ACT! Questions and Answers
Ask ACT Professor

Most ACT! "tip" columns only  repeat what you can find in the manual.
Here you will find truly innovative solutions and work-arounds.

Go in to Outlook, to Tools, Options, Other, Advanced Options, Add-In Manager, and disable ACT! Extensions

Try File, Save As, and make a copy of the database, then try to open the copy shared.  It may help to have your version of ACT! make the file.

You can use the ACT! Add On called ACT! Attachment Freedom

You can store your emails in folders arranged by date, for example D:\ACT6\Email\Attached\2006 (click for details)

Try putting it on drive C:

Here are some steps to fix it from InstallShield's web site.
http://consumer.installshield.com/kb.asp?id=Q108340

Yes you can widen the fields up to 254 characters.  Here's how  ACTRegarding Widening Service

Yes, here are some instructions on using the ACT! dialer.

There are a few reasons this could be. The ABC/ABU files could be corrupted. Delete or Rename them and they will be reconstructed automatically by ACT!   Or see the following link.

Just turn on Tools, Database Maintenance, Share Database

You could remove all but the most important .CLY files from your Layout folder to make the list shorter. 
You can press F6 to switch quickly between your last two layouts.

You can make tool bar buttons to run macros which run queries to show the Groups or the Companies with a click of the mouse.

ACT! puts the Country Code in a contact record if it is different than the Country Code of the My Record.  Go to the My Record and click on the button with the three dots [...] to the right of the Phone field.  Select United States, then you will find all the [1]'s on the US records are suppressed.

We developed a special procedure to extract All the tables.  Just upload your database and we'll extract it to tables for you.  http://DataUpload.com.

> The database needs to be detached.  Please see the page on the ACT7Dia utility at http://ACTConvert.com/FromSend#ACT! 7.0  The next time you open the database in the new location, it will automatically re-attach.

You need to update your ACT!  Just go to Help, then ACT! Update...
Just think of it saying "Your version needs to be updated."

When you delete a record, it is not automatically deleted on the others, even after synchronization.  On the other computers, select Lookup, Synchronized Records, then Deleted by Remote Users.  You will see the Records Deleted by Remote Users screen.  Show Contacts, for All Users.  (Check the list to see if any contacts should not be deleted and if so, Restore Deleted Record).  If they all can be, then Select All.  Then click the Lookup Selected button to create a lookup of all the records you would like to delete.  Then, select Contact, Delete Contact, then Delete Lookup.  It takes a lot of steps, but ACT! goes on the side of caution, and makes it a very conscious effort to delete contacts that might be important.   Suggestion: You can make a Macro to do this in one click.

We have an Alternative Email Procedure and Report Template for that.   Please click to see the steps.

Let's schedule a time for me to come in and clean up the mess.  In the mean time, you can read our tips on synchronization.

First make sure you have the tool bar active within the Tools, Toolbars choice. Then try the ACTDIAG.EXE utility which comes with ACT!, and use the menu Reset feature.

This is a known problem with the FINIS.EXE in the ACT! folder.  You can read a Knowledge Base article on replacing it.

There are two similar products to do that. You can find more information at
ACTWired.com  and ACTHelp.com/web

DSL would be a bit slow, but WiredContact can even work with dial up.  You can host on the fastest available, OC192, with ACTWebHosting.com

First, do a Lookup for the records you would like to print to. For example, all records in Washington.
You can select Edit, Sort, by Zip
Then File, Print, select Labels and choose the format you have.

We have some suggestions here, to name then 01, 02, 03, 04...15  which allows you to add addition wording after the numbers, while still retaining their identity as user defined fields.

Does it get synched over ?
Drop Down lists do not synchronize, but you can use the Export and Import feature to avoid retyping them.
http://itdomino.act.com/act.nsf/docid/1997716132336

Here are some things to check.

You can increase the log out time due to inactivity on wired contact.  For example, if the current log out time is 10 minutes, you can increase it to 20 minutes. Go the WiredContact Configuration Utility.  Select the "Site Information (Database)" tab, then "In Minutes... Automatic Database Logoff" to 20 minutes

You can add the tag <tr><td class=lbl><#LABEL Field=38> </td>
<td><#INPUT style="width=120" Field=38 format=phone></td></tr>
to the contact.html template.  Field 38 is the default Mobile Phone field.

