DataWallet2 Basics

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The Data Wallet Model

DataWallet is designed to safely contain all your private and confidential textual information in a single file .  Once the file is encrypted, you can store the result anywhere you'd like, even on a public web site.

DataWallet was written to help people protect themselves against identity theft, memory lapses, hackers and old-fashioned, garden-variety theft.  Most of us have a variety of paper organizers, Post-It notes, spreadsheets and other computer files that contain information that we not only need, but which could cause us harm if they fell into the wrong hands.  Most encryption solutions are either too general or too application-specific.

DataWallet creates files known as data wallets; these are files that use the extension .dw2xz.  Each wallet can contain any number of distinct, named collections of data.  Each such collection is known as a dataset.   So, a wallet is an ensemble of datasets.

You may open more than one wallet at a time in DataWallet2. You will be asked for a password for any wallet you open.

When you create a new wallet, you will be asked to set a password the first time you save the file.

Installation

You may install DataWallet2 using its standard MSI file.

Alternatively, you may download the ZIP file and unzip it (with folders) to a folder on your internal drive. Then run "DataWallet2.exe".

The icons for DataWallet2 documents are automatically registered if you install via the MSI file. If not, you may register the document types using the Options menu item "Register Documents".

After creating your wallet file and saving it to your internal drive, you may create a desktop shortcut that opens your wallet file directly using DataWallet2 . To do this, right-click on the name of your wallet in the left-hand pane of the application window and choose "Create Desktop Shortcut".
Your desktop shortcut will have a wallet icon like this:

Dataset Organization

A DataWallet2 "wallet" file is really a collection of "datasets". Each dataset typically represents a category of information with its own special attributes.

Every dataset has a structure consisting of named, orderered columns.  The actual data items in a dataset are organized into rows, as in a spreadsheet.  

In a dataset, you can move columns, rename them, create and delete them.  The same is true of the rows of information.

Each "cell" or individual field of information in a row is merely a string of text.  In other words, DataWallet does not know or care that the string represents a phone number, ATM PIN code or account number.  The only type of string information that DataWallet recognizes is a World Wide Web Uniform Resource Locator (URL); this allows DataWallet to link directly to a web site that you use frequently. To browse to the site, right-click on a cell containing a URL and choose "Browse to URL".

Icons for the Application and Its Documents

Applications running on Windows typically have unique icons for the documents used by the application and the application itself. If you install DataWallet2 using the MSI file, its icons are automatically registered.

If you use the ZIP file installation, the first time you run DataWallet2 it will ask you if you want to update your system with the DataWallet2 icons. If you do, you'll be asked to approve making changes to your system.

If you installed the program with the MSI file, the icons will be automatically de-registered when you uninstall the application. If you manually registered the icons, before deleting the program files, run it again and choose the Options menu item "Deregister Documents".

Using DataWallet

To create a sample wallet, select "File" menu and then "New". This creates a basic wallet. You may then add new rows to the original datasets and add new datasets as you desire.

Almost all of the actions you'll perform with DataWallet are controlled through "context menus". A context menu is a pop-up window that appears when you click the right-hand mouse button in a particular area.  The contents of the menus change according to where you've clicked and the data found at that location.

First, right-click on the title of your wallet in the left-hand pane of the DataSet window.  Choose "Rename" from the context menu and type in a name of your choice.

Then practice clicking on the dataset names in that pane.  You'll see that the contents of the right-hand pane change to show the detailed fields of that dataset.

As with the left-hand wallet contents pane, you'll control the right-hand dataset fields pane through the use of context menus.

Read-Only Dataset

You may block changes to a dataset by right-clicking on the dataset name and choosing "read-only" from the context (right-click) menu. The dataset will block changes until you allow changes. This is a safety feature to control accidental changes to vital personal data

Reverting to Previous Dataset Versions

DataWallet2 does not have item-by-item undo capability. However, the wallet pane's right-click menu has an option called "Recover". This allows you to revert to the last version of the selected dataset during the current application execution.. This can be done for any modified dataset at any time unless you have already saved the document.

Making Wallet Backups

We recommend that you make regular backups of important wallet files to protect against accidental data loss.

Because wallets are encrypted, it is generally safe to store them in clouds and backup drives.