Customer Database - Main Screen

The Customer Information Database Screen is accessed by selecting MAIN TASKS and CUSTOMER ADDRESSES AND NUMBERS from the Menu Bar.

Within the help documentation, the Customer Information Database is sometimes referred to as the "Customer Database" or "Customer Number Database." They all mean the same thing.

AnyOrder is different than many business software programs. It doesn't require you to enter all of your customers in the Customer Database, only those who order from you on a regular basis. One-time or infrequent customers can be entered directly on an invoice without going through the Customer Database. This saves time and helps keep your Customer Database uncluttered and to a manageable size.

You can access the Customer Database from the Main Invoice Screen by clicking on the "L" button beside the Customer # field. (You can access one-time or infrequent customers, those not included in the Customer Database, by clicking on the "L" button beside the Billing Name field on the Main Invoice Screen.)

Information on each part of the Customer Information Database Screen is found below and has been divided into four sections:

Normally, AnyOrder will suggest a new assigned number when you start a new customer record. But you can also bring up a list of available customer numbers. Selecting from the list is handy when you've deleted some customers and you'd like to use the old numbers for new customers. To activate the the list, click the "L" button beside "Assigned Customer Number." (You can also activate the list by placing the cursor in the "Assigned Customer Number" blank and select EDIT >> PASTE FROM LIST OF AVAILABLE CUSTOMER NUMBERS. OR, you can double click in the blank.) Select a number from the list and press OK to insert the number in the blank.

In almost all cases, make the Billing Group Number the same as the Customer Number. The only time it is different is when you deal with a business in which you send products to different locations, but all the bills are sent to one central office.

As an example, the company Baker & Taylor has several different warehouses where products are sent: Baker & Taylor-Reno, Baker & Taylor-Somerville, Baker & Taylor-Georgia, etc. The different Baker & Taylor locations are part of a billing group. You would make out a separate customer database record for each location. Each location would be given a different Customer Number, but they all would have the same Billing Group Number.

Use the Customer Number of the first Baker & Taylor shipping location as the Billing Group Number for all. For example, let's say the Customer Number for Baker & Taylor-Reno is 4005, and Baker & Taylor-Somerville is 4006, and Baker & Taylor-Georgia is 4007. The Billing Group Number for all three is 4005.

If you have different addresses between members of a group, you can use the "Designated Main Office," next, to designate one address for billing purposes. Billing statements will be sent to this address.

This is used if you have a billing group (described above). It allows you to select one of the members of the group as the designated main office. AnyOrder will then use the billing address shown in Address1 and Address2 (if any) as the main office where the monthly Billing Statement are sent. (For billing statements, only the billing address is used. The shipping address is disregarded.)

In most cases, when you have billing group, the billing address on each of the customer's invoices will be the same. Nonetheless, it's a good idea to pick one member of the group as the Main Office. It can be any member of the group as long as the billing address is the place where billing statements are sent. If, in the future, the company's billing address changes, you can then make the appropriate change to this customer and your billings statements will always be sent to the right address. (You should make the change to other members of the billing group as well, but you'll want to make the change to this customer first since it is the important one as far as where the billing statements are sent.)

Designating one customer is particularly important for customers that might have billing addresses appearing on invoices which are different or slightly different from where the billing statement should be sent.

You'll also want to use this if you are using the credit limit feature (explained below) where you want the program to warn you if the customer's credit is exceeded. The credit limit feature requires that you have a designated main office for each billing group.

In this blank, type in the name of the company where the bill will be sent. You can leave "The" or "A" in the name, i.e. "The Bookshop" or "A Cut Above" is fine.

If you delete all the records in the Customer Information Database, "NO CUSTOMERS IN FILE" will appear in the Bill-to blank. When you are ready to enter your first customer, delete "NO CUSTOMERS IN FILE " and type in the customer's name.

If you've already been shipping to the customer, you can click the "L" button or double click in the Bill-to blank to bring up a pop-up list of past customers.

The Bill-to and Ship-to blanks have a special speed menu (accessed by clicking on the right mouse button.) From this speed menu you can copy the entire address, paste a copied address, and copy or paste specially formatted addresses. These handy functions enable you to do such things as copy an address from an email message and paste the entire address--including name, address, city, state (or province), postal code and country--without pasting each field separately. For more information, see Speed Menu.

