Contacts

Most new users start with the Contacts module. You might want to import your current contacts (and perhaps other information) so that you have a starting point.

Add a contact. You don't have to put in too much information, but get familiar with the input areas, panels, buttons and options.

Activities

After visiting contacts, move to the Activities module by clicking the Activities icon on the menu. The Activities list module will display and the menu will change to show all the different activity types. Click one of activity types - try To Do - and when the To Do list displays, click the Add new record button to display the detail page.

Go ahead and add a To Do item and save it. You can readily delete it. An information dialog warning you that changes have been made if you try to leave without saving the changes. This is true in all the modules.

If you want to exit without saving, click the small red [x] button on the menu bar or select Edit > Cancel to cancel the changes, or click into the [] checkbox beside the small red [x] button, then select your next action.

The best thing to do is always use the buttons and menus provided by the module to move around...

While you are in the Activities module, notice the Notes area uses what's called a rich text editor, allowing you to change fonts and colors, bold or underline text and several other things.

Linking detail to owner

Also, try the neat lookup function by clicking the Get button to pop up the contacts list (or projects list depending on which option you choose).

Try linking the To Do to a contact that you've set up. Then go back to the Contacts module and get that contact. From the contact, click the Activities button to pop up the Activities list. You will see the To Do record because it's linked to the contact.

While there in the Activities list, note how the Activities menu has changed. It now shows a Contacts icon that you can click to return right back to the contact you started with.

Now add a new activity record. Any type will do for the example. Note how the new record automatically has the Contact information in it. You don't have to look it up, a link will be created.

These actions are fundamental to many of the modules.

There are always two ways to view and create subsidiary records (activities, help desk, projects, documents, orders).

The first way is to go directly to the module and create a record. You can choose to give it an owner or not.

The second way is to drill down from a contact or even from a project/opportunity or help desk record. When you drill down, the record you are drilling down from is the parent to the record you create.

If your authority level allows you to access a specific contact, then you can see everything about that contact and are able to drill down to that contact's subsidiary activities, document, help desk, project and order records. 

Cloning

A very neat feature in most of the modules is the ability to clone one record into another record type with a few clicks. An incoming email can be cloned into a To Do record, or cloned as a Message to another workgroup member. In other modules, like Help Desk, the record can be cloned into a variety of record types.