How to Set User Preferences

Many areas within Time Matters have preferences that are determined by the user login. User level list Quick Tabs, columns, sorts, and many form features have settings specific to the individual user. And those settings will follow the user from workstation to workstation.

From within Time Matters, select File> Setup> General> User Level, (or keyboard Alt+Shift+P).

The settings for the currently logged in user are displayed.  Here are some settings to consider:

General Section

Make sure you are viewing/modifying the settings for the desired user.  The ID appears on the top left.

Set the Default opening window. Use the dropdown to see the options available.

The Alerts, Reminders, and Watches, the Day File, and the Tip of the Day screens can be set to open automatically when the program loads by checking the corresponding checkbox(es).

Wizard defaults

The program now has many Wizards that help step you through the process of adding certain types of new records. Select whether to use a Wizard when adding those type records.

There are also Wizards that help guide you through the process of Archiving Related Records when archiving contacts and matters, with creating Record Review, and with setting up Security.

Lists Section

Each user can specify which lists will be enabled.  This setting also exists at a Program Level which would impact all users.

There are Options for ALL Lists, such as the rights to set up User Level Quick Tabs, and using the QuickPik.  The QuickPik allows you to type anywhere within a list, and have the list bring you to the first instance of the characters typed.  For example, with the contact list open, type SER (the QuickPik will flash on the screen with the typed characters in it). You are immediately brought in the list to the first contact whose name begins with the letters SER.  At this level, turn that option on, and set a ‘Reset After’ number of seconds. The ‘Reset After’ blanks the QuickPik so you can enter new characters.

There are also options for allowing a change to list Sort Order, and allowing Drag and Drop to create Specified Relationships between records of the same type.

Setting the Tab Style to Button will make the selected list Quick Tab ‘glow’. (See image below for checkbox to show Quick Tabs across the top of the list.)

There are user level options for each list type. Select the record type whose list settings you want to modify, and click the Set List Options.

Many of the settings are similar across all the record types. Here’s a look at the Event list user settings.

You can also get to this Dialogue Box by clicking the Options button on the Event list toolbar. (See image below for putting the Options button on the list toolbar.)

Set a pre-search to include in the list All records or your default Staff records when you open the Events list.

Set a pre-defined search option when you click the Search (binocular) button. If you usually search the list by date or by staff, you can have that search window open automatically when you click the search button.  You can elect another search type when you are on the list, but what you select here will be the search type by default.

Similarly, you may default what happens when you click the Process button, and what Power View is displayed when you open the Event list.

You may turn on or off the list Toolbar, the Task Panel, Quick Tabs, and the Title Bar.

And, you can give your list a color scheme.

If you choose to display the List Toolbar, you may choose what toolbar buttons appear and in what order.

On the left are the available Buttons not yet on your list Toolbar.  On the right are the Toolbar buttons already on your list, where the top item is the button farthest to the left.  Highlight a button, and use the Add, Remove, and Up and Down buttons between the two lists to control which buttons will appear and in what order they will be placed on the list.

This is the same process used to control the columns that appear on the list itself. There is a column setting attached to each list Quick Tab. And those settings can be viewed and modified by selecting the Quick Tabs/Quick Menu tab on the User Level list settings, and also by right-clicking on any column header and selecting ‘edit columns.’

Forms Section

Click Forms on the left to display the settings for forms.  Under ‘Options for All Forms’, select ‘Color Required Fields’ and select a color to apply to all fields on all forms where the record cannot be saved if a field is left blank.

Check to Enable User Level AutoTXT Codes if you want users to be able to save their own list of AutoTXT codes. Check to Enable Program Level AutoTXT Codes to allow the user access to the Program Level AutoTXT codes.

Like lists, setting the Tab Style to Button will make the active form tab ‘glow’, making it more evident which tab you are viewing. Below is a contact form where the Tab Style is button.

Suggested form settings for the calendar records

Elect the ‘Form Tab’ whose contents will be displayed when you open a record. Typically, this is set to Primary.

Show the Title Bar. It identifies the type of record you have opened and indicates ‘change’ mode.

Automatically Group multiple staff. This helps link records so that a change to the ‘Master’ record changes the ‘linked’ records. A Master Event record scheduled for more than one staff member, if moved to a new start time would automatically update the Event record for the other staff members.

Use Extended Inheritance. This auto-populates the fields on the new record with the contents of the same field on the original record. This feature is available for creating ToDo’s from Events and Events from ToDo’s.

Set Default Settings for Notify Area to open ‘Always When Notify is Checked’. This will bring into view the Notify area for sending messages, emails, and setting alarms and the AutoMsg, when the Notify box is checked. The AutoMsg sends the same message to all users where the staff in the staff field of the record is the default staff for those user(s).

Prompt to update the ‘original date’. This is not the same as the create date.

Choose whether to start a timer automatically when a new record is created. This might make more sense on Phone forms or Note forms than Event forms.

Choose whether to start a timer automatically (picks up where it left off) when a record is opened after it has been saved at least once. (Opened in ‘change’ mode.)

Elect a ‘Pause Timer’ setting. Typically, this is set to prompt.

The same process applies to Form Toolbar buttons as did for List Toolbar buttons. Determine what buttons you want on the form, and in what order you want them to appear.

Communications Section

From this screen choose whether the Time Matters Messenger will open automatically when you sign into the program. Choose whether the messenger should be left open when Time Matters is closed. (Not recommended. Leaving the messenger open can cause a problem with Backups.)

Choose when the messenger window will be on the screen.

Choose what actions the program should take when a new message arrives. The messenger places a small icon on the windows tray which can be set to flash when a new message arrives. Or a larger notification can launch, and/or a sound file can be played.