It will probably remain a mystery forever now, but at least I know what to suggest trying with anyone else that has a similar problem.

Yes, that's right.

Install the core app first, then the latest update, then all the add ons and annuals, then run the latest update again right at the end.

FT is a separate app. You can install that anytime you please.

You can use letters as well as numbers when you create the grid

I'm a newbie myself as far as understanding how to modify the labels, but I did find a rather laborious way of doing it.

Pick the properties of the grid (this is something I forgot to do, but quite important if you want to regroup everything at the end).

Hide everything else and explode the grid.

Use Change Properties and right click to select all the labels by entity type

Do It, and use the Pick text properties button to set the size.

It's an undoable operation, so if you get the wrong size the first time just undo and try again.

I think it might be quite inconvenient to continue work with the grid exploded like that, so maybe best to regroup the labels and the grid when you are done. If (unlike me) you remembered to pick the grid's properties before you started that's just a simple operation because the grid will end up grouped on the right sheet and layer the moment you regroup it.

I think the white band is the screen. You asked about it on your other current thread and I suggested a solution for it there - the commands contained in this blog by Remy Monsen should help.

...

Making and positioning a grid.

In these example images I have turned the usually invisible white screen object grey to show the extent of the map, and also to illustrate what happens when you use the collar commands.

Make your grid deliberately too large by using the Select points option above the Apply button and place it very approximately in the right place. At this stage you are merely using the map to judge how many hexes you want - a bit like stretching a length of curtain material over a window to see if it will fit. There is no need to worry about accurate placement. Be more concerned that you have enough hexes.

The new grid will have generated its own snap grid, which is useless from our point of view. Next we need to make our own new snap grid and move the drawn grid to match it.

To create a new snap grid right click the Grid button and select New.

Pick 2D Hexagonal and Continue...

Give your new Grid an appropriate name and adjust the settings to your taste, then OK

Your new snap grid should appear in the drawing window.

To move your drawn grid into alignment with the new snap grid, turn off Snap and turn on Attach. Then use the Move tool and pick up the grid at the corner of one of the hexes. Don't click the outline of the grid, but the side of one of the hexes.

While you have the grid hovering on your cursor mid-move operation, turn Attach off and Snap back on. You should be able to snap the corner of your hex to the right position according to the newly generated snap grid.

So the drawn grid is now in the right position*, but the screen (grey) is too narrow to cover the grid up.

Use COLLARDEL to delete that screen and COLLARAUTO to generate a new one.

The generated screen will be generously proportioned, but it does the job of hiding all those excess hexes really well. It will automatically be white, but I've turned mine grey again in this shot so you can see it.

I hope this helps.

*Please note that I have no idea if I'm showing the correct position as you described it, but only that the drawn hex grid is now perfectly aligned to the new snap grid.

Yes, Remy has resolved that in the last couple of minutes. I've just created an album and uploaded an image.

LOL! I've just seen that my old fashioned smiles have been converted to something that looks like a giggle or a laugh!

My goodness!

What a lot of interesting information. And after all that I'm not even sure if I will have time to do any of these extra things, but we shall see.

Thank you, Mike :)

The app is free, but relatively primitive. "It's really heavy to steer." As my dad used to say of the Ford Zephyr we had. For you young-uns, that's the same type of car used as cop cars and smashed up in their hundreds in the Blue's Brother's film.

You can get the default palette back again by clicking the colour swatch on the properties bar at the top, and then clicking the "Use Default PAL" button.

Remy Monsen covers palette management in some detail in this blog article here:

Details on how to save and reload palettes are near the end of the article.

You shouldn't type so fast Quenten! :P