AnyOrder in its normal configuration has the following fields for the customer's address: Name, Address1, Address2, City, State or Province, Postal Code and Country. Most businesses will find this sufficient. However, if you commonly work with long addresses, then you can configure the program to include an additional address field (Address3). For more information, see User Defined Fields.

In this blank, type in the company name where items are shipped. If the shipping name and address is the exactly the same as the billing address, then leave the name, address, city, state, zip blanks empty. When you use TAB to move through this field, the program will automatically insert ----SAME---- in the blank for you.

There is one notation that you use in the shipping address blank which might be helpful in some situations. Sometimes a shipping address does not make sense, particularly those customers for which you primarily provide a service. For instance, let's say you primarily sell advertising to a customer or you primarily do design work for someone. In either case you are not shipping the customer a product. In situations like these, you can type in "NA" (for Not Applicable) in the "Ship To" blank. Whenever AnyOrder finds an "NA," it will leave the shipping address area blank on printed invoices. Additionally, it will leave out the shipping line item at the bottom of the printed invoice.

The Ship-to and Bill-to blanks have a special speed menu (accessed by clicking on the right mouse button.) From this speed menu you can copy the entire address, paste a copied address, and copy or paste specially formatted addresses. These handy functions enable you to do such things as copy an address from an email message and paste the entire address--including name, address, city, state (or province), postal code and country--without pasting each field separately. For more information, see Speed Menu.

Type in a summary name that will help you select this customer from a list. It is suggested that you use the name of the company and its location, i.e. "Mainstreet Bakery-Boise" OR "Baker & Taylor-Reno" OR "Outdoor Sports-Dallas." If there is a "The" or an "A" in the name, use the following format: "Bakery Shop, The--Boise" or "Story Teller, The--Chicago". In this way the list will be sorted in proper alphabetical order. Note that it's very important to enter something in this blank. If it's empty, you won't be able to access the customer when creating invoices.

Level 6 and higher. With some business customers, you may wish to direct the invoice to one particular person. The best procedure is to include the person's name in the Bill-to field or the first Address field, but if that's not feasible, the "Attention" field is available. The Attention field does not appear on the Main Invoice Screen, but it will show up on the printed invoice. Its location on the printed invoice is just below the billing address in the area that includes the Customer's PO Number, Order Date, Phone Number, etc. A sample invoice with the Attention field is shown below:

When AnyOrder prints the invoice, it looks for a customer number. If a customer number is present, it locates customer in the customer database and looks for a name in the Attention field. If a name is found, it's included on the printed invoice.

Note that you would want to use this for customers in which the name in the Attention field is the same for each invoice issued. If the name changes from invoice to invoice, then it's best to use a User Define Field. Here's more information: Using Attention as a User Defined Field

Type in the customer's primary or general phone number. If the customer has two or more phone numbers, type in the number that you use the most. If the number is a long distance number, include the "1" or Country code before the number: 1-208-232-6857. (By including the "1" or country, you can use AnyOrder's built in dialer.) The number that you enter here will appear on the Invoice Main Screen.

If you'd like to include more information (such as an extension) along with the phone number, click on the Customer Contact Manager tab at the bottom of the screen. The Contact Manager allows you to include the names of primary contacts, fax numbers, and comments. The Dial or Copy button next to the phone blank works the same as the "Dial" button on the Main Invoice Screen. More information: Phone Features

The email field matches the email field on the Main Invoice Screen. The address you enter here will be pasted to the Email field on the Main Invoice Screen along with the customer's name and address. In this field, type in the customer's primary email address. If the customer has two or more addresses, type in the email address that you use the most. You can include additional email addresses in the Contact Manager. To access it, click the Contact Manager tab at the bottom of the screen.

Two buttons are found to the right of the "Email" field. The first button will activate an external email program. To use this, you'll need a non-web based email program such as Thunderbird or Outlook. The second button "Open" is available with Level 7 programs. It activates the Internal Email Client with the person name and email address in place. You can, then, compose a message and send it directly from within AnyOrder without going through an external email program. If you haven't already, you will need to configure the program for your email server.

Level 6 and Higher Feature. This is an optional field. It doesn't appear on the Main Invoice Screen and but you can designate that it appear on the printed Invoice. You can use it for such numbers as Federal ID, GST, VAT or another identifying number for the customer. If you wish to have the Other ID number appear on the invoice, place a checkmark in the box. This is how it appears on the printed invoice:

Note that with some numbers (such a personal social security number), it may not be appropriate to include the number on the printed invoice. In those cases, keep the box unchecked. In other cases, such European VAT numbers, regulations require that the number appear on the invoice, and those cases, you'll check the box. You may also use this field for a "membership number" or other purposes appropriate for your business.

This field matches the same field on the Main Invoice Screen. The number you enter here will be pasted to the same field on the Main Invoice Screen along with the customer's name and address. Indicate the typical (or most common) discount that you offer this customer. Use a whole number, i.e. 40 for 40% or .55 for 55%. If the discount varies depending on quantities or the type of products ordered by the customer, it can be changed manually to the appropriate amount on the Invoice Screen at any time. Note that discounts are based on the selling price. For instance, a 40% discount on a $100 item is $60. A 30% discount on a $100 item is $70. Full information on this field is found here: Discounts

This field matches the same field on the Main Invoice Screen. The information you enter here will be pasted to the same field on the Main Invoice Screen along with the customer's name and address. In the "Terms Code" blank, indicate the number of days from the date of invoice that you allow the customer before payment is due. Normally, customers are given a grace period in which they can pay their bill. Commonly this is 30 days, but it might be 60, 90 or 120-days depending upon the customer.

When the invoice is printed, the grace period will be stated like this: "TERMS: NET 30 DAYS." In other words you are saying to the customer that you have terms for providing them credit to buy products from you. Those terms are that you expect them to pay the net amount ("net amount" means no further discounts) of the invoice in 30 days. This is the most common way of dealing with dating periods.

To use AnyOrder's internal billing engine, you'll want to keep your terms to 30, 60, 90 or 120. In other words, do not use such numbers as 45, 70, 115, or other odd intervals. If you don't plan to use AnyOrder's internal billing engine, then you can use whatever intervals you desire.

Some businesses offer discounts if a customer pays earlier than the grace period. For example, you may offer the following terms: 2% 10 Days, Net 30. This means the customer would get a discount of 2% if the invoice is paid within 10 days and full amount if paid before 30 days.

You can include such terms on the printed invoice by the use of a code. Terms codes are two-digit negative numbers and can set up by selecting MAIN TASKS >> CODE LISTS >> INVOICE TERMS. Once you get your terms set-up, you can access them by clicking the "L" button just to the right of the terms blank. A list of terms will appear. Select the one you want and the code will entered in the blank. When the customer is copied to an invoice, the appropriate terms code will pasted in place on the invoice.

An additional feature that is available allows you to add a note to the invoice reminding the customer of an early payment discount. Here's an example: "You may deduct an additional 2% (4.55) for a total of 222.85 if your payment is RECEIVED by 10/11/2005." You can set-up your terms codes so that they automatically generate an early payment note. That's done by selecting MAIN TASKS >> CODE LISTS >> INVOICE TERMS

Additionally, AnyOrder has several other built in terms. These are useful for situations when you may not want terms printed on the bottom of the invoice. Or you may wish to indicate that payment is due immediately, not in 30 days. These and other alternative terms messages can be trigged by using one-digit negative numbers:

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Nothing. By typing in a -1 in the Net Days blank, you are telling the AnyOrder that you don't want the terms line to print. If desired, you can explain your terms by your own note at the bottom of the printed invoice. See Invoice Message more information on preparing a note for the printed invoice. Note that -1 takes precedent over all messages including notations which say "Credit" or "Paid - Thank You!" It's usually best to use -1 only on invoices in which the customer owes you.

You can bring up a list of these options by double clicking or pressing CTRL-L when the cursor is in the Net Days blank. Complete information on the use of the terms field is found here: Terms

In some situations, particularly when you are creating packing slips for drop shipments, you may not want the final customer to see the terms message (i.e. "30 days Net from Invoice Date.). By checking this box, the terms message is always removed from packing slips for this customer. Note: That you can manipulate this feature by selecting it from the "More Options" dialog box which can be accessed when you are printing an invoice.

