this talk about money (a.k.a. donations)? Yes, FreeTrak has been, is, and ALWAYS WILL BE free. We have never required one red cent to download and use our software -- EVER. But user donations (along with encouraging emails) have always been a major factor in providing motivation (and justification) to dedicate time and energy into ongoing FreeTrak development. Okay, enough said. I am stepping down from my soapbox now... :)

Since I DID bring up the subject of donations, however, let me take a moment and say a big sincere THANK YOU to everyone who HAS donated over the years (some have donated faithfully every year, which I never expected OR intended). If you have donated in the past, please don't ever feel obligated to donate again -- you've "earned your keep" (so to speak). Thanks!

The good news? I definitely plan to post new team import files for the 2009 tourney. And the current version (7.03) will work just fine "as is". If you are using an older version, you need to uninstall it and use 7.03 -- I am unable to provide support for older (pre-7.03) versions of FreeTrak.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Vista Compatibility -- you will need to set FreeTrak to "Run As Administrator" (in Compatibility settings) if you're using Vista. If you don't, you'll likely get "Access Denied" errors when reading the FreeTrak database.

HOW TO EXPORT/IMPORT PICKS: It's really simple. The administrator installs the "master" copy of FreeTrak. All participants/players download their own copy, set up a tournament (they'll need to know if you're supporting play-in game or not -- the other tournament settings are not important for exporting purposes -- just go with the defaults). Now, the participants should set themselves up as the only player for that new tournament. This should take all of a minute. Now, they simply go in and make their picks. Once they've completed their picks, the click the Export (to FTX) button on the pick screen. This will prompt them to save their picks -- they should use their own name to make the file recognizable (e.g. JohnDoe.FTX). Once that's complete, they can email that file (e.g. JohnDoe.FTX) to the administrator -- the administrator can then open up the master copy (they should already have the tournament set up, with all of the players pre-added -- the import process does not automatically add the players), and click the Import button. They select the FTX file from wherever it was saved (i.e. email attachment, jump drive, etc.), and the picks are imported. That's it! Granted, it's not a perfect process, but definitely better than the administrator adding all picks manually.

For those of you who want to create PDF reports (i.e. to distribute/email to participants):
FreeTrak does not natively create PDF output. There IS, however, a good (& free) solution available. PDFCreator is an open-source application that installs itself as a printer driver. When you want to print reports from FreeTrak (or anything else, for that matter), simply select "PDFCreator" as your printer. You'll be prompted for some optional items (title, etc.), and then a "Save to" location. You can even choose to email the file once it's been saved (it simply auto-launches your email client with the file already attached). I've used this nifty little tool for several years now, so I think it's harmless (I've never had any problems). BUT USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!! I am NOT responsible if PDFCreator does something bad to your system! Download PDFCreator here.

Download FreeTrak 7.03 here -- FT703F.EXE


What is FreeTrak?
FreeTrak is software that manages a NCAA Basketball Tournament Pool.  Over 80,000 people (to date) have downloaded FreeTrak, and we have received LOTS of positive feedback. Like its name says -- FreeTrak is FREE! (Yes, FREE -- no ad banners or anything!) Donations are always appreciated (see link at the top of this page).

Questions and/or problems?  Email us at support@freetrak.net