Sort
The sort button is almost redundant.  Sorting can now be done by simply clicking on the heading at the top of any column. Clicking the heading again reverses the sort direction.  The sort button however allows you to sort on columns that are hidden, but also to save the sort sequence so next time that browse list is opened the same sort sequence will be used.  Each time you sort by another column the old sorting sequence is maintained within the next sort.  For example, you could sort your jobs by invoice number then by invoice date then by customer.  If you follow this sequence the jobs will be sorted by customer, then within the customer by invoice date then within one invoice date by invoice number. Up to three sub sorts are remembered by the “save current sort as default” button.

Find
The find button can be used to either find a record in an existing list or to find a record on the master file to add to the list.  When you enter a valid code in the find text box the “add to list” button will be enabled.  When you click on this button or hit enter the record will be either found in the existing list (if it is there) or will be added to the list if it is not.  If the item is added it will be added at the top of the list (note earlier versions of Printcost added the item to the bottom of the list).

BM

This function creates a bookmark or more correctly a copy of the current record. You can then go on to other work in the same browse list and simply click on the bookmark window to get back to the “bookmarked” record.  This can be a useful function when you are working on a quote but need to look up details on another quote.

SD

Under DOS the print screen key did just that, printed a copy of the screen to the printer. Under Windows the print screen key makes a copy of the screen on the paste board and to get a copy on paper you need to paste this into a word processor and then print the document. Holding the Alt key while you press the print screen key makes a copy of just the active window (without the Alt key you get the whole screen). The SD or screen dump function allows you to simply print the current window to the printer.  When you click on SD a window appears to allow you to select the size of the printout, select the printer and decide whether or not to eject the page.  If you print three quarter size screen you can print two onto a standard A4 page. When you use this function the screen dump is saved as a file called LastSD.bmp in the program directory – this can be useful if you want to email it to someone.

If you want to comment or suggest a topic for ‘tip of the month’, contact Chris on email cc@printcost.com

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