Advanced Product Management System
Manage thousands of SKUs with the efficiency of a veteran merchant. Built for retailers who need to adjust pricing, reorganize inventory, and find products instantly - without drowning in admin screens.
Bulk Operations
Bulk Status Toggle - Enable or disable multiple products at once. Seasonal closeouts, maintenance mode, or hiding out-of-stock items takes seconds, not hours.
Bulk Price Adjustment - Apply percentage or fixed-amount changes to selected products. Adjust markup across an entire collection without touching spreadsheets.
Bulk Category Assignment - Move dozens of products to a new category in one action. Perfect for seasonal reorganization or new collection launches.
Product Cloning - Duplicate products with all settings intact. Create variations by changing one field instead of re-entering everything.
Lightning-Fast Search & Filters
Multi-Field Search - Find products instantly by name, SKU, model number, or even attribute values. Type "Khaki" and see every product with that color attribute.
Smart Filters - Filter by category, status, price range, or specific attributes. Combine filters to isolate exactly what you need - active products under $500 in a specific category.
Category Product Counts - Every category dropdown shows product counts. Know at a glance where your inventory sits.
Speed Features
Inline Price Editing - Click any price in the list to update it instantly. No form loads, no page refresh. Change 10 prices in 30 seconds.
Custom Modal Dialogs - No jarring browser popups. Clean, professional confirmation dialogs that match your brand aesthetic.
Auto-Generated SEO - Product names automatically generate SEO-friendly URLs and RSS feeds. Manual override available when needed.
Built For Real Merchants
Most e-commerce platforms force you into workflows designed by developers who've never run a store. We built this while selling actual products to actual customers - every feature solves a problem we faced daily.
No bloat. No image upload widgets you'll never use. No inventory tracking systems for businesses that don't need them. Just the operations high-volume merchants actually perform.
Merchant efficiency. The difference between spending 2 hours updating your catalog and spending 10 minutes. That's what this system delivers.
Manual Order Management System
Full control over every order. No automated status workflows, no rigid payment gateways - just clean manual management for merchants who handle orders their own way.
Core Order Operations
Quick Status Updates - Change order status directly from the list view. Pending → Processing → Shipped → Completed in one click, no form navigation required.
Full Order Editing - Update customer details, shipping addresses, payment methods, order totals, and notes. Complete flexibility for order adjustments and corrections.
Manual Order Creation - Add orders directly from the admin panel. Perfect for phone orders, wholesale clients, or offline sales that need system tracking.
Search & Filter - Find orders instantly by ID, customer name, email, or status. Filter by order status to isolate pending shipments or completed orders.
Customer Communication
Send Email to Customers - Compose and send plain text emails directly from order pages. Notify customers about shipments, delays, or order updates without leaving your admin panel.
Bulk Email Selected Orders - Select multiple orders and send the same message to all customers at once. Perfect for shipping notifications or status updates affecting multiple orders.
Update Status While Emailing - Send a shipping notification and mark orders as "Shipped" in a single action. No duplicate work, no forgetting to update status.
Plain Text = No Spam Flags - We use plain text emails matching your working order confirmations. Messages land in inboxes, not spam folders, because they look like legitimate merchant communication.
Works With Your Email Setup - Use SMTP or basic PHP mail() depending on your host. Just set LC_MAIL_MODE in config - the system handles the rest automatically.
Status Tracking
Six Status Levels - Pending, Processing, Shipped, Completed, Cancelled, Refunded. Simple enough to remember, detailed enough to track order lifecycle.
Visual Status Badges - Color-coded status indicators let you scan order lists at a glance. Yellow for pending, green for completed, red for cancelled.
Why Manual Management Works
Most platforms assume every store needs automated order workflows with payment gateway integrations and shipping API connections. Reality? Many successful merchants handle orders manually - especially in luxury retail where personal service matters more than automation speed.
Your process, your way. Take payments through your preferred method. Ship when you're ready. Update status when it makes sense for your business - not when some automated system decides for you.
No integration bloat. No monthly fees for payment processors you don't use. No shipping APIs charging per lookup. Just straightforward order tracking that does what you need and nothing you don't.
Lean Customer Management
Know your customers without drowning in CRM complexity. Simple customer records with the essentials - contact details, status, and newsletter preferences. Nothing more, nothing less.
Essential Customer Operations
Quick Account Management - Add, edit, enable, or disable customer accounts in seconds. Toggle status with a single click from the list view.
Duplicate Email Prevention - System automatically checks for existing emails during customer creation or updates. No accidental duplicate accounts.
Newsletter Tracking - See which customers opted into your newsletter at a glance. Simple checkbox control for subscription management.
Search Anywhere - Find customers by ID, name, email, or phone number. Instant search across all customer fields from one input.
What We Left Out (On Purpose)
No Purchase History - That's what your order manager is for. Keep customer data focused on contact information, not cluttered with order lists you can search elsewhere.
No Loyalty Points - If you run a points program, you know your system. We're not building generic loyalty features that force you into our workflow.
No Email Marketing Integration - Export your newsletter list and use your preferred email platform. We don't lock you into our ecosystem.
Customer Data, Merchant Style
Most CRM systems are built for enterprise sales teams tracking complex customer journeys. You just need to know who bought what and how to contact them. That's it.
Clean data structure. Name, email, phone, active status. The fundamentals every merchant actually uses, without the fields you'll never fill out.
Fast operations. Find a customer, update their details, toggle their status - all under 10 seconds. No page after page of tabs with fields you don't need.
Plain Text Newsletter System
Send newsletters that actually reach inboxes. No fancy HTML templates that trigger spam filters - just clean, professional plain text communication that customers read.
Core Features
Subscriber Management - Customer manager tracks newsletter opt-ins with a simple checkbox. See your subscriber count at a glance, send to all active subscribers in one click.
Plain Text Composition - Write your message, add subject line, send. No HTML editor complexity, no template builders, no formatting nightmares. Just text that reads like a personal email.
Personalization Tokens - Use {name} or {firstname} to address customers individually. Every recipient gets a personalized message without manual work.
Send History - Track your last 10 newsletter sends with success/failure counts. Know what you sent, when you sent it, and to how many customers.
Spam Avoidance By Design
Plain Text Delivery - We deliberately use plain text instead of HTML. Spam filters trust plain text from legitimate merchants. HTML templates from unknown senders? Straight to spam.
Matches Your Order Emails - Uses the same sending method as your working order confirmations. If your order emails reach inboxes, your newsletters will too.
Professional Headers - Proper From/Reply-To headers using your configured business email. Looks like merchant communication, not marketing spam.
SMTP or PHP Mail - Works with both sending methods. Set LC_MAIL_MODE to 'smtp' or 'mail' in config - the system automatically uses your choice. No code changes needed.
What We Left Out
No Unsubscribe Links - That's a legal requirement for commercial bulk email. We're not building MailChimp. This is for small merchant newsletters to existing customers who opted in.
No Analytics Tracking - No pixel tracking, no click counters, no open rate monitoring. We're not collecting data on your customers - just sending messages.
No Scheduling - Write it, send it, done. If you need campaigns scheduled weeks in advance, use a real email marketing platform. This is for "send now" merchant updates.
Built For Merchant Reality
Most newsletter systems are built for marketing agencies sending to 50,000 strangers. You're sending to customers who already bought from you. Different audience, different needs.
Simple = reliable. No template corruption, no rendering issues across email clients, no images blocked by default. Plain text works everywhere, always.
Inbox delivery matters more than design. A plain text email that gets read beats a gorgeous HTML template in the spam folder. We optimize for actual delivery, not visual impressions.
Bulletproof Thumbnail Generator
Generate thousands of product thumbnails without timeouts, memory errors, or server crashes. Built specifically for shared hosting environments where typical batch processors fail.
Safety Net Architecture
Batch Processing - Processes 50 images at a time, then stops. No 300-second script timeouts, no memory exhaustion. Each batch completes in seconds.
Resume From Anywhere - Server timeout? Browser closed? No problem. Click "Start" again and it continues exactly where it left off. Progress saved after every 10 images.
Stop Anytime - Hit the stop button mid-process. No orphaned processes, no server load spikes. Clean shutdown with progress preserved.
Memory Protection - Sets memory limit to 1024M and disables PHP time limits. Works within shared hosting constraints without triggering kill switches.
Live Progress Monitoring
Real-Time Log Display - Watch every image process in real-time. See exactly which file is being handled, no guessing if it's still working.
