ChemBioDraw Issues

Registration for non-SAS students

The way the licensing system normally works, requesters should have an SAS email address (student@sas.upenn.edu). If requesters are in another school, like Engineering or Wharton, they will have a different suffix to their email address (seas, wharton). We have a workaround for those cases. Non-SAS students should register with a generic UPenn address: for example, instead of charliebrown@wharton.upenn.edu, enter charliebrown@upenn.edu.

Software Compatibility

Macintosh System Requirements

ChemDraw Professional 16

OS
  • Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite)
  • Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan))
  • Mac OS X 10.12 (Sierra)
Plugin/Control

NOTE: ChemDraw Plug-ins are no longer part of any ChemDraw 16.0 Mac packages.

RAM
  • 32 bit OS: 1 GB
  • 64 bit OS: 2 GB
Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Office 2011
  • Microsoft Office 2016
  • including Office 365 support
Screen

Resolution: 1024 x 768 or higher

Disk Space
  • 10GB>

ChemDraw Professional 17

OS
  • Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan))
  • Mac OS X 10.12 (Sierra)
Plugin/Control

NOTE: ChemDraw Plug-ins are no longer part of any ChemDraw 16.0 Mac packages.

RAM
  • 32 bit OS: 1 GB
  • 64 bit OS: 2 GB
Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Office 2016
  • including Office 365 support
Screen

Resolution: 1024 x 768 or higher

Disk Space
  • 10GB>

Apple offers free OS upgrades through their App Store. Penn Chemistry Computing may be able to loan you an upgrade USB drive if needed.  If you can’t upgrade your OS, you can continue using an earlier version of ChemDraw.  Follow the instructions for previoius versions of ChemDraw below.

 

Windows System Requirements

ChemOffice Professional 16

OS
  • Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (32 bit)
  • Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (64 bit)
  • Windows 8.1 and 8.1 Pro (32 bit)
  • Windows 8.1 and 8.1 Pro (64 bit)
  • Windows 10 (32 bit)
  • Windows 10 (64 bit)
Plugin/Control
ChemDraw plugin/ActiveX control supports:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 10.x (32 and 64 bit)
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.x (32 and 64 bit)
  • Firefox 27 or higher
  • Chrome 42.x or later does not support plug-ins on Windows

Due to changes in the Google Chrome environment and their deprecated support for global NPAPI’s, we can no longer offer CDAX on the Google Chrome browser after version 45. We are currently addressing the need in the market for support of the latest version of Chrome and we will update our customer base when that support becomes available. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes to our current customer base.

RAM
  • 32 bit OS: 1 GB
  • 64 bit OS: 2 GB
Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Office 2010
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft Office 2016
  • Office 365
Screen

Resolution: 1024 x768 or higher

Disk Space

300 MB – 1 GB (1GB is for installing the full ChemOffice Professional). This is for installation only and does not include any creation/expansion of amy databases.

Other

.Net Framework 4.x

ChemOffice Professional 17

OS
  • Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (32 bit)
  • Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate (64 bit)
  • Windows 8.1 and 8.1 Pro (64 bit)
  • Windows 10 (64 bit)
Plugin/Control
ChemDraw plugin/ActiveX control supports:
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 10.x (32 and 64 bit)
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11.x (32 and 64 bit)

Due to changes in the Google Chrome environment and their deprecated support for global NPAPI’s, we can no longer offer CDAX on the Google Chrome browser after version 45. We are currently addressing the need in the market for support of the latest version of Chrome and we will update our customer base when that support becomes available. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes to our current customer base.

RAM
  • 32 bit OS: 1 GB
  • 64 bit OS: 2 GB
Microsoft Office
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft Office 2016
  • including Office 365 support
Screen

Resolution: 1024 x768 or higher

Disk Space

300 MB – 1 GB (1GB is for installing the full ChemOffice Professional). This is for installation only and does not include any creation/expansion of amy databases.

Other

.Net Framework 4.x

Install Issues

ChemBioDraw 16 will not coexist with any other version of ChemBioDraw »

If you have a previous version installed, you will need to uninstall it before installing the new version.
For Mac, uninstall any older versions by moving them from the Applications folder to the trash and empty the trash. When installing the new version, don’t forget to install the new ChemBioDraw Plugin Pro to get the SciFinder integration to work.
For Windows, use Programs and Features (Windows 7 and 8) from the Control Panel and uninstall all Cambridgesoft products.

When first launching the Mac version after install, the program may refuse to open because it is from “an unknown developer” »

The solution is to right-click (or ctrl-click) on the icon and choose “Open.” After giving permission, you will never be asked again for this version of the program.

When running ChemBioDraw 16 for the first time on a Mac, the program quits without error after entering the registration information »

Make sure that your account has read and write permission to the Users/Shared folder on your hard drive. ChemBioDraw needs to place a file in Macintosh HD/Users/Shared/Library/Preferences. If this folder exists, make sure your user account has read/write permission to it.
If you are not able to view the Library folder then you need to unhide the folder. You will find more information to unhide the folders in Mac OSX 10.9 here.
More information on this problem can be found here.