ACT! 2005

Introduction

ACT! is the best-selling contact manager that’s used by more than 11,000 corporations worldwide. For many of these users, ACT! represents their first foray into the area of contact relation­ship management (CRM). Contact management software is a little more com­plex to understand than other types of software. With a word processor, each document that you create is totally separate; if you make a mistake, you need only to delete your current document and start fresh. Contact management, however, builds its way into a final product; if you don’t give a bit of thought as to what goal you wish to achieve, you could end up with a muddled mess.

I am a fanACTic. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I use ACT! at work. I use ACT! on the road. I use ACT! at home. I’ve even inspired my friends to use ACT!. I’m excited about the product and know that by the time you learn to unleash the power of ACT!, you’ll be excited, too.
So what am I so excited about? I’ve seen firsthand how ACT! can save you time and help make you more efficient in the bargain. To me, accomplishing more in less time is an exciting thought — it allows more time for the fun things in life. Best of all, ACT! is a program that’s very easy to master in a very short time. You’ll be amazed not only at how quickly you can set up a database but also at how easily you can put that database to work.

Maybe by the time you finish this book, you, too, will have become a fanACTic!

About This Book

ACT! 2005 For Dummies is a reference book. As such, each chapter can be read independently and in the order you want. Each chapter focuses on a specific topic, so you can dive right in, heading straight for the chapter that interests you most. Having said that, however, I must say that I’ve tried to put the chapters into a logical sequence so that those of you who are new to ACT! can just follow the bouncing ball from chapter to chapter. More experienced users can use the Table of Contents and the index to simply navigate from topic to topic as needed.

Conventions Used in This Book

Like in most Windows-based software programs, you often have several dif­ferent ways to accomplish a task in ACT!.

For the most part, I show you ways to perform a function by using the ACT! menus. When an instruction reads Choose FileOOpen, you must access the File menu (located at the top of the ACT! screen) by clicking it with the left mouse button and then choosing the Open option from the subsequent menu that appears. In most cases, you can access these commands from anywhere within ACT!, although I generally advise new ACT! users to always start a task from the Contact Detail view which is the first window you’ll see when ACT! opens. If you must be in a particular area to complete a task otherwise, I tell you where.

I also present you with shortcuts here and there. Generally, ACT! shortcuts are triggered by simultaneously pressing the Ctrl key and another key on the keyboard. For instance, the shortcut for recording a history is Ctrl+H.

At times, you need to access one of ACT!’s hidden menus, which you do by clicking an appropriate area of the screen with the right mouse button and then choosing from the menu that appears. In these instances, I simply say right-click when you need to right-click.

What You Should Read

Of course, I’m hoping that you’re going to sit down and read this entire book from cover to cover. But then again, this book isn’t the Great American Novel. And, come to think of it, the whole reason why you bought this book in the first place is because you want to get your ACT! together (no groans, please!) as quickly as possible because you’re probably finding yourself with too much to do and too little time to do it in.

For the time being, I’m going to let you get away with just reading the parts that interest you most. I’ll let you read the last chapter first and the first chapter last if you’d like because this book is designed to allow you to read each chapter independently. However, when you find yourself floating in a swimming pool, soaking up the sun, and wondering what to do with all your spare time, you might want to go back and read some of those chapters you skipped. You just might discover something!

What You Don’t Have to Read

This book is intended for both new and existing ACT! users. Most of the instructions apply to both groups of readers. Once in a while, I include some information that might be of special interest to more advanced readers. Newbies, feel free to skip these sections! Also, any information tagged with a Technical Stuff icon is there for the truly technically inclined. Everyone else can just skip this info.

How This Book Is Organized

I’ve organized this book into six parts. Each part contains several chapters covering related topics. The following is a brief description of each part, with chapter references directing you where to go for particular information:

Part I: The Opening ACT!

In Part I, you get an introduction to the concept of a database and why ACT! has become such a popular choice of database users (Chapter 1). In this part, you read about what to expect the first time you fire up ACT! (Chapter 2) and how to set the main preferences in ACT! (Chapter 3).

Part II: Putting the ACT! Database to Work

Part II focuses on putting your contacts into ACT! (Chapter 4) and, more importantly, how to find them again (Chapters 6 and 7). I show you how to view all the details about one contact, how to pull up a list of all your con­tacts, and even how to create an easy list report.

After you master organizing your contact information, Part II helps you orga­nize your day. ACT! makes it easy to take notes (Chapter 8) so that you start relying on ACT! more and your memory less. You find out how to schedule appointments, calls, and to-dos — and other important events in your life. And, you discover how to view those activities in the daily, weekly, and monthly calendars (Chapter 9). Your life can become complicated, but have no fear because ACT! does its best to help you navigate through the maze. The History, Documents, and Secondary Contacts tabs allow you to accumulate lots of information about each and every one of your contacts (Chapter 5).

Part III: Sharing Your Information with Others

Corporate America lives for reports, and ACT! is up to the challenge. Whether you want to print labels or telephone directories on commercially printed forms or prefer to utilize the ACT! built-in reports (Chapter 11), Part III shows you how. I even tell you about building your own reports from scratch (Chapter 12).

One of the best features of ACT! is the ability to communicate easily with the outside world. Part III shows you how to work with templates to automate routine documents as well as how to send out mass mail merges — whether by snail mail, fax, or e-mail (Chapter 13). You also discover the advantages of using ACT! for your e-mail client (Chapter 14).

Part IV: Advanced ACT!ing

We’re all different and often like to do things in our own unique way. ACT! understands that concept and allows you to customize it to your heart’s con­tent. At first glance, ACT! may seem like just an over-the-counter piece of soft­ware, but by adding fields (Chapter 15) and placing them on customized layouts (Chapter 16), you can make it perform as well as an expensive piece of proprietary software
.
Every database needs an Administrator. If you’re elected to the job, you need to know how to perform administrative tasks, such as adding users, checking for duplicate data entry, and performing routine maintenance (Chapter 17). If you have remote users that need to access all or parts of your database you need to know how to synchronize your database (Chapter 18).
Part V: Commonly Overlooked ACT! Features

Part V focuses on four of the most frequently overlooked ACT! features:
1. Microsoft integration: Synchronize your ACT! and Outlook address books and calendars; attach a Web site in Internet Explorer directly to an ACT! contact; and explore the various ways that you can use ACT! and Excel together (Chapter 19).

2.Sales opportunities: Track your prospective sales, prioritize them, and analyze what you did right — or wrong — in making the sale (Chapter 20).

3. Groups: Group your contacts together to add a new dimension to your database (Chapter 21).

3. Companies: This is an exciting new feature of ACT! 2005. The Company feature enables you to view and edit contacts that all “belong” to the same company (Chapter 22).

Part VI: The Part of Tens

With apologies to David Letterman, you have three of my favorite ACT! lists. First, in Chapter 23, I give you a list of the major differences between ACT! 2005 Standard Edition and ACT! 2005 Premium Edition. Then in Chapter 24, I list my favorite new ACT! 2005 features — which is specifically designed for anyone who has used a previous version of ACT!. In Chapter 25, I give you ten of my favorite ways to customize your layouts.
Read Comments for more information