ENEWS > WINTER 2008

Questions About Using ACT!?

Q: Can you tell me about Vista™ compatibility and ACT! 2007 and ACT! 2008?
A: Both ACT! 2007 & ACT! 2008 offer Vista compatibility, however there are important differences between the level of support these two versions offer. ACT! 2007 offers partial support with some limitations while ACT! 2008 offers full support without additional limitations. For a list of limitations for ACT! 2007 see www.act.com/vista2007/.

Q: Do I need to upgrade to ACT! 2008 in order to sync my ACT! contacts to my TREO™ 650?
A: No, earlier versions will work with devices running Palm OS. See system requirements

Q: I would like to use a subset of my ACT! database on my iPhone. How can I do that?
A: While Sage Software does not currently offer a link for ACT! and the iPhone™, CompanionLink, a third party product, does.

Q: When I select to write Fax it begins the merge record then says object is deleted. How do I fix this?
A: This feature uses a standard template "Fax Cover Page". Check if this template exists for your database. Click on the "Write" menu and select "Edit Template". You should see this template in the "Open File" dialogue. Create a new template with this name if you cannot find it.

Q: I have an old version of ACT!. How do I move all that info into the new version of ACT!?
A: Convert your old database first by simply opening it. Click the "File" menu and select "Open". Browse to your database and open it. ACT! will automatically recognize an older database and convert it to new format. You can also convert your older layouts and templates if you are upgrading from ACT! 3.x to ACT! 6.x. Access the conversion tools from the "Tools" menu and select "Convert ACT! 3.x - 6.x items".

Q: When I schedule multiple contacts for an activity it appears as in the activity list. Is there any way that I can get the individual contact names associated with the activity to appear?
A: Not currently, however, you can lookup the contacts associated with that activity by performing a "right-click" on the activity and selecting "Go to Contact". This will lookup all the contacts on the activity and display them in the Contact List view. From here, you can navigate to each contact for specific information.

Q. How do I transfer databases from one [machine] to another?
A. The easiest way to transfer an ACT! database to another machine is to use the backup/restore feature. Backup your database and your personal files. Log in to the database you want to transfer. Select “File >> Backup >> Database” to backup your database. Then select “File >> Backup >> Personal Files” to backup your personal files like your custom dictionary and Internet links. After the backups completed transfer both backups to your other machine and restore them using the ACT! restore feature. Open ACT! and select “File >> Restore >> Database”. Use the “Restore as” option, select the database backup file your just transfers and let the restore finish. Log in to the restored database and select “File >> Restore >> Personal Files” to restore your personal files for this database. Repeat these steps for other databases you wish to transfer.

Q. We currently use DAC 6.0 and need to share the database with or at least transfer the current data base to ACT!. I found where to Import in ACT!, but have been unsuccessful in completing this task. How do I do this?
A. Windows Vista uses Windows DAC 6.0 as a method for applications to access data stored in various formats. Common access methods for DAC 6.0 are ADO, OLE DB, and ODBC. Assuming that you have an application that accesses your data using DAC the easiest way to transfer data to ACT! is to export the data you want in ACT! into a text file (csv or txt format) which can directly be imported into ACT! using the ACT! import wizard. The import wizard can be accessed from the “File” >> “Import” menu.

Q. When one's Database is corrupted, what steps need to be taken to correct those issues?
A. If you can still open the database, you may be able to resolve issues by running the Check and Repair procedure or by transferring your data to a different ACT! database. If the database will not open, you may be able to resolve issues by running rebuild and repair procedures through the ACT! Diagnostics utility. You might also want to consider to contact technical support or an ACT! certified consultant because resolving database related issues can be quite complex. The Knowledge Base article 19642 “Database Rebuild and Repair Procedures” will walk you through the options and steps of using the repair features. You can access this article from www.act.com. Select “Knowledgebase” from the Support menu and enter “19642” into the search text field to quickly locate this article.

Q. I need to make a copy of my database to put on my home computer as a back-up. When I make a copy of the database I get the 3 or 4 files (including the .pad file) but when I try to open it on my home computer (same version ACT!) it refuses to open. What am I doing wrong?
A. Use the ACT!backup/restore features instead of copying the files. Start with backing up your database and your personal files. Log in to the database you want to copy. Select “File >> Backup >> Database” to backup your database. Then select “File >> Backup >> Personal Files” to backup your personal files like your custom dictionary and Internet links. After the backups completed copy both backups to your home computer and restore them using the ACT! restore feature. Open ACT! and select “File >> Restore >> Database”. Use the “Restore as” option, select the database backup file your just copied and let the restore finish. Log in to the restored database and select “File >> Restore >> Personal Files” to restore your personal files for this database.

Q. I sell services for several companies. One company has requested that I provide them with the records I am creating on their behalf and forward those records daily. How is that done without sending them my entire database?
A. You can easily export contact and/or company information using the “Export to Excel” feature and share this data with your client in an Excel spreadsheet. Begin with looking up the contacts you want to provide to your client, then switch to the contact list and click the “Export to Excel” button on the toolbar or select “Export to Excel” from the “Tools” menu. You can easily add or remove columns (fields) from the contact list to export the exactly data you want. Right click on the contact list and select “Customize Columns” from the pop up menu or select “Customize Columns” from the “Tools” menu to change the fields (columns) you want to export to Excel.

