ACT! by Sage
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Tips, Tricks and Best Practices
Customizing your ACT! Menus and Toolbars
How to Add a Letter Template or Report to your Menu
ACT Versions 2005 (v. 7) to 2009 (v. 11)
by Kathleen Fernan
Have you ever created a custom letter template and want it to be on the
Write Menu or have a custom report that you would like on the Reports Menu?
In ACT 6 this was an easy change to make by simply modifying the
menu. However with the release of ACT 7 (aka ACT! 2005) and higher the modify
menu option was removed.
I will walk you through the steps of adding a report to
your menu or toolbar. This process can be used for adding custom letter
templates, labels or reports to any Menu or Toolbar. In this example we will add
the Report “Task List” to the Reports Menu.
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Step One: Create a Custom Command
Custom Commands can be created to launch an application, a custom letter template or
a custom report.
We will add a custom command to launch the Task List Report from the Reports
Menu.
Click the Tools Menu -
Customize - Menus and Toolbars
Click on the Custom Commands Tab
Click New
Command Name : enter a name for the command ie: Task List Report
Tooltip Text : enter a name that will popup when you hover over the icon ie:
Task List
Command Line : click BROWSE
You want to find the custom report or letter template on your system.
Locate
where your ACT database and database files are stored.
If you are a single user,
they can be found in the My Documents Folder\ACT\Databases.
In this folder is the actual ACT database file and a folder with all the
supplemental files that ACT needs for your system.
If you are in a shared
environment, they will be stored on the shared server.
Ask your administrator
for the exact location of the files.
For reports browse to the folder:DATABASENAME database files –
reports folder
For templates browse to the folder:DATABASENAME database files –
templates
folder
Be sure to change the “type of files” at the bottom of the browse window to
all so you can see the reports or templates files.
Find the task list.rpt.
Select it.
Click Open
Choose Icon : click on the Icon eclipse
If you have custom icons on your computer, browse to that folder and change the
icon.
Custom icons can be found on my website. Click here.
Click ADD COMMAND – this saves the custom command.
The
dialogue box should look like this after you added the command.
Step Two: Add the Custom Command to your Menu
Click on the Commands Tab on the dialogue box
Select Custom Commands from the Category list on the left
You will see the custom command you created in the right panel
Click on the command you want on your menu and drag it to the reports menu
The menu will open up and you can place it exactly where you want
it.
Right Click on the reports menu and you get a list of options:
Reset All - Caution this resets ALL
customization to your menus and toolbars
Delete - This will delete the icon in the menu
Name - You can rename the toolbar tip or menu option
Text Only - will display the text assigned to the custom command
Image and Text - will display the icon and the text
Begin Group - Allows you to put a dividing line between the items.
Creating Custom Toolbars
You can create a custom toolbar to hold all your templates or reports so you don't clutter up your menus.
Click on Tools - Customize - Menus and Toolbars
Click on the Toolbars Tab
Click NEW then name your custom toolbar ie: My Templates
Click the checkbox to the left of the toolbar so it will display at the top of your screen.
A small empty toolbar will appear in the upper left corner
of the ACT screen.
Click on the Commands Tab
Select Custom Commands from the categories list
Select and drag your custom command for onto the new toolbar
Right Click on the toolbar and you get a list of options:
Reset All - Caution this resets ALL
customization to your menus and toolbars
Delete - This will delete the icon in the menu
Name - You can rename the toolbar tip or menu option
Text Only - will display the text assigned to the custom command
Image and Text - will display the icon and the text
Begin Group - Allows you to put a dividing line between the items.
These options are for all commands in that toolbar.
You may rearrange your toolbars by dragging them to desired
location.
Kathleen Fernan has spent over 12 years dedication to
ACT! by Sage. As a certified consultant and certified trainer, Kathleen provides
customization design, installation, add-on configuration, data migration and
personalized training to small and medium sized businesses.
Copyright 2009
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