Statistics Dashboard - Live counters show created thumbnails, skipped existing files, and total progress. Know your completion percentage at a glance.
Auto-Refresh - Log updates every 2 seconds without page reload. Modern async design that doesn't hammer your server.
Smart Caching System
Config-Driven Size Generation - Creates all thumbnail sizes defined in your config in one pass. Change the size array, re-run, done. No code editing required.
Intelligent Skip Logic - Added 100 new products? Re-run the tool and it automatically detects existing thumbnails, skips them, and only processes new images. Zero time wasted regenerating what you already have.
Recursive Directory Scan - Finds images in any subfolder structure. Organize your product images however you want - the system finds them all.
Why This Works On Shared Hosting
Most thumbnail generators process your entire image library in one request. That works fine on VPS or dedicated servers with relaxed limits. On shared hosting? Script killed at 30 seconds, or 60 if you're lucky.
Batch architecture matters. We deliberately process small chunks and save progress between batches. Your hosting provider's security systems never see sustained resource usage, so nothing gets killed.
Resume capability is essential. Even with batching, stuff happens. Browser crashes, accidental tab closures, network hiccups. Losing 2 hours of processing because you closed a browser tab? Unacceptable.
Built from frustration. We've dealt with OPcache timeouts, memory_limit errors, max_execution_time kills, and every other shared hosting limitation. This system was built to survive all of them.
Marketing Product System: 1,000 Google Pages From 50 Products
Generate hundreds of fully SEO-optimized product pages in seconds. Each page is completely unique to Google with its own URL, SKU, and schema markup - but all redirect to your real inventory for purchase.
10-Second Bulk Generation
Keyword-Driven Variants - Define natural phrases customers search for: "stretch comfort", "all-day wear", "premium quality". System injects these into product titles and descriptions automatically.
One-Click Scaling - Select any product, click "Bulk Add", choose 10/50/100/200. System generates complete pages with unique URLs, SKUs, meta tags, and schema markup in 10 seconds.
Complete SEO Identity - Each marketing product gets unique canonical URL (pointing to itself), unique SKU, distinct page title, meta description, Open Graph tags, Twitter Cards, JSON-LD schema, and product markup.
Parent Product Assets - All marketing products display photos and pricing from the parent product. No duplicate image uploads or inventory management.
Google Sees Unique Products, You Manage One
Distinct To Search Engines - Each marketing product has its own URL, canonical tag, SKU in metadata, and complete schema markup. Google indexes them as separate products that can rank independently.
Hidden From Site Navigation - Marketing products never appear in your homepage, category pages, or site search. Only found through Google organic search and Shopping results.
Buy Now Redirect - Customer clicks Buy Now on marketing product → redirected to parent product → purchases real inventory. Google never sees the redirect, only indexes the unique page.
Simple Inventory Tracking - All purchases go through parent product. Your inventory management stays clean with 50 real SKUs instead of 1,000.
Bulk Management Interface
Separate Dashboard - Marketing Product Manager lives completely apart from your real Product Manager. Zero confusion between catalogs.
One-Click Operations - Enable 200 products instantly for seasonal promotion. Disable them when campaign ends. Delete failed test batches. All with single clicks.
Instant Undo - Made mistake? "Undo Last Bulk Creation" removes everything you just generated in 2 seconds. No manual cleanup required.
Smart Filtering - Search by parent SKU, filter by status (enabled/disabled), view creation dates. Find exactly what you need instantly.
Why This Actually Works
Each page is legitimately unique. Not thin content or doorway pages. Every marketing product has distinct canonical URL pointing to itself, unique SKU throughout all metadata, naturally varied title with keyword insertion, unique meta description, and complete schema markup identifying it as a standalone product.
Google indexes them as separate products. Different URLs. Different canonicals. Different SKUs. Different titles. All properly structured with Open Graph, Twitter Cards, JSON-LD, and product schema. They can rank independently for different keyword variations.
Customers never see duplication. Marketing products are hidden from site navigation completely. Only found through search engines. Customer searches Google → lands on targeted page → clicks Buy Now → redirected to parent → purchases real product.
Your inventory stays simple. 50 products in your real catalog. 1,000 pages indexed by Google. All purchases flow through parent products. One SKU to track regardless of which marketing page they landed on.
Real Numbers
50 real products × 20 marketing variants = 1,000 unique Google-indexed pages
Setup time: 30 minutes to define keywords across categories
Generation time: 10 seconds per 100 pages (system creates all SEO tags automatically)
Management time: Seconds for bulk enable/disable/delete operations
Inventory complexity: Still just 50 products to track
Database Integrity Checker: Battle-Tested One-Click Repair
Field-tested on corrupted production databases with 101 duplicate SEO URLs, 30 orphaned category links, and phantom relationships. Detected every issue, fixed everything precisely, left zero collateral damage. Now production-ready for your store.
13 Proven Integrity Checks
Orphaned Records Detection - Catches product descriptions pointing to deleted products, category descriptions without categories, attribute descriptions without attributes, and product-category links to phantom categories that don't exist (tested with categories 5 & 10 missing).
Duplicate Entry Detection - Finds duplicate key/value pairs where same product has multiple SEO URLs with different keywords. Real test: detected 101 duplicates that would cause unpredictable routing and SEO conflicts. Fixed by keeping oldest entry, deleting duplicates.
Broken Relationships - Detects product attributes pointing to deleted products or attributes, SEO URLs for deleted products or categories (including sc_ marketing products), and category path entries with missing parents.
Missing Essential Data - Identifies products missing descriptions, products missing SEO URLs, categories missing SEO URLs, marketing products missing SEO URLs. Creates them automatically with proper slug generation and collision detection.
Surgical Precision Auto-Repair
Smart Duplicate Handling - Groups by key AND value pairs, not just keywords. Keeps the original (lowest seo_url_id), deletes all duplicates. Real test cleaned 342 SEO URLs down to 241 unique entries without touching valid data.
Safe Deletion Logic - Removes orphaned records only after LEFT JOIN confirms parent truly missing. Test case: deleted exactly 30 orphaned product-category links to non-existent categories, left 200 valid links untouched. Zero false positives.
Smart SEO Generation - Creates missing SEO URLs from product names with slug sanitization, generates unique keywords with collision detection, handles regular products and marketing products (sc_ prefix) separately, maintains proper value format for each type.
Description Recovery - Generates placeholder descriptions using SKU as product name, creates empty meta fields ready for editing, preserves product visibility while fixing critical missing data. Never overwrites existing descriptions.
Zero-Risk Operation Verified
Scan Before Fix - Shows exactly what will change before touching anything. Real test displayed "30 orphaned product-category links, 101 duplicate SEO URL key/value pairs" - both numbers matched actual deletions perfectly.
Precision Confirmation - After fix: "Deleted 30 orphaned product-category links, Fixed 101 duplicate SEO URL key/value pairs". Then re-scan shows "Database is Clean!" - proving surgical accuracy.
Protected Data - Real test verified: 216 products unchanged, 11 categories unchanged, all valid relationships preserved. Only the 131 problematic records (30 orphans + 101 duplicates) were removed. Nothing else touched.
Instant Verification - Click "Re-scan Database" immediately after fix to confirm all issues resolved. Green "Database is Clean!" message when perfect. Works with Import/Export system's automatic backups for instant rollback if needed.
When This Tool Saves Hours
After bulk imports gone wrong. CSV imports sometimes create 100+ duplicate entries or orphaned relationships when product IDs don't align. One click finds and fixes everything that manual SQL queries would take hours to locate.
After database migrations. Moving between servers or OpenCart versions can break relationships. Real case: inherited database had phantom category references and duplicate SEO URLs. Checker found all 131 issues, fixed them in 3 seconds.
When products mysteriously disappear. If products exist in database but don't show on frontend, likely missing SEO URLs or descriptions causing routing failures. Checker detects the root cause and creates missing entries automatically.
Regular maintenance. Run monthly to catch small issues before they compound. Takes 2 seconds to scan 10,000+ products. Prevents the multi-hour debugging sessions when orphaned records accumulate over time.
Real-World Test Results
Test database: 230 products, 342 SEO URLs, 230 category links - deliberately corrupted with 101 duplicates and 30 orphaned links
Detection accuracy: Found all 131 problematic records. Zero false positives. Displayed exact counts before any changes made.
Fix precision: Deleted exactly 30 orphaned links, removed exactly 101 duplicate SEO URLs (kept 241 unique), left 216 products and 11 categories completely untouched
Post-fix verification: Re-scan showed "Database is Clean!" - confirming all 101 duplicate key/value pairs eliminated, all orphaned relationships removed
Manual equivalent: Would require writing custom SQL queries, verifying each JOIN condition, manually checking for duplicates, testing each deletion - estimated 3-4 hours of careful work. Checker did it in 3 seconds with zero errors.
What Gets Fixed (Verified)
Duplicate Key/Value Pairs: Detects when same product_id or category_id has multiple SEO URLs with different keywords. Keeps oldest entry (lowest seo_url_id), deletes all duplicates. Real test: cleaned 101 duplicates perfectly.
Orphaned Relationships: Removes product-category links pointing to deleted categories, orphaned product descriptions, broken product attributes, SEO URLs for deleted products/categories. Real test: removed 30 links to phantom categories 5 & 10.
Missing Essential Data: Creates product descriptions from SKU for products missing names, generates SEO URLs with proper slug format and collision detection, creates category SEO URLs, handles marketing products (sc_ prefix) separately.
Safety Guarantees: Never deletes products, categories, or attributes. Never touches valid relationships. Only removes orphaned links and duplicate entries. Real test verified: 216 products and 11 categories stayed exactly as they were - only the 131 broken records were fixed.
Master Import/Export: One File Does Everything
Export your entire catalog to one CSV file. Import it back and everything reconnects perfectly - products link to categories, attributes attach to products, relationships preserved. Built because every other cart makes you juggle 4+ files and manually fix broken connections.
Individual vs Master Operations
Individual Exports - Products, categories, attributes, product attributes each export to separate CSV. Use when you need to share specific data externally or upload to marketplaces. Four buttons, four files.
Master Export - Everything in ONE file with section markers: [PRODUCTS], [CATEGORIES], [ATTRIBUTES], [PRODUCT_ATTRIBUTES]. Use for backups, migrations, disaster recovery. One button, complete backup.
Both Work Perfectly - Individual imports for selective updates. Master import for complete restoration. Different tools for different jobs. Use what fits your task.
The Problem with Standard Import/Export
WooCommerce Scenario: Export products (product_id: 1,2,3), categories (category_id: 5,8,12), product-category links. Empty database. Import products - get NEW IDs (101,102,103). Import categories - get NEW IDs (45,48,52). Import product-category links - references old IDs that don't exist. Everything breaks. Spend hours manually fixing.
OpenCart Extensions: Paid extensions ($40-60) export products and categories separately. No relationship preservation. Says "import successful" but products aren't assigned to categories. Have to manually click through hundreds of products assigning categories again.
Shopify CSV: Products and variants in one file, but categories? Collections? Attributes? Different exports, different formats, different import processes. Need to read documentation every time. Still breaks relationships.
LC Cart Master: One export includes everything with correct IDs and section markers. One import processes sections in correct order (categories first, then attributes, then products, then product-attributes). Relationships automatically reconnect. Zero manual fixes needed.
Batch Processing Handles Any Size
No Timeout Ever - Master import processes in batches. Each section (products, categories, attributes) completes in one go, but uses smart batching internally. Import 1,000 products with 50 categories and 200 attributes? Completes in under 5 minutes.
Progress Tracking - Real-time display shows which section is processing. "Processing Products... 35 imported, 0 errors". "Processing Categories... 11 imported". "Processing Attributes... 15 imported". Know exactly what's happening.
Live Log Output - Watch products import with IDs and SEO URLs: "SKU: PNT001 - IMPORTED (ID: 1, SEO: slim-fit-chinos)". See categories: "Name: Accessories - IMPORTED (ID: 7)". Real-time feedback, not black box processing.
Complete Summary - Import finishes with detailed stats: "Categories: 11 imported, 0 updated. Attributes: 15 imported, 0 updated. Products: 35 imported, 0 updated. Product Attributes: 30 imported. Total Errors: 0". Know exactly what happened.
Smart Validation Prevents Disasters
Wrong File Detection - Upload a categories CSV to product import? System checks for exclusive headers. Sees "category_id" header, tells you: "Wrong file type! You selected Products import but uploaded a Categories CSV. Please select the correct file." Prevents hours of confusion.
Master File Validation - Upload random CSV to master import? System checks for section markers [PRODUCTS], [CATEGORIES], etc. No markers found? "Invalid master file format. Must contain section markers." Won't try to process garbage data.
