Creating an ACT Link to a Client Folder

As most of you know, I’m probably one of the biggest ACT! cheerleaders around.  However, sometimes I run across an ACT! feature that makes me slap my head and wonder “what were they thinking??”  A case in point is the Documents tab.  I love the ability to create shortcuts to my documents so that I can easily access them from the contact’s Document tab rather than grappling around searching for files while talking to a client.  However, what I’d really like to do in some cases is get to an entire folder of information at the click of a button.  Unfortunately, this is not an option in ACT! – or so I thought before speaking to  two long-time ACT! Consultants, Chuck Cutler and Rita Kogstad.  They provided me with what turned out to be a very simple solution to a bothersome problem.

Follow these steps to create a link on the contact record to a data folder:

1. In ACT!, create a new URL field and place it in your contact layout.
2. Launch Windows Explorer (or My Computer).
3. Navigate to the folder you wish to link.
4. Right-click the folder, choose Properties from the contextual window and copy the folder’s location into the Windows clipboard
5. Type file:// in the new URL field and then paste in the contents of the clipboard.  For example, to navigate to my own documents folder I’d place file://C:UsersKaren FredricksDocuments into my ACT! field.

The next time you want to quickly get to the folder simply click it; the folder will pop open in seconds.

I like that little trick but there’s also a way to get a folder to show up on the Documents tab as well that ACT! Consultant Art Russ shared with me that and doesn’t necessitate the need to create a new field:

1. Launch Windows Explorer (or My Computer).
2. Navigate to the folder you wish to link.
3. Right-click the folder and choose Create Shortcut from the contextual menu.  You will now be on a shortcut file.
4. Use your mouse to drag and drop the shortcut file to the contact’s Documents tab.
5. Double-click the shortcut in the Documents tab to view the contents of the linked folder.

There are lots of cool shortcuts in ACT! that users take advantage of every day to make ACT! even more powerful than it already is.  If you have discovered other shortcuts that you’d like to share please let me know!