Notes in Service Manager
  • Peter
    Posts:19
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    Location:Kuranda QLD
    Notes in Service Manager

    by Peter » Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:55 am

    It seems to me that there is a major difference in the notes fields in Service Manager between series 7 and Version 8 of Capital Office. In my previous installation my Job Card Form field setting "Notes1" would print the "on screen notes" in service manager, Now in version 8 this field needs to be set to "Notes" to see old service manager job notes on printed VB forms. I am unable to view or edit notes entered in 7.xx service manager jobs in Capital V8, and I have not found a way to print any of the Notes entered in V8 screens in my Job Cards. I am guessing that the databases are significantly different and hope that the old records can be converted, however more important and significant to me is "how do I print the current notes fields in Service Manager"?

    Are there any sample forms that I can download or study that has this feature so I can modify my forms to suit the new V8 structure?
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    More observations

    by Peter » Wed Mar 28, 2012 11:44 am

    I found what constitutes sample forms (i.e. Using the Wizards) - an Ooops on my part (I was looking for old style forms examples!).

    Using the wizard puts a default data field of "Worknotes" into the jobcard form, however I can't find where this can be accessed in Capital V8 service manager. If entering notes on the default notes areas in Capital V8 service screens does not seem to be connected to any fields that suggest a notes content in the Wizard Forms generator.
  • COBS Tech Support
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    by COBS Tech Support » Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:48 am

    There are two styles of note pad in V8. System notes - use these for form printing and they are the same as in older versions. I'm not aware of any differences in the behaviours of these notes between older and newer versions and we've had no reports of differences in behaviour over the last few years. Although it is easy for users to add, remove and rename notes so this may have happened? Or possibly the issue is specific to the syntax you used on your form template?

    The new style of note are "rich text" and incorporate fonts, colours, font styles and integrated spell checking. These types of notes do not replace system notes which should still be used for form printing.

    In newer versions the system notes are found on the View menus of the various application areas and tend to serve more of a specialised role now, hence the reason why they are not so prominently presented anywhere within the user interface.
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    I have it almost sorted - thanks

    by Peter » Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:32 pm

    Thanks for the advice.

    I have now worked out what is going on with old vs new notes.

    Your mention of notes accessible from the view menu was the key to finding new fields that connect to the Wizards note fields.

    for anyone else who is trying to migrate from 7.xx to 8.xx this might be helpful(particularly if they used the default notes structure in 7.xx)

    NOTES (in Forms Wizard) = General Notes (only accessible by clicking "View" on top ribbon menu, then "System Notepad Management", then choose General Notes - then click Open button icon to enter printable text.

    I would imagine that anyone starting to use version 8 (i.e. not migrating from earlier versions) you can choose the default jobcard form (created by the wizard which places WorkNotes field into the form - and then clicking Alt W in Service Manager may work for you if you can find the field that relates to it in the forms Wizard - but to do that you first need to use System Note Management and create a notepad 3 otherwise I found that an error would occur every time Alt W was pressed. I have yet to find how to find such a field created here in the forms Wizard - perhaps this information could be added to the Help System for future users.

    I would like now to stream line note entry (notes that can be printed on job forms) to one click if possible (like in 7.xx) and my first thought would be to edit and ad to the vertical ribbon menu in the JobCard section i.e. put a button there that links to General Notes - a second thought would be to edit which note field is opened by the Alt W command. Could you give me some clues on how to do this please?

    Cheers

    Peter
  • COBS Tech Support
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    by COBS Tech Support » Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:44 pm

    You don't seem to have correctly understood my post. There is nothing to migrate as the system "form notes" are distinct from the newer "rich text notes" and each serves different purposes. One does not necessarily replace the other.

    The short-cut is CTRL+W not ALT+W which is probably why you can't get it to work? All short-cuts of this type are shown on the pull-down menus.

    I'm unsure what you're actually asking regarding your other questions, sorry.
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    Oops

    by Peter » Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:43 pm

    I was not too clear on the notes subject part way through this journey, but I think I am getting there now.

    I made a mistake in my post - I was using Cntrl W - and not ALT as I said in my post - my typo!

    There is clearly something that is confusing (I am confused!) for those who have used the default selections in 7.xx and 8.xx with regard to which notes are entered on the screen and what is selected by the default service manager job forms.

    to restate the differences General Notes in V8 are the ones which would be printed by the default V7 forms. And Work Notes in V8 are printed by default forms in V8.

    In V7 an on screen icon could be clicked to enter these printable notes in V7 default forms. There are no on screen icons that lead to any printable notes in V8 (the closest would be Ctrl W if it is enabled by creating the note pad in "System Notepad Management")

    I see there are far more features and power in the notes functions in V8.xx and some are really welcome additions that I hope to put to good use shortly - with more understanding and familiarity.

    putting my questions another way then - can an icon be placed anywhere on the service screen that would open "general notes" to enter information that would be printed on job cards? Or Less desirable but still a big improvement could a hot key combination eg Ctrl G be made to open "general notes"?

    Cheers


    Peter
  • COBS Tech Support
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    by COBS Tech Support » Fri Mar 30, 2012 9:48 am

    Notes that get printed on job cards (if your job form includes a note area) is accessed by pressing CTRL+W.

    Notes that are for internal use but not for printing on job cards can be accessed by pressing CTRL+N

    There are no other keyboard short-cuts for accessing notes.
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    Thanks for the clarification

    by Peter » Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:15 am

    Thanks for the reply.

    I now know how to view old notes and to print them, and I will adopt the new jobs notes system from now on.

