Records - Navigating in Records

Navigating Records with the Ribbon

The Records Ribbon provides access to filters to quickly search the records database.

View

Select a View preference - Full Details, Standard Details or Minimum Details. The view in the search grid changes to provide more or less information on your searched Record Results. Expanding the view beyond minimum will show the description (in standard details) and keywords (in full details). 

Filters

• The Area drop down filters by Contact or Team - these filters are variable and are based on the record locations that are of a Contact or Team type. In conjunction with the Area drop down filter the Select Contact filter navigates to the list of available contacts or employees.
• The Role drop down filters by Employee Role, such as Partner, Manager, Preparer, etc. In conjunction with the Role drop down, the Employee drop down navigates through individual, or groups of, employees with the same Roles.
• The Record Status drop down allows filtering of documents with the selected Status or Statuses.

Date Range

• The date range area allows filtering based on multiple factors. You can choose to filter on the Modified, Added, Created or Finalised date, and can also utilise specific date ranges such as Today, last 3 days, last 7 days, last 2 weeks, last month, last 3 months, last 6 months, last 12 months, last 2 years, last 3 years, last 5 years or select a date range. 
• The settings in the Options will determine what the default setting for date range. These options can be a firm wide setting, or the firm may allow each user to choose their own default setting. 
• Using No Date Range will enforce limitations - a contact or search term must be selected also. Using some Record location areas will disable the Contact search area. Therefore no results will be loaded on the grid.

Batch & Visibility

• This area allows you to filter on a particular batch that has been assigned when creating a batch of documents from the Knowledge area. Tick "show batch" and then select the appropriate batch number.
  
• If you wish to search on documents that have been assigned to a particular team, select from drop down for multiple or single teams. You will only see teams of which you are a member.

Tools

• Recycle Bin - When deleting records, the documents are sent to the Recycle Bin. These can later be retrieved (you will need to be an Administrator to restore records) by clicking on the Recycle Bin icon. Make sure other filters are cleared to see all deleted Records. Documents in the Recycle Bin can be permanently deleted by the Administrator.
• Import - The import icon enables you to import:
  • Files in a folder - this enables a batch import of files for say a specific client
  • Files as data records - imports and converts the files to data records
• Excel Export - Export your search results to an Excel file with the use of the Excel Export button. Click the button, choose a folder to save the file into (the default is Documents), then provide the name of the file.

Search Bar

The records search bar consists of a free text search area and five buttons. 

Filter Options allows you to store a particular search filter to be recalled at a later time. Select the filters and search terms and then press Store (the first button). When you need to use this again, press Recall (the second button). If you wish to delete this search, press Clear (the third button) and return to your default settings. The Recall feature works with Date Range searches up to 5 Years only. The Recall Filter button will be greyed out if there is no filter set. For various reasons, your Stored filter may be reset by Business Fitness when new versions are released. 

Press the X to the left of the search bar to clear the search text only. The last button will refresh your search.

Version Notification

When HowNow has updated to a new version a yellow bar will appear to notify of the change and provide a link to the Release Notes. Click on the 'X' to remove the bar from view. When a new version is available a grey bar will appear to notify that there is a new version available.

Records Right-click Menu

The right-click menu allows for all of the functions available for a document - the options available will change depending on your employee privileges and the type of document.

• Open - opens the record. This is the same as double-clicking the record.
• Open in Excel or Adobe PDF Copy Mode - opens the record in the same instance of the application to allow adding information from one record to another (available on Excel or PDF documents only)
• New - allows you to create a brand new record
• Profile - displays the details of the record - some changes can be made to the profile, depending on the user privileges and the status of the document.
• Profile Selection - allows a group of records to be changed at the one time, access to this feature is dependent on user privileges.
• Duplicate – opens the Duplicate Record dialog. Select this option to create an exact duplicate of a record - changes can be made to the profile of the document at the time of duplicating. This is useful for creating a new record that is similar to an existing record. The newly created record’s file name is the same as the title.
• Link to - allows records to be 'linked' together. Appears only if Record Linking is switched on. 
• Filter on this Contact - only show records with the same contact as the selected record.
• Filter on this Link - only show records with the same link as the selected record. Appears only if Record Linking is switched on. 
• Assign a Task - create a follow-up task for this record. You can provide a title, description, due date and a person to act on this follow-up. 
• Change Data Record Application - is only available if the selected record is a Data Record - allows the type of application that opens this record to be changed.
• Convert to Data Record - allows a record to be converted to a data record. 
• Add a Record Note (F8) - allows a note to be added to the profile of the record.
• File Note (F9) - Creates a file note for the same contact as the selected record. 
• Set Status to – Allows a record’s status to be changed depending on the Record Status level setting in the employee's profile. 
• Access Previous Backups - enables a file to be restored from the system.
• Print – Prints the record directly, without opening it. 
• Email As (opens an email with the following):
  • Body - adds the information to the body of the email
    
  • File attachment – separate files are attached to the email 
  • Zip file attachment – individual files stored in a single zip file attachment
    
  • PDF file attachment – individual files stored in single PDF file attachments 
  • HowNow Smart Link - for use within the office; email a link to the record or records instead of attaching the actual record
  • HowNow Smart Link URL - for use with third party software only, e.g. Carbon
  • Combined PDF file attachment - individual files stored in a single PDF file attachment - all selected files must be PDFs to combine.

Note: It is not good practice to email records to people within your office. Doing so creates duplicates of the records, and these files are not stored centrally in HowNow. This creates “version control” issues with the records. Instead, use a HowNow Smart Link. Use the other Email functions to send records to people who are outside of your office.

• Copy to Clipboard - Copies the selected record or records to the Windows Clipboard. The options are:
  • File attachment(s) – separate file attachments
  • Zip file attachment – individual files stored in a single zip file attachment
  • PDF file attachment – individual files stored in single PDF file attachments 
  • HowNow Smart Link - for use within the office; send a link to the record or records instead of attaching the actual record
  • HowNow Smart Link URL - for use with third party software only, e.g. Carbon
  • HowNow Smart Link File - this creates an .ini file which can be stored in programs such as Caseware which will open the file in HowNow
  • Combined PDF file attachment - individual files stored in a single PDF file attachment - all selected files must be PDFs to combine.
• Paste - allows you to paste a document to add to HowNow - this option will open up the new file wizard
• Export - Exports one or more records out of HowNow. See Export Records.
• Convert to PDF - converts the select record(s) to PDF - the original files are removed.
• Combine PDF - combines a group of PDF files into one files - you have the option of changing the order of the documents, bookmarking the files or deleting the original PDFs.
• Select All (Ctrl+A) – Selects all the records in the results list. 
• Deselect All (Ctrl+D) – Deselects all the selected records in the results list. 
• Delete - moves the record to the recycle bin.