Issue 3 • ACT! 2005/2006 Edition

Dear FIRSTNAME,

If you haven't checked out the Contact List view, now's the time to do so.  This spreadsheet-like view offers the ability to work with multiple contacts in an easy-to-navigate format.

Any ACT! 2006 users who have upgraded from version 6.0 or older will quickly notice that the Contact List view, by default, is no longer listed on the view bar on the left side of the ACT! interface.  To launch the Contact List view, you'll now click the Contacts button on the view bar and then click the Contact List button on the toolbar.

Click these links to learn more detailed information about the the tips outlined in this issue:

As always, if you have any questions about ACT!, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at 800-322-1049.

Best regards,

The staff at

Innovative Solutions
 

  

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L A T E S T   N E W S

This section removed for the newsletter archive.
 

We recommend that you purchase:

Managing Contacts
with ACT! 2006
$24.99   $22.49

Click here to order.
 
 
Searching for a Contact in the Contact List View
Relevant for ACT! 2005 & ACT! 2006 Users

The Contact List view will always show the contacts in your current lookup. If you're looking for a specific contact, you could perform a lookup to find that contact. However, you can also use the Quick Find feature within the Contact List view to go to a particular contact's record within the current lookup.

It's important to note that the Contact List view always shows just the contacts in your current lookup. If you perform a lookup of all contacts in a specific state, you'll just see those contacts in the Contact List view. If you click Lookup | All Contacts, you'll be able to see all contacts in the database.  You may need to do this before using the Quick Find feature.

To quickly find a contact in the Contact List view:

  1. Sort the Contact List view by any field by clicking the column header for that field.
  2. In the upper left corner of the Contact List view, type a word into the Look for field.
  3. ACT! will take you directly to the contacts that have the word in the field that you clicked in Step 1.
 
Adding and Removing Columns
Relevant for ACT! 2005 & ACT! 2006 Users

The real power of the Contact List view lies in its customizability. You can re-sort the columns, change the length of columns, add columns to the list, and remove the columns when you don't need them anymore. These features let you build a Contact List view that shows just the specific information you require.

By default, ACT! shows the main contact fields in the Contact List view. If you've added extra fields to your database, or if you use any of the fields that aren't shown on the Contact List view, you may want to add these additional fields to the Contact List.

To add columns in the contact List view:

  1. In the upper-right corner of the Contact List view, locate the Options drop-down. Click this option's drop-down and select the Customize Columns option. The Customize Columns dialog box will appear.
  2. On the left side of the dialog box, you'll see a list of fields that are in the database but aren't currently showing in the Contact List view. Highlight any field and click the > button to add it to the list.
  3. Click OK.
 
Exporting to Microsoft Excel
Relevant for ACT! 2005 & ACT! 2006 Users

If you've performed a lookup to refine the contacts that show in the Contact List view, and if you've customized the columns that show for each contact, you might want to export the on-screen data in the Contact List view to Microsoft Excel. In ACT! 2006, you can do this with a single click. After clicking the Export to Excel button in the Contact List view, ACT! will export all of the information currently showing in the Contact List view to an Excel spreadsheet.

If you use an outside mail service to send letters or postcards to your customers, you can use the Excel integration as an easy way to send your contacts' address information to the mail house. Just customize the columns that show in the Contact List view, perform a lookup of the mailer recipients, and click the Excel button to create a spreadsheet that you can send to the mail service.

To export the contents of the Contact List view to Excel:

  1. Click View | Contact List to launch the Contact List view.
  2. Perform a lookup of the contacts that you'd like to export to Excel.
  3. If needed, customize the columns that show in the Contact List view (see the previous task in this chapter).
  4. Click the Export to Excel icon on the toolbar (or click Tools | Export to Excel).

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© 2006 Thomson Course Technology.  Text adapted from Managing Contacts with ACT! 2006. Reprinted with permission.