The 2025 version of SDScribe™ (v. 11.12) is now available on the web site, as a paid upgrade from earlier versions of the program. (If you just purchased SDScribe™ recently, contact Hazard Solutions to see whether you are eligible for a complimentary upgrade.)
This post includes basic installation instructions and covers some of the new features.
Contents:
64-bit database engine
Opening SDScribe™ for the first time - Existing users
Opening SDScribe™ for the first time - New users
Data updates
Updated word processing areas
Enhanced SDS generation options
SDS browse list enhancements
SDS entry form enhancements
Program help
Other changes
64-bit database engine
The program has been updated using 64-bit development tools, which means that it requires a 64-bit version of Microsoft® Windows in which to run.
Windows 10 has been available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, with the 64-bit version being the most common. Windows 11 is 64-bit only. So if you are using a 32-bit version of Windows 10, you will need to update to a 64-bit version of Windows 10 — or to Windows 11 — to run SDScribe™.
Among the advantages of the 64-bit environment are faster record searches, as well as reduced delay when opening an SDS entry form.
Opening SDScribe™ for the first time - Existing users
Because of the change to 64-bit code, the program needs to revise your existing data file (“SDScribe.4DD”). Depending on the data file size and the speed of the computer processor, this operation can take some time — perhaps 30-45 minutes for larger data files. While this task is in progress, you will see green progress bars on the screen.
Once the conversion has completed, you will no longer be able to access the data file with versions of SDScribe™ earlier than v.11. For this reason, we strongly recommend opening the new version of SDScribe™ on a copy of your current data file.
Ensure that you quit from your current version of SDScribe™ before running the installer. To reduce potential conflicts and minimize installation time, you may also want to temporarily disable any antivirus or anti-malware program that may be running on your workstation.
Run the SDScribe™ update installer to place the program on disk. The recommended (default) location on disk for installation is “C:\Hazard_Solutions\SDScribe_64”.
After the installer finishes, it will display a confirmation message. If a box is checked to start the program immediately after finishing the install, un-check this box.
Quit the SDScribe™ update installer. If you disabled antivirus or anti-malware programs, you can re-enable them now.
In Windows Explorer, find your existing data file (“SDScribe.4DD”) for the last version of SDScribe™. The default location for this file is “C:\Hazard_Solutions\Database”.
Right-click on the data file (“SDScribe.4DD”) and select “Copy” from the contextual menu.
Navigate to the location: “C:\Hazard_Solutions\SDScribe_64”\Database”.
Right-click on the “Database” folder and select “Paste” from the contextual menu. This action will place the data file copy in with the new program.
Start the new version of SDScribe™, either from the Windows Start menu or from a desktop icon. If the program asks for the location of its data file, point it to the “SDScribe.4DD” file that you just pasted into the “Database” folder (above).
Green progress bars should appear on the screen while the program revises the existing data file. This process may take 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your data file, speed of the workstation, and processing time required by unrelated programs that may also be running.
When prompted, enter your new serial number for SDScribe™, which you should have received by email from Hazard Solutions.
Opening SDScribe™ for the first time - New users
To reduce potential conflicts and minimize installation time, you may want to temporarily disable any antivirus or anti-malware program that may be running on your workstation.
Run the SDScribe™ full installer to place the program on disk. The recommended (default) location on disk for installation is “C:\Hazard_Solutions\SDScribe_64”.
After the installer finishes, it will display a confirmation message. You can optionally check the box to start SDScribe™ immediately on quitting.
Quit the installer. If you disabled antivirus or anti-malware programs, you can re-enable them now.
Start SDScribe™, either from the Windows Start menu or a desktop icon. The program will ask you to accept terms of use and enter your company name in Preferences.
If you haven’t purchased the program, SDScribe™ will run in trial mode for up to 30 days.
Data updates
The following information is included in the SDScribe™ 2025 starter data, and is also available to current users as imports to their existing data files.
For current users, the program will offer to perform the imports shortly after startup. If you decline to run the imports on startup, you can still access them from File (menu) -> Imports-exports and utilities -> Review imports (button).
If you are a current user that is upgrading from a much earlier version of SDScribe™ (SDScribe™ 2023, SDScribe™ 2022, etc.), then the program may offer to import items beyond those listed below.
Australian Inventory of Industrial Chemicals (new).
