Help File for Acute Softwares Diary Client

1. Diary Installation

1.1 Install the Client
1.2 Configure the Client

2. Using the Diary for Appointments and Meetings

2.1 Viewing Appointments
2.2 Entering Appointments
2.3 Finding Information
2.4 Viewing Other Users Appointments
2.5 Booking Meetings with Other Users
2.6 Change a Meeting with other users
2.7 Cancel a Meeting with other users
2.8 Search for information in all users diaries
2.9 Sending Messages to other users

3. Other Features

3.1 Tasks - Keep track of tasks
3.2 Notes - Manage random notes
3.2 Importing Data - i.e. Public Holidays

4. Advanced Topics

4.1 Server Communications
4.2 Recording Events from the Quick Event Recorder
4.3 Using Batch Files to add events from other programs
4.4 Other components - Netpath

5. Support and Troubleshooting

5.1 The Diary Client will not Start
5.2 Cant find the Server
5.3 The Server returns no data
5.4 Client Timed out waiting for Server
5.5 I cant see other users appointments
5.6 I get a 'Server Not responding' message
5.7 General Windows Troubleshooting Procedures

Shortcut Keys for the DiaryClient

Key Description Key Description

F1 Help Ctrl N Add new appointment

F2 Daily View Ctrl E Edit Selected Appointment

F3 Weekly View Ctrl D Delete Selected Appointment

F4 Monthly View Ctrl P Print Current View

F5 Refresh the screen Ctrl F Search for Information

F6 Timed View (Display as a Grid) Ctrl Z Book a Meeting

F7 List View (Display Events as list) Ctrl M Make a Multiday event

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1. Diary Client Installation
System requirements for the Diary Client are a Pentium PC with 32M RAM, running Win95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / XP with at least 10Mbytes of free disk space

1.1 Install the Client

If your system administrator has put the client installation programs onto the server, you can browse via "Network Neighbourhood" to the server PC and run the SETUP.EXE file from the \netServer\tools\ folder.
The alternative method is to Download the client installation program and click 'open this file' to run the SETUP.EXE file from the ZIP file.

When installing the client, it is a good idea to use the default directory of
C:\Program Files\acute\netDiary\

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1.2 Configure the Client

- Start the netDiary.exe program (Start menu --> Programs --> Acute Software --> Network Diary )

- click 'Agree' to the End User License Agreement

- click 'Yes' to autoconnect to a server [IF and only if the server has been setup and is running]

IMPORTANT

The Autodetect feature in the client will only work if the administrator has setup the user names on the server to the PC names on the network (server needs to use the 'Auto create user list from PC's on network'.

If this has not been setup you need to browse the network for your name, e.g. :
//server/netserver/users/YOUR_NAME

The program will auto configure with the default settings, and then search for a diary sever.
Note - this can take a long time (1-4 minutes) if there are more that 50 PC's on the network

After a few seconds you will see a "Default Settings have been made" message to indicate that it has finished. - Go to the Options screen and select the 'Data File' tab.
If the 'Network Datapath textbox is blank, then it has not found the diary server - check with your system administrator that the server is running, and that your diary username is the same as your PC name - if not you need to manually enter the path to your network datapath.
e.g. \\serverName\users\Frank , instead of \\serverName\users\FRANKS_PC

You have now successfully setup your Diary Client to talk to the server

You can also change other options like colours, and screen layouts using the 'Diary' and 'infolink' buttons now, or at a later stage (just run 'Diary Options')

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2. Using the Diary for Appointments and Meetings

2.1 Viewing Appointments

The following screen shot shows the main screen for the diary. The events are displayed on the right hand side of the screen, and you can change the day being viewed by clicking on the calendar on the Left hand side, or by using the arrow buttons on the top of the screen.

Timed Grid [F6] (all appointments are displayed in an hourly fashion)

This mode is the easiest way to quickly browse and enter appointments. However if you have multiple appointments in the same timeslot you will find it easier to manage in list mode.

List Mode [F7] (all appointments are displayed in a list)

This is the fastest way to view your appointments - all your days/weeks or months events appear in a list (you choose which fields are shown) for quick viewing and editing.

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2.2 Entering Appointments

Simply double-click in the timeslot (either on the left-hand column, or in the space in the main grid) and start typing your appointment.

You can also click "Add" from the appointment menu, which brings up a form to allow you to enter various details about the event:
- Date of Event
- Time of Event
- Event Details (this is what is shown in the list of the grid)
- Event Location (this is what can be shown in the staff view if you dont want the details shown)
- Category
- Remind Date of Event
- Remind Time of Event

The tabs across the top of the event form, display extra fields, which can be used for the event.
For each event you can record the following extra information:
- Contact name
- File or URL
- Length of event in minutes
- Reference - any text or keywords you like
- Job to do ID (reserved)

Each of the extra fields can be any text you like except multiple lines (i.e. you can't insert a text file into a field)

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2.3 Finding Appointments

Press Ctrl F , or choose Quick find from the search menu and type in any text you want to find. This will retrieve all records for that month containing the text you entered. You can choose to search your local events, tasks, and notes, or all the users events.

You can also click the details button, which allows you to choose which dates to looks for, or which users to search.

The results are displayed in a separate form - you can save this form for importing to any word processor.

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2.4 Viewing Other Users Appointments

Click the 'Staff' view in the Left hand side list.

The screen is similar to the main diary client program, except that it has a list of all users on the bottom left of the screen, and the right hand side shows these peoples appointments.

You can choose which users to view, by ticking and unticking the names on the user list.

The data is initially refreshed from the server when the program starts, but you can manually refresh using the "Refresh button".
Note that events saved by other users can take 1-3 minutes to appear on your diary

Clicking on an area in this screen gives the full details which that user has chosen to make public. By default, this is just the location of the meeting, but by setting the security level to '3' or greater you can view all the users information.

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2.5 Booking Meetings with Other Users

Click the 'Staff' view in the Left hand side list, or choose 'Book a meeting' from the New menu.

Enter the time and date you want the meeting

Tick the users you want to attend the meeting

Click 'OK', and the requests will be sent to all ticked users
If they are not online, they will get the request when they turn on their PCs

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2.6 Change a Meeting with other users

If you change the date, time or details of a meeting, the program will ask you if you want to notify others of the change - clicking 'Yes' sends the updated meeting to the other users, while clicking 'no' leaves the users meeting as is, but updates your details.

You can also use the reschedule option to easily pick another time by right clicking the event and choosing 'Reschedule Appointment'

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2.7 Cancel a Meeting with other users

Deleting a meeting from your own diary causes the program to ask if you want the other users notified - say 'yes' and it is deleted on the other users diary as well.

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2.8 Search for information in all users diaries

Searching for other users information is done using the InfoLink program.

Choose 'Quick Find' from the Search menu, or click the 'Find' button (3rd button from the left in the toolbