Getting Started

Important Things to Know About FrameReady

Backup your Data

It is very important to back up your files on a regular basis.

• “Regular” is determined by the volume of Work Orders, Invoices, and customer data that you are willing to re-type into your computer should you have to restore from the backup copy of FrameReady.

• See also: Backing Up Files

FrameReady Files feature Two Modes

• Each file or component in FrameReady has two views; a Form View and a List View. You will be switching between them regularly.

• The Form View / List View button is located directly below the four yellow arrows.

Form View Mode

• The Form View has forms and fields.

• When you create a new Product or Work Order, the Form View may start mostly empty - the rest is for you to fill out.

• When you look at a Product or a previous Work Order, the fields contain information - some calculated or pulled from other FrameReady files.

• Changes to any field are automatically saved.

• A Form View represents a single record.  

• If you wish to view a list of records, switch to List View.

List View Mode

• A List View is a list of records, it is an abbreviated way to look at many Form Views.

• If you wish to view a single record, switch to Form View (to view the current record) or use the mouse to chose a different record.

Switching Views

• The same button is used to toggle back and forth between both views.

• • When you are in List View the button is labelled Form View.

  

  • And when you are in Form View the button says List View.

  

• The button's name, Form View or List View, indicates what it will do when clicked; the name does not describe the screen you are in or the current mode.

Turning Your Computer Off

Important: Do not shut down your computer while FrameReady is still running: exit FrameReady first.

• Shutting down your computer while FrameReady is running may cause a file to be damaged. Other situations, such as power failures, brownouts, and power surges can damage files if FrameReady is operating.

It is recommended to provide clean power to your FrameReady computer(s) by means of a surge protector and an uninterruptible power supply.

• When closing FrameReady at the end of the day or when turning off your computer, always choose Menu Bar > File > Exit (Windows) or Menu Bar > Quit (Macintosh).

• It is strongly recommended that you back up your files on a regular basis after closing the program. A little prevention goes a long way toward security.

• See also: Damaged Files Explained

Entering Information

• After you change a field, such as entering a number, you must always either:

• • click outside of the field, or

  • press Tab to move into another field

• This action forces FrameReady to immediately save your changes and commit them to disk. Until then, the information you entered has not been saved - it can be undone - until the above actions occur.

Undoing Changes to Fields

• FrameReady is built using FileMaker Pro and this technology automatically saves changes when you:

• • press Enter

  • press Tab to move to another field

  • click the mouse outside of the current field

  • navigate to another file

• FrameReady does not track changes made to fields. Provided that the cursor is still inside the field, a change can be undone using Ctrl-Z.

Tip: Menu Bar > Edit > Undo is available to you if the cursor remains inside the field and has not left after the change was made.

Performing a Find

• Always click the Find, Find All or Magnifying Glass icon before entering your keywords.

• If you backspace or clear a field and then click Find then what you've done is permanently changed a record instead.

See also:

• Using Quick Find

• Using the Find Feature

Underlined Buttons

• Clicking an underlined button takes you to another screen containing additional choices, settings and/or details.

To Recap

FrameReady Components are Filing Cabinets

• FrameReady is a collection of files or components that are best imagined as filing cabinets. You have a Price Codes filing cabinet, another for Invoices, a Work Orders cabinet, and so on. Inside each are drawers, dividers, folders full of papers and notes.

• Unlike real world filing cabinets, all the files in FrameReady can talk to each other as well as share data. This is the power you get from FrameReady.

Understanding Colors in FrameReady

The following colors are used throughout FrameReady to help identify which file you are currently in:

Orange	Work Orders
Blue	Contacts
Light Blue	Invoices
Purple	Product
Green	Purchase Orders
Light Teal	Gift Certificate/Card
Pink	Price Codes

Field Colors

• Bright Yellow - This is a quantity field

• Blue - This is a cost (wholesale, minimum) field

Button Colors

• Teal - delete

• Pale green - this is a location field

• Orange - Work Order related

• Red lettering - warning, attention