Australian List of Chemicals with High Hazards for Categorisation (new)
California Prop. 65 (update)
Canada DSL and NDSL lists (updates)
EU Cosmetic Ingredient (COSING) lists, Annexes II through VI (updates)
EU Harmonised Substances List update (ATP-22 update)
EU Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC), Candidate list (update)
Polish phrase translations (update for a custom translation group)
US EPA PFAS structured list (update)
US state chemical lists for Oregon, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington (new)
Water Hazard Class, Germany – WGK (update)
Data corrections
Fixed Substance records in the starter data that were incorrectly merged during imports.
Cocoa butter with a "D-glucopyranose, oligometric…" - CAS 110615-47-9.
Sodium chloride with a polyazo-type dye material.
Updated word processing areas
Updated word processing areas are a new feature of SDScribe™ 2025
Horizontal and vertical rulers appear by default.
A multi-tabbed toolbar above the text entry area replaces the previous word processing sub-menus.
Direct export to disk in “.docx” (Microsoft® Word’s XML format) and pdf formats is available, without the need for external drivers. A [Ctrl]-[Shift]-S keyboard shortcut saves in .docx format without intermediate option dialogs.
The word processor areas save their contents to a different type of field from earlier versions of SDScribe™ (object vs. BLOB). However, the new areas can import SDSs, labels, etc. created in earlier versions.
On first startup, content from the earlier word processing areas is imported into the corresponding new areas.
Re-import of earlier SDSs and labels is also available, when the Previous button (above the word processing area) is bold/blue.
Import of documents on disk (.docx, .rtf, .txt format) is also available, by clicking on the toolbar Import icon (“In-box” with upward-pointing arrow).
Enhanced SDS generation options
SDS generation options dialog, “Main and sections” tab.
SDS Section 3 (Composition), Section 9 (Phys-chem properties), and Section 15 (Regulatory information) offer Microsoft® Word-style tables in the generated SDS, where the text wraps within each cell. The table header row repeats automatically if a page break occurs inside the table.
SDS Section 15 (Regulatory information) table options include a “matrixed” table with component names in rows, followed by a second table for items not included in the matrixed table.
Additional SDS page header styles are available.
Section 3 of a generated SDS, “Table with hazards” option (partial).
Section 3 of a generated SDS, “Table with hazards” option, continuation from the previous page. The repeat of the title row occurs automatically.
Section 15 of a generted SDS, “US matrix” option (partial), showing first (matrixed) table, containing regulatory items that are associated with a particular product ingredient (component). Regulatory items not associated with an ingredient appear in a second table.
Section 15 of a generted SDS, “US matrix” option (partial), showing second table, for regulatory items that do not appear in the first table. Items appear in their listing order on Tab “15.1 Regulatory”.
SDS browse list enhancements
Duplicate (button and contextual menu)
Duplicate button, SDS browse window. The middle two items are new, and also appear in the browse list contextual menu (after a right-click).
These two new items may be beneficial if you are maintaining the same SDS in more than one language. You can edit the English in a “master” SDS, and then copy the revised English to the other SDSs.
Duplicate and clear non-English
Simplifies creating a duplicate SDS for another (non-English) language.
After making the duplicate, the program removes all non-English field content, so you can start the same SDS in a different language.
Copy English to other SDSs
If you are maintaining an SDS in multiple languages, edit the English portion in one “master” SDS, then copy the updated English content to other SDSs that are highlighted in the browse list.
As a precaution, the program permits copying to a maximum of 5 other SDSs simultaneously.
Right-click on the source SDS from which to copy English content.
The program prompts you to select the SDSs to be updated (up to five). Only the English content of the destination SDSs is updated (excludes items in tables).
Find SDSs with components from a particular source
“Ingredient source…” in the Search button menu
Search for particular text in the “Source notes” column of the Component table (“3 Composition” tab of SDS entry form); or
Select a chemical from the Substances browse list
Search button (magnifying glass icon) menu, SDS browse list. Select “Ingredient source…” to identify SDSs by ingredient origins.
The program will display a dialog where you can enter text to search for (in the “Source notes” column of the Component table, “3 Composition” tab); or click on the “Select a chemical…” button to choose a Substance record to be considered as the source. (The latter option works only for SDSs created in SDScribe™ 2025 and later versions.)
Properties (browse list contextual menu)
Right-click and select "Properties" from the contextual menu.
