So, you’ve purchased ACT and you’re ready to install it. Sounds easy, right? Sure it is – if you’ve got your ACT together! Here’s a few hints that will help speed you on your way: Make sure that Windows is up to date by rebooting your machine. If you are going to be integrating Act…
Using Zapier to import data into Act! is an easy-to-set up method for adding information into Act! from your various other business sources. Zapier does this by performing ‘zaps’ that automatically collect useful data from commonly used applications such as PayPal, Woofu, and Slack and transferring that data into your Act! v18.1database. The most obvious…
Many Act! users routinely head to the Export Wizard to send their information not realizing that there is a much easier method for exporting Act! data. You’ll find the Export Current List to Excel icon at the top of the Contact, Group, Company, Opportunity, History and Task List views. If the button is “greyed out”…
Act! Outlook Synchronization Clients often ask me to “setup their Act! Outlook integration” and are dumfounded when I respond that there is no such thing. “But Karen,” they insist, “you told me that my version of Act! is compatible with my version of Office. How can that be?” The confusion lies in the fact that…
The Contact field can prove to be surprisingly confusing for both new and old Act! users alike. Although the field seems very straightforward at first glance, it contains a bit of “magical Act! functionality” that can prove to be either a help or a hindrance. Let’s start with the Salutation field. I often ask Act!…
Every year many of my clients ask me if there is a way to get holidays loaded into their ACT! database. Unfortunately, holidays do not come pre-loaded in the ACT! calendar. Obviously, some holidays such as the Fourth of July and Christmas are easy to add manually. However, other holidays such as Easter and Chanukah…
A few weeks ago I wrote about some of the changes that ACT! has experienced during its 25 year history. I received a call this week from one of the original ACT! co-founders , Mike Muhney, prompting me to take you on another trip down Memory Lane in Mike’s own words. “The mid-1980s were a…
Wow! As hard as it is to believe the ACT! software program turned 25 this month. If you’re into numbers that translates into 14 versions, five named owners and millions of users. I received an e-mail this week from a long ACT! user who was complaining about everything from the confusing naming conventions for ACT!…
Hard as it is to believe, I’ve written over a dozen books on technology and created training videos for LinkedIn Learning. Trust me, writing is a labor of love. My “day job” is to help my clients utilize CRM software to make themselves – and their businesses – more efficient, effective and profitable. For me,…
Several years ago a marketing company offered to do a mailing for me to all businesses within a 50 mile radius of my office. This sounded like a great idea until I realized that areas to the east and south of me contained nothing but the deep blue sea, and a large portion of the…
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.
Two books on the ACT software program by Karen Fredricks have been selected by Packt Publishing for inclusion in their R.A.W. (Read As We Write) program.
I am currently working on two new titles for PackT – ACT! By Sage 2011 Cook Book and ACT! by Sage Reports and Dashboards Cook Book. I’m even more excited to announce that both books have been accepted into the new “RAW” (Read as we Write) program. RAW is a cutting-edge new program that enables…
If you’ve been sitting in the Stone Age and are still clinging to your tried and true version of ACT 6, you might want to take a look at the features that you missed by not upgrading previously. Here’s my list of the Top 10 best new features in ACT 2011.
This being Easter weekend I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite ACT Easter eggs. In case you’re not familiar with the term, a software Easter egg refers to a bit of hidden code in the software. Although these Easter eggs are all represented by fields and aren’t necessarily hidden, they do tie into…
Sending an e-mail blast in ACT can be a pain. Learn how to send ACT e-blasts with a minimal amount of pain and effort!