Contact Plus
Personal
Frequently
Asked
Questions
-
Do you have international
versions?
-
How can I be reminded of my things to do
for the day?
-
How do I list my contacts at the same
company in order? I have several contacts
at the same company but with different last
names.
-
How do I print an address
book?
-
How do I open a new database?
-
How do I print my calendar for
today?
-
How do I move contacts between
databases?
-
How can I place an icon for Contact Plus on
my Windows desktop?
-
How comes it takes so long to start Contact
Plus each day?
-
How do I perform a spell
check?
-
How do I filter on my
calendar/events?
-
Why can't I use Corel WordPerfect or
Microsoft Word mail merge
codes?
-
How do I print a sheet of labels for the
same contact?
-
How do I print a profile
report?
-
What is the difference between a form
template and a generated
letter
-
How do I move my form letters?
-
How do I move my generated
letters?
-
How do I rename my generated
letters?
-
How can I be 100% sure that my backup was
successful?
-
What are special phone prefixes/suffixes
for?
-
What exactly is a filter?
-
How come my Filter list says "Modified in
Database"?
-
What is the BDE? What is it used
for?
-
When I run a third party program like Clean
Sweep it says that the BDE is not being
used by any program? Is is safe to delete
it?
-
How do I transfer data files from one
computer to another?
-
Can I use my own email client with
Contact Plus?
-
How can I set up Outlook to be the
default email client?
-
How can I set up Eudora to be the default
mail client?
-
How do I move not done events to
today?
-
What does Index out of Date mean? What does
Record Key Deleted mean? What should I
do?
-
Why should I run repair? Which databases
should I repair?
-
Can I transfer a text field to a number
field?
- Do you
have international
versions?
Contact Plus for
Windows has several features that
allow international users to
customize the product. By going to
the Setup Menu/International, you can
rename some of the main data entry
fields. Also, Contact Plus uses your
Windows international settings for
decimal places, currency characters,
and time/date settings. At this time,
there are no versions of Contact Plus
for Windows that have been translated
into other languages.
- How can I be
reminded of my things to do for the
day?
Use the alarm feature to notify
you of meetings and appointments. In Setup
F7, Alarm Settings, make sure the alarms
are enabled to use this function. Make sure
to specify the amount of lead time before
the event that an alarm should notify you.
When making an appointment with the
Schedule Events F5, make sure that the
alarm box is checked. In Personal you can
change the sound the alarm makes and
whether the sound is continuous (perfect
for having an alarm notify you while you're
working in other programs) with the Setup
F7 Alarm Settings.
- How do I list my
contacts at the same company in order? I
have several contacts at the same company
but with different last
names.
Contact Plus will sort your
contacts on as many fields as you want.
Create an F9 Index using "Company name" as
the first field and then "Last name" as the
secondary field on which to sort. This way,
all of the contacts at Acme Incorporated
will appear in order.
- How do I print
an address book?
Click Reports F1 on
the alternate button bar. Select the
Contact Report. Select the detail level and
font. Select the destination as printer.
Click OK. Select a filter if desired. Click
OK.
- How do I open
a new database?
Select File|Open
database. Select the database and click OK.
Or you can double click on the Database
name box in the status area.
- How do I
print my calendar for today?
There
are two ways to print calendars. Calendars
F2 is used to print not done events for
today. View Events F4 prints a list of
events (done, not done) for any time
period, including a range of days. To have
your schedule print automatically see the
Event Plus Plug-In module.
- How do
I move contacts between
databases?
You can copy or move
contacts one at a time between databases
using the Transfer Contact F2 button. To
move groups of contacts you can use
Database Utilities, Transfer Contacts.
Click File|Database Utilities.
- How can I
place an icon for Contact Plus on my
desktop?
Right-click on the desktop.
A popup menu should appear. Choose
New|Shortcut from that popup menu. Locate
the cplus.exe file, typcically located in
the \cpwin97 folder. Click on "Next". In
the "Name of the Shortcut" window, type
"Contact Plus" or whatever you want to call
it. Click on "Finish".
- How comes it
takes longer to start at the beginning of
the day?
When you start up Contact
Plus Personal, the Safe Mode is envoked.
Safe Mode is used once each day by to make
a copy of all database information. The
directory is \DATA\SAFE. This is only done
the first time you start up Contact Plus
for the day.
Depending upon the amount of data in the
program and your computer's speed , this
may take several minutes. Note this method
of making a backup should not be
used the only method of backing up
important data files. It is imperative to
make a backup using the backup program on a
regular basis.
- How do I
perform a spell check?
Spell
checking is available in Notes F7, in the
Description Tab, and on messages in Email
F10. To use spell check display the item to
check and right-click on it. A Spell Check
window will appear and will start to check
the spelling. If a word is not found it
will stop and display the word in a list.
Then you can choose the options Replace,
and choose a list from the suggestions, Add
to add the found word to the Spell Check
dictionary, Skip Once, to skip the word
once time, or Skip Always to not stop on
the found word any more.
- How do I
create a calendar/event filter?
To
create an event filter you must be using
Reports F1 and you've chosen a
calendar-based report. The types of reports
which are chosen are listed in the "type"
column on the Reports window. Calendar
based reports include the Events by Date
Report.
You can also view a list of Events from
View Events F4 and choosing the correct
days for which you wish to view. To choose
only a certain type of event such as phone
calls, click on the Calls Tab.
- Why
can't I use Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft
Word mail merge codes?
Contact Plus
for Windows uses its own merge codes that
appear within brackets like {{FirstName}}.
If there is a reason you must use Corel
WordPerfect or Microsoft Word to do a merge
outside of Contact Plus, you can go to the
File menu in Contact Plus and use the
Export function to create a WordPerfect
Secondary File or a comma-delimited export
file for Microsoft Word.
- How do I
print a sheet of labels for the same
contact?
On the alternate button bar
click the Labels F4. Select the label size.
Click Sheet.
- How do I print
a profile report?
On the Main
Screen, click the Print button in the lower
right, next to the Mark/Unmark button.
Check the items you want to print, then
click OK.
- What is the
difference between a form template and a
generated letter?
A form template is
the boiler plate from which future letters
will be created. It appears in the list of
form templates when F6 is presed. It
contains the mail merge codes such as
{{FirstName}} where information for each
contact is inserted.
A generated letter is a letter that has
already been merged with a contact record.
The
- How do I
move my form letters from one folder to
another?
Use Windows Explorer to
move the Forms directory to the new desired
location. In Contact Plus, go to the Setup
Menu/Form Letter Locations and set the Form
Letter Directory to match the new path,
like C:\CPWIN97\DATA\FORMS - then click
ok.
In Contact Plus Personal choose Mail/Merge.
Click on Add/Delete/Edit. Click Rebuild to
recreate the list of Forms in the new
location.
- How do I
move my generated letters from one folder
to another?
Use Windows Explorer to
move the Letters directory to the new
desired location. In Contact Plus, go to
the Setup Menu/Form Letter Locations and
set the Generated Letter Directory to match
the new folder, like C:\CPWIN97\LETTERS and
- then click ok.
- How do I
rename my generated letters?
You
shouldn't rename your generated letters.
Contact Plus remembers their names in the
contact's history so you can access them
later if you want to. If they are renamed,
this function will not work properly.
However, you can change the way Contact
Plus generates letter names in the future,
by going to the Setup Menu/Word Processor
and click on the Letter Naming tab.
- How
can I be 100% sure that my backup was
successful?
Assuming you used
Contact Plus Backup & Restore,
there are a few ways to confirm the quality
of your backup. If you have WinZip , you
can directly open the zip file that Backup
& Restore creates on the disk. Looking
inside the file, you can confirm the dates
on the .DB files within are recent. We
suggest backing up to multiple sets
removable media (zip drives, diskettes) for
data integrity. For example, you might have
sets of media labeled "Monday", "Tuesday",
"Wed", etc, and each night back up to a
different set. That way, if last night's
backup was corrupted for whatever reason or
maybe the dog chewed it, you have the older
backup set. At the very least keep two
sets, for odd and even days. Periodically,
you should put your backup media in storage
and start over with fresh ones. After all,
disks are cheap, your data is not. In
addition if you're on a network you can
also make a backup and copy the resulting
zip files to other computers on the network
for safekeeping.
- What are
special phone prefixes/suffixes
for?
The Long Distance Prefix is
dialed before a phone number that is
outside your local area code. The Long
Distance Suffix is dialed after a phone
number that is outside your area code. For
example, in the Long Distance Prefix, you
might have a 1, a credit card number, or
perhaps a carrier code. Some carrier codes
go after the number, therefore there is the
suffix field too. The Local Area Prefix and
Local Area Suffix are the same concept, but
they are always dialed before/after numbers
that are in the same area code as you are.
If someone is in the same area code you are
in, but is a long distance number, you
enter their "exchange" in the Exchanges tab
for the special dialing on the
"Special" tab in the Phone Dialer
setup window. For example, in the phone
number "AAA-BBB-CCCC", BBB represents the
exchange. You could tell Contact Plus to
dial BBB numbers as long distance,
even though it's the same area code.
- What
exactly is a filter?
A useful way to
handle working with a subset of the
database is to create filters to locate
records within a database that match
certain criteria. Criteria includes "like"
conditions among records, such as "all
records in category H." Filters can be very
simple or complex by using a combination of
statements. It is handy to create a filter
to include certain records in a mail merge
or report.
- How
come my Filter list says "Modified in
Database"?
Filters that use User,
Numeric, Money, Date fields or Categories
are database specific. These fields may be
different from database to database. For
example, Categories in my "Sales" database
may be different from Categories in my
"Leads" database. The "Modified in
Database" column lets you know which
database the filter was last modified in.
If your filters are things like "Everyone
in the State of Florida", they will still
have a "Modified in Database" but they will
work identically in all your
databases.
- What is BDE?
What is it used for?
The BDE
is the Borland Database Engine that
Contact Plus uses to access the data files.
Making changes to this folder or parameters
in the program. greatly affect Contact
Plus. It is imperative that the folder is
not moved or deleted.
- When I run
a third party program like Clean Sweep it
says that the BDE is not being used by any
program? Is is safe to delete
it?
NO! Making changes or deleting
the BDE program will affect the Contact
Plus program greatly. It is imperative that
the Borland folder not be moved or
deleted.
- How do I
transfer data files from one computer to
another?
If you want to transfer
data from one machine to another, run the
Backup procedure on the first computer and
then run the Restore program on the second
computer. IMPORTANT Note that ALL
databases on the second computer will be
overwritten in this process. To synchronize
data from one computer to another you can
upgrade to
Contact Plus Professional and
Smart Merge.
- Can I use my own
email client with Contact
Plus?
Whatever email program is
registered with the operating system as the
default MAPI email is the one that is
launched from Contact Plus. The Windows
operating system typically comes with some
type of email client, at the very least the
Inbox icon on the Windows desktop. This
program is MAPI compliant and can be used
for your email with Contact Plus.
- How can I set
up my Outlook to be the default email
client?
Follow these steps:
Outlook Express 4.x and Windows
98
On the Outlook Tools menu, click Options.
On the General tab, click the Make Outlook
Express my default Simple MAPI client check
box to select it. Click Yes when you are
prompted to set Outlook Express as your
default Simple MAPI client. Quit Outlook
Express, and then restart your
computer.
Outlook Express 5
On the Tools menu, click Options. On the
General tab, click Make Default next to
This application is the default mail
handler. Click OK.
- How can I set
up Eudora Pro to be the default email
client?
To make Eudora Pro the
default mail program in the Tools menu of
Eudora, choose Options. Choose the option
"MAPI". Change "Use Eudora
MAPI Server" to Always. Click OK.
- How do I
move not done events to today?
The
easiest way to move a group of events in
Contact Plus for Windows is to use the
Month view. You can click on individual
items in the window at the bottom, and drag
them to other days. You can move multiple
events by checking them with the ctrl key
held down.
- What
does Index out of Date mean? What does
Record Key Deleted mean? What should I
do?
Run the Database Repair program
and repair the database. If you are using
Contact Plus Personal and the error
specified a specific database like the
EVENT.DB file, you can select that file to
repair. Also, if you are having problems
with the EVENT.DB, it is a good idea to do
a Normalize after the rebuild to make
certain there are no corrupt dates or
times. If "Index Out of Date" or "Record
Key Deleted" continues to appear, check the
Updates Page to confirm you have the latest
version of Contact Plus Personal for
Windows.
- Why should I
run a database repair? Which databases
should I repair?
If you encounter
problems viewing, creating, or changing
events, repair the EVENT.DB file. If you
are encountering problems that seem to
occur when you go from one contact to the
next, try repairing CONTACT.DB. Also,
running Normalize on the EVENT.DB is useful
for making sure there are no invalid dates
or times.
- Can I
transfer a text field to a number
field?
Yes, a text field can be
transferred to a numeric field, but the
information must be numbers only (0-9) and
must not contain any alpha characters. Use
Database Utilities, Global Update to
perform this procedure.
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