If this customer is always taxed, place a checkmark in this box. This field matches the same field on the Main Invoice Screen. If you place a checkmark here, when pasting the customer to the Main Invoice Screen, the "Taxable?" box will be checked.

If so, enter the tax code in the blank. Each time you paste this customer to an invoice, the customer will taxed at the rate specified by the tax code. For a list of codes, click on the "L" button. More information: Tax

Type in the most common way that you ship to this customer. Possibilities include: UPS GROUND, UPS AIR, PRIORITY, MEDIA RATE, etc. Click the "L" button to bring up a list from which you can select. You can add or change the names on the list from the Main Invoice Screen by selecting MAIN TASKS >> SHIPPING METHODS & SHIPMENT PACKAGING >> VIEW/MODIFY SHIPPING METHODS LIST. This field matches the "Ship Via" field on the Main Invoice Screen. The information you enter here will be pasted to this along with the customer's name and address.

Each time you process and send off an order to a customer, there will be shipping charges associated with the order. If you normally pick up the shipping charges for this customer, then you should check this box. If the customer normally pays their own shipping charges, then leave the box blank. If it varies from time to time--or if you are uncertain whether to check it or not, then leave the box blank.

The purpose of this is to simply provide a reminder note just prior to printing invoice if the customer on the invoice normally expects shipping paid, but the invoice shows differently. If the box is not checked no reminder messages will come up. Additionally, the program can track the amount of shipping charges that you are paying (see: more information).

This feature works hand in hand with AnyOrder's shipping label printing feature (FILE >> PRINT SHIPPING LABEL). Some customers prefer to have their PO Number appear on the shipping label. By indicating your preference here, the "Include PO Number" option in the Print Shipping Label feature will be automatically checked for you.

Check here if you normally send items to this customer on consignment. That means the customer doesn't pay you until they sell the item. Once the customer notifies you that they have sold the item, then you can bill and collect from them. This feature helps keeping track of consignment inventory much easier.

Place a checkmark here if sales to this customer are not eligible for royalty payments. When this box is checked, AnyOrder will automatically place a checkmark beside "No Royalty" on the Main Invoice Screen each time you paste this customer to the Main Invoice Screen. (You can disregard this box if you don't make royalty payments.)

The "Drop Ship" box corresponds to the "Drop Ship" box on the Main Invoice Screen. If you place a checkmark here, the Drop Ship box on the Main Invoice Screen pasting this customer.

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Use with corporate chains. As explained above, you can set up businesses in the Customer Database that have one central office but with different locations where you ship products. If you commonly ship to a number of locations then you can establish a different customer number for each of those locations (the billing group would be the same since you send the billing to one office).
However, you may deal with corporate customers with hundreds of different shipping locations, and each time you receive an order, you may need to send it to a different location. In such cases, you may decide not to enter all those separate shipping addresses in the Customer Database - rather, when filling out the fields on the Main Invoice Screen, you'll paste in the customer's billing address (using the Customer Number pop-up) and enter the shipping addresses manually.
When you don't have separate shipping addresses in the Customer Database, this is helpful. By checking this box, on the Main Invoice Screen, it serves as a visual reminder to you that customer's shipping address is changeable.
Additionally, it puts AnyOrder on guard that the shipping address is different. For example, let's say you are filling out the fields on the Main Invoice Screen, and you enter customer's shipping address first - which is a common way of doing it. Next, you select from the customer number pop-up list.
Before pasting the customer's address, AnyOrder will ask if you want to keep the shipping address. You would respond with "Yes." AnyOrder pastes the billing address but leaves the shipping address. Everything works fine. If, however, the Drop Ship box is not checked, then AnyOrder would paste over the shipping address and you'd loose it.

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True drop shipments. Secondly, you can use this checkbox to indicate that this is a customer who always receives drop shipments. Drop shipments are when you order a product from a supplier, and the supplier ships the product directly to your customer.
If you have Level 4 or higher, you can use AnyPO (the purchase order system) to automatically create PO's for drop shipments. The checkbox helps you keep track of drop shipments. If you need to review all such orders, you can filter for drop shipments. Or, if needed, you can create a report which lists drop shipments. Customized reports such as this one can be created in the export portion of the program.
You should only place a checkmark here in the Customer Database if you always send this customer drop shipments. If you send the customer some drop shipments and some shipments directly from you, our suggestion is to leave it unchecked. You can manually check the "Drop Ship" box on the Main Invoice Screen when it's appropriate.