Make sure you have changed the settings (Tools-Internet Options-Temporary Internet files-Settings)  in your browser to Every Visit to the Page under Check for Newer Versions of Stored Pages.  Then in the WiredContact Configuration utility on the server click Reset Local Cache on the Site Information/Database tab.

Have a general account that allows staff who do not have an individual accounts to log in and make updates.

It sounds like you are in version 5 (2000), trying to import 6.  Start in verison 6.   Make sure to use the choice in ACT! 6.0 to File, Save Copy As..  Then you will see a prompt to save it in 5.0 format.

(I'll look at this Monday)

Use theWiredContact Configuration utility on the server to Reset Local Cache on the Site Information/Database tab.  Make sure the users have their browsers set to Every Visit to Page as above.  Changes to drop downs will display in WiredContact after 6 hours, but can be forced with the Reset Local Cache Button.

This is not available currently, but has been added to our feature requests.

This can be done in regular ACT!, but not in WiredContact

In the current version of WiredContact, mass emails are not supported.  This feature will be made available within the next quarter (Qtr1 2003)

(Will do Monday)

This can be done by updating the Windows Registry, but should be done by a Certified ACT Consultant ( ACTCA.org )

We recommend keeping the installation to simple folders.   See article on Simple ACT! Setup

Create 3 icons linking to the DBF file themselves. Right click on them to check the Properties. 
Target: N:\ACT\DATABASE\MyData.dbf  (or the name of your desired database)
Start In: C:\ACT  (or wherever your ACT.EXE is)
Include the .DBF in the Target to be sure the icon opens up the right file.

Please see ACT Notes

ACT! comes with its own database engine, a strong variation of the popular dBase structure, called CodeBase.  With Access or SQL you can access the data in the ACT! database, for reporting or even editing.  But the data can only reside in the ACT! format in order for the ACT! menus and commands to work with the data.  ACT! value added resellers providing custom work, and ACT AddOns, can provide additional methods to work with the data.

ACT! is licensed based on the number of simultaneous users.  If only 5 people are expected to use the application at any given time, only 5 licenses need to be bought. 

If you are also using WiredContact, you are supposed to have an ACT! and a WiredContact license for each user.

When you try to install ACT on a machine running an internet explorer version earlier than 5.0 the first thing that pops up is a window telling you that you need to upgrade your IE version to 5.5. You will not be able to install ACT until you have upgraded your IE version. You can, although not "officially recommended" by ACT!, change the registry settings to make ACT! "think"that 5.50 is installed.

For the Excel export into DBF format, Excel makes a determination of the fixed width based on the width of the column. Prior to exporting to DBF format, widen each spreadsheet column width an extra 1/4 inch will make sure no characters get truncated.  Then, when you import the DBF into ACT, you will see all the data.  Just make sure the field in ACT is wide enough, with Edit, Define Fields

>We see the color changer for the other components in Edit Preferences, Colors and Fonts. But not for the View bar.

(working on it)

Internet Explorer 5.5 is currently supported by ICC.    But some organizations may not want to upgrade at this time.
You can change the Windows Registry settings to make ACT! 6.0 "think" that 5.5 is installed.

Select File, Data Exchange, Export...

The return receipt option must be supported by the e-mail client for you to receive them.   See: http://itdomino.act.com/act.nsf/docid/2002711112245
(Waiting for word from Yahoo and Hotmail tech support)

This is most likely a printer driver problem.  Try the steps at http://itdomino.act.com/act.nsf/docid/1998414124356 and http://itdomino.act.com/act.nsf/docid/199851910208
(A consultant may have to stop by for this one)

The prices are equivalent, and can be bought in Euros.  Some countries, such as Canada, and Latin America benefit from slightly lower prices.

Generally the prices for new versions remain the same.  You can check the prices at http://ACTforSale.com

When you select File, Print, Labels, then select your label such as Avery 5161, and OK, you will see a dialog.  Here you select how many contacts, Current, Current Lookup, or All.  Select the "Position" tab, then "Start prining on" and the Row or Column.   You can make the labels start on Row 4 Column 2, for example.  Click for details.

