Systemwide Hints and Tricks Keyboarding tips We will assume that most users are familiar with using a mouse, and know the differences between a button you click on, a textbox, a listbox and checkbox options. Many users prefer to use a keyboard where possible. And as in most windows documentation, when you are asked to click on something, you can assume it means Left Click, unless instructed specificly to Right Click. Navigation On most Buttons you will find the 'hot key' underlined in the Button label (name or action). If you can't see these underlines, try hitting your ALT key. This should make them appear. (Note, this is a Windows XP setting that can be changed under My Computer/Display/Appearance/Effects) Sometimes this is called an acceleration key. Whatever they are called, it means that you can hold ALT and hit the underlined character to simulate clicking on the Button. Some controls work the same, such as File, Options, and Help at the top of each window. Actually in many cases you do not even need to use the ALT key. If the window has no textboxes or listboxes, or NONE of these have the focus (cursor in it) you can just key the underline character and it will activate that button or control. Examples: At the Greux Main Menu (MM), simply key in 'G' to go to the G/L, 'R' for A/R, 'P' for Payroll, etc., whatever the underlined character for that button is. At an application menu like GL or AP or PR, the menu buttons are numbered. Simply key in the number or the option you wish to go to. Note that when you first enter these menu windows, you can quickly take button #1 (add/edit/view) by using the ENTER key by itself (or the '1' key). Also you may use the arrow keys to change the highlighted button, and then hit ENTER to perform the selected operation. Also at any application menu, you have smaller buttons for going to another application (AP, GL, etc). Suppose you are at the Payroll menu, but you wish to go to the G/L menu. The 'hot' underlined character for GL is L. So just hit the L key and away you go. Another example of using a hot key without ALT, is to pull up a vendor master in A/P, then immediately hit L. You will get a list of transactions. The same may be done for a Customer. Also throughout the system, where Previous or Next scrolling of master screens is provided, note that the Hot Key characters P or N may be used rather than clicking the buttons. Of course, once you click into a textbox, then you must use ALT/P or ALT/N to get going again. Other standard Hot keys used: (ALT not usually needed) Yes, No, Cancel prompts (Y, N , C) also ESC is the same as Cancel Other standard Hot keys used: (ALT may or may not be needed) OK Button (O [oh] key) - Many places this is the default - just ENTER Exit Button (X key) - ESC will exit also. Quit Button (Q key( - And ESC usually does this also. Cancel Button (C key) - Again, ESC will do this too. Remember, if you don't know whether the Hot key alone will do what you want, you can always use ALT first. As you get familiar with the system, you will find the quick way around. Or just click on it! Dates In most places where a date must be entered, you can use your favorite form. Dates are stored in the files as MMDDYY. When displayed, they may be shown as MM/DD/YY or MM-DD-YY and sometimes as MMDDYY. You may enter a date in any of the following formats: MMDDYY (Ex: 123105) MMDDYYYY (Ex: 12312006) MM/DD/YY (Ex: 12/31/06) MM-DD-YY (Ex: 12-31-06) M/M/YY (Ex: 7/4/06 for July 4, 2006) M-M-YY (Ex: 7-4-06 for July 4, 2006) Where needed the date you enter is checked for validity, but not necessarily logicly, for instance if you enter the wrong year. The date you enter may be re-displayed formatted with slashes or dashes. Internally, a date is always converted to MMDDYY format. Data Entry tips On most windows for data entry that have multiple textboxes to be keyed, you may use the Tab (any Windows program) or Enter (programmed DOS simulation) keys to accept the data in the box and also go to the next box. To back up to to the previous textbox, while in a textbox, use Shift/Tab. In summary, to navigate textboxes, use the TAB or ENTER keys to go forward, and the SHIFT/TAB key combo to back up. Print a Screen Image See the quick and easy steps below if you are a Copy and Paste expert. Unlike under DOS where you could just hit the Print Screen and it (usually) printed out on the default printer, you must jump a few more hoops to get it in Windows. The following applies to almost all Windows applications, not just this accounting system. First, the term 'clipboard' is the storage space that is used whenever you COPY some data, and then use PASTE to retrieve and store into a document or target. The Clipboard usually contains the contents of the last COPY or CUT function since you have rebooted or re-started. Some programs may erase it when started. In general, what we need to do is get the Screen Image into the Clipboard, then use Wordpad (or your favorite word processor that can handle graphics) to paste into and print to whatever printer you wish. You Copy the screen or window image into the Clipboard using either Alt/PrintScreen buttons or the Ctrl/PrintScreen buttons (hold Ctrl or Alt button down, then hit the PrintScreen button, like using Shift for Caps). Use Ctrl/PrtScr to copy the whole Screen. Use Alt/PrtScr to copy Only the topmost window (one that has focus). If you get the whole screen and not the topmost window using the Alt/PrtScr, it was because your cursor (arrow) wasn't in the desired topmost window. Click in that window again, and try Alt/PrtScr again, and paste that into Wordpad. You can find Wordpad by using Start, All Programs, then Accessories, then Wordpad. It will come up with an empty document and no file name. Use Paste to load the screen copied above. You should see the image you copied. To print it, select File/print to select a printer, or just print for the default. Once printed, no need to save the image now, just cancel Wordpad, don't save and exit. Note that depending on the window sizes, you can get 2-3 images on a page. Now the easy steps to Print a Screen 1. While viewing the window you want to print.. 2. Hit Alt/PrintScr for the topmost window or Hit Ctrl/PrintScr for the full screen image 3. Bring up Wordpad (or your wordprocessor - Notepad won't work) 4. Paste into Wordpad or other - you should see the image copied. 5. Print from Wordpad to the desired printer. That's a Windows Print Screen !