If you'd like an ad campaign code to appear each time this customer is pasted to the Main Invoice Screen, indicate the code here. Click the "L" button for a list of codes. More information: Ad Campaign Code

If you'd like an invoice code to appear each time this customer is pasted to the Main Invoice Screen, indicate the code here. Click the "L" button for a list of codes. More information: Invoice Code

Use this field if you have sales representatives working for you and the sales to this customer are always assigned to a certain representative. Enter the representative's code here. Click the "L" button for a list of sales representatives. More information: Sales Rep Code

Level 6 and Higher Feature. If desired, you can establish a credit limit for the customer. In addition to indicating an amount here, you can also have the program flag any customer that exceeds their credit limit. To turn on the credit flagging feature select MAIN TASKS >> BILLING STATEMENTS AND BALANCE FILES. Click on "More Billing Options." Place a checkmark besides "Flag and identify customers which exceed their credit limit."

When you run billing statements, those customers which have exceeded their credit limit will have a large yellow "credit exceeded" marking on the upper right hand corner of their statement. Additionally, an exclamation mark will appear in the "Limit Exceeded" field (see next) and the exclamation mark will also appear on the Customer Number Pop-up List.

Your business will probably have an established procedure on how to deal with customers that have exceeded their credit limit. That policy may not allow any future orders to be shipped until the customer pays down their balance. Once, they do, you may wish to require advanced payment from the customer until their credit is re-established. You can use "Your own one letter code" below to signify customers under special restrictions.

Is this customer part of a group that uses the same billing address? In other words, is this customer a member of a billing group (described above)? If so, and if you want to use the credit limit option, you must designate a Main Office. Decide which member of the group's billing address will be used for billings and place a checkmark beside: "Main Office."

Level 6 and Higher Feature. When the customer's total amount due exceeds the credit limit, an exclamation mark ( ! ) will appear here. A red exclamation mark will also appear on the Customer Number Pop-up List as a warning that the customer should not be issued any more invoices until they've reduced their debt to an acceptable level.

AnyOrder doesn't automatically remove the "!" You'll need to do that manually. That gives you the opportunity to monitor the customer's payments, and you can decide whether the customer should be provided with credit again. With some customers, you may never ever provide credit again -- and with others, once they've caught up, you may determine that the credit problem has been resolved, and at that time, you can remove the exclamation point.

Level 6 and Higher Feature. This feature allows you to associate a pricing level with the customer. When you paste the customer to the Main Invoice Screen, AnyOrder will automatically set the pricing level on the invoice to the customer's.

Pricing levels are established in the Product Database. It's important to note, however, that it's much easier from a financial record keeping standpoint to set a retail price and then provide discounts off the retail price. AnyOrder has lots of options which make it easy to discount products--and many businesses will probably never need to utilize Pricing Levels. But in some business situations, pricing levels are useful and they are available if you need them.

When you select a customer from the Customer Number Pop-up List, AnyOrder will place a notation in the "Notes" area on the Main Invoice Screen. The notation looks like this PL:::2. Whenever this notation appears in the Notes, AnyOrderwill use that pricing level for the default. As you enter products in the Item Area (either by using the Product Pop-up List or by scanning the product's barcode), the price for that particular pricing level will be used. If desired, you can override the default setting by manually changing the pricing level in the Product Pop-up list or Barcode dialog box.

Important Note: If you do indicate a Pricing Level and you have also indicated a discount in the 'Discount' blank, AnyOrder will discount off the Pricing Level, not the retail value.

This field may be used for your own purpose. The one-letter code that you indicate here will appear on the Customer Number Pop-up List. One purpose for this field would be to indicate the customer's credit status. "A" might mean advanced payment only. "X" might mean that the customer has an outstanding balance and you no longer do business with them.

Level 6 and Higher Feature. "Life Time Value" is the total amount of sales during all of the years that you have been providing products to that customer. It's often abbreviated LTV or CLV (Customer Lifetime Value). The use of customer lifetime value places importance on customer service and long-term customer satisfaction, rather than on maximizing short-term sales.

