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New Features in the October 2003 UpdateListed here are some of the new features in the new October 2003 update. Take the time and go through these new features so that you can utilize them properly. Click here to download this new update or click here to download the demo. Version 2.0
The Switchboard is history! All areas of the program are accessible through the Menus and Toolbars along the top of the program window. Please take the time to explore. Unlimited phone numbers, fax number and email addresses You
can now enter as many phone numbers, fax numbers and email addresses
(“numbers”, from here on) per contact. There
is a fundamental difference in how this was done in previous versions. In
previous versions, you were only able to enter a fixed amount of numbers per
address. If you needed to enter more numbers, you
needed to enter a new address record for that contact –giving you a new slot
of numbers. In
this version, the numbers are associated to the contact, not to the address. And
you can enter as many numbers as you need to. Each
number has a Type field. The Type field determines what this number is (Home,
Work, Fax, Email, etc.) You can only enter one number per Type. This means that
if you will want to enter two work numbers, you will need to create two Types,
Work1 and Work2, or His Work and Her Work. When
you run the update for the first time, the system automatically creates the
Types that were used in the previous version: Home, Work, Other, Fax, Cell,
Pager and Email. If there was more than one address for a given contact and more
numbers were stored in that second address, those numbers will be assigned
Home2, Work2, etc. You
can manage the Types by going to Tools > Built-in lists > Phone/Fax/Email
Types. There you can create, modify and delete Types. You can even move numbers
from one type to another. To add a number to a contact's record, fill in the Type and the Number. These fields are required. You cannot enter a number without specifying the type. You cannot enter a Type without entering the number. If you start adding a new number and then change your mind and decide not to enter it -- if you already entered a Type, the system will not allow you to move on until you clear the record (by pressing ESC on your keyboard). It is not enough to clear the Type field. Similarly, if you want to delete a number, it is not enough to clear the Type and the Number fields (doing that does not delete the record, it leaves you with a blank record) –- you need to press the Delete button (at the bottom of the Phone Number section). When the screen is unlocked, you will always see one blank slot where you can potentially enter a new number. Once you begin entering a new number in that blank row a new blank row will appear. As you continue to add numbers a new slot will appear for the potential next number. If the Main screen is locked, you will not be able to modify, add or delete numbers. You can lock and unlock the Main screen by clicking the Lock button at the top of your screen. You can also set the default lock state when the program starts. Click Tools > Options > Other tab for this option. When
you run any Contact report, you can choose which Types should be displayed on
the Report. Simply click the Columns tab and check the Types you need. This
applied to sending emails, faxing, exporting or any Output available on the
Contact report. When running a Transaction report, you have the option whether or not to display Phone numbers, Fax numbers and/or Email addresses on the report. This option is available on the Columns tab of the Transaction report screen. In
this version you have the ability to create users and groups and to assign
permissions to these groups. Here’s
how it works:
NOTE:
This feature is still in beta. There are some areas in the program that are not
“securable” yet and some areas that are appear secured but are not. Feel free to use it and email tech support with any issues
and/or suggestions. You can send personalized email to a group of contacts based on criteria you choose in the Contact report screen. To begin, open the Contact report screen and select the criteria as needed. Choose E-mail from the Output drop-down and Personal from the Type drop-down. When you click OK. The Send Email window will appear where you can type a subject, a message and insert personalization fields such as Salutation, CompanyName, Address and more. When you click the Send button, each contact who fits the criteria you selected will receive a personalized email. Split Bulk Email Broadcasts into groups You
can break up large bulk emails into groups. You enable this option under Tools
> Options > Other tab. This is useful if your ISP does not allow more than
x amount of email addresses in one email. Built-in Help System with updated User Guide Click Help > Contents to open and browse the actual help file. Click the ? on any form (next to the X). The mouse turns into a question pointer. Click on any field to get quick information and instructions on using that specific feature. The user guide has also been completely rewritten. In order for the built=in help to work, you need to extract the help files into the same folder that the program resides in. Click here to go to the download page for the help files. Note:
The help system is not complete yet. If
you signed up for the Banquet Module, it will be available on a separate tab on
the Main screen. If it does not appear, you will need to call tech support for
registration for this module. This module has the ability to track reservations, table seating, menus, honorees, guests, and print all related reports. Click here to view some screen shots of this module. This new tool gives you the ability to transfer information from one contact to another. I could be that there were duplicate records entered into the system (or when merging to records because of a marriage, for example) and some transactions were entered on one record and some on the other. To avoid the manual reentering of the data and all the complications that come along with it (applying payments to bills, assigning payments to deposits, etc) you can use this tool to do this job quickly and efficiently. Click Tools > Transfer Info to open the Transfer Info tool. This tool has the ability to transfer Programs, Family members (with their occasions), Payments, Bills, Expenses and History items. Select the "From" and "To" contact, which areas to transfer and click the Transfer button. You are given a detailed report of the pending change before committing. Zip Code Count
-- Contact Report Total Due in Transaction Statistics When viewing Bills, the Transaction statistics now displays the Total Amount Due as well as the Total Amount Billed. This gives you an instant picture on a contact's outstanding balance without having to make any reports. This gives you the ability to run a contact reports for all contacts except for
those assigned to the selected program(s). Enabling this option will cause the system to check for duplicates as you are entering names. You can find this option under Tools > Options > Other tab. If you enter name and similar address, the system will display the suspected duplicate and prompt you to confirm that you want to enter this new record. The suspected duplicate section of the program (Tools > Suspected Duplicates) which detects duplicates that are alread in the system, has also been enhanced to check for matches based on last name and beginning of address. This option affects how you want the salutation to appear for
new names, Formal or Personal. Formal uses the Title and Last Name fields,
Personal uses the First Name field. This option is available under
Tools > Options > Style tab. Changing this option does not affect
existing records. To change existing records, you need to modify the Salutation
field under Settings for this Address. End of Year Thank-you letter To
generate the letters, click on Report >
Batch > Letters and choose Year End letters. Choose the Year End letter and
click OK. This option allows a user to choose if invoices should show the Date of the bill or the Date Due. Click Tools > Options > Invoices tab. Integrate Birthday field into Family Record The
birthday field is now available on the individual family record. You don’t have to move between the Family and Occasion tabs to view
birthdays and family members. You can also enter/modify a person’s birthday
from the Family screen. This makes data entry much quicker when entering
children and birthdays. Total Amount field on Contact Reports When a Contact report is based on Transaction criteria, the Amount field
appears when exporting or merging to Word. After generating a report to the screen, you can click the Change Criteria button and edit the criteria to refresh the report with data based on the new criteria. This makes getting the report you need much easier. If you report you generate is not exactly the one you need, simple click the Change Criteria button and specify the criteria you need. This also applies to the Output options of a report. You can generate a report to the screen as a list and once you are satisfied that the report is giving you the data you want, you can click the Change Criteria button and change the output to something else (email or word merge, for example). Complete Mailing definition option This option allows international users to specify what constitutes a "Complete Mailing Address". Limiting reports (contacts, letters, etc) to the "Complete Mailing Address" criteria will have different implications depending on this option. Click Tools > Options > Style. to customize this option. (US users should leave this setting blank: the default is "Address, City, State, ZipCode") Display Country on labels option This option is useful for some international users who require the country to be displayed on label even in the same country. (Usually
the country field is not displayed if it is the same as the country you are
in.) Salutation field for Built-in Letters The built-in letters have a new field called <Salutation>. This field is in place of the automatic inserting of the Salutation in the letter. This change allows greater flexibility in the spacing that you want to insert between the "Dear" line and the start of the letter. It also allows international users to user a word other than the English word "Dear" Note: Running the update automatically inserts "Dear <Salutation>," at the beginning of each letter.
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