1 System: Using CounterPoint Using Notes Overview Adding notes CounterPoint allows you to enter unlimited notes for items, customers, vendors, and Order Entry orders. Each note has a unique ID that allows you to easily retrieve it, or to print it on forms and labels. Notes are entered using the menu selection where records are entered. For example, customer notes may be entered from Customers / Customers. To enter a note, press F5 after entering all other information for a new record, or when an existing record is displayed. This chapter explains how to enter notes for items, customers, vendors, and orders. This window appears when you press F5 from an existing item, customer, or vendor record. If any notes exist for this record, the note with the most recent date/time ID displays automatically, and the window appears similar to the window shown for Viewing Notes on page 4. Press F1 to add a note. The current date and time are automatically provided as the note ID. After selecting to add a note, press F1 to change the note ID.
System: Using CounterPoint - Using Notes 2 Press F2 to copy the text of this note from a note for another item. This allows quicker setup of repetitive note information. Note ID Enter the note ID. Press F1 to insert the current date and time as the note ID. You may enter any ID, or name, for a note. Using names is helpful for accessing the note quickly. Note text Enter the text of this note, up to 10 lines of 77 characters each. Press Esc when you are finished entering note text. Save note? This question appears when you press Esc after entering note text. Specify whether to save this note. Special keys in note entry The following keys can be used during note entry: Arrow Go to next character. Right Arrow Go to previous character. Left Down Go to next line. Arrow Up Go to previous line. Arrow Home Go to beginning of line. End Go to end of line. Backspace Delete previous character. Delete Delete following character. Insert Alternate between insert mode and overwrite mode. Ctrl + Arrow Go to next word. Right Ctrl + Arrow Go to previous word. Left Ctrl + Page Go to beginning of note. Up Ctrl + Page Go to end of note. Down Ctrl + K Delete to end of line. Ctrl + D Delete entire line. Ctrl + N Insert a new line.
System: Using CounterPoint - Using Notes 3 Importing notes Customer, item, and vendor notes can be imported from specially-formatted text files. You create notes in any text editor or other third-party application, such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel, and then import those notes into your CounterPoint database. To import notes, you must first create a text file that contains notes you want to import. Each line in the text file represents a single customer, item, or vendor note. Customer notes must begin with a valid Customer #, followed by a comma. Item notes must begin with a valid Item number or barcode, followed by a comma. Vendor notes must begin with a valid Vendor #, followed by a comma. The text that follows the comma is the note itself, which can be up to 770 characters long. NOTE: You cannot create multiple notes for a particular customer, item, or vendor during a single import process. If you include multiple lines that begin with the same Customer #, Item number, or Vendor # in your text file, they will either be skipped or replaced, depending on the option you select from the Skip or replace existing notes? field. After you have created your notes import file, depending on the type of notes you want to import, select Customers / Utilities / Import customer notes, Inventory / Utilities / Import item notes, or Inventory / Utilities / Import vendor notes. Import filename Enter the path and file name of the text file that contains the customer, item, or vendor notes you want to import. If you do not specify a path, the import file must be located in your top-level CounterPoint directory. Note ID Enter an identifier for the notes that will be created from the import file or press F1 to use the current date and time.
System: Using CounterPoint - Using Notes 4 Skip or replace existing notes? Select Skip to skip existing notes that have the same Note ID as the one you specified, or Replace to overwrite them. Report type Select the type of report you want to generate, either Detail report, Errors only, or None. Press Enter from Field number to change? to accept the import parameters, and then select Yes from the OK to import notes? prompt to start the import process. If you selected Detail report or Errors only from Report type, the Select printer window appears, prompting you to select a printer for the import report. If errors occur during the import process (e.g., if a customer, item, or vendor specified in the import file is not on file), the message Errors have occurred - check report for details appears. If the import completes without error, the import screen displays a summary of the import process, as illustrated below. Viewing notes All notes may be viewed from within an existing record (i.e., from a customer record in Customers / Customers or Customers / View / Customers). Customer and item notes may also be viewed during ticket and order entry. Item notes may also be viewed during P.O. entry (using the Item Zoom function at Qty-ordered). Order notes may also be viewed while selecting orders for invoicing. This note pops up automatically when a ticket is entered for this customer, because POP-UP is defined as the Customer Notes ID in Setup / Customers / Control.
System: Using CounterPoint - Using Notes 5 Press: F1 To add a note. (See the Adding notes section on page 1 for more information.) F2 F3 F4 Page Up Editing notes Page Down To edit the displayed note. (See the Editing notes section on page 5 for more information.) To delete the displayed note. (See the Deleting notes section on page 6 for more information.) To find an existing note for this record. (See the Finding notes section on page 6 for more information.) To scroll through the existing notes for this record. Home End To display the first or last existing note for this record. Esc To exit the Notes function. When an existing note is displayed, press F2 to edit this note. Make changes to the note text as desired. Press Esc when you have finished making changes. Save note? Specify whether to save the changes made to this note.
System: Using CounterPoint - Using Notes 6 Deleting notes When an existing note is displayed, press F3 to delete this note. OK to delete note? Specify whether to delete this note. Finding notes When an existing note is displayed, press F4 to find a particular note. Note ID Press F9 from the Note ID field to display the Lookup Item notes window and search through a list of available notes. If you know the ID of the note you want to display, enter it in the Note ID field. For instance, entering POP-UP immediately displays the note with an ID of POP-UP. You can easily find a note that has a date/time stamp when you know the approximate date of the note. For example, to find a note that you know was entered sometime in October 1999, enter a note ID of 100199. The first note entered in October displays, and you can scroll through the October notes to find the one you want using Page Down. To search for a note ID by date, enter the date either as 6 digits (100199) or as 6 digits separated by slashes (10/01/99). For January through September, you may leave off the preceding zero (90199 or 9/01/99). WARNING: When adding a note or changing a note ID, if you enter a date manually in the note ID field, the date is saved as an alphanumeric field rather than a date field. This means you will only be able to find this note by typing the note ID EXACTLY as you entered it. For this reason, you should always use the system-assigned date/time ID.
System: Using CounterPoint - Using Notes 7 Displaying notes automatically A single note for a customer or item can be displayed automatically when entering a ticket, when entering an Order Entry order, and when entering purchase requests. For example, a sporting goods store might set up CounterPoint so that every time a customer with a pre-designated note ID is entered on a ticket, a note pops up telling the clerk that this customer is an avid golfer. In order for a note to display automatically, the note ID must match the ID defined in Setup / Customers / Control (for customers), Setup / Inventory / Control (for items), or Setup / Purchasing / Control (for items, to automatically display notes when adding a line item to a purchase request or a P.O.). Printing notes on forms A single note for a customer, item, or vendor can be printed on a form. For example, you may want to print a hazardous material warning message on an invoice whenever a particular chemical is purchased. To print a particular note on a form, use the Forms menu selection on the appropriate Setup menu (Customers, Inventory, Point of Sale, or Purchasing) to specify the note ID that you want to print, and to indicate where on the form the note should print. You should then enter a customer, item, or vendor note with that same ID that contains any information you want to print automatically on forms for that customer, item, or vendor.