Customers will high LTV's are vital to any business, and you may find this information very useful in business planning and marketing. There are two fields on the Customer Database related to LTV. The first is the Life Time Value and the second is the date when the customer's Life Time Value has been updated. To update the Life Time Value, use the LTV tools available in the Customer Command Center.

Level 6 and Higher Feature. There are four additional fields available for your own use. These fields are called User Defined Fields. The first two fields hold up to 25 characters. The third field holds 20 characters, and the last field holds 8 characters. They can be used for any purpose helpful to your business. The contents of these fields do not show up on the printed invoice. You can assign your own labels to the user fields by selecting TOOLS >> RENAME USER FIELDS.

Level 7 Feature. This field is the small field located just to the right of the 4th and last User Defined Field. Use this for customer reports. You may find that you have a group of customers for which you commonly create reports. If this customer is part of that group, mark it with a letter. You can use any letter that you would like. You might mark one group with "A's" and another group with "B's" (AnyOrder will not distinguish between lower case or upper case so you can use either one.)

If you are creating customer reports (see product and sales reports) you'll see, along with the list of customers, an "Auto Select" button. To the right of the Auto Select button is a field. If you enter "A" in this field and click the Auto Select button, AnyOrder will select all members of the "A" group. If you enter "B" and click the Auto Select button, AnyOrder will select all members of the "B" group. If you don't enter anything, and click the Auto Select button, AnyOrder will select all marked customers for the report."

This is a very handy feature of the program. If you click on the Customer Notes button, you'll be able to write reminder notes to yourself. Anything you include here will show up at the bottom of the Main Invoice Screen in the "Notes" area. For instance, you might want to write the following note: "Do not charge this customer for shipping. We pay shipping." Each time you create an invoice for the customer, the above note will appear, reminding you not to charge for shipping.

The Customer Notes button serves two purposes. If you click it once, you can write reminder notes. If you click it again, Help information appears. (Note: that you can configure the Customer Database to open with either Help showing -- or customer notes showing -- by using a menu choice found in the TOOLS menu.)

The Contact Manager works hand in hand with the Customer Information Database. It enables you to keep track of the names and phone numbers of individuals that work in the stores and businesses that make up your customers.

Note that in the Level 6 and higher program, you also have use of a Primary Contact Manager. The Customer Contact Manager is used for customers in your customer database. The Primary Contact Manager is used for all others such as prospective customers, suppliers, advertisers, shippers, financial contacts, etc.

You can reach the Contact Manager by clicking on the Contact Manager tab at the bottom of the screen. Or you can reach it by selecting MAIN TASKS >> CUSTOMER CONTACT MANAGER from the Menu Bar. For more information, see Customer Contact Manager.

You can move to different customers by pressing Page Up or Page Down on the keyboard. You can also move by using the navigation buttons in the middle right of the screen:

Right arrow and line button ( >| ). Last customer is displayed. (Same as Ctrl+Page Down.)

Left arrow navigation button ( < ). Previous customer is displayed. (Same as Page Up.)

Left arrow and line button ( |< ). First customer is displayed. (Same as Ctrl+Page Up.)

The Menu Bar on the top of the Customer Database Screen provides you with several options.

FILE Menu. In the FILE menu, you have two printing options. You can print each product record individually by selecting FILE >> PRINT from the Menu Bar. Or you may select FORMAT & PRINT FROM SPREADSHEET. The later opens up Excel (or a spreadsheet program of your choice). You can format the list and print it. Note that you can not edit the customer database from Excel. Use this for viewing and printing purposes.

You can also import customers by selecting FILE >> IMPORT. More information on importing is found here: Customer Import.

If, after importing, you find that you need to delete the imported records, you can do so by selecting REMOVE IMPORTED CUSTOMERS. This will remove only imported Customers. Any customers in your Customer Database prior to the import will be preserved. Note that if you add one or more new Customers after doing an import, you'll lose the ability to remove the imported records. Thus, if you need to remove imported records, you should do it soon after the import and before adding any new Customers.

EDIT Menu. Normally, AnyOrder will suggest a new number when you start a new customer record. But you can also bring up a list of available customer numbers. To do so, place the cursor in the Customer Number blank and select EDIT >> PASTE FROM LIST OF AVAILABLE CUSTOMER NUMBERS. You can also bring up a list by double clicking in the Customer Number blank. Select a number from the list and press OK to insert the number in the blank.

