Frequently Asked Questions

Important Features and Trouble shooting Tips

An Important Note from the Webmaster: We’re committed to granting you access to FDD’s and utilizing the resources of this website. We promise to respond to you not later than the next business day. During regular business hours, we’ll often get back to you within an hour; after hours and on weekends, we’ll try and address your concerns as soon as possible, please be patient.

Question: How do I ‘RESET’ my Password? Answer

The Password Reset can be found  by clicking and going to the ‘My Profile’ section under the ‘My Account’ main navigation tab. In that section, you can update your personal information as well as generate a new Password. If you do not like the new password that was generated, simply enter your own, unique password and monitor the ‘Strength’ bar which will give you an idea of how secure your new password the system believes your password is. PLEASE NOTE: Some users have indicated issues with resetting their passwords; this is a Browser issue and we strongly recommend using either CHROME, FIREFOX or SAFARI when you are trying to change and/or update your password.  If you’ve tried various browsers and are still encountering issues with resetting your password, please Contact Us.

Question: I registered and did not receive my validation Email! Answer

Approximately 5% of users do not receive the validation email. This is a known issue. This issue tends to occur with free Email service providers such as Yahoo and Hotmail. In this situation, the email service provider is blocking the confirmation email. In 90% of the cases, the Email gets sent to your ‘JUNK’ box because our Confirmation Email includes a LINK that you must follow to Validate your account; in a few other cases, it will be found in your ‘BULK MAIL’ box on the server. Should you be one of the unlucky few where your validation email does not make it through to you, you have three alternatives

  1. Find the Validation Email in either your Junk Box or Bulk Mail box. Move the Validation Email to your INBOX and then follow the link to activate the account. –or-
  2. Sign up with another email address from a different internet service provider. In other words, if you first tried with Yahoo, try again with Gmail (we have confirmed that Gmail DOES work) or some other account. There is a very good chance that the second email address will work just fine. –or-
  3. If, after attempting both one and two, you are still not receiving the validation email, please Contact Us. We will manually find the email that was originally sent to you and resend it from a private email address. We attempt to respond to all requests within 1 business day.

Question: I get the following error message: ‘API version does not match the Worker version’ Answer

If you see this message when trying to view an FDD, your browser has encountered a caching issue with our system. We routinely update our security and your browser ‘may’ have cached an older version of our website and/or the document viewer software contained on our website and/or the scripts maybe caching in your browser and a hard reload is required. If you encounter this, the simple fix is to ‘clear’ your browser’s cache as follows:

Browser hard reload keystrokes:

  • Windows: Ctrl + F5
  • Mac/Apple: Apple + R or Cmd + R
  • Linux: F5

Question: Is the FDD Exchange really a ‘Free Service’ Answer

Yes – Anyone can sign up and view one FDD per day at no cost.  Should you wish to view multiple FDD’s each day, we request a nominal fee of $35 for the first months worth of viewing privileges and then $20 per month thereafter.

Question: If it’s a ‘Free Service’, why do you have different membership levels? Answer

Our goal has always been to provide franchise educational resources to interested parties. In a perfect world, we could share all of our knowledge base with the world at no charge. However, we must maintain secure servers, online storage and of course, secure relevant documents to share – all this costs time and money. For someone interested in an occasional document, we offer access as a free service. However, ‘Power Users’ that are looking to conduct serious research and accessing the site and its resources more frequently are asked to help contribute to its ongoing maintenance. Please keep in mind, you are under no obligation to continue your membership and may cancel at any time.

Question: How do I download the complete FDD to my desktop? Answer

The FDD Exchange platform is designed for viewing FDD’s; however, we realize that occasionally a user may need to download the entire PDF file in order to conduct specific searches or other analysis. The FDD’s are available for downloading on our sister site, The FDD Store.

Question: Can I request a specific FDD that is not currently on the FDD Exchange? Answer

Yes, you may request a specific FDD. We will attempt to secure a copy of the FDD that you are requesting.  Should we secure a copy, you will be notified of its availability through The FDD Store.  Please note there is a fee of $45.00 for this service. If we are not able to secure a copy of the FDD, you will not be charged.  To make a specific FDD request, please please Contact Us

Question: I registered, Activated my account, and Cannot Access an FDD! Answer

With larger FDD files, we have encountered slower download speeds. Please keep in mind that we’re talking about large documents that are often over 5 megabytes – these take time to download to the built-in viewer. Sometimes you will click on the ‘View FDD’ link of a particular company and all you’ll see is a White Screen – PLEASE BE PATIENT – it will show up and download in about 30-45 seconds. If you leave that page and try and reload the FDD, the system will inform you that you’ve already used up your one view per day (for Free Members). Other factors include your own Internet provider and the download limits placed on your account, both of which we have no control over. If you have been patient and still cannot access an FDD, please Contact Us.

Question: What can I do with these FDD’s? Answer

Your membership allows you to review the FDD’s for your personal use. This is an informational website and the contents contained within are for your personal use only. Please refer to our comprehensive Usage Guidelines for more details.

Question: What do you do with our information? Answer

We will NEVER sell, distribute or provide your contact information to any other person or entity.  Click here to see our detailed Privacy Policy 

Question: How do I cancel my Paid Membership? Answer

You are under no obligation to continue your membership and may cancel at any time. If you wish to cancel your membership, simply log into your account and select the ‘Cancel My Membership’ option; cancellations are immediate and you will no longer be billed monthly.  If you’ve encountered any problems while trying to cancel you membership, please Contact Us.

Question: Do you offer Refunds if I change my mind? Answer

Although you are under no obligation to continue your membership and may cancel at any time, we do not offer refunds.  Once you have paid your monthly membership, you immediately have access to the entire FDD database and therefore we can not refund your membership fee.

Question: Does the FDD Exchange function/display properly on all browsers? Answer

No – We strongly recommend using Google’s Chrome browser or even Firefox browser as some members have encountered issues with The FDD Exchange when being viewed with Microsoft Explorer; if you are restricted to using Explorer, you must ‘click’ the compatibility button located near the address bar which has been known to work in some cases. IOS/Apple users have not reported any issues with the Safari browser.

Question: I have another question for you. Answer

If you have a question that’s not covered here, please visit this page and use the form to ask your question. We’ll try and get back you you as soon as possible and may even add your question to this list.