Want to say something or submit a good article or joke. The e-mail address is webmaster@am-win.com.au  

It's essential to put your message before your clients at every opportunity. When you can do it in house for nothing why not take the opportunity.

Were talking about AM-Win's ability to write a message automatically on every invoice or statement that you present to your clients and to select a different message for different occasions. [e.g. Christmas and New Year messages]

Select the "Others" menu then select "Control System" . Now select the "Invoice/Statements" tab. You will now see the following screen

The text in the three Invoice text footer lines are configured in AM-Win by default. Now we are going to add a new message.

Click on the up arrow in the text string field until the three text fields are blank

Type your new message into the three text boxes 

Now click the save button. Your new message has been saved for later use. 

Now you will need to tell AM-Win which default message to use on your invoices.

Click the "Business" tab 

Use the invoice string arrows to select your default message and click save.

Note: Restart AM-Win for the change to take effect.

Print your invoice / proforma /quote as usual. Check that the correct message is displayed. Proceed if yes or select other message if required.  

Add your text into the "statements" field in the "invoice / statements" screen. Save and exit. Your text will now appear on your statements. Change as required.

National Support have suggested that as there are still many clients who don't know how to clone an invoice [or are not aware that you can clone an invoice] and that we should publish a "how do I" document in the newsletter.  

Cloning an invoice [create a new invoice from an existing invoice] can save you a great deal of typing and time so it's a worth knowing how to do it.  For the old hands who have been cloning documents for years there have been some changes and enhancements since the release of version seven and the document is probably worth a quick read to pick up on any enhancements that may be of benefit.

So let's learn how to clone an invoice / Job Card / Estimate

You've just written an invoice to be proud of.  Let's say that it's an engine rebuild on a Commodore with all the parts listed, labour break downs etc. Or maybe it's an invoice for a Landcruiser bull bar with parts, freight costs and fitting all built in.   Or you have just written an estimate - one for a fairly common job. You've looked up all the parts, checked the standard times and calculated the labour rates. You look at it and say to yourself "self, I'm going to have to write that again sometime - I wish I could save it for next time".

The good news is that you can, and you can do it in several ways. However in the following article we are going to look at cloning an invoice/estimate/purchase order.

Under the customer menu in AM-Win version 7+ there is a menu option called "customer history". This item allows you to view customer history from within AM-Win instead of having to open the History module.

This allows you to access history for a customer by Invoice number, Job number, Customer, Job Item, Order number, Date, or the BillTo code. 

You will note that as you flick through the displayed invoices AM-Win displays the content of each each invoice. A separate scroll bar allows you to scroll down to see the lower part of the invoice.

Tip in a Tip

In the image below you will see an arrow - take notice of where it is pointing.

In AM-Win if you hold your mouse over the line between "Desc" and "Refer" you will notice that the mouse pointer changes. Hold your mouse down while dragging the line to the right you will reveal more of the invoice details as you drag. 

Once you have located the invoice to be cloned click click once on the selected invoice to mark it in blue. 

Now click the clone the "clone" button located in the top right hand of the screen

The following screen will appear. We will select job because in this example we want the cloned invoice to go to a job already in progress. However if you want the cloned copy to open a new job at this time you will have an opportunity shortly to do so.

Tip in a tip

Note also at this time you are able to clone the job to a purchase order as well as to a job. Why?. Let's refer back to the engine rebuild we might be doing and let's say that you have a complete parts list for this rebuild on the invoice in history that you are about to clone. If you clone it to a parts order the parts on the list will [a] be used as a reference for your current rebuild, [b] be placed onto a purchase order which then can be turned into a supplier invoice which will save you time in entering the parts when they come in.

Let's get back to the job at hand - we will now click on the job button and place the cloned invoice on an existing job. The following screen will open

Let's look at the choices that we have. We can select new document or append to an existing document.

New document.

AM-Win anticipates that you would want to open a "New Document" by default.

If this is the case click on Customer and proceed as normal from there. You will be presented with the customer listing and from there a list of the customer's vehicles. Select the required customer and their vehicle and AM-Win will create a new document for you complete with all of the details from the invoice selected from the history file.

This allows you to add the contents of the invoice selected from the history file to a job already in progress. Click on the "Append to Existing Document" and the following screen will appear.

Click on the "Document" button and you will be presented with a list of jobs in progress.

Select the required job and the contents of the invoice selected from the history file will be added to the content that is already on the job.

Determining whether your new document is an estimate or a job.

On the screen shown below you will notice a "Doc Type" drop down box. Clicking the down arrow will provide a choice of Job or estimate. Select whichever is right for this occasion and proceed as normal.

We hope that this document has been useful and will save you many hours of typing and in working out required parts lists when invoicing and writing estimates.

Here's a Tip in a Tip that might help to win more jobs from your estimates.

Don't show any more details on an estimate than necessary. By all means list all of the parts, labour and on costs on your estimates but suppress [hide] them from your potential client. Just show the final cost of the estimate. 

By doing this when your potential client shops your quote around,  your competitor has to do the same homework as you. Let him work out what parts go into the job, let him phone around for prices and let him work out how much to charge for each part. 

Brief Description - Open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the file formats new to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007.

Documents created in Word, Excel and Power Point 2007 may not be compatible with earlier versions of these programs. Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats enables files generated in the 2007 versions to be read by earlier program versions.

This new compatibility pack is available for download. Click here to open Microsoft download page. Please ensure that you read system requirements and download instructions carefully. 

SUMMARY: Create a table in Microsoft Word 2003 without clicking and editing data in each cell.
 
If you wish to display text in your Microsoft Word 2003 document in a table, you can go through and first create the table using the "Table -> Insert Table" menu, then selecting how tall and wide you want the table, then clicking on each individual table cell and entering data. However, there's a MUCH easier way.

Enter your table data in your Microsoft Word 2003 document in a comma-delimited format. What does this mean? Perhaps you want a table of student names next to their grades. Enter the data like so:

Susy,95
Brian,86
Joe,93
Laura,89
John,80
Tiffany,82

Now, highlight the text and choose "Table -> Insert Table". Voila! A 2x6 table is automatically created for you. If you don't like how it looks, choose "Table -> Table Autoformat" to apply one of various designs, or go through the "Table" menu and manually edit the table's display properties.

Summary: Remembering the different parameters you can use with a worksheet function is sometimes difficult, particularly if the function is one you use only periodically. This tip describes a handy help feature provided by Excel that makes recalling the parameters very easy. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

One of the tools that Excel provides for adding functions to a formula is Insert | Function, which starts a wizard-like interface that leads you through constructing the function properly. If you are like most frequent users of Excel, this level of help is a little much; all you need is a memory-jog as to what parameters should be used with the function.

One obscure shortcut provided in Excel actually provides just the amount of help you want. For example, let's say you know you want to use the SUBSTITUTE function, but you cannot remember all the parameters that are used with it. Type an equal sign, followed by SUBSTITUTE and a left parenthesis, like this:

=SUBSTITUTE(

Now, press Shift+Ctrl+A. Excel magically adds all the parameters for the formula, like this:

=SUBSTITUTE(text,old_text,new_text,instance_num)

What's more, the first parameter (text) is highlighted, and you can simply start typing what you want used for that parameter. Replace or delete the other parameters, as desired, and you have your correctly constructed function ready to go.

Wireless hotspots are changing the way people work. These wireless local area networks (LANs) provide high speed Internet access in public locations—as well as at home—and require nothing more than a notebook PC with a wireless card. From coffee shops to restaurants, airports to hotel lobbies, hotspots are ubiquitous. They are the de facto connection method for travellers and remote workers to access the Internet, their e-mail, and even their corporate networks.

Hotspots range from paid services, such as Telstra or Optus, to free connections at your local coffee shop or library. But they all have one thing in common: These are all open networks that are vulnerable to security breaches. And that means it's up to you to protect the data on your PC. Here are a few tips to make working in public locations more secure.

1.  Try to choose more secure connections. It's not always possible to choose your connection type—but when you can, opt for wireless networks that require a network security key or have some other form of security, such as a certificate. The information sent over these networks is encrypted, which can help protect your computer from unauthorized access. The security features of different networks appear along with the network name as your PC discovers them.

2.  Make sure your firewall is activated.  A firewall helps protect your mobile PC by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network. It acts as a barrier that checks all incoming information, and then either blocks the information or allows it to come through. Later versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems come with a firewall, and you need to make sure it's turned on.

6.  Encrypt your files. Maintaining the privacy of your client's confidential data is critical to the success of your business and your reputation. You already have a firewall and antivirus software installed on your computer, but these only protect you from attacks on the Internet. What happens to your confidential files if your laptop is lost or stolen? Losing your computer doesn't have to mean losing your privacy. With Windows XP Professional, you can help protect private customer and financial information by using its Encrypting File System (EFS).

When you encrypt a file or folder, you are converting it to a format that can't be read by other people. A file encryption key is added to files or folders that you choose to encrypt. This key is needed to read the file. Windows XP Professional makes the encryption and decryption process easy—simply follow the steps below to encrypt your files or folders. When you are logged on to your computer, you'll be able to read them. Anyone who tries to use your computer without your logon will not be able to read them.

Note: Make sure you have your computer set up so that you have to log on to use it (when you start up, or when you have been away from the computer for a little while). If the computer is stolen when you're logged in, your encrypted files will be readable.

Click here for more information from Microsoft on Encryption and Decryption

7.  Consider completely removing sensitive data from your notebook PC. If you're working with extremely sensitive data, it might be worth taking it off your notebook PC altogether. Instead, keep it behind the corporate firewall and use your company's VPN to access it when necessary. This way, you have multiple safeguards in place.

These few simple precautions can help make working in public places more secure. And by selecting the best connections and adjusting settings, you can enjoy productive and safe work sessions no matter where you are.