System Requirements for ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1

To use ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1, you need the following hardware and software:

An IBM PC or equivalent computer with a 486/33MHz or higher processor

Microsoft Windows 3.1x or Windows for Workgroups

At least 16MB of RAM

At least 38 MB free disk space on your hard disk

A mouse or other pointing device supported by Windows

Modem supported by Windows (required for automatic dialing)

Printer supported by Windows

The following networks are supported:

Novell Netware version 3.12 or later

Microsoft NT version 3.51 or later

Windows 95 or Windows for Workgroups


Looking at the user interface differences

Though ACT! looks very similar running in the Windows 3.1 environment, there are a few differences:

Title bar captions are centered rather than left aligned (Win95).

The Minimize, Maximize, and Restore buttons are up and down arrows.


File Naming

One of the differences between ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1 and ACT! 3.0 for Windows 95 is that ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1 supports only 8-character file names.

If Windows 95 users share ACT! data with Windows 3.1 users, they must use 8-character file names to properly share databases.


Third Party Applications

ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1 supports fewer versions of third party applications than ACT! 3.0 for Windows 95. The following list shows which applications you can use with ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1:

WinFax PRO 4.0

Microsoft Mail

cc:Mail

CompuServe

Lotus Notes Mail

Microsoft Word 6.0

WordPerfect 6.x

ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1 supports TAPI hardware and LiveUpdate.


Setting Time Zones for Synchronization

In ACT! 3.0 for Windows 95, the application uses the time and date settings from the Windows 95 operating system for the time zone setting. However, in ACT! for Windows 3.1 you must set the time zone in the Synchronization tab in the Preferences dialog box.

To set the time zone in ACT!:

1.	From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.

2.	The Preferences dialog box appears.

3.	Click the Synchronization tab.

4.	In the Current Time Zone group box, select a time zone from the Same As drop-down list.

5.	(Optional) Select the Daylight Saving option.

If it is Daylight Savings Time in your location and you are synchronizing data with someone in a different time zone, you will need to select this option so that ACT! can handle the time differences between users in different time zones.


Using ACT! if you upgrade to Windows 95

If you upgrade your operating system to Windows 95, ACT! 3.0 for Windows 3.1 will automatically upgrade to ACT! 3.0 for Windows 95 the first time you run ACT! under Windows 95.


New features: Layout switching
Layout switching

You now choose a different layout from the layout menu at the bottom of the window. For ACT! 2.0 users, the old layouts such as Classic Contact 1 and Classic Contact 2 are included.


New features: Tab sublayouts
Tab sublayouts

The tabs at the bottom of the Contact and Groups windows include additional fields in which you can record and view contact and group information.


New features: Window switching
Window switching

You now move to a different window such as the Groups window or the E-mail window by clicking one of the eight buttons that appear in the lower-right corner of the Contact window.


New features: Customizable Contact List window
Customizable Contact List window

You can display and edit all of your contact information in a Contact List window, and you can decide which information appears in the list.


New features: Support for multiple windows
Support for multiple windows

You can open multiple ACT! windows at one time, and you can drag-and-drop from one window to another. For example, you can drag a contact record from the Contact window and drop it on a specific time in a Calendar window to schedule an activity with that contact.


New features: Fully customizable interface
Fully customizable interface

The ACT! interface is completely customizable. You can edit or create your own contact and group layouts, modify the menus and toolbars, and change the colors and fonts used throughout the product.


New features: Improved calendars and scheduling
Improved calendars and scheduling

You can now schedule activities for other users and view other users' activities on the calendars. Enhancements have been added to recurring activities, the Task List, and to the calendar displays.


New features: New graphical report designer
New graphical report designer

The standard reports have been redesigned, and the new graphical report designer lets you create sophisticated contact and group reports.


New features: Enhanced lookups, queries, and sorting
Enhanced lookups, queries, and sorting

You can now create multi-level lookups by adding contacts to or subtracting contacts from the current lookup. The query interface has been improved. You can also sort the display of contacts based on any field.


New features: Active Web Site field
Active Web Site field

You can now enter your contacts' World Wide Web site addresses, then automatically launch your web browser and go to a contact's web site with a single click in the Web Site field.


New features: Customizable database
Customizable database

You can easily add or delete fields and modify the attributes of contact or group fields in your database. You can also specify which fields are indexed fields to help speed up lookups, queries, and sorts.


New features: Improved group records
Improved group records

Groups are now separate records with their own notes, histories, and attachments. You can also run reports to track information about your groups. Note that you can still use any groups that you created in a previous ACT! version.


New features: Attachments to contact and group records
Attachments to contact and group records

You can now attach files to contact and group records and open the attached files directly from the Notes/History tabs in the Contact or Groups window.


New features: Security
Security

You can create private records and activities to which no one else has access. A database administrator can set three security levels for users of a database.


New features: Links to popular applications for word processing, faxing, and e-mail
Links to popular word processing, faxing, and e-mail applications

ACT! now supports the use of Microsoft Word or WordPerfect as your default word-processing application. For faxing, you can use either Microsoft Fax or WinFax PRO. To use e-mail from within ACT!, you can use Microsoft Exchange, cc:Mail, CompuServe, or Lotus Notes.


New features: dialer
Dialer

The improved dialer now supports Microsoft TAPI (Telephony Application Programming Interface). You can automatically time your calls or use Caller ID to bring up the correct contact record. You can also forward calls, transfer calls, or set up conference calls.