Microsoft Outlook has additional features, such as the ability to check web based email.  See: Outlook 2002 in Action
After upgrading to Outlook XP (2002), ACT! should be uninstalled then reinstalled to recognize the new drivers and macros. 
If you have installed the Microsoft Outlook Security Update or are using Outlook XP (2002). Now when you open an e-mail message in ACT! a window displays stating that a third party application is attempting to view the e-mail. This is to thwart viruses that propogate themselves through Outlook.  If you get a message for each message opened, Update to the newest build (5.0.4.495 or higher) of ACT!  Some find this message annoying, but with XP you can now turn this protection off with Tools, Option, Security tab.

It would be a rights issue to where the word processing templates are. 
You can find the folder through the Start, Search/Find option for ACT.DOT
(The folders would be something like DRIVE:\ACT\WPMacros\Word\9)
Ask your system administrator change the rights to this folder to make it Read/Write

When the email with the synchronization attachment does nto come through, we should check from your laptop back to the source. If you are receiving other email, then your Outlook or your connection is not the problem. Check on the ACT Admin server to see if the main database is in use. Check to see if the Outbox is full. If so, issue a manual send from ACT Admin.

If the network goes down, the ACT! file's indexes may have become corrupted. It would be best to select File, Administraiton, Database Maintenance, Compress and Reindex.

If the computer goes down, the ACT! file's indexes may have become corrupted. It would be best to select File, Administraiton, Database Maintenance, Compress and Reindex.

This is usually due to the email system not being set up correctly. Check with File, Synchronization, Setup. Select the user, then click on the Receive tab. Check to make sure Microsoft Outlook is selected. If this does not fix it, call ACTHelp.com

This seems to be a Remote Access Server problem, and may have to do with the firewall. This is being checked into.

See: Map Info

Now you have a good reason to work at home.   But if you would like it to work at work, try uninstalling and re-installing ACT!  When ACT! is installed it sets up registry settings for the word processor.  Probably at the time you installed ACT! you had a previous version of Microsoft Word.

Here is an article on setting up ACT! rights and permissions to help guide you.  Your network administrator can assist with the specific locations.

>I can't see the groups, but others can.  Is there any way to make those groups so they apply to all users?

In ACT! you can find the switch from Private to Public on the Groups view, then Status tab.

You can use the Edit, Replace feature. Select Edit, Replace from the top pull down menu. Then you will see a screen that looks like an empty contact record. Put in the value you would like. When you select Replace, Apply, you will prompted for an OK to change all records in the Current Lookup. Consider this carefully, as it will fill in the field with the value all in one step.

This is because the default folder for Layout files only has the CLY file for this. Go to Edit preferences, then to the Default locations.
Select File Type: Layout
Make sure the Location is set to where your CLY files are, such as C:\ACT\Layout

Select Contact, Duplicate Contact, and from the Duplicate Contact box you can duplicate the name and address information by selecting Primary Fields, or duplicate all the data by selecting All Fields.

You can use ACT!’s Notepad (F9) or Record History (Ctrl+H) features to do this.

Every time you speak with someone on the phone, complete a to-do, or have a meeting, press Ctrl+H to open the Record History box and write down a summary of what you did or what you talked about.

At the end of the day run the Notes/History report. Select Reports, Notes/History, click on the Activities/Notes/History tab, click on the Custom Date button select the date and click OK.

You’ve now a complete list of everything you did during the day

>How do I create a lookup of contacts based on the activities that I have scheduled with them?

Follow these steps:

1. Choose the View Menu, and click Task List. The Task List view appears.
2. Choose the View Menu, and click Filter Task List. The Filter Activities dialog box appears.
3. Set the filters to display the activities you want to view. You can filter on date, type, priority and more to get just the activities you want to see.
4. Then right-click in the window, and on the shortcut menu click Create Lookup. ACT! creates a lookup based on the contacts listed in the Task List view and returns to the Contacts view.

>How do I clear several activities at the same time?

Follow these steps:

1. Choose the View menu, and click Task List.
2. Select the first activity that you want to clear, and then do one of the following:
   • If all the activities you want to clear are contiguous in the list, hold down the Shift key and select the last activity you want to clear. All activities in between the two you selected are also selected.
   • If the activities you want to clear are not contiguous, hold down the Ctrl key and select each additional activity you want to clear.
3. After selecting the activities to be cleared, Right-click one of the selected activities, and choose Clear Multiple Activities from the shortcut menu.

