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For your convenience, we have a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) below that you may wish to consult before contacting us. 

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What web browser settings do I need for the site to work?

You must have java enabled. Cookies must also be enabled if you want your browser to remember your password. For optimum web viewing, Internet Explorer® (Version 6.0 or higher) is recommended with a minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. This web site also works in Netscape® (Version 7.2 or higher), Mozzilla Firefox (Version 1.0.7 or higher), and Opera (Version 8.5 or higher) browsers. Regardless of the browser used, resetting your browser to its standard default settings is sufficient to view our web site correctly.

I can't log in to the system with my username and password.

Usernames and passwords are case-sensitive and must be entered exactly as they were issued to you. Check with your company's MSDS administrator to ensure that you are using the correct username and password. You may contact OfficeMSDS® support for the correct username and password but you will be required to provide the email address associated with the account. See the information below for more information regarding lost or forgotten usernames or passwords.

I can't remember my username and password.

If you've forgotten your password, click here and enter your user name and the email address associated with your account. Click "Remind Me" and your account log-in information will be automatically emailed to your company's MSDS administrator within a few minutes of request 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Who should I contact for more information on an MSDS?

When you log in to the system, your company's MSDS administrator's contact information is displayed at the top-left of the screen. This information includes the name of the person that you should contact, their mailing address, telephone and fax number, and their email address. If the email icon with a red "X" is displayed, this means that the person either has not supplied an email address or is not accepting email requests and must be called directly. They can provide you with more specific information on the substance's hazards, use, etc. OfficeMSDS® staff cannot provide advice or specific safety and health related information associated with an MSDS document (see more information below).

How do I email my MSDS contact?

Simply click the email icon located in the upper left section of the MSDS search page. This will automatically launch your email program so that you can contact your MSDS administrator (see more information above).

What are your logo requirements?

Logos are displayed in jpeg format (jpg) at 75 x 75 pixels. You can send us your logo in any format (pdf, gif, tif, psp, bmp, or wmf) and we will convert it into the necessary format at no charge. You may also direct us to simply copy your logo off of your company's web site. Please be advised that we may not be able to show both your logo and any accompanying slogan due to space limitations.

What do the search qualifiers "contains", "starts with", "ends with" and "is exactly" mean?

Look at the following examples to see how these would all apply to a search for sodium chloride (table salt) in which you enter the search term "sodium" in the product name field:

• Contains: Returns all database records with the word "sodium" in it, including sodium, sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, tetraoxosulfate sodium, etc. It will also return records that have the term "table salt" listed as a synonym.
• Starts With: Returns all database records that start with the phrase "sodium" such as sodium, sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, etc but will not return records that have the word "sodium" in the middle or end such as potassium-sodium sulfate or tetraoxosulfate sodium.
• Ends With: Returns all database records that end with the word "sodium" such as tetraoxosulfate sodium.
• Is Exactly: Returns all database record that exactly match the search term you entered. In this example, only the record for "sodium" would be returned. Records for sodium chloride, sodium sulfate or tetraoxosulfate sodium would not be returned since they are not an exact match.

If you are unsure of which qualifier to use, simply accept the default qualifier "contains" which will allow you the greatest ability to retrieve all records with the word "sodium" in it, regardless of whether or not it is at the beginning, the middle, the end or is an exact match. Your search terms will be highlighted in blue on the results page.

How do I search by Product or Synonym name?

Simply enter the name of the product or synonym that you want in the product name field. You do not have to know the complete name. You may enter partial words and/or numbers. The search is not case sensitive so putting your search terms in lower case or upper case makes no difference. Your search terms will be highlighted in blue on the results page. (See more information below).

What is the difference between searching for the Product name and Synonym name?

There is no difference. Both fields are combined so that if for example you searched for acetone, the database will return all instances in which the word acetone appears in either the product name field OR the synonyms field. Your search term will be highlighted in blue in both the product name and synonyms field. Click the small symbol to the left of the word "synonyms". The field will expand and show you the synonym field information. To turn off the synonym field display, simply click the symbol to the left of the word "synonyms".

How do I search by Supplier Name?

Simply enter the name of the supplier that you are interested in. You do not have to know the complete name. You may enter partial words and/or numbers. Your search will return all records associated with the supplier name that you entered. Your search terms will be highlighted in blue on the results page. The search is not case sensitive so putting your search terms in lower case or upper case makes no difference.

How do I search by CAS Number?

Simply enter the CAS Number of the product that you are interested in. You do not have to know the complete number. You may enter partial numbers. CAS Numbers are formatted in the standard eight digit format. For example, the CAS Number for acetone is 00067-64-1.  Entering any combination of the number will return the database record for acetone. For example, entering "67", "7-6", "64-1", or "00067" will all return "00067-64-1" although you may have to sort through other records that have similar numbers such as "88888-64-1". Your search terms will be highlighted in blue on the results page. The more you complete your search term, the more precise your results will be.

How do I search by Part Number?

Simply enter the Part Number of the product that you are interested in. If your company does not use part numbers or other codes to manage its materials, then you will not be able to search by this field. You do not have to know the complete number. You may enter partial numbers and/or letters. The search will return all matches for your search term. Your search terms will be highlighted in blue on the results page. The more you complete your search term, the more precise your results will be.

How do I search by Location?

If your account has different locations associated with its MSDS documents, simply select a location from the pull-down list. If you do not have locations associated with your MSDS documents, selecting the pull-down list will display "any" location to search by instead of a list of specific locations.

How do I search by Department?

If your account has different departments associated with its MSDS documents, simply select a department from the pull-down list. Departments are specific to a particular location so you must select a Location first. Then select the department associated with that location. If you do not have departments associated with your MSDS documents, selecting the pull-down list will display "any" department to search by instead of a list of specific departments. If you are having difficulties, click the "Clear Form" button and try again.

When I search for a particular Department, my Department is not displayed in the pull-down box.

Departments are specific to a particular location. You must select a location first. Then all of the available departments associated with the location you selected will be displayed and be available for searching. However, you may not display the correct department if you hit the "BACK" button on your browser when you are on the results page. In order to go back from the search results page and refine your search in order to  have the correct department(s) displayed, you MUST click the Refine The Search link. If you do not like the search criteria that was first entered, click the "Clear Form" button to start your search over again.

What does "Return All" mean?

Clicking the "Return All" box will return all of the MSDS documents that are in the database except for archived MSDS documents. Only the current (latest) MSDS documents from a particular supplier will be displayed. To find earlier versions of the same MSDS that have been archived, select an archive date range and uncheck the "Return All" box.

What does "Search Archive" mean?

Clicking the "Search Archive" box allows you to view older, outdated or inactive MSDS documents for a particular product. To search the archive, simply select a date range along with the other search parameters (e.g. product name, location, etc.) that you wish to use. This box will automatically be checked when you select a date range.

How are MSDS Documents archived?

When an MSDS document is entered into the database, we look to see if the document is from the same supplier for the same product name. If it is, the older document is archived and will not be displayed unless the user specifically searches the archive. This enables our clients to meet the OSHA 30-year record retention requirement but allows users to view only the most current version of an MSDS in a regular search. If you want certain MSDS documents archived, please contact us and we will be glad to do this for you at no charge.

What is the "Archive Date Range"?

The date range is used for looking up archived MSDS documents. The default value is one year. By clicking the search archive check box, all MSDS documents associated with your other search terms (e.g. product name, supplier, etc.) that are up to one year old will be displayed. To find older versions that may be archived, simply select the appropriate date range to search.

How do I perform the search or clear the form to start over?

Your search can be as specific or non-specific as you like. You can enter multiple search terms, such as product name, supplier name and location or simply enter a partial name to look for. For example, searching for just the letter "A" in the product name field will return all MSDS documents that have the letter "A" in the product name or synonyms section of the MSDS. Your search terms will be highlighted in blue on the results page. You can perform very precise searches as well. Searching for "Acetone" and supplier name "Fisher" will return all acetone MSDS documents supplied by Fisher. Searches are not case sensitive meaning that your search terms can be entered in either lower case or upper case. It makes no difference. See archiving for more search features. To clear the search form and start over, simply click the "Clear Search" button.

What does "Refine Search" mean and how does it work?

If the results of your search are not what you wanted, you can refine your search which preserves the prior search information that you entered so that you can make changes to the search criteria. DO NOT use the "Back Button" on your browser to do this. Click the Refine The Search link at the top of the page. Using the back button will confuse the search. If you do use the back button to re-enter your search criteria or to perform another search, you must first click the "Clear Search" button to remove your last search criteria from cached memory in your browser.

How do I know how many results were found?

The number of MSDS records returned for your search are displayed at the top left of the results table.

How do I go to the next page of results?

Only ten (10) records are displayed per page. If your search returned 20 records, the first 10 will be displayed on page 1 and the second 10 on page 2. To navigate between pages, click on the next page or previous page link at the top right of the results table. See sorting results below for more information.

How do I sort the results of my search?

The search terms that you entered will return a results page that shows the results of your search. By default, the results of your search are first displayed and sorted in ascending order (A-Z) by Product Name. There are seven columns that can be sorted in either ascending or descending order. They are:

 

Product Name

CAS Number

Supplier Name

MSDS Date

Part Number (if assigned)

Location Name

Department Name

 

All fields can be sorted in ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) order. To sort the field you are interested in, simply click the sort icon to the right of the column header that you want to sort. Only one field can be sorted at a time. Ascending ordered columns will display an icon signifying an (A-Z) sort and descending ordered columns will display an icon signifying a (Z-A) sort. It is important to note that you should perform your sort when you are on the first results page. If for example, you are on Page 2 or higher of the results page and then perform a sort, the order of the information being displayed will automatically change due to the type of sort you selected and you will be taken back to the first page with the proper sort order being displayed.

How do I expand the list to see the Synonyms field?

Click the small symbol to the left of the word "synonyms". The field will expand and show you the information. To turn off the synonym field display, click the symbol to the left of the word synonyms.

How do I print a list of all the products in my database?

When the search results are displayed in the table, simply select "file" from your browser menu bar and select print setup. Set up the printer to print in landscape mode with left and right margins set at 0.25". The table will then be printed with 10 entries on that page. To print the next 10 results, select "next page" from the top right pf the table and then print this page as well. Continue doing this until all of your results are printed. We are currently working on a feature that will allow you to print the entire database extract (all records) into a single PDF document and we will notify our customers when this feature is available.

How do I view the MSDS?

Simply click on the icon to the left of the record that you are interested in viewing. This will automatically launch your Acrobat® PDF viewer plug-in and the dictionary feature. We recommend using Acrobat® Reader® Version 6.0 or later but it will still work with Acrobat Versions 4.0 and/or 5.0.

I clicked on the wrong MSDS  icon and want to get back to the list of results to select another MSDS.

To return to the search results list, simply hit the "Back Button" on your browser and select another MSDS record from the list.

The MSDS documents do not appear to be displaying properly.

For optimum viewing of MSDS documents, you should have Adobe^® Acrobat^® Reader™ Version 6.0 installed in your web browser. This can be downloaded for free by visiting Adobe.com. If MSDS documents appear to be faded or of poor quality it is because that is how the original document was scanned into the system. We cannot change the quality of the original MSDS that was sent to us for scanning. Should the document be rotated upside down or sideways, this can be corrected by contacting OfficeMSDS^® support via email or by telephone.

How do I email a copy of the MSDS to someone?

Click the email button on the Acrobat^® Reader^® menu that is displayed in your browser. You will be offered two choices, to send the MSDS as a PDF copy or as a link. Select the "send link" option and your standard email program will be launched containing a link to the MSDS. You cannot send a copy of the MSDS in PDF format unless you first save the MSDS to your local hard drive. If this is the case, you can then send it as you would any other email attachment from your local hard drive.

How does the Dictionary work?

Very simply. Just enter the name or number of the term that you are looking for. The search is not case sensitive and you do not have to enter the entire phrase. For example, searching for the letter "T" will return any term that has the letter "T" in it. This includes toxic, toxicity, toxic chemical and so on. The search term that you entered will be highlighted in blue (e.g. Toxic). All found terms are returned in alphabetical order with numbered or special character terms being returned first in numerical order. To refine your search for a particular term, simply click the Refine The Search link at the top of the search box.

What if the word I want is not in the Dictionary?

If the word you are looking for is not in the dictionary, try refining your search by broadening or narrowing the search terms as necessary (see above description on how the dictionary works). If a word or phrase you are interested in is not listed, click the "Suggestion" light bulb icon on the top menu bar. This will launch your email program so that you can send us a suggestion for the dictionary. All legitimate requests will be honored. However, due to the large number of requests we receive, we cannot provide individual notification that your change or suggestion has been implemented.

Do I have to log out of the system when I am finished?

You should log out whenever you are finished with the database search. The database will automatically time out (log you off) after 20 minutes of inactivity. Additionally, the system will log you off if you leave the site for an extended period of time. To return to your searching activity, simply re-enter your username and password.