Many people when they first come to use Printcost want to “do something” to save what they have done on (say) the quotes screen, when they have finished with a particular quote. In the following narrative I’ll refer to quotes, but equally this could be the jobs screen, sales order, purchase orders etc., and I’ve put the buttons referred to in italics.
It is not necessary to do anything; the quote will be automatically saved. In fact most of the data is saved immediately as you enter it, the only exception being the “workings” on a quote, job or model (the paper, and processes that make up the quote details). These are saved if you stop using the keyboard and mouse for five seconds.
But if you feel you must do something then you should click the hide button. The hide button simply makes the current screen invisible. You can get the screen back by clicking the appropriate item in the menu to the left of the main screen.
Alternatively, if you don’t plan to use the screen again in the near future you can click close. The close button unloads the screen and frees up a bit on memory, but it means that if you want to use that screen again, Printcost has to re-build it. Printcost will reuse the same quotes screen when you select quotes for different customers so there is no build up of screens not being used.
To test this out try the following. Start Printcost and select a customer you know will have some quotes. Click on the (list) quotes button. Note there is a delay while the quotes screen loads. Now click summary and note a further delay while the summary screen, and other detail screens, load. Click hide.
Now select another customer and go through the same process (list quotes, then click summary). Note it is much quicker to “load” the screens. Click close, and repeat the process. Note the same delay as the first time you opened quotes.
The alternative to clicking hide or close is to do nothing. Just select the next thing you want to do. If you have entered and printed a quote, then the most likely thing you will want to do is to enter another quote either for the same customer or another. In this case you can click “customers” in the menu on the left and then click (new) quote, or if you want a variation on the quote you have just done, or to base a quote on the one you have just done, click the copy quote button in the top right of the quotes screen.
In summary – if you plan to use the same screen again soon use hide, but if it’s a one off use then click close.If you want to comment or suggest a topic for ‘tip of the month’, contact Chris on email cc@printcost.com