• With the cursor in the Date field
  
  

  Keystroke	What it does to the date
  =	Adds one day
  -	Subtracts one day
  +	Adds one month
  _	Subtracts one month

• With the Mini-Calendar visible in the Date field:
  
  

  Keystroke	What it does to the date
  Page Up	Subtracts one month
  Page Down	Adds one month
  Shift+Page Up	Subtracts one year
  Shift+Page Down	Adds one year

• With the cursor in the Time field:
  
  

  Keystroke	What it does to the time
  =	Adds one hour
  -	Subtracts one hour
  +	Adds one minute
  _	Subtracts one minute

• In any field with a drop-down, Alt+Down Arrow opens the drop-down for that field. Once open, you can navigate the drop-down with the cursor keys.
  
  

  Keystroke	What it does
  Alt+Down arrow	Opens the drop-down

NOTE: Many of these same keystrokes will also work in date fields in the contact record.

1. Choose View, and click Task List, then choose Edit, and click Filter.
2. Use the Filter Activities dialog to distill the activities you want to reschedule. (If you are unable to reduce your list of activities using the Filter Activities dialog, proceed to the next step.)
3. Using the gray selection buttons on the left side of the Task List window, highlight the first activity in the list, then Shift+Click on the last one to select all the activities. You also can select individual activities in the list by Ctrl+Clicking their selection buttons.
4. Once all the desired activities have been selected, press F4 on the keyboard to bring up the Mini-Calendar. Scroll to the month to which you would like to reschedule the activities.
5. Position your mouse pointer over the selection button of one of the highlighted activities. Press the left mouse button and drag onto the Mini-Calendar until the outline surrounds the desired reschedule date. Release the mouse button. All selected activities are rescheduled to the desired day.

To schedule holidays, log in to the database with the user name Holiday. Schedule your holidays as timeless to-dos, but bear in mind that some holidays do not always fall on the nominal date, but on a federal Monday (which is why scheduling them as recurring activities might not work properly). Consider using an unusual color, to make it easy to see and engender excitement in the workplace. When you are finished, close the database, reopen it, and log in with your normal user name. Now, when you look at your calendar, your holiday will display as "Holiday - Christmas Day." On the monthly calendar, holidays will display in the grid; on the weekly and daily calendars, they will display on the right side of the screen, as do all timeless activities.

1. Choose the Tools menu, and click Design Layouts. The layout designer will open.
2. Choose the File menu, and click Save As. Click in the File Name field, type a unique name for your layout, and click Save.
   CAUTION: The reason for immediately giving the file a new name is to prevent you from accidentally changing the existing layout. If that is your intent, you can skip this step.
   
3. From the tool palette, click the Field tool.
   NOTE: If the tool palette is not showing, choose the View menu, and click Show Tool Palette.
   
4. Place the crosshair pointer where you want the upper-left corner of your field to start.
5. Drag to the right and down until it reaches the desired size, and release the mouse button. The Fields dialog box will appear.
6. Select the field you created in the previous section and click Add. Repeat for any other fields you want to add to the layout.
7. Click Close to close the Fields dialog.
8. Rearrange the fields on the layout until you are satisfied with their placement.
9. Click Close on your toolbar when you have finished adding fields to the layout.\
10. Click Yes when asked if you want to save changes.

1. Choose the Tools menu, and click Design Layouts. The layout designer will open.
2. Choose the File menu, and click Save As. Click in the File Name field, type a unique name for your layout, and click Save.
   CAUTION: The reason for immediately giving the file a new name is to prevent you from accidentally changing the existing layout. If that is your intent, you can skip this step.
   
3. Get your company logo on the clipboard by going to your favorite graphics program (e.g. Microsoft Paint), opening the logo file and selecting Edit, Copy (or Ctrl + C) to copy this image to your clipboard.
4. Switch back to your ACT! program which is in Layout Design mode.
5. Select Edit, Paste (or Ctrl + V) to paste the logo into your ACT! layout.
6. Then by clicking on the graphic you are able to move it, resize it, and adjust it to exactly the size and position you desire on the layout. If it is obscuring your view of other ACT! fields and data, right click on the logo and select the command “Move to Back”. This will put the logo at the very back of the virtual stack of fields and data and everything will appear on top of it.

NOTE:
In some cases, if the group that is being merged to is too large (several hundred or more), the mail merge could fail due to lack of system resources. This number will vary considerably, and is most likely to occur on older systems. If you experience this problem, exit all other programs that are running and try again. In some cases, you may need to send to smaller groups.

Check out http://ACTConvert.com for our service which will do a complete conversion for you.