    Is there a manual that can be downloaded (like in the old 7.xx days) or is the on screen help the same or replacement for the older style manuals? I would like to understand more about screen menus etc and have a ready reference to what can be done etc and how to do it.

    Cheers


    Peter
  • COBS Tech Support
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    by COBS Tech Support » Fri Mar 30, 2012 12:34 pm

    The reference manual is now built into the product - F1 access. Tutorials are available separately as PDF's which you can think of as a user guide, available here:

    http://www.capitaloffice.com.au/training/tutorials.html
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    Thanks

    by Peter » Fri Mar 30, 2012 2:05 pm

    Thank you - I am currently going through them and have already found some really nice features that I had so far missed.

    Cheers

    Peter
  • COBS Tech Support
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    Joined:Fri Sep 09, 2005 8:23 am

    by COBS Tech Support » Tue May 21, 2013 8:34 am

    There is no differences between system notes in Series 7 and V8. If I had to take a guess, I would suspect you have inadvertently renamed or deleted your system notes, hence the confusion now.

    If you open Service Manager and select from the menu View|System Notepad Management, you should see:

    General Notes
    Work Done - For Invoice Transfer
    Work Notes

    General notes don't usually get printed on forms.

    Anything placed on "Work Done..." are automatically copied into the body of the invoice form.

    You may or may not print the contents of Work Notes, depending on what your form template contains.

    Check to see that your system notes area has at least three system notes areas, and that they all match the above names. If not, rename the system notes or add them back.
  • melissa

    Re: Oops

    by melissa » Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:49 am

    Peter wrote:I was not too clear on the notes subject part way through this journey, but I think I am getting there now.

    I made a mistake in my post - I was using Cntrl W - and not ALT as I said in my post - my typo!

    There is clearly something that is confusing (I am confused!) for those who have used the default selections in 7.xx and 8.xx with regard to which notes are entered on the screen and what is selected by the default service manager job forms.

    to restate the differences General Notes in V8 are the ones which would be printed by the default V7 forms. And Work Notes in V8 are printed by default forms in V8.

    In V7 an on screen icon could be clicked to enter these printable notes in V7 default forms. There are no on screen icons that lead to any printable notes in V8 (the closest would be Ctrl W if it is enabled by creating the note pad in "System Notepad Management")

    I see there are far more features and power in the notes functions in V8.xx and some are really welcome additions that I hope to put to good use shortly - with more understanding and familiarity.

    putting my questions another way then - can an icon be placed anywhere on the service screen that would open "general notes" to enter information that would be printed on job cards? Or Less desirable but still a big improvement could a hot key combination eg Ctrl G be made to open "general notes"?

    Cheers


    Peter



    Hi Peter,

    Did you work out how to print notes on to the job card?
    I can"t work this out
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    I have it working but not very elegant

    by Peter » Thu Aug 14, 2014 4:41 pm

    Hi Melissa,

    Yes I found a way to make it work for me, and it would be hard for me to remember all my steps to get to that point - I have created a jobcard1 style sheet and only enter text into the window that pops up when you press "control W" this opens up a "user note pad 3" and is the only one I could find (on my own as I could not get Support to understand my difficulties) as I doubt anyone else uses the service manager module the same way I do and I imagine most small businesses.

    As mentioned in my posts above - there was a shift in which text or note fields could be printed. I am still using what must now be an old version Version: 8.1 (8.1.0000)

    Build:10004-842f-SL0 (7.61j) 

    So I would be surprised if the above issue was not resolved and indeed would have a much better solution - Support was not really interested in my issues as I am no longer a paying user (I once had a 20 odd employee company and paid for every update and scheme that Capital had going - and I am under the impression that some modules were built with my inputs - I used to visit their offices regularly to discuss features before Capital got famous)

    If you are in a similar situation and wanted to see what my style sheet is, I can email it to you - mekuranda@gmail.com

    Capital is now very powerful (much more than I would ever need) and it takes me so much longer to do anything (so I don't) and I am now looking at a really simple program to migrate to. I think I have found it.

    It is great getting to use the program for free - thanks so much for the past many years, however I really like to be able to say something and be listened to and support have the time to analyse if there is a real issue or not. Several other issues have plagued me (and not answered) so I was so surprised to see a notice in my email that someone had responded to one of my posts - I really thought/hoped it was support. But OK - no worries Melissa - I a happy to help if I can.

    Cheers

    Peter
    from rainy Kuranda
  • COBS Tech Support
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    by COBS Tech Support » Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:50 am

    The forums are a free service and our tech support will answer questions here, but will not answer questions emailed directly to us, unless the business has an update to date support agreement.
  • Peter
    Posts:19
    Joined:Tue Jul 17, 2007 12:01 pm
    Location:Kuranda QLD

    Understood

    by Peter » Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:39 am

    to Capital Support

    I do understand fully, and as I mentioned in my last post I am most appreciative for the ability to use Capital for free as I am no longer in a position to be able to pay for the ongoing maintenance and upgrades as I once was.

    I did not direct email my problems or bugs I was experiencing to support, instead as you can see, put them up on this forum knowing that either another user would be able to find a workaround, provide solution or when support has the time to answer, do so and I would then provide my findings and or feedback. That is indeed how Capital appeared to work in the past, and I believe it became all things to all people (or very nearly), and I loved that about Capital. I also understand that this model is not sustainable as you employ more staff and need to fund expansion etc,

    I had hoped that you might have valued my input on what appears to be a little used part of the Capital Suite, as I was a real user on a day to day basis and I could save you time in testing.

    Again I must stress I am very happy that you allowed me to use Capital for free - I know what it takes to create such a product, and that it worked so well (data never corrupted in the 20 odd years I have been using it) - just outstanding.

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