Act! Premium for Web Logs Out without Warning
In Act! Premium for Web, two things could be the cause:
- Press “log off” instead of using the “X” on the browser window instead. Usage of the “X” in the top right corner of the browser app will close the browser, but does not close the Act! Premium for Web application’s session on the server. Hence, so the session counts down anyway. When that countdown hits the end of the 20+ minutes, Act! closes the session and any other sessions that the user may have open at the time.
- Use of cut and paste from MS Outlook and web pages into notes and history. By doing this, there is a likelihood that mismatched HTML code embedded in the text causes the browser to choke and kick out the user. If you need to paste data from these sources, paste as text to eliminate the embedded HTML. In other words, from Outlook, you would copy the message to notepad; then, to Act!. That eliminates the variable, but you lose some formatting.
Act! v20.1 Outlook Synchronization Best Practices
Here is an article on how to prepare the upgrade as well as a video on the contact sync module.
For optimal performance, Office 365 subscribers need to change the update channel (aka frequency) for Outlook updates. Sometimes, Microsoft moves features ahead of Act!’s development.
Microsoft KB – Version and build numbers of update channel releases
Microsoft KB – Overview of update channels for Office 365 ProPlus
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployOffice/overview-of-update-channels-for-office-365-proplus
Change Preferences between Act! Word Processor and Microsoft Word
To change between Microsoft Word <-> Act! Word Processor, do this:
- Tools -> Preferences -> Communication
- Change Word processor to the other choice
This solves the problem of “I cannot find my templates” also. Act! Word Processor templates are .tpl file extension while Word templates are .adt.
Please note there is no conversion utility to automatically migrate between these formats.
How to Fix the Act! Record Manager field if history appears to have been written by a non-employee
A common mistake in Act! is a new sales rep joins the database, and instantly updates “My Record” with a prospect’s name instead. This can lead to your sales rep’s notes appearing to belong to someone who doesn’t work for your company.
Here is how to fix it:
- Login to Act! as the user you’re trying to change.
- Go to Lookup -> My Record. This will show that your sales rep’s “My Record” actually has a prospect’s name instead. and here is a video on how to do this.
- Go to Contacts -> Duplicate Contact -> Use All Fields. This ensures you have all the relevant info in a regular contact record.
- Go to Lookup -> My Record. Update the record with the sales rep’s correct info. So if the Act! user is “Chris Huffman”, but the contact name is “James Bond” on the My Record. You will change “James Bond” to “Chris Huffman”.
- Press CTRL-S
If you have notes, history or activities to move, you can cut/paste them to the correct record as well.
E-Mail Merge for Custom Form Letter Crashes in Act!
I have witnessed Act! crashing when performing a mail-merge for a custom form letter in Act! to be sent via Outlook. In this case, the merge works a couple times, then it chokes with Act! crashing. Here is one possible cure.
- Close Act!
- Close Outlook
- Close Word
- Go to Task Manager (Start -> Run -> Taskmgr)
- End all instances for Microsoft Word (screen shot)
- Close Task Manager
- Find “normal.dotm” using Windows Explorer
- Press Windows Start -> Run -> %appdata%
- Find the directory C:\USERNAME\appdata\roaming\microsoft\templates
- delete normal.dotm
- Restart Act!
- Restart Outlook
- Test the Mail-Merge
Please note if you are on Act! subscription, this common tech support is covered by their phone support if this article is unclear. Or, you can contact us for fee-based support for this issue. This is just one possible cure for the mail-merge issue not working among the three programs (Act! + Word + Outlook).