Q. It seems that some of my old calls that I never snoozed or detailed dropped off from my alarm. I thought originally there was some kind of setting for the alarm after a certain period of time the call will drop off the list but I have yet to find it. Can you help?
A. You didn’t miss a setting. ACT! automatically “ignored” alarms that are older than 30 days. Since many customers requested to see older alarms as well we changed this behavior in ACT! 2008 (10.0) where ACT! also displays alarms that are older than 30 days. You might also want to consider using the activity roll over feature for managing your activities. ACT! provides an option to roll over uncompleted activities to the next day. You can activate this option for every activity type (like phone calls or meetings). Activity types that have reserved resources, and activities with multiple users, will not automatically roll over. To activate the activity roll over option open “Scheduling Preferences” on the “Calendar & Scheduling” tab in the preferences dialogue which can be opened from the “Tools” menu. Select the activity type(s) you want to roll over and click on the “Automatically roll over to today” check box.

Q. How do I print a "Group" of customers that I have created in ACT! onto labels for mailings?
A. To print a “group” of customers onto mailing labels, begin by displaying the Contacts tab of the group view. Choose File, Print and under the Printout Type, choose Envelopes or Labels. Choose the Contact(s) for which you wish to create labels. Your options are:

Current Contact - This will create just one envelope/label for the currently selected contact
Current Lookup – This will create envelopes/labels for all contacts in your current lookup
All Contacts – This will create envelopes/labels for everyone in your database

Q. I used a template in ACT! 2000 that would print a postcard reminder for a client's appointment. The client's name and appointment date and time was placed in the body of the note and the address was then printed on the front of the pre-printed USPS postcard. The cards feed into the printer the same way an envelope does, and the printing is done in Landscape rather than Portrait orientation. Now that I've converted to ACT! 2007 (9.0), I can’t get the template to work. The text is printed in Portrait orientation, but the postcard can't be fed in the printer in that orientation. How can this be corrected?
A. The best way to do this in ACT! 2007 is to create a 2 page template that is wider than it is long. The first page of the template should be the client’s name and appointment time and the second page should be the client’s address. The other option is to create labels with the clients’ addresses on them and just make a one page template for the client’s name and appointment time. The first option will work best if you generally are doing one client at a time, but the second option might be easier if you are doing multiple clients at the same time.

Q. How do you print (or create) a report that lists all e-mail addresses or all phone numbers or primary & secondary contacts?
A. To create custom reports, click on the Reports drop down menu and choose New Template. When the dialog box comes up, select /b>Contact Reports and Empty Contact Report and click Ok. From this view, you can add any fields that are in ACT!. Just click on Field, draw a box in your report and the field list will appear. From this list, you can select any of the fields you wish to view on your report in any layout you require.

Q. How do I get mailing labels out of ACT! for all contacts as well as for certain groups of contacts?
A. Creating mailing labels is easy to do in ACT!. First , you create a lookup that displays the contact(s) for whom you wish to create the labels. Choose File, Print and under the Printout Type, choose Envelopes or Labels. Choose the Contact(s) for which you wish to create labels. Your options are:

Current Contact - This will create just one envelope/label for the currently selected contact
Current Lookup – This will create envelopes/labels for all contacts in your current lookup
All Contacts – This will create envelopes/labels for everyone in your database

Q. How do I make the whole database print?
A. There are several ways to print your ACT! information. You can choose Print from the file menu and select which printout type you require. You can also choose the quick print option from the file menu for most views. If you need to view your data in Excel, you can click on the Excel icon in the top row from the Contact List view and the data displayed will be exported to an Excel spreadsheet.

Q. How do I print the ACT! contact list?
A. From the Contact list view, choose Quick Print from the File drop down menu. If the fields you wish to print are not displayed, you can right click on the Contact List view and choose Customize Columns to customize which fields are displayed.

Q. How do you create mailing labels?
A. Creating mailing labels is easy to do in ACT!. First , you create a lookup that displays the contact(s) for whom you wish to create the labels. Choose File, Print and under the Printout Type, choose Envelopes or Labels. Choose the Contact(s) for which you wish to create labels. Your options are:

Current Contact - This will create just one envelope/label for the currently selected contact
Current Lookup – This will create envelopes/labels for all contacts in your current lookup
All Contacts – This will create envelopes/labels for everyone in your database

Q. How to use conflict checking more effectively?
A. First, it’s important to make sure that you have enabled Conflict Checking. From the Tools menu, select Preferences. Click on the Calendar and Scheduling tab and choose Scheduling Preferences. From this dialog box, make sure you have the Enable Activity Conflict Checking box checked and click Ok. Once this option is turned on, ACT! will automatically check for conflicts when you schedule something new. If a conflict exists, you will see a dialog box pop up after scheduling that will show you the conflict and give you the options of scheduling anyway or rescheduling the activity.

Q. How do I get my reports out of ACT! when they have been entered under company, and not under contact?
A. There are a variety of Company reports available through the Reports >> Company Reports Menu or you can create your own custom Company reports using the Report designer.

Q. How can I improve ACT! performance on my machine?
A. There are several ways to improve ACT! performance. In our research with varying hardware configurations, a faster hard drive, with a faster RPM, can have the largest impact on application performance. We also recommend having at least 1 GB of RAM on the PC if you plan on running more than 4 applications simultaneously. Finally, try to limit the number of services running in the system tray as each application will take some resources from the PC overall and cause ACT!, or any other application, to run slower.

Q. How you can move ACT! 6.0 into the latest version of ACT!?
A. You can convert an ACT! 6.0 database to a new version of ACT! by simply opening it from within the new version. Once the database is converted you can separately select your ACT! 6.0 layouts, reports, templates, envelopes, & labels you have created and convert them all to the new ACT! format.

Windows® 64-bit Information for ACT! users
View answers to commonly asked questions about installing and using ACT! on Microsoft Windows 64-bit operating systems and machines at http://www.act.com/64bit/.

Do you have questions about ACT!? Ask us at act-guru@howdoyouact.net. Your questions will be answered in the next edition of eNews.