Excel Cntact Reprts v.1.0 Anther efficient and affrdable ACT! Add-On by http://www.expnenciel.cm
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 2 Table f cntents Purpse f the add-n... 3 Installatin prcedure... 3 The main screen... 4 Creating r editing a reprt... 5 Defining which fields yu want in a reprt, srt rders, summaries... 5 Creating r editing yur Excel template... 9 Netwrk settings... 9 Adding an icn r a menu item t ACT! t launch Excel Cntact Reprts... 9 Supprt... 9
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 3 Purpse f the add-n Excel Cntact Reprts is an ACT! add-n that allws t merge cntact data int an Excel spreadsheet t prduce frmatted Excel reprts in a snap. Alternatively it is pssible t exprt the data t a CSV file fr easy imprt in ther prgrams. Installatin prcedure Dwnlad the prgram file frm ur dwnlad page and duble-click it t start the installatin. Fllw the instructins and nce the installatin is cmpleted, run ACT! and pen yur database. An icn shuld have been added t yur Cntact tlbar t launch Excel Cntact Reprts directly frm within ACT!. If the icn installatin failed, yu will have t instruct Excel Cntact Reprts t create it. Here is hw t prceed: While yur database is pen, click the Windws Start buttn, g under Prgrams, lcate the Expnenciel ACT! Add-Ons grup and click Excel Cntact Reprts. Then g t the Optins Integrate with ACT! menu and add icns r menu items t yur ACT! screens as needed. This way, yu will be able t quickly launch the prgram frm within ACT!. When prmpted, accept that ACT! be re-started. When ACT! re-starts, whatever icns r menu items yu asked t be created will be there t launch Excel Cntact Reprts.
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 4 The main screen Excel Cntact Reprts ships with prefrmatted reprt templates which yu see listed when yu pen the prgram fr the first time. Simply select the reprt f yur chice and click Run and the prgram will launch Excel and merge the data frm either the current cntact, current lkup r all cntacts in the selected reprt template, depending n the ptin selected. If prmpted by Excel, select Enable macrs. Check Always trust macrs frm this surce if yu dn't want t see this screen again. Here is an example f utput:
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 5 Creating r editing a reprt Creating a reprt is a 2 step prcess. Yu first need t define which fields yu want in the reprt, the srt rder, the summaries. Then yu need t create an Excel template. The best way t create a new reprt is prbably t duplicate an existing ne and wrk frm there. T d this, select the reprt that lks clser t the ne yu want t create, d a right-click and in the ppup menu, select Duplicate. Yu will be prmpted t give the new reprt a name, then yu may edit it. If yu dn't want t duplicate an existing reprt, select New and give the reprt a name. Defining which fields yu want in a reprt, srt rders, summaries In bth cases, nce the reprt has a name, right-click n it again and chse Edit. The Reprt Settings windw pens up:
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 6 The Data tab Under the Data tab, yu have the ptin t include the name f the fields as a tp rw f yur data range. This is usually nt necessary as yu prbably want t apply frmatting t yur reprt header and this will be better dne directly in Excel. The tp left cell ptin lets yu specify where yu want the data t be imprted in yur spreadsheet. Typically yu will want t skip the first few rws s that yur template header will remain untuched. The Fields tab Under the fields tab, yu may select which fields yu want included in the reprt. A field may nly be included nce. Use the arrws t mve a field frm the Nt included list t the Included list. Fields are autmatically added at the end f the Included list. Use the blue arrws t mve a field up r dwn in the list.
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 7 The 1st sectin, 2nd Sectin, 3rd sectin tabs Each reprt may have up t 3 sectins. Yu can use sectins fr srting purpses. T each sectin crrespnds a srt field and a srt rder. Yu may als want t have a title abve each sectin as well as a sub-ttal which culd be either n tp r at the bttm f each sectin. T better understand hw this wrks, lk at the reprt settings f the Cntact list by City which has a title and a sub-ttal. If yu check the Create a sub-ttal fr this sectin checkbx, the Optins buttn will be enabled s that yu can define which fields yu want ttaled.
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 8 In the Sub-ttal ptins windw, yu may give a captin t yur ttals, frmat this ttal line and define a calculatin fr each different field. NOTE: The <value> keywrd used in the captin f a ttal will be replace by the actual value f the srt field fr the sectin (as in "Ttal fr New Yrk" if the srt field f yur sectin is the City field). The summary tab Finally yu may add a summary at the bttm f yur reprt. The Optins buttn gives yu access t the same Sub-ttal ptins windw as seen abve.
Excel Cntact Reprts User s Manual 9 Creating r editing yur Excel template Once dne, d a right-click n the reprt name and chse Edit Excel Template at the bttm. Excel will pen up the template in edit mde. All changes will be reflected n all reprts created based n that template frm nw n. There are mainly 2 reasns t edit a reprt template: Changing the header because yu added r remved a clumn Changing the clumn frmatting. NOTE: Excel cntrls the frmatting f the clumns. S if yu want a clumn t be in bld, in clr, etc. yu need t apply this frmatting t the clumn f the template. This is particular useful if yur reprt displays dates, currency values r numbers as it gives yu full cntrl f the data frmat. Creating CSV files A CSV file is a text file (n frmatting) which can be easily imprted in ther prgrams. T create a CSV reprt fllw the same step as described befre except that yu have n template t create. NOTE: if yu simply want t create a CSV reprt based n an existing Excel reprt, d a rightclick n this Excel reprt and chse Make CSV reprt in the ppup menu. The Excel reprt will remain untuched and a CSV reprt with the same name will nw appear in the list f CSV reprts. Netwrk settings By default, the template flder is lcated under the prgram's main flder n each user's machine. But yu may want t change this lcatin t share templates ver a netwrk. Simply g t the Optins menu and select Template flder t change this default lcatin. Adding an icn r a menu item t ACT! t launch Excel Cntact Reprts As with any f ur add-ns, g t the Optins Integrate with ACT! menu t display the Integrate with ACT! windw and add icns r menu items as needed. Menu items are added t the Tls menu. Supprt Fr supprt, please cntact supprt@expnenciel.cm. Rev. May 24, 2004 v.1.0