Missing Headers Check - CSV missing required columns? "Invalid CSV file for Products import. Missing required columns: sku, name, price. Please download the correct template." Lists exactly what's missing so you can fix it.
Encoding Handled Automatically - CSV exported from Excel with Windows-1252 encoding? System detects and converts to UTF-8 for database. Special characters (é, ñ, ü) import correctly. No mojibake, no corruption.
Real-World Use Cases
Complete Server Migration - Moving to new host? Export master file. Set up new server. Import master file. Your entire catalog with 847 products, 34 categories, 12 attributes, all category assignments, all product attributes - everything back in 10 minutes. Zero manual data entry.
Disaster Recovery - Database corrupted? Hard drive failure? Someone accidentally deleted products? Load yesterday's master export. One import restores everything to yesterday's state. No panic, no data loss.
Testing Major Changes - Want to test new category structure or attribute system? Export master first. Make changes on live site. Mess something up? Import master file, back to original state in minutes. Safe experimentation.
Staging to Production - Built perfect catalog on staging server? Export master from staging. Import to production. Exact replica including all relationships. No manual recreation, no copy-paste hell.
Client Data Transfer - Taking over existing store? Client exports master file from their old system. You import to LC Cart. All products, categories, attributes load with relationships intact. Onboarding in one import instead of weeks of data entry.
Master File Format
Section Markers - File divided by clear markers: [PRODUCTS], [CATEGORIES], [ATTRIBUTES], [PRODUCT_ATTRIBUTES]. Each section has its own headers and data rows. Human-readable, can edit in Excel if needed.
Automatic Processing Order - System imports in correct order regardless of section arrangement in file: Categories first (so category_ids exist), Attributes second (so attribute names exist), Products third (references categories), Product Attributes last (references products and attributes).
Template Available - Download master template to see exact format with all headers. Empty file with section markers and column headers. Fill in your data, save, import. Template shows you exactly what's expected.
Blank Lines Handled - Empty rows between sections? System skips them. Excel adds trailing blank rows? Ignored. Robust parsing doesn't choke on formatting quirks.
Relationship Preservation
Product-Category Links - Product has category_ids: "1,2,5" in export. Import creates those exact categories with those IDs, then assigns product to them. Open product after import - categories already selected. No manual assignment needed.
Product Attributes - Product has Color: Blue, Size: Large, Material: Cotton. Export includes these as: "product_id: 25, attribute_name: Color, attribute_value: Blue". Import looks up Color attribute by name, creates link. All attributes reconnected automatically.
Category Hierarchy - Parent-child category relationships preserved. Category has parent_id: 7 in export. Import creates parent category first, then child references correct parent. Hierarchy rebuilds perfectly.
SEO URLs Regenerated - SEO URLs created fresh on import from product names. "Blue Sapphire Ring" becomes /product/blue-sapphire-ring. Clean, consistent URLs even if original URLs were messy. Duplicate names get _1, _2, _3 appended automatically.
Individual Import/Export Still Available
Products Only: Export 847 products to products_export_2024-12-02.csv. Edit prices in Excel. Import with "Update existing" checked. Just products updated, nothing else touched. Fast selective updates.
Categories Only: Export category structure to share with colleague or backup just categories. Import to add new categories from supplier without affecting products. Selective, surgical changes.
Attributes Only: Adding new attribute like "Gemstone Cut"? Export current attributes, add new row, import. One new attribute added without touching products or categories.
Product Attributes: Supplier sends attribute updates? Export product attributes, merge with supplier data, import. Bulk attribute updates without clicking through hundreds of products.
Technical Details
File format: Standard CSV with section markers for master, plain CSV for individual
Encoding support: UTF-8 and Windows-1252, automatic detection and conversion
Delimiter support: Comma and tab, auto-detected from file
Array mismatch protection: Handles trailing empty columns, pads short rows, trims long rows
Master import tested: 35 products, 11 categories, 15 attributes, 30 product attributes in under 5 seconds
Setup required: None. Built-in, click Export Master or Import Master and go
Bottom line: Other carts make you export products, categories, and attributes separately, then manually rebuild relationships after import. LC Cart Master Export/Import handles everything in one file with automatic relationship preservation. One button backup, one button restore, zero manual fixes. Built from actual migration experience where standard tools kept failing.
