Frequently Asked Questions

Netscape locks up and fails to respond, why? – eFOTG has been optimized to work with Internet Explorer 5.5 and higher. You will have success with Internet Explorer.

Why is the tree menu slippery and difficult to work with?  - eFOTG uses a third party commercial tool to display the tree menu. Click (and hold) on the slider and drag it to get a nice smooth scroll without jumping for better results. Clicking above, or below a slider bar on most other programs, results in the bar moving the equivalent of one screen. In eFOTG, this moves the slider bar to the relative location that you clicked. This uncommon behavior often times moves the up and down farther than you really wanted to go, especially on the Standards screen.

I am having trouble searching eFOTG, what can I do? – There are two ways you can search for information.

(1) You can enter a word in the Search menu block immediately above the tree menu, then click on GO! This will take you directly to folders or documents that have your word in the title. It is best to limit your search to one word. Use singular, not plural version such as ‘soil’ not ‘soils’. Clicking on GO! repeatedly will normal you through each occurrence of your search word.

(2) Click on Search/Index in the tab menu near the top of the page. You can either search for a keyword by typing the keyword in and clicking the Key Word Search button, or you can search for subject by selecting a subject from the pull down menu and clicking Subject Search button.

It is best to search for only one keyword at a time. You will be presented lists showing Subject, Keywords, Document Title, Date, Abstract, File Size and Info for documents that match your criteria. If there are more documents than can be displayed at one time, a series of numbers at the bottom of the screen will let you jump to additional selections.

Why can’t I print eFOTG documents? – Documents can either be displayed in the eFOTG main page window, or in a new browser window. Clicking on Preferences on the gray bar under the NRCS name opens a window where you can chose to open Contents ‘In a New Window’. You can print documents better using this option. An additional setting must be checked in Acrobat Reader to ensure .pdf files are opened in a new window. Open Acrobat Reader, click on ‘Edit’ ‘Preferences’ and be sure that ‘Display PDF in Browser’ is not checked.

eFOTG documents appear to be identical for every county in a State, is this correct? – Most of the data in eFOTG is identical for all counties within a State. Some information, particularly soils, in Section II – Natural Resources Information is county specific.

Documents and organization are not always the same from State to State, why? – NRCS provides overall guidance on general information and organization for eFOTG. Each individual State has some leeway in choosing format, exact content and organization within their State’s eFOTG. Specific questions regarding detailed content or organization should be directed to the State Technical Guide Committee, generally the State Resource Conservationist.

NRCS National Standards are posted on the internet in addition to the State Standards in eFOTG, should I use National or State Standards? – Always use State Standards for the State you are working in! The National Standards are guides, States generally modify these to include specific conditions and requirements for their state and local conditions. Therefore, always use the State Standards.

I got a Security Warning screen that said I need to install and run “Navigation Menu” from Image Intelligence Ltd. Is this okay? – Image Intelligence developed the software eFOTG uses to operate the eFOTG menus. It is safe, and you should respond ‘Yes’.

I got a message that said “You must enable Java to see the eFOTG menu.” How do I do this? - To enable Java, select Internet Options from the Internet Explorer Tools pull down menu. Under the Security tab, select Trusted Sites by clicking on the "Sites..." button. Enter the eFOTG URL under "Add this Web site to the zone:". On the same Security page, click on the Custom button under "Security level for this zone." Scroll down to the Microsoft VM section and unclick the "Disable Java" radio button. Select "Low safety" and click "OK". Close out of your browser completely and start it again. You should be able to access eFOTG after resetting your browser security settings.

Why are folders or documents in hodgepodge order, why aren’t they alphabetized? – We are working on a new procedure that will let States control how items are sorted. This should be available very soon.

Why am I unable to see the tree menu in eFOTG?  - If you click on Tools | Internet Options | Advanced then scroll about half way down the list, is there a check box for Java (Sun) that states Use JRE 1.5.0_09 for ,applet. (requires restart) that is checked? If so, please uncheck it, close all Internet Explorer windows, then open IE and try again.