So far we've been looking at ways that the Scratchpad can be used as a standalone product. However, some of you might still be thinking that you can get by with a traditional pad of paper or some other software product. That's probably because you haven't as yet discovered the most powerful Scratchpad feature: the ability to convert your notations into ACT! histories, notes, and activities.
You must have ACT! open in order to convert an item into an ACT! activity, note, or history.
- Open both ACT! and the ACT! Scratchpad.
- Select an item from the Scratchpad list.
- Click Send to Sage ACT! on the Scratchpad menu; the following screenshot shows you what the menu looks like:
- Choose from the following choices:
- Insert Note: ACT!'s Insert Note dialog window will open with the contents of your Scratchpad entry already added to the body.
- Record History: ACT!'s New History dialog window will open; the contents of your Scratchpad entry will appear in the Regarding field.
- Schedule Activity: this will allow you to schedule a Call, Meeting, or a To-do; the contents of your Scratchpad entry will already appear in the Regarding field.
- The following figure shows an example of a To-do item that was created from a Scratchpad entry:
- Complete or make changes to the remaining fields in the dialog box that appears.
- Click OK to save the ACT! activity, note, or history.
Although the Scratchpad provides you with an easy method to create a new ACT! item, you will still need to verify that the dialog window is properly filled in. For example, you'll want to make sure that you select a contact for the note, history, or activity. In the Contact or Schedule With field, click the down arrow to select the contact that should get the note or history, or the scheduled activity.
In addition, if you are creating a history item, you'll want to select the type of history to record from the Type drop-down box.
Once you've created a new ACT! item from a Scratchpad entry, the two items are no longer linked together in any way. If you delete or clear a Scratchpad item it will still remain in your ACT! database. And if you delete or clear an ACT! item it will not affect the corresponding Scratchpad entry.