Sage TimberlineDesktop

Page ii

ContentsSage Timberline Desktop

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

The Sage Timberline Office Desktop Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Change the View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Start Applications or Tasks From the Tasks Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Start Applications or Tasks From the My Tasks Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Create My Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Organize My Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Choose a Different Home Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Sage Timberline Office Desktop Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Sage Timberline Office Desktop Configuration Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

OverviewSage Timberline Office Desktop is the centerpiece of Sage Timberline Office. From Sage Timberline Office Desktop, you can open Sage Timberline Office applications, third-party applications, files, and Web pages. You can also open individual Sage Timberline Office tasks without opening their associated applications. For example, you can open the Enter Invoices task without opening Accounts Payable.

Sage Timberline Office Desktop is also an information center. Sage Timberline Office Desktop's home pages automatically give you information about your projects, accounts, and estimates.

Finally, Sage Timberline Office Desktop is a highly customizable workspace. You control which screen elements appear, and you choose which applications, tasks, files, and Web pages to add to a My Tasks pane.

This section will help you understand:

■ The components of the Sage Timberline Office Desktop window.

■ How to start tasks from Sage Timberline Office Desktop.

■ How to work with the Tasks and My Tasks panes.

■ How to select a home page.

Preview Questions

Which Sage Timberline Office tasks do you expect to use most often?

Would you like to open other software applications without leaving Sage Timberline Office Desktop?

Page 1

The Sage Timberline Office Desktop WindowWhen you start Sage Timberline Office Desktop, the content pane displays a home page that helps you get started with your work session. In the illustration below, the content pane is on the right. It shows the default home page, Sage Information Center.

The Tasks pane, shown below on the left, contains links to applications, application tasks, Web pages, and files. You control which tasks appear in this pane.

The My Tasks pane, shown approximately in the middle of the illustration below, contains a list of Sage Timberline Office applications and tasks. You can use My Tasks to open applications or tasks, or you can use it to create tasks.

Menu path—Start > Programs > Sage Software > Sage Desktop

Tasks Pane

My Tasks pane

Contents Pane

Page 2

Change the View

You can close the Tasks or My Tasks pane by clicking the close button (the [X]) in the upper right corner of the pane. When these panes are closed, the content area expands.

To open the Tasks pane, select View > Tasks or click the [Show/Hide Tasks] button on the toolbar.

To open the My Tasks pane, select View > My Tasks or click the [Show/Hide My Tasks] button on the toolbar.

Start Applications or Tasks From Sage Timberline Office Desktop

You can start applications or tasks from either the Tasks pane or the My Tasks pane. From the Tasks pane, you can start:

■ Sage Timberline Office applications.

■ Sage Timberline Office tasks (for example, the Adjust Receivables task in the Accounts Receivable application).

From the My Tasks pane, you can start the above applications and tasks plus:

■ Any third-party application (for example, Microsoft® Word).

■ A file that is associated with an application (for example, a spreadsheet file, if you have the associated spreadsheet application).

■ Any Web page (this can be a URL or an HTML file).

Page 3

Start Applications or Tasks From the Tasks Pane

In the Tasks pane, installed applications appear in alphabetical order. To display a list of tasks within an application, double-click an application folder name or click the plus sign (+) to the left of the folder name. To start an application or task, double-click the application or task.

NOTE: An item in the Tasks pane may be unavailable for a variety of reasons. For example, security settings established for your company may not allow the item to be accessed.

Page 4

Start Applications or Tasks From the My Tasks Pane

In the example that follows, the Accounts Payable favorite has been added to the A.M. Tasks group in the My Tasks pane. To open Accounts Payable, click the A.M. Tasks group to display the list of tasks in that group. Then click Accounts Payable.

Page 5

Create My TasksYou can create a task with the Add to My Tasks command or by dragging an item from the Tasks pane to the My Tasks pane.

! To Create a Task With the Add to My Tasks Command

1 From Sage Timberline Office Desktop, select My Tasks > Add to My Tasks to display the Add To My Tasks window.

2 In the 1. Select a type of task, select Tasks.

Page 6

3 In the 2. Select a task step, click [Select] to display the Select from Tasks window.

4 Browse through the list to locate the item that you want to add to the My Tasks pane. Double-click the item name to select it. The name of the item that you select is automatically added to the 3. Type a name for the task field.

