Igor Pro 8 is supported on Windows 7 or later.
After installing Igor 8, both a 32-bit application (Igor.exe) and a 64-bit application (Igor64.exe) will be available for use. The 64-bit application will allow Igor to use more system memory, which means you can create, open, and manipulate larger data sets. It is also slightly faster than the 32-bit application. We recommend that you use the 64-bit application (Igor64.exe) if possible. On Windows, the 64-bit application is located within the Igor Pro 8 Folder\IgorBinaries_x64 directory. The 32-bit application is located within the Igor Pro 8 Folder\IgorBinaries_Win32 directory.
The primary reason to use the 32-bit application is if you need to use Igor extensions (XOPs) that are 32-bit extensions. Almost all XOPs that ship with Igor have both 32-bit and 64-bit versions (see Activating More Extensions for details). Third-party Windows XOPs may have 64-bit versions available if they were created relatively recently.
When Igor Pro 8 is first launched, it prompts you for your serial number and activation key.
These are provided in an email you received from WaveMetrics.
If you do not enter the serial number and activation key, Igor runs in fully-functional 30-day evaluation mode. After 30 days Igor will no longer save experiments, procedures, data, or graphics until you enter a valid serial number and activation key.
You can enter a license activation key at a later time by selecting "License..." from the "Help" menu.
Your administrator can install Igor Pro onto a file server for a single user or activate a multi-user license for all users, depending on the type of license that was purchased.
If you purchased a single-user License, but only your administrator can install programs on your computer, ask the administrator to only install Igor Pro using the installer (and not enter any license information).
After the administrator installs Igor, you can enter the serial number and activation key yourself, and the license will not be shared by other users; other users can run Igor in 30-day evaluation mode.
Your administrator can also "silently" install Igor from a batch file or other command line-based utility by running the setupIgor8.exe installer with the /q option.
By placing an edited copy of the Settings.txt file found in the Silent Igor Installation folder (inside the Miscellaneous folder), the administrator can install and activate a licensed copy of Igor. See the content of the Settings.txt file for documentation.
You may wish to enable additional Igor extensions. See Activating More Extensions for details.
We strongly recommend that you take the "Guided Tour of Igor". This is an essential introduction to Igor. It is available in the Getting Started volume of the PDF manual (choose Help→Manual) and in the online help (choose Help→Getting Started).
To get a feel for what Igor Pro can do, double-click some of the files in the "Examples" folder.
You'll find Igor’s comprehensive online help system where you expect it: in the Help menu.
We recommend that users upgrading from Igor 7 see the "What's New In Igor Pro 8?" help file.
This version of Igor Pro includes the full Igor Pro manual set as PDF (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) files copied to your hard disk during installation. They may be accessed from the Help menu by choosing "Manual".
To use the PDF manual you will need Adobe Reader 6.0 or later, available from Adobe's web site here.
Demo versions of other WaveMetrics software are available from www.wavemetrics.com/support/demos.htm
Extensions in the "More Extensions" and "More Extensions (64-bit)" folders are not available in Igor Pro until you activate them.
If you use the 64-bit version of Igor Pro, you must activate 64-bit extensions (found in the "More Extensions (64-bit)" folder). If you use the 32-bit version of Igor Pro, you must activate 32-bit extensions (found in the "More Extensions" folder). If you use both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Igor, you must activate both versions of each extension you use.
To activate the HDF5 extension, for example:
To see documentation and instructions for using the HDF5XOP, you would normally double-click the "More Extensions\File Loaders\HDF5 Help.ihf" file.
If you want to have the associated help file always available in the Windows menu:
New and experienced Igor programmers should check out:
You can register your copy of Igor by selecting "License..." from the "Help" menu and clicking the "Register Igor Online" button.
Choose "Updates for Igor Pro..." from the Help menu to query the WaveMetrics web site for available updates.
There are several ways to keep up with the latest Igor news and get the latest tech notes and what-not:
Visit us on the World-Wide Web at: http://www.wavemetrics.com/
A user-to-user support and collaboration web site that is sponsored by WaveMetrics. Its main features are a forum and places where programmers can upload complete projects or "code snippets" and users can download them.
The Igor mailing list provides a way for hundreds of Igor users to help one another and share solutions and ideas. WaveMetrics also posts information on the latest Igor developments. For instructions on subscribing, unsubscribing and posting to the list, see: http://www.wavemetrics.com/support/mlist.htm
We welcome feedback at any time and we do take it seriously.
Our email addresses are sales@wavemetrics.com and support@wavemetrics.com.