The program displays an information dialog.
Indicates number of associated items (components, exposure limits, regulations) for the selected SDS.
Indicates whether SDS and labels have been generated, and whether earlier SDSs and labels (prior to SDScribe™ 2025) are still available.
Displays the missing items list.
Selecting “Properties” for an SDS, from the browse list contextual menu.
Partial list of information about an SDS, when the user selects “Properties” from the contextual menu. Not shown: word processing area content for labels, missing items.
SDS entry form enhancements
Source notes now appear in a visible column in the Component table ("3 Composition" tab).
SDS entry form, “3 Composition” tab, showing contents of the Source notes column in a separate window (display-only, not for editing).
Facilitates tracing where an ingredient came from; now logs the source mixture's identification number, from the Substances section (Substance_ID field).
Existing users: Re-select your preferred column view (the drop-down menu above the Component table) to see the Source notes column in its normal location.
This information can also be viewed in a separate window (read-only):
Right-click on a row and select "Show source notes" from the contextual menu; or
Click on the "Source notes" cell for a row, and then click on the "Zoom" button.
Apply "less than", "greater than", etc. to more than one row ("< >" columns)
Highlight one or more rows in the Component table by [Shift]-clicking or [Ctrl]-clicking, and then select the appropriate symbol for the columns.
Selecting the “less than” symbol (“<“) for two non-contiguous rows, Component table, “3 Composition” tab of the SDS entry form.
Classif. codes, H-codes (click to add new) (column)
Example of GHS classifications and H-codes associated with a chemical listed in the Component table, where some of the H-codes include text that requires completion (e.g., "[route]", "[organs]"). This content will appear in the hazard-inclusive formats for Section 3, on the generated SDS.
This column contains GHS classification and hazard statement codes for individual components (ingredients). This information will appear in expanded form in Section 3 of the generated SDS, if you select a format for Section 3 that includes hazards.
The program copies these codes from the linked Substance record, but you can edit it:
Directly, by clicking into the cell; or
Click into the cell, then click on the “Zoom” button; or
Right-click on the row, and select “Show classification and H-codes”.
Click on the column header, and choose one or more hazard items from the displayed list.
For each component/row:
Codes should be separated by semicolons.
GHS classification codes should appear first, before the hazard statement codes.
(New feature): If an H-statement for the component contains brackets (“[“), slashes (“/”), or ellipses (“…”), then the program will display both the H-code and the full hazard statement, so that you can replace the brackets/slashes/ellipses in the statement with the missing information (e.g., “[route]” with “by inhalation”, or “[organs]” with “liver and pancreas”.)
Find in Component table (magnifying glass icon, shortcut: [Ctrl]-F)
Enter text to look for in any field, among the listed components.
The program will highlight rows in the table that contain the text.
Look for text in rows of the Component table (activated by clicking on the magnifying glass icon at upper right).
Component names
Right-click on a row and select “First-letter caps” to change “all-caps” names to first-letter capitalization.
The user can now manually edit the capitalization of text in the "Name (enter CAS, EC, or name)" and "FDA name" columns (SDS Component table), and the "Item" column (Batch entry, "Items" tab), without causing the program to search or perform other tasks that would otherwise be triggered on a name modification.
Made a slight change in how chemical names are retrieved when adding a component to the SDS with the "Use ICI name…" box checked.
Paste toxicological items
Pasting options are now available when copying toxicological content from the “Paste [t]oxicity items” dialog into a field on the SDS.
Paste [t]oxicity items dialog, after selecting one or more rows and then clicking on the “Pas[t]e selected items” button.
Program help
SDS guide and tour windows now offer a “Back” button for easier navigation.
SDS guide window.
SDS tour window.
The SDS information window (for background help, etc.) now offers a search feature, presently limited to matching on whole words.
The program highlights instances of found words.
Other changes
Cosmetics tab, Substances entry form
Previous cosmetics-related field have names that now end with "_lgcy", to indicate that they are no longer updated by the EU COSING imports. They are grouped together in a "Legacy items" sub-tab.
EU COSING import data now appear in the "Restricted", "Prohibited", "Colorants", "Preservatives", or "UV filters" sub-tabs, depending upon the type of COSING import / list type.
Several substances appear on more than one of the EU COSING lists, which is why the Cosmetics tab needed revision.
Red underlines beneath the sub-tab labels indicate whether information is present.