Past Customers - Pop-up List

At several points in AnyOrder, you can bring up a pop-up list of all past customers and select from the list.

Note that this is a list of past customers found on your invoices. It's not the same as the Customer Database. On the Main Invoice Screen, it is the second "L" button found to the right of the Billing Name field in the upper left of the screen. It brings up a list of all customers entered on invoices. (The customer database database pop-up list is the first "L" to the right of the "Customer" Field).

In addition to reaching this list from the Main Invoice Screen, it's available in the Payment Analysis feature, Customer Information Database, Inventory, and Balance File functions.

•	Select EDIT from the Menu Bar and choose PASTE FROM LIST when the cursor is in the "BILL TO" field

•	Right click the mouse to bring up the Speed Menu and select "Paste from Customer List."

Generally, customers without a customer numbers (in other words, they are not in the Customer Database)are individuals who will pre-pay or pay off the invoice. If you provide them with credit, then you might need to send them a billing statement. If that's the case and if they have more than one invoice, then you'll want to make sure their name is spelled the same on any of the invoices issued to them. You can assure that the name will be spelled the same by using the above pop-up list.

When the name is spelled the same, and the billing statement part of the program is able to properly group their invoices together. If you won't be sending them a billing statement, then spelling the names the same is not particularly important, but, if possible for good record keeping, try to keep names spelled the same by using the pop-up list. (Also see: Customer Billing Name: Make Sure Names are the Same.)

First Letter Search. The cursor automatically appears here first. When the cursor is in this box, you can type the first letter of the customer's name and the list will advance to the first customer starting with that letter. By typing in the first letter again, the list will advance to the next customer starting with that letter. By repeatedly typing in the first letter, you can move through the list until you find the customer you desire.

Search for Name. When the cursor is in this box, begin typing the name of the desired customer. Let's say you are looking for Baker. When you type in "B," the list will advance to the first customer starting with a "B". When you type in "a," the list will advance to the first customer starting with "Ba". When you type in "k," the list will advance to the first customer starting with "Bak". Continue until you've reached the desired customer.

Ship. When the cursor is in this box, type in the first letter of the Shipping Name that you desire. The "Ship" box operates the same as a first letter search. You continue typing the first letter until you reach the desired shipping name.

City. When the cursor is in this box, type in the first letter of the city of the customer that you desire. The "City" box operates the same as a first letter search. You continue typing the first letter until you reach the desired customer.

St. When the cursor is in this box, type in the first letter of the state or province of the customer that you desire. The "St" box operates the same as a first letter search. You continue typing the first letter until you reach the desired customer.

Country. When the cursor is in this box, type in the first letter of the country of the customer that you desire. The "Country" box operates the same as a first letter search. You continue typing the first letter until you reach the desired customer.

Another search feature that is found on the Customer Pop-up List is the partial word search. This searches for a portion of the Item's Name. For example, if you search for "WIN," it will find "Winter," "Winner," "Winston," etc. Click on the "Search" button to start the search. Click on "Repeat Search" if the first search doesn't find who you are looking for.

To increase the size of the pop-up list, click on the "larger" button (upper left hand corner).

If you have lots of different customers, it may be more convenient for you if the cursor goes immediately to the "Search for a Name" field when the pop-up list first opens. You can do that by clicking on the "Larger" button (shown above). This increases the size of the box and allows you to see an additional checkbox: "Start with Cursor in the 'Search for a Name' field." First, you'll need click: "Unlock Options Below" and then you'll be able to check the box. The program will remember your choice.

The scroll wheel on your mouse can be used to scroll through the customer list. There are two configurations of the scroll wheel. In its default setting, the scroll wheel becomes active when you click in the customer list.

However, you can change the setting so that the scroll wheel becomes active when the mouse is passed over the customer list. Under this configuration, it is not necessary to click on the customer list. All that is necessary is to move the mouse over the list. You can tell when the scroll wheel is active by the color in the customer list. When the background color turns white, the scroll wheel is active.

To change from one scroll wheel configuration to another, click on the "Larger" button. This increases the size of the box and allows you to see an additional checkbox: "Activate scroll wheel immediately by moving mouse over customers." First, you'll need click: "Unlock Options Below" and then you'll be able to check the box, or remove it, depending on your preference.

Note: The scroll wheel configuration that you set here will also be used by the Customer Number pop-up list.

To paste the customer's name and address to the invoice, click on "Paste." To exit from the pop-up list without entering any information, click on "Cancel."

You'll notice that several of the field labels have letters underlined. For example, the "W" in "Partial Word Search" is underlined. That means you can press ALT+W on your keyboard and your cursor will automatically go to the "Partial Word Search" field. This is handy when you are quickly entering vendors and do not wish to remove your hands from the keyboard. You'll also notice that the buttons respond in the same way. When you press ALT+P on your keyboard, it's the same as clicking on the "Paste" button with the mouse.

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When using your keyboard, you'll notice that if you press TAB twice (or press TAB once if you have the cursor start in the Multi-letter field), you'll move immediately into the list of customers. This behavior is the same for the other two main pop-up lists: Customer Number and Product Pop-up List. This consistency makes it easy to move from pop-up list to pop-up list. You don't have to learn and use different sequences.

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Another helpful feature for keyboard entry is the use of the down arrow key. It can be utilized to move immediately into the list of vendors. If you are in the "First Letter," "Multi-letter," "Partial Word Search," "Ship," "City," etc., you can press the Down Arrow on the keyboard to move to the customers.

•	Once your cursor is in the customer list area, you can use Up or Down Arrows to move one customer at a time. Or you can use Page-up or Page-down to move by pages through the list.

When using the mouse, one trick that will help make entries go quicker is to double-click on the desired customer. That's the same as clicking the "Paste" button. The program will exit from the pop-up list and paste the customer and their address in place.

If desired, you can change the order of the list by clicking on the radio buttons on the bottom of the dialog box. You can have the list ordered by invoice number (working from the most recent invoices to the oldest), by State/City, or alphabetically by Customer Name. If you click on Customer Name (No Duplicates), the list will show only unique names, eliminating all duplicates.

When you use the Customer Name (No Duplicates) option, the list shows only the first instance of the customer. If, at a later time, you have given that customer a number or have changed the customer's address, AnyOrder won't be able to pick up the change. If that's the situation, use one of the three other ways of ordering the list (Invoice Number, State/City, or Customer Name-All Invoices) and you'll be able to pick the one with the most recent information.

When you use the State/City option, all customers without a state (or province) and city will be listed first, followed by an ordered listing. If you ship to different countries, customers will be grouped by country.