General Tips and Considerations

Note 1: There is an extensive users manual for ZumaStat that is available through the ZumaStat menus. If you need further help, contact us through Technical Support.

Note 2: Occasionally you should clean up the temporary work space of ZumaStat by pressing the “Clean Work Space” button on the main menus.  It uses the directory c:\zumastat\temp.  Do not save files to this directory.

Tips and Considerations for Z Plus

Note 1: Although the other ZumaStat programs function as stand alones, Z Plus works only with SPSS.  You must have SPSS running for Z Plus to work.  Z Plus loads variables from your SPSS data file and works with them.  It can be slow when your data set has a large number of variables.  For newer computers, we find it works well with data sets that have 500 variables or less.  Over that, the initial loading of variables can be slow, but this depends on the speed of your computer.  If you have a data set with more than 500 variables and are using Z Plus, we suggest you make a smaller SPSS data set to work with that has less than 500 variables.  Smaller is better in terms of speed.

Note 2: Some programs in Z Plus rename the active data file in SPSS to temp.sav.  This is necessary because Z Plus has to manipulate the data set you are using.  Although you can work with this new data set, be sure to rename it if you decide to save the data file with a Save As command.  Do not save files in the temporary work space of ZumaStat (c:\zumastat\temp).  

Note 3: ZumaStat offers several programs that create Excel graphs for you.  You must have Excel to use these programs.  It is best to create a graph, then cut and paste it or save it to a file you want, and then close Excel before creating a new graph using ZumaStat.  If you create multiple graphs at the same time, occasionally you will get an automation error (although not often).  If you get an automation error using Z Plus, ignore the working data set that may be in your data file, reload your original working SPSS data set, close out ZumaStat and then try it again.

Note 4: New versions of SPSS allow you to have multiple instances of SPSS running at the same time.  Z Plus only works on the first instance that was opened.  In general, it is best to use Z Plus with only a single instance of SPSS running.