5 In 4. Select a group in which to place the task, select an existing group or click [New Group]. If you click [New Group] the Create New Group window appears.

6 If you create a new group, type a name for the group in the Name field and click [OK]. If you select an existing group, skip to step 7.

7 In the Add to My Tasks window, click [OK].

! To Create a Favorite by Dragging an Item

1 Locate the item that you want to add to the My Tasks pane. The item can be in the Tasks pane of Sage Timberline Office Desktop, in Windows Explorer, in My Computer, or on the Windows desktop.

2 Select the item and drag it to a group in the My Tasks pane.

Page 7

Organize My TasksYou can organize your tasks in several ways.

One way is to select My Tasks > Organize My Tasks.

In the Organize My Tasks window, organize favorites with the [Create Group], [Move to Group], [Rename], and [Remove] buttons.

You can also organize favorites by right-clicking a favorite or group and then selecting a command from the context menu.

Page 8

Finally, you can rearrange favorites and groups by dragging them to a new position in the My Tasks pane.

Home PagesA home page is a report or Web page that opens automatically when Sage Timberline Office Desktop starts. The default home page for Sage Timberline Office Desktop is the Sage Information Center, shown here.

In addition to this home page, Sage Timberline Office includes home pages that display project, account, and estimate status. For example, the home page in the following example

Page 9

is designed for a construction executive. It includes summary information about all active jobs.

Choose a Different Home Page

To choose a different home page, follow these steps:

1 Select Tools > Options to display the Options window.

Page 10

2 In the Current Home Page group box, click [Select] to open the Select Type of Home Page window.

3 In the Home Page Type list, select Crystal Report, Web page, or Web link; then click [OK].

4 In the Select Home Page window, select a home page.

5 Click [Open] and then, in the Options window, click [OK].

Page 11

Sage Timberline Office Desktop Configurations

A Sage Timberline Office Desktop configuration specifies your home page and favorites. You can create as many configurations as you want. For example, you might create different configurations to reflect the tasks that you do at different times of the month, or you might create different configuration files for different companies.

An easy way to start is to select one of the configurations provided with Sage Timberline Office Desktop and to modify it. Follow these steps to base your new configuration on one of Sage Timberline Office's configuration templates.

1 Select File > New Configuration to display the New Desktop Configuration window.

2 Select a template that best matches your industry and job role.

3 Name your configuration file and select where you want to save it. You can type a path or browse to where you want to save your file.

4 If you want to use the new configuration each time that you start Sage Timberline Office Desktop, select Set as default Desktop configuration.

5 Click [OK] to save your selections and return to Sage Timberline Office Desktop.

Sage Timberline Office Desktop Configuration Options

You can customize a Sage Timberline Office Desktop configuration by reorganizing favorites or by selecting a different home page. You can save the modified configuration with the same file name, or you can save it with a different file name so that you have more

Page 12

than one configuration from which to choose. To save your configuration, select File > Save Configuration or File > Save Configuration As.

If you have several different configurations, you can choose the one that you want to use by selecting File > Open Configuration.

To designate one of your configuration files as the default, follow these steps:

1 Select Tools > Options to display the Options window.

2 In the Default Desktop Configuration group box, click [Current] to make the current Sage Timberline Office Desktop configuration the default.

To designate a different Sage Timberline Office Desktop configuration as the default, click [Browse] and select a file.

3 Click [OK] to save the setting and return to Sage Timberline Office Desktop.

HelpTo learn about Sage Timberline Office Desktop, select Help > Help Topics. To learn about other Sage Timberline Office applications, select Help > Applications Help and then select an application name.

This document and the Sage Timberline Office software may be used only in accordance with the accompanying Sage Tim-berline Office End User License Agreement. You may not use, copy, modify, or transfer the Sage Timberline Office software or this documentation except as expressly provided in the license agreement.

©2005 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. The Sage Software logo and the Sage Software product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trade-marks are property of their respective owners.

11/05 Document Number: 0002.0 (TCTV#00)

Page 13

14

Sage Timberline Office Desktop Configurations