|
Contact Plus
Personal Frequently Asked Questions
- Do you have
international versions?
- How can I be reminded of my things to do
for the day?
- How do I list my contacts at the same
company in order? I have several contacts at the same company but
with different last names.
- How do I print an address book?
- How do I open a new database?
- How do I print my calendar for
today?
- How do I move contacts between
databases?
- How can I place an icon for Contact Plus
on my Windows desktop?
- How comes it takes so long to start
Contact Plus each day?
- How do I perform a spell
check?
- How do I filter on my
calendar/events?
- Why can't I use Corel
WordPerfect or Microsoft Word mail merge codes?
- How do I print a sheet of labels for
the same contact?
- How do I print a profile report?
- What is the difference between a form
template and a generated letter
- How do I move my form letters?
- How do I move my generated
letters?
- How do I rename my generated
letters?
- How can I be 100% sure that my
backup was successful?
- What are special phone
prefixes/suffixes for?
- What exactly is a filter?
- How come my Filter list says
"Modified in Database"?
- What is the BDE? What is it used
for?
- When I run a third party program like
Clean Sweep it says that the BDE is not being used by any program?
Is is safe to delete it?
- How do I transfer data files from
one computer to another?
- Can I use my own email client with Contact
Plus?
- How can I set up Outlook to be the
default email client?
- How can I set up Eudora to be the default
mail client?
- How do I move not done events to
today?
- What does Index out of Date
mean? What does Record Key Deleted mean? What should I do?
- Why should I run repair? Which
databases should I repair?
- Can I transfer a text field to a
number field?
- Do you have international
versions?
Contact Plus for Windows has several features
that allow international users to customize the product. By going
to the Setup Menu/International, you can rename some of the main
data entry fields. Also, Contact Plus uses your Windows
international settings for decimal places, currency characters,
and time/date settings. At this time, there are no versions of
Contact Plus for Windows that have been translated into other
languages.
- How can I be reminded of my things to do
for the day?
Use the alarm feature to notify you of
meetings and appointments. In Setup F7, Alarm Settings, make sure
the alarms are enabled to use this function. Make sure to specify
the amount of lead time before the event that an alarm should
notify you. When making an appointment with the Schedule Events
F5, make sure that the alarm box is checked. In Personal you can
change the sound the alarm makes and whether the sound is
continuous (perfect for having an alarm notify you while you're
working in other programs) with the Setup F7 Alarm Settings.
- How do I list my contacts at the same
company in order? I have several contacts at the same company but
with different last names.
Contact Plus will sort your
contacts on as many fields as you want. Create an F9 Index using
"Company name" as the first field and then "Last name" as the
secondary field on which to sort. This way, all of the contacts at
Acme Incorporated will appear in order.
- How do I print an address
book?
Click Reports F1 on the alternate button bar. Select
the Contact Report. Select the detail level and font. Select the
destination as printer. Click OK. Select a filter if desired.
Click OK.
- How do I open a new
database?
Select File|Open database. Select the database
and click OK. Or you can double click on the Database name box in
the status area.
- How do I print my calendar for
today?
There are two ways to print calendars. Calendars F2
is used to print not done events for today. View Events F4 prints
a list of events (done, not done) for any time period, including a
range of days. To have your schedule print automatically see the
Event Plus Plug-In module.
- How do I move contacts between
databases?
You can copy or move contacts one at a time
between databases using the Transfer Contact F2 button. To move
groups of contacts you can use Database Utilities, Transfer
Contacts. Click File|Database Utilities.
- How can I place an icon for Contact
Plus on my desktop?
Right-click on the desktop. A popup
menu should appear. Choose New|Shortcut from that popup menu.
Locate the cplus.exe file, typcically located in the \cpwin97
folder. Click on "Next". In the "Name of the Shortcut" window,
type "Contact Plus" or whatever you want to call it. Click on
"Finish".
- How comes it takes longer to start at
the beginning of the day?
When you start up Contact Plus
Personal, the Safe Mode is envoked. Safe Mode is used once each
day by to make a copy of all database information. The directory
is \DATA\SAFE. This is only done the first time you start up
Contact Plus for the day. Depending upon the amount of data in
the program and your computer's speed , this may take several
minutes. Note this method of making a backup should not be
used the only method of backing up important data files. It is
imperative to make a backup using the backup program on a regular
basis.