To bring up a list of all past customers found on your invoices, place the cursor in the "Bill-to" blank and select EDIT >> PASTE FROM INVOICE LIST. You can also bring up a list by double clicking in the Customer Number blank. Select a customer from the list and press OK to paste the customer's name and address in the Bill-to blanks.

To copy a customer from the Primary Contact Manager to the Customer Database, select EDIT >> PASTE FROM PRIMARY CONTACT MANAGER. (The Primary Contact Manager is a Level 6-7 feature.)

If you need to delete customers, you can do so by select EDIT >> DELETE THIS CUSTOMER. Or you can select EDIT >> MULTI-CUSTOMER DELETE. (Use the Multi-Customer Delete function if you need to delete two or more customers.) If you delete all the records in the Customer Database, "NO CUSTOMERS" will appear in the Item Name blank. When you are ready to enter your first customer, delete "NO CUSTOMERS" and type in the name. Note that you can set up user levels to prevent access to the delete functions.

Additionally, you have the option of deleting all customers. This would only be used when first starting to use the program. You can use it to clear out practice customers that you have added. You can also use it if you had imported customers and needed to remove them all and start over. In order to use it, you must turn the safety off first by selecting DELETE SAFETY. If you have set-up a program administrator, only the administrator can access the "Delete All" function.

GO TO Menu. The GO TO menu is used to SEARCH the Customer Database for a name, address, city, state or number. The ADVANCED SEARCH allows you to find the contents of any fields in the customer database. You can also activate a LOOK-UP LIST of all customers in the Customer Database and select from the list.

If you have the Level V and higher program, you can scan the barcode on an invoice and locate the customer on the invoice (GO TO >> FIND CUSTOMER BY SCANNING BARCODE). In order to use this feature, the customer on the invoice must in your Customer Database. For more information on barcodes, see Barcode Features.

Finally, a FIND & REPLACE feature is available for Level VI users to find the contents of a field and replace the contents with another value.

TOOLS Menu. The TOOLS menu is used to change the order in which the customers are listed. They are normally ordered by their customer number, but if desired you can change the order to an alphabetical listing by Billing Name, Summary Name, or City/State/Country. To change the order, select TOOLS and the appropriate order from the Menu Bar.

You can also use the TOOLS menu to turn off customer number checking. As you page through the Product Information Database, AnyOrder checks to make sure that you do not have duplicate customer numbers. If it finds a duplicate, it will notify you. Additionally, AnyOrder will not allow you to continue until you change the number.

There may be times, however, when you want to turn off the customer number checking feature. For example, you may wish to alter the other duplicate customer number, and not the one currently showing on the screen. You may also want to turn off customer number checking after doing an import. In either case, you can do so by selecting TOOLS >> TURN OFF CUSTOMER NUMBER CHECKING. If you look at the menu after making the selection, you'll see a checkmark beside "Turn Off Customer Number Checking" indicating that the feature is turned off. You can turn it back on by selecting it again which will remove the checkmark. You should be careful about turning this feature off. Duplicate customer numbers create problems in the program and you should turn it off only when necessary.

When you first enter the Customer Database, helpful information appears at the bottom of the screen as you move from field to field. You can switch from help information to customer notes and back again by clicking on the "Help" or "Customer Notes" button. However, after you've used the program for a while, you may no longer need the help documentation. Rather, it may be more convenient for the Customer Database to open with customer notes showing instead of help. You can do that by selecting TOOLS >> UPON START-UP: SHOW CUSTOMER NOTES INSTEAD OF HELP. When there is a checkmark beside this menu choice, customer notes will show when you open the Customer Database. When there is a no checkmark beside this menu choice, help information will show when the Customer Database opens. This doesn't limit you to one or the other. You can still change back and forth by clicking on the appropriate button.

Also in the tools menu, if you are a Level 6-7 user, you can use your own labels for the User Fields (TOOLS >> RENAME USER FIELDS).

If you click on the right mouse button on the Customer Information Database screen, the speed menu will appear. From the speed menu, you can activate the search or look-up dialog boxes and the standard cut, copy, paste menu. (Note that when the cursor is in the Bill-to, Ship-to, and Zip blanks, a slightly different speed menu appears as noted above.)