DIY Tech Support

Brought to you by:

Tech Benders

Karen Fredricks

Your Act! Guru

Karen@TechBenders.com

561-470-5450 x1

Your Support Options

1. Act Premium Subscription comes with free SwiftPage Support

(877-716-6296)

2. Pro does not come with Swiftpage Support

• You can purchase $40 installation Support

• There is currently a promotion that includes install support

• You can purchase $100 5-Ticket Support

3. Tech Benders Support 561-470-5450

– Ext 1: Karen: Sales, Training & Consulting

– Ext 2: Kim: Database repair, Conversion & Support

– Ext 3: Roy: Reports, Tables & Support

4. DIY Tech Support

Tech Benders Support Policy

• We give you pre-sales support so that you make sure you

are purchasing the correct product

• We send you installation instructions when you purchase

your software

• We keep your license number and download links on file

permanently

• We will answer brief emails that can be answered in a

sentence or two via email from our existing customers for

free

• Support that requires phone or email intervention will be

billed at $150/hour

Why Purchase an Act! Subscription from

Tech Benders?

• We sell Act for below the retail Price

• We answer your pre-sales questions

• We send customized installation instructions

• We keep your download links and serial numbers on file

• All subscription users receive Quarterly Webinars for free

#1 I Can’t Register My Software!

Quick Fix:

• Right-click your Act! icon and choose Run as

Administrator

• Re-register when Act! opens

#2 I need to re-install Act!

Where’s my Software???

• Quick Fix: the download center

http://www.act.com/resources/downloads/

• Quick Fix: be sneaky…

http://www.act.com/download/pro2011

http://www.act.com/download/premium2012

http://www.act.com/download/premiumv18

• Quick Fix: if you purchased from Tech Benders we have your

license number and download link on file

Where in the World is my License

Number???

License Numbers:

– If you are on Subscription your License Numbers starts with a 5

– It will work with v17, 18, and 19

– It will work with v20 when it’s released later this year

– If you purchased from Tech Benders we have it on file

– If you purchased from SwiftPage or another vendor you will have

to call them

I’m being asked for my user

name and password!

• Yes, EVERY database has at least one user

– If you don’t know it go to Tools/Manage Users

• A single user database doesn’t require a login unless you do

something special like update or restore your database

• The password is CaSe SenSitive, the User name is not

• Both the User Name and Password must be correct to log into the

database

– Quick Fix: Try leaving the password field BLANK

– Try variations of your name: kfredricks, Karen, Karen Fredricks,

Karen F, KarenF

– KISS: Use Bob Smith rather than Mr. Bob A. Smith, Jr.

– Be consistent for all users!

• We offer password recovery for all Act! versions for $100

Help! I lost my Password!

Aren’t you sorry you clicked the

“Remember Password”

Check Box???

#3 Outlook

Outlook Rules of Thumb

Outlook must be installed prior to

Act!

That means:

If you UPGRADE to a new version of Office you must reinstall Act!

Act! v17 & v18 require a FULL 32 BIT installation of Office.

That means:

It will not work with 64 bit installations of Office

It will not work with “Office 365 Click to Run” installations

You must purchase v19 to work with Office 365

That means:

If you purchase a new computer you must install Office first!

Please use only the

Recommended Settings!

My Outlook Stopped Working

1.Right-click the Act! Integration Icon

and select Show Progress

2.Click the Not Attached Message tab

3.Clean ‘em up!

Outlook is still not cooperating

There are a lot of other possibilities:

• Your Inbox is overflowing

• You turned off the Act!/Outlook Addin in Outlook

• Your Outlook profile is corrupted; try creating a temporary

profile.

• You have other addins in Outlook that are causing a

conflict

• You have remnants of multiple versions of Office on your

machine because you never uninstalled the prior

version(s); this means the registry has to be edited.

• Your database is corrupted; try opening the Act! Demo.

• There are maintenance procedures that you can do in

Outlook; I do mine once a month.

#4 What happens when I upgrade?

• Visit https://techbenders.com/learn-more-about-act/

• Upgrading Rules of Thumb

– Check your version of SQL before upgrading

• Go To Act!Diag and it will tell you your version of SQL

• All new versions of Act! have SQL 2014

• Remove SQL from Control Panel starting with Item 1 of 5

– Remove Act!

– Turn Off

• UAC

• Windows Firewall

• Temporarily disable your Anti Virus Software

• No, you will NOT lose your customizations!

What’s the latest Update

for my version?

• Visit https://www.act.com/resources/downloads

• What’s been fixed:

http://kb.act.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36573/kw/36573

#5 Act! won’t open!

• Quick Fix (90%)

– With Act! closed….Type services.msc at the Windows

prompt

– Scroll down to SQL Server (Act! 7)

– Either Start or Restart the service

• A/V Software

– Add exceptions for act.exe and sql.exe

• Turn Windows Firewall off (Control Panel)

• The Bottom Line: Act! and SQL have to “talk” to one

another

#6 My Linked In & Facebook Links Broke

Linked In:

https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/f?keywords={Contact}

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q={Contact}

1.Go to Web Info tab

2.Click Edit Links

3.Select LinkedIn or Facebook

4.Click Advanced Edit

5.Replace the Source URL with the above URL

#7 How often should I make a backup…

Or… My IT Guy has it covered (Not!)

How Often Should I Backup & Do

Maintenance

Warning: Not all “automatic system backups” are

capable of backing up SQL databases!

• Use it to run nightly backups

• Use it to run weekly maintenance

• Use it to automatically sync your remote

database hourly

• Use it to automate the synching of your Outlook

calendar

You must run the Act! Scheduler on the server or computer that houses your database!

#8 I didn’t know that would happen….

• Be careful if changing the Admin User or resetting the

Admin User’s Password as the Act! Scheduler will no

longer work. You can see this error in the A/S Task Log.

• Make sure everyone is synching; this can cause a big

backup of unapplied data.

• Do you have a lot of unnecessary history in the History

List?

• Do not remove essential elements from the Layout like

Access Control or Stages/Processes.

• Is your computer up to the challenge? How much

memory do you have and how many programs are you

running?

• DO NOT SET FIELD HISTORIES FOR EVERY FIELD!

#9 The Main Thing Not to Do!

• DO NOT CHANGE CORE FIELDS!

They will affect:

– Lookups

– Reports

– Labels

– Templates

#10 Four “Must Use” Fields

• Use the ID/Status for EVERY contact in your

database!!

• Use Last Results for your prospecting.

• Use the Record Manager field instead of

creating your own “Sales Person” field. It ties to

numerous reports.

• Use the Referred By field rather than creating a

“Referral” or “Source” field. It ties to a specific

report.

#11 Act! is taking forever to start and/or

I’m getting out of memory errors!

Too many Activities!

Old uncleared activities

+ Too many “alarms” scheduled for a variety

of times

+ Too many recurring activities

+ Uncleared recurring activities

= ONE BIG CORRUPTED DATABASE

Remember:

• Clicking “Select All” and “Snooze” for

your alarms isn’t helping the cause

• All Activities do not need an Alarm

• Activities can be Timeless

• Clear Completed Activities

• Dynamic (not static) Groups are

designed to help you “remember” things

But I have to use Activities!

No, you need to use Processes

• Prospecting: I use Last Results

• Sales: I use Opportunities

• Customer Retention: I use Dynamic

Groups

#12 My Database is Act!ing Up!

Act Diag

Advanced Maintenance

• All users must exit out of

Act!

• This must be run on the

server or main computer

– Start/Run/ActDiag

– Select Databases/ Database

List

– Tools/Repair Database

– Tools/Reindex Database

– All Database Rebuilds

Basic Maintenance

• Tools/Database

Maintenance

• Check and Repair

• Integrity and Re-Index

– This is preventative

maintenance and does not

repair.

– Same Maintenance that is

run by the Act! Scheduler

– Do this after a large

deletion, change or import

#13 I have a ton of duplicates

• Are users checking for contacts prior to adding new ones?

• Have you recently done an import?

– Did you fully understand how “duplicate checking” works?

• Did you try to set up Outlook/Act! contact synch?

– Take my word for it – DO NOT DO IT!

• Are you synching to your phone

– Did you start by wiping all the contacts in your phone

– Do you have I-cloud turned on? It’s a great way to get I-

duplicates!

When all else fails….

• Search Kb.act.com by error message

– You must be exact in your messaging

• Search Google

– It does a better job of searching

– Go figure!

• Make a suggestion:

https://community.act.com/t5/Share-Your-Ideas/idb-p/ideas

• Ask a question:

community.act.com

• Take my course at lynda.com:

– https://techbenders.com/act-training-videos2/

– Lynda.com/freepass/kfredricks

Act! Database Repair!

• We can repair any damaged database from Act! v1 –

v19.

• We offer weekend service & overnight service.

• We are faster & cheaper than SwiftPage.

• We fix databases for SwiftPage that they can’t repair

or convert.

• Call 561-470-5450 x1 for further details