- How do I perform a spell
check?
Spell checking is available in Notes F7, in the
Description Tab, and on messages in Email F10. To use spell check
display the item to check and right-click on it. A Spell Check
window will appear and will start to check the spelling. If a word
is not found it will stop and display the word in a list. Then you
can choose the options Replace, and choose a list from the
suggestions, Add to add the found word to the Spell Check
dictionary, Skip Once, to skip the word once time, or Skip Always
to not stop on the found word any more.
- How do I create a calendar/event
filter?
To create an event filter you must be using Reports
F1 and you've chosen a calendar-based report. The types of reports
which are chosen are listed in the "type" column on the Reports
window. Calendar based reports include the Events by Date
Report.
You can also view a list of Events from View Events
F4 and choosing the correct days for which you wish to view. To
choose only a certain type of event such as phone calls, click on
the Calls Tab.
- Why can't I use Corel
WordPerfect or Microsoft Word mail merge codes?
Contact
Plus for Windows uses its own merge codes that appear within
brackets like {{FirstName}}. If there is a reason you must use
Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft Word to do a merge outside of
Contact Plus, you can go to the File menu in Contact Plus and use
the Export function to create a WordPerfect Secondary File or a
comma-delimited export file for Microsoft Word.
- How do I print a sheet of labels
for the same contact?
On the alternate button bar click the
Labels F4. Select the label size. Click Sheet.
- How do I print a profile
report?
On the Main Screen, click the Print button in the
lower right, next to the Mark/Unmark button. Check the items you
want to print, then click OK.
- What is the difference between a form
template and a generated letter?
A form template is the
boiler plate from which future letters will be created. It appears
in the list of form templates when F6 is presed. It contains the
mail merge codes such as {{FirstName}} where information for each
contact is inserted. A generated letter is a letter that has
already been merged with a contact record. The
- How do I move my form letters from
one folder to another?
Use Windows Explorer to move the
Forms directory to the new desired location. In Contact Plus, go
to the Setup Menu/Form Letter Locations and set the Form Letter
Directory to match the new path, like C:\CPWIN97\DATA\FORMS - then
click ok.
In Contact Plus Personal choose Mail/Merge. Click
on Add/Delete/Edit. Click Rebuild to recreate the list of Forms in
the new location.
- How do I move my generated letters
from one folder to another?
Use Windows Explorer to move
the Letters directory to the new desired location. In Contact
Plus, go to the Setup Menu/Form Letter Locations and set the
Generated Letter Directory to match the new folder, like
C:\CPWIN97\LETTERS and - then click ok.
- How do I rename my generated
letters?
You shouldn't rename your generated letters.
Contact Plus remembers their names in the contact's history so you
can access them later if you want to. If they are renamed, this
function will not work properly. However, you can change the way
Contact Plus generates letter names in the future, by going to the
Setup Menu/Word Processor and click on the Letter Naming tab.
- How can I be 100% sure that my
backup was successful?
Assuming you used Contact Plus
Backup & Restore, there are a few ways to confirm the
quality of your backup. If you have WinZip , you can directly open
the zip file that Backup & Restore creates on the disk.
Looking inside the file, you can confirm the dates on the
.DB files within are recent. We suggest backing up to
multiple sets removable media (zip drives, diskettes) for data
integrity. For example, you might have sets of media labeled
"Monday", "Tuesday", "Wed", etc, and each night back up to a
different set. That way, if last night's backup was corrupted for
whatever reason or maybe the dog chewed it, you have the older
backup set. At the very least keep two sets, for odd and even
days. Periodically, you should put your backup media in storage
and start over with fresh ones. After all, disks are cheap, your
data is not. In addition if you're on a network you can also make
a backup and copy the resulting zip files to other computers on
the network for safekeeping.
- What are special phone
prefixes/suffixes for?
The Long Distance Prefix is dialed
before a phone number that is outside your local area code. The
Long Distance Suffix is dialed after a phone number that is
outside your area code. For example, in the Long Distance Prefix,
you might have a 1, a credit card number, or perhaps a carrier
code. Some carrier codes go after the number, therefore there is
the suffix field too. The Local Area Prefix and Local Area Suffix
are the same concept, but they are always dialed before/after
numbers that are in the same area code as you are. If someone is
in the same area code you are in, but is a long distance number,
you enter their "exchange" in the Exchanges tab for the special
dialing on the "Special" tab in the Phone Dialer setup
window. For example, in the phone number "AAA-BBB-CCCC", BBB
represents the exchange. You could tell Contact Plus to dial
BBB numbers as long distance, even though it's the same area
code.