New features: Improved international support
Improved international support

A Country field has been added for your international addresses, and you can easily enter international telephone numbers with the appropriate formatting based on the selected country code.


New features: Data conversion
Data conversion

You can convert all of your data from earlier versions of ACT! except for macros and modified toolbars. You can also import data saved in Delimited Text, dBASE, or Symantec Q&A format.


New features: Built-in data synchronization
Built-in data synchronization

The ability to synchronize records with other ACT! users, formerly available only in the ACT! Mobile Link product, is now part of ACT!, and the interface is in the form of an easy-to-use wizard. You can also synchronize directly with another database.


New features: Full-featured Windows 95 help
Full-featured Windows help

ACT! has taken advantage of the new features of Windows help. These include a full text search engine, expanded index capabilities, and improved context-sensitive help. In addition to using the F1 key, you now have the ability to right-click areas in the application to get context-sensitive help.


Online access to product updates through LiveUpdate

If your computer has a modem or an Internet connection, you can download ACT! updates and additional product information using LiveUpdate. To receive an update, choose LiveUpdate from the Help menu. LiveUpdate displays wizard panels that walk you through the updating process.


Looking at the Contact window
The Contact window

Use the Contact window to enter, modify, and view information about your contacts. Each contact record is displayed as a single page in the Contact window. The tabs at the bottom of the Contact window provide additional fields for contact information.


Looking at the Contact List window
The Contact List window

Use the Contact List window to enter, modify, and view information about your contacts in list form. You can easily change the order in which contacts appear in the list and specify which information is displayed.


Looking at the Calendar window
The Calendar window

Use the Calendar window to view your daily, weekly, and monthly calendars. You can also schedule activities, reschedule existing activities, and clear completed activities in the Calendar window. If you are working in a multiuser database, you can view other users’ public activities on the calendars.


Looking at the Task List window
The Task List window

Use the Task List window to see a list of your scheduled activities. You can easily change the order in which activities appear in the Task List. In the Task List window you can also schedule activities, reschedule existing activities, and clear completed activities.


Looking at the Groups window
The Groups window

Use the Groups window to set up and manage groups of contacts. When you create a group, you can create and view notes, histories, and activities for the group.


Looking at the E-mail window
The E-mail window

Use the E-mail window to write and send e-mail messages to contacts in your ACT! database and to receive and read e-mail messages. You can use cc:Mail, Microsoft Exchange, CompuServe, and Lotus Notes to send and receive e-mail messages within ACT!.


The Query window

The Query window appears when you choose the By Example command from the Lookup menu. You use the Query window to search for contacts or groups that match specific criteria. Enter the search criteria in one or more fields in the layout, then choose Run Query from the Query menu.


The Replace Fields window

The Replace Fields window appears when you choose the Replace command from the Edit menu. You use this window to update multiple records at one time. When you enter data in one or more fields and choose the Apply command, the changes are made to all the records in the current lookup.


Looking at the Report Designer
The Report Designer

Use the Report Designer to create new report templates or modify existing report templates. You can design contact and group reports that extract information from fields in your database and display the information in an organized and attractive format.


Looking at the Layout Designer
The Layout Designer

Use the Layout Designer to create new layouts or modify existing layouts. You can add or remove fields from layouts, and you can change the appearance of the layouts using colors and graphic elements.


When you are viewing the Contact List window, you can quickly change the order in which contacts appear by clicking one of the column labels. For example, if you want to sort the list by company name, you can click the Company column label. However, if you want to specify more than one sort criteria, you must use the Sort command in the Edit menu.


For example, to sort by company name, click the Company column label. This causes your contacts to be displayed in ascending order by company (in alphabetical, A to Z order).


Sorting contact lists in the contact list window
 Overview

To sort contact lists in the contact list window

Click the column label by which you want to sort the list. A line appears under the column name, indicating that the contacts are being sorted by the data in that column.

To sort a list in descending order, hold down the Shift key when you click the column label.

 Related Topics


Rescheduling from the calendars
 Overview

To reschedule from the calendars

1.	Find the activity that you want to reschedule on one of your calendars.

2.	Perform one of the following actions:

Drag the activity to a new day or time slot on the calendar.

Drag the activity to a day on the small monthly calendar on the right side of the Calendar window.

Open the Mini-Calendar if it is not already open, and drag the activity to a day on the Mini-Calendar.

Double-click the activity. This opens the Schedule Activity dialog box. Change the date or time and click OK.

 Related Topics


How to use help

Online help is a convenient and quick way to look up information about how to use ACT!. You can get online help in the following ways:

Within any ACT! dialog box, use the right mouse button to click an item about which you'd like more information. If you click in a blank area of a dialog box, you'll get general help information about that dialog box.

Press F1 to open the help topic for the currently active window. For example, if the Contact window is active and you press F1, the "The Contact Window" help topic appears. You can also view a clickable hypergraphic of each window under the help topic "Looking at the ACT! Windows."

Within any ACT! menu, you can get information about a command by moving the pointer over the command and pressing F1.

From the Help menu, choose Help Topics. This takes you to the main ACT! Help Topics window which has three tabs available: Contents, Index, and Find. The Contents tab allows you to choose help topics from a collapsible list. The Index tab allows you to choose topics by subject, much like an index in a book. The Find tab allows you to perform a full text search of the entire help system.

From any ACT! window, click the Help tool in the toolbar. This takes you to the main ACT! Help Topics window.