If you have blank program pop-up windows or Q&A screens, the TaxAct program may be unable to create, read or write to temporary CSS and HTML files. The TaxAct program uses these files in the TMP folder.

Please first ensure that your version of Internet Explorer is up to date, even if Internet Explorer is not set as your system’s default web browser. If Internet Explorer is not your default browser, please also ensure that the browser set as your system’s default browser is up to date.

Ensure that your TaxAct program is installed to the default location of C:\TaxAct\TaxAct 20XX Preparer’s Edition. If the program is installed to another location, it is possible that Windows or security software is not allowing the program to function properly. To check the installation location, right-click on the TaxAct program icon, click Properties, and view the Target field on the Shortcut tab. The Target field should be C:\TaxACT\TaxAct 20XX Preparer’s Edition\TaxAct1X.exe.

To ensure that your security software is not interfering with the TaxAct program’s ability to create temporary files, please add the TaxAct program to your security software’s list of trusted or excluded programs. You may also temporarily disable your security software to test whether this affects your program performance. Please refer to your security software’s documentation for further instruction on adjusting your software.

If you have reset the location of your Windows user account’s Documents library, this may affect the TaxAct program’s ability to create, read, and write temporary files to the program’s TMP folder. By default, the TMP folder for temporary TaxAct program files is located in the associated TaxAct folder in the Documents library for the Windows user account. Windows’ default location of the Documents library for each user is located in C:\Users\[user account name]\Documents; however, the Documents library can manually be set to a different location. It is important to note that if you are not using the Enterprise version of the program, TaxAct uses the location you have specified for your Windows user account’s Documents library for the TMP folder, i.e., if you have selected a different location for your Windows user account’s Documents library, the TaxAct program will use this location instead of the Windows user account’s Documents folder.

You may check your Windows user account’s Documents library location by following the instructions below:

1. Open a Windows File Explorer window by simultaneously pressing the Windows logo key and the E key on your keyboard.
2. Right-click the Documents library in the File Explorer window and select Properties.
3. Click the Location tab to view your user account’s Documents library location.
4. If you find that your Documents library is not located in C:\Users\[user account name]\Documents, you may be able to resolve your issue by clicking the Restore Default button. You will need to click Apply after restoring to default in order to apply the change. Please note that this will alter the default save location for documents and some other files created by programs.

By changing the Documents library location, you are also changing the TaxAct program’s Temp Files directory to this location.