Save time with Sage ACT! keyboard and mouse shortcuts shown on the Lookup menu.
As everyone’s attention span dwindles, now’s a good time to re-visit the keyboard and mouse shortcuts on the Sage ACT! menu. Hey, a fraction of a second saved is several hours earned over a year, right?
A couple of things that I really like with the newer version versions (Sage ACT! versions 2007 – 2012) is that you can right-click on just about any area of a layout or data field. A dialog menu will pop up and, the majority of the time, whatever you’re trying to do is going to be an option on that ACT! menu.
One of the fastest shortcuts you can do is a lookup on any field in the database. Right click on any field, and a mini lookup window will pop-up, pre-filled with the field you want to search on. Rather than going to the Lookup Menu, then choosing that field from a drop-down list, just go to that field, right-click on it, and complete your lookup. It’s very simple.
A second shortcut is to right-click on the background of your layout. You can:
• Schedule your calls
• Create a New Contact or duplicate a Contact
• Record a History on an unscheduled call or meeting
• Insert Notes or
• Attach a File
You can find this right-click option on any screen. You don’t just have to be on the contact screen. Try this on the Groups, Companies or Calendar views, too.
On the calendar view, we can right-click and Schedule a call. I can also click and drag my mouse to highlight an activity’s start and end time. When I let go, it pops up and automatically fills in the date and the time that I had dragged my mouse on top of that to fill that in.
Sage ACT! Menu Shortcuts for Keyboard or Mouse Lovers
These same commands are available on your keyboard too, if you’re not a mouse person, but a keyboard person. The keyboard shortcut equivalent of right-clicking usually starts with holding the control key (CTRL) plus another key. For example, to create an unscheduled history item, all you do is press CTRL + H. Just complete the dialog box that pops up with all the details.
Even when you're on one peron's contact record, you can record information about an unscheduled activity for another person using the CTRL + H keyboard command, one of the ACT! menu commands.
One of my favorite Sage ACT! shortcuts (really an ACT! tip) is using this command when the phone rings and interrupts me right in the middle of something I’m doing. I type CTRL + H, and when that person starts talking to me, I can take notes during the call.
Since chances are that this is not the person who’s record I’m already on in ACT!, I just change the contact to this person’s record (or press the Contact button on the right and then the New Contact button on the lower left to add a new contact to my database).
My notes are automatically added to the history tab, documenting my conversation. The History tab is the “daily diary” of everything that happens with that contact.
The Difference Between the ACT! History and ACT! Notes Tabs
Some people confuse the History and Notes tabs because ACT! used to show them as one tab. But Notes are for “facts” about your contact, such as directions to his office, his dog’s name, his favorite restaurant, things like that. The keyboard shortcut key for Notes is F9.
Other useful keyboard shortcuts are:
- F8 takes you to the Contact Detail View
- F11 goes to the Contacts View
- Insert Key (usually above the backspace button) adds a New Contact or, if you’re on the Groups view, it adds a New Group
Everyone wants more time to spend on the non-work-related good stuff. ACT!’s menu commands for mouse and keyboard shortcuts get you in and out of your database fast.
Love these tips! Thanks.