- What exactly is a filter?
A
useful way to handle working with a subset of the database is to
create filters to locate records within a database that match
certain criteria. Criteria includes "like" conditions among
records, such as "all records in category H." Filters can be very
simple or complex by using a combination of statements. It is
handy to create a filter to include certain records in a mail
merge or report.
- How come my Filter list says
"Modified in Database"?
Filters that use User, Numeric,
Money, Date fields or Categories are database specific. These
fields may be different from database to database. For example,
Categories in my "Sales" database may be different from Categories
in my "Leads" database. The "Modified in Database" column
lets you know which database the filter was last modified in. If
your filters are things like "Everyone in the State of Florida",
they will still have a "Modified in Database" but they will work
identically in all your databases.
- What is BDE? What is it used
for?
The BDE is the Borland Database Engine that
Contact Plus uses to access the data files. Making changes to this
folder or parameters in the program. greatly affect Contact Plus.
It is imperative that the folder is not moved or deleted.
- When I run a third party program
like Clean Sweep it says that the BDE is not being used by any
program? Is is safe to delete it?
NO! Making changes or
deleting the BDE program will affect the Contact Plus program
greatly. It is imperative that the Borland folder not be moved or
deleted.
- How do I transfer data files from
one computer to another?
If you want to transfer data from
one machine to another, run the Backup procedure on the first
computer and then run the Restore program on the second computer.
IMPORTANT Note that ALL databases on the second computer
will be overwritten in this process. To synchronize data from one
computer to another you can upgrade to Contact Plus
Professional and
Smart Merge.
- Can I use my own email client with Contact
Plus?
Whatever email program is registered with the
operating system as the default MAPI email is the one that is
launched from Contact Plus. The Windows operating system typically
comes with some type of email client, at the very least the Inbox
icon on the Windows desktop. This program is MAPI compliant and
can be used for your email with Contact Plus.
- How can I set up my Outlook to be the
default email client?
Follow these steps: Outlook
Express 4.x and Windows 98 On the Outlook Tools menu, click
Options. On the General tab, click the Make Outlook Express my
default Simple MAPI client check box to select it. Click Yes when
you are prompted to set Outlook Express as your default Simple
MAPI client. Quit Outlook Express, and then restart your computer.
Outlook Express 5 On the Tools menu, click
Options. On the General tab, click Make Default next to This
application is the default mail handler. Click OK.
- How can I set up Eudora Pro to be the
default email client?
To make Eudora Pro the default mail
program in the Tools menu of Eudora, choose Options. Choose the
option "MAPI". Change "Use Eudora MAPI Server" to Always.
Click OK.
- How do I move not done events to
today?
The easiest way to move a group of events in Contact
Plus for Windows is to use the Month view. You can click on
individual items in the window at the bottom, and drag them to
other days. You can move multiple events by checking them with the
ctrl key held down.
- What does Index out of Date
mean? What does Record Key Deleted mean? What should I
do?
Run the Database Repair program and repair the
database. If you are using Contact Plus Personal and the error
specified a specific database like the EVENT.DB file, you can
select that file to repair. Also, if you are having problems with
the EVENT.DB, it is a good idea to do a Normalize after the
rebuild to make certain there are no corrupt dates or times. If
"Index Out of Date" or "Record Key Deleted" continues to appear,
check the Updates Page to confirm you have the latest version of
Contact Plus Personal for Windows.
- Why should I run a database repair?
Which databases should I repair?
If you encounter problems
viewing, creating, or changing events, repair the EVENT.DB file.
If you are encountering problems that seem to occur when you go
from one contact to the next, try repairing CONTACT.DB. Also,
running Normalize on the EVENT.DB is useful for making sure there
are no invalid dates or times.
- Can I transfer a text field to a
number field?
Yes, a text field can be transferred to a
numeric field, but the information must be numbers only (0-9) and
must not contain any alpha characters. Use Database Utilities,
Global Update to perform this procedure.
|