December 2006

First, I hope you had a very enjoyable Holiday, this might be the last post for this year!  Here’s to a prosperous 2007!

If you’re a user of Groups in GoldMine you’ll find this a very handy tip.  Groups, unlike filters or SQL Queries are static, meaning they represent the database when the group was created, a snap-shot, if you will, of the database at a particular point in time.

(For more information on the differences between Filters, Group, and SQL Queries check out this posting: http://goldmineblog.typepad.com/the_goldmine_blog/2006/10/filters_groups_.html)

Since groups are static I find it convenient to ‘Date Stamp’ the group so I know when it was created.  To do this we can use the ‘Code’ field for a group.

To make this process even easier we can add a dBASE macro to insert the data automatically for us.  The value should be:

~date()

That code will automatically insert today’s date into the field!  Neat eh?  The Code field is limited to 8 characters so we have to stick with the DD/MM/YY format. 

If, when you use this macro, you get ‘12/26/20′ for example you’ll need to change your Window’s short date setting to use the DD/MM/YY format.  This can be done in the Windows Control Panel under ‘Regional and Language Options’.  Once in that Control Panel click ‘Customize‘ then change the short date setting under the Date tab. 

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Here’s another question that came up in Toronto’s GoldMine training…  BTW — I’ve been doing GoldMine training for 6 years, even certified by FrontRange to do GoldMine training, so if you’re looking for GoldMine training whether it be GoldMine 101 or GoldMine administration drop me a line at csmith@plain-english.com

… big discounts if it’s somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon line during the Michigan winter! ;-) 

By default, when you alarm an activity the "Alarm Lead Time" will be 10 minutes prior to when the activity is scheduled to take place.  You schedule an activity for 9:30, check the alarm box, and the alarm will be set for 9:20.  This can be changed at that time, but that’s the default…

Often times, especially for appointments you’ll want to increase this time which can be done on an activity by activity basis by simply changing the time.  If you’d like to increase the default lead time first go to Edit | Preferences then click the Alarms tab.

In the upper-right of the alarms tab is, "Alarms default lead time".  Change that to however many minutes you’d like the default alarm lead time to be!

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Evening!

Just returned late last night from doing some GoldMine training in beautiful, but cold, Toronto, Canada!  Here's a tip I shared with them that went over very well, and I think you'll like it too!

On the GoldMine calendar it, by default, shows the contact name and reference of a scheduled activity:

Wouldn't it be nice to also see the company the activity was scheduled with?  If so here's how you do it.  First, go to Edit | Preferences then to the Calendar tab then click More Options.  Choose "Show results of a xBase Expression" and type in this:

iif(trim(cal->accountno) > ' ', trim(contact1->company) + " " + trim(cal->company) + ": " + cal->ref, cal->ref)

Then Click OK.

Voila!

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