The Advanced Phone Dialer  (or Advanced Dial-up) can be reached by selecting ORDER TOOLS and ADVANCED PHONE DIALER from the Menu Bar.  It is also reached from the Contact Manager whenever you press DIAL and you have additional information that needs to be keyed-in during the phone call such as an extension or an account number.  Finally, you can also reach the Advanced Dial-up dialog box when you click on the [>] button in the Easy Dial-up dialog box.

Before using the Advance Dialer you'll want to get your phone and modem set-up in Basic Set-up.

Dialing a Number. To call a phone number, pick up the phone receiver and click the "DIAL" button.  When you click on this button, the appropriate communication (COM) port is open.  The open port is indicated by a red light besides "Modem On."  Once the port is opened, the modem dials the number in the phone number blank.

Dialing Problems.  If you have any trouble making the phone call, be sure to test your modem.  AnyPO! has a built in test procedure found in Basic Set-up.  If your modem passed the test, but for some reason won't dial the processing center, try restarting your computer. Sometimes other software products will change the settings on your modem.  Restarting the computer will often solve the problem.

Key Pad.  The key pad, which resembles the key pad on a phone, is located on the left side of the dialog box.  You can key-in any number needed during the phone call by clicking on the appropriate button with your mouse.  If desired, you can also use your phone's key pad or you can use the numeric key pad on your computer.  Your computer's keyboard is very handy, but you should be aware that one key, the pound sign (#), can't be keyed-in from your keyboard.  When you need to enter a pound (#) sign, use your mouse or your phone's key pad.

Additional Numbers: Extension, Menu, Account Numbers. Running across the middle of the dialog box are blanks for three additional numbers.  These can used for an individual's extension, a series of menu choices required to reach the right person or department, or an account number required during the call, etc.  In the Contact Manager, you can indicate extensions, menu choices, and account numbers.  When you click on DIAL in the Contact Manager, the Advanced Dial-up dialog box will appear with all the numbers entered in the appropriate boxes.

To use these numbers, first make the phone call, by pressing the DIAL button at the top of the dial box.  Once the phone number has been dialed, you can select which number you want to be entered next.  When you click on the desired button, the number will be keyed-in.  The buttons can be clicked in any order.  You may click on the Menu Choice button first, then the Extension Button, and then the Account Number.  It's up to you.

The Menu Choice box is handy for making calls to an individual or department which is reached by navigating a phone menu system.  The first time you make such a call, write down what menu numbers are needed and their order and enter this information in the Contact Manager.

When entering the numbers in the Menu Choice box, separate each menu number with a plus sign.  The plus sign inserts an 8-second pause after each number is keyed-in by the Phone Dialer.  If you need a greater amount of delay, use two pluses (++) which inserts a 16 second pause.  For instance, 2+3+1, means that when you press the Menu Choice button, the number 2 will first be keyed-in by the Phone Dialer.  After 8-seconds, it will key-in the number 3, and after 8 more seconds, it will key in the number 1.  When these numbers are recorded in the Contact Manager, they are automatically inserted in the appropriate blank in Phone Dialer each time you need to make the call.

If, at some point while the menu choices are being keyed-in, you need to stop the process, press <ESC> on your keyboard.  (Whenever <ESC> can be used to stop a process, you'll see the following message--highlighted in yellow--appear on the dialog box: "Processing: To Stop, Press <ESC>.")   When you press <ESC>, the automated processing of menu choices will stop.  At that point, you can continue manually entering menu choices.  Or if you want to cancel completely out of the phone call, click on the CANCEL button at the bottom of the dialog box.

Although, you'll want to use the Menu Choice box for any menu number, you can use the other two boxes for any other numbers you may need to enter.  For instance, it's not necessary to use the Extension box only for phone extensions.  You may need to input your zip code, and if there's no extension, you can use that box for the zip code.

The Advanced Dialer is particularly handy for phoning in a package pick-up to such shippers as FedEx.  You can set up all the needed FedEx numbers in the Contact Manager.  When you click on DIAL from the Contact Manager, the Advanced Dialer comes up.  Click on DIAL and FedEx's toll free number is dialed.  Once the computerized voice comes on line, click on Menu Choices and the Phone Dialer takes care of navigating FedEx's menu system.  When the computerized voice at FedEx asks for your account number, click on the account number button.  You can also have the phone dialer enter your zip code (In this case, use the extension box for your zip code).

You may need to enter other numbers such as 1 for YES and 2 for NO.  For such numbers, press the numbers on your key pad or click the on-screen buttons. Because AnyPO enters the long numbers for you, it makes scheduling a package pick-up far easier.

Including the Extension with the Phone Number.  If desired, you can include an extension with a phone number.  This is particularly useful with phone numbers on the Main Purchase Order Screen.  When you enter the phone number follow it with an "x" and the extension, i.e.  234-5678 x456.  When you activate the Advanced Dialer, the extension will be extracted from the phone number and will be placed in the Extension blank.

Pre-Call Access Numbers.  A pre-call access number is a number that you use to access an outside line.  Or it may be a billing number that you need to enter each time you make a phone call.  You can indicate whether or not you have an access number in Basic Set-up.  If have such a number, a "Pre-call Access Number" checkbox will be present on the dialog box.  If not, the checkbox will not be present.

When the phone dialer is used, pre-call access numbers will be dialed first and then after a short pause, the phone number will be dialed.  In some cases (perhaps when making a local call), you may not want the access number to be dialed.  To prevent it from being dialed, remove the checkmark from the "Pre-call Access Number" checkbox.

In Basic Set-up, you can also direct the Phone Dialer to stop after entering the access number and before dialing the phone number.  If you've chosen this option, the word "Pre-Call" will appear on the "DIAL" button.  After the access number has been keyed-in, "Pre-Call" will change to "DIAL."  This feature stops the dialer after the pre-call access number has been dialed, allowing you to key-in any additional information.  When you are ready to continue, click on DIAL and the phone number will be dialed.

Auto Disconnect of Modem.  If you have selected the auto shut-down feature in Basic Set-up (the program default), the modem will automatically disconnect after placing the call.  This is handy since you can concentrate on the call and not worry about shutting down the modem.  It's done for you.

In the Advanced Dialer, the Disconnect dialog box is triggered when you are finished clicking on the last of the three number boxes (Extension, Menu Choices, Account Number) which contain information.  The order doesn't matter.  In other words if you have information in two of the boxes, once you've clicked on the second button (in any order), the Disconnect dialog box will appear.

If, for some reason, you don't want the modem to disconnect, you can stop the shut down from the Disconnect dialog box.  If you want to keep the modem on, press <ESC> to cancel the shut-down.   You can also turn off the disconnect feature prior to the phone call by removing the checkmark from the "Auto Disconnect" checkbox.  (Note that the Auto Disconnect checkbox is not present if you have turned it off in Basic Set-up.)

Switching to Easy Dial-up.  If you press the [ < ]  button in the middle of the dialog box, the Easy Dial-up dialog box will appear.