Notes are an optional tool available in many windows throughout [i] Merchant. You can create internal notes, external notes, customer notes, recommendations, and so forth. Some windows allow you to set more than one note type to an individual record. Other windows allow you to set just one note type per record. You can create as many notes as you want within a particular note type.
When you're in a window with a Notes icon, the icon can appear in a variety of ways. If your cursor is placed over a record with no notes, the Notes icon will just have a paper clip. If the cursor is placed over a record with notes for just one type, the Notes icon will have a paper clip on top of a sheet of white paper. If the cursor is placed over a record with notes for multiple types, the Notes icon will have a paper clip on top of a light green sheet of paper. These different variations of Notes icons immediately let you know if any, or how many, note types exist for an individual record.
A window in which specific records can have more than one note type attached to them is the Purchase Order Properties window, accessed via the Find Purchase Order window. The Purchase Order Property window displays every product on the Purchase Order in the grid at the bottom of the screen.
Highlight one of the records in the grid. Check the Notes icon to see if there are existing notes for this record. (If there is just the paper clip in the icon and no paper, no note exists.)
In a window where you can create more than one note type, there will be a pulldown arrow to the right of the Notes icon. Click on this arrow. In the Purchase Order Properties window, there are two types of notes: PO Notes and PO Product Notes. In other words, a note type that is related to the PO itself and a note type that is related to the products on the PO. After clicking on the arrow, a small menu will appear with PO Notes and PO Product Notes as choices. If there is a checkmark to the left of either type, at least one note exists for the selected record for that type. For example, if there is a checkmark to the left of PO Notes, then at least one note exists for that type.
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In windows where there is only one note type, there will be no arrow to the right of the Notes icon.
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Since the PO Notes type relates to the entire Purchase Order, every product on the PO will have the same PO Notes attached to them. If you add, change, or delete a PO Note for any record on the PO, that note will be altered for every item on the PO. The PO Product Notes, on the other hand, deal only with individual items on the PO. So, you can add, change, or delete a PO Product Note for a record, and it will affect only that one record.
Click on either PO Notes or PO Product Notes. This will take you to the Notes window. If the notes type you selected did not have a checkmark next to it, the Notes window will be blank because there are no notes.
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If you are in a window where only one type of note exists and there is no pulldown arrow to the right of the Notes icon, simply click on the Notes icon itself to open the Notes window for a particular record.
If any notes exist, a list of them, including the first few words of the note body for each note, will appear in the Notes window. If there are two PO Notes, and you selected PO Notes, then a list of two notes will display in the Notes window.
The list of notes can be displayed in different ways.
Click on View in the menu at the top of Notes window. A pulldown menu displays. Experiment with the different views until you discover the one you like best. The system will set the View you choose as the default View until you change it again.
To select an existing note from the list:
Double-click on it or click on the Properties toolbar button at the top of the Notes window. The Notes Properties window opens for the selected note. The full body of the note will display in this window.
To alter the note body text, simply place the cursor in the text display portion of the window and make any changes you want. Save the changes upon exiting the Notes Properties window.
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You can Undo the changes you make to the text of a note body by clicking on the Undo toolbar button at the top of the Notes Properties window. But make sure you do this prior to hitting Save. Undo only works on unsaved changes. To change saved text, simply delete it and alter it manually.
To delete the note altogether, select Edit from the menu at the top of the Notes Properties window. A small pulldown submenu appears.
From this submenu, if you have security access to do so, select Delete. A message box appears, asking if you want to delete the record. Select Yes. The note is deleted from the system.
You can assign categories to your notes. This is optional and entirely up to you. There is a Category field directly above the text portion of the Notes Properties window. Categories can be whatever you want: external note, internal note, reviews, ordering suggestions--anything you desire.
Categories are attached to codes. If you know a category code:
Enter the category code in the Category field and press Enter. The category description appears in the Category field. This note now has a category assigned to it.
If you do not know the category code:
Click on the binoculars icon at the right of the Category field, or press F3 while the cursor is in the field. This opens the Find window for categories. A list of existing category descriptions and their codes appears.
Select the category you want and click on the Select button at the right of the window, or simply press Enter. You are returned to the Notes Properties window, and the Category field is filled in with the description of the category you just selected.
While in the Find window for categories, if you have security access to do so, you can create new categories, delete existing categories, and alter the codes or descriptions of existing categories.
To create a new category:
Select File from the menu at the top of the Find window. A pulldown submenu appears.
From this submenu, select New-Parameter. A small Properties box appears.
Key in the code and description, and click on the Save button within the Properties box.
Click on the Close button within the Properties box. The new category has been created. But to see it listed in the Find window, you need to back out of the Find window and then come back in. The category you just created will now be listed there.
To alter the code or description of an existing category:
In the Find window for categories, highlight the category you want to change.
Click on the Properties button at the right of the Find window. The Properties box appears.
Make the changes you want in the Properties box, then click on Save and Close.
To delete a category from the category list:
In the Find window for categories, highlight the category you want to delete.
From the menu at the top of the Find window, select Edit. A pulldown submenu appears.
From this submenu, select Delete. A message box appears, asking if you want to delete the category. Select Yes. The category is deleted.
You can determine whether or not a note is printable. That is, if a note for, say a PO, is able to be printed on the PO Report for the PO you want to print. There is a check box to the right of the Category field when you select a note or create a new one. If you want this note to be printable, be sure that the "Printable" box is checked. If you don't want the note to print, uncheck this box.
Please note, only notes that deal with an entire PO or Customer Order, etc. will print. If you have notes for individual products within a PO, for example, those will not print.
You can pin notes to the screen. In the Notes Properties window, there is a toolbar button: Pinned/Not Pinned. If you choose it to be Pinned, the Notes Properties window always stays on your computer screen, even if you open another window. The only way to remove it from being displayed on the screen is to minimize it or close out of it.
If you choose it to be Not Pinned, then when you open another window, the Notes Properties window is automatically minimized, no longer displaying on the screen.
This is entirely up to each user; it is a user-specific feature. Choose whichever option works best for you. The system will remember whether you selected Pinned or Not Pinned, and whichever one you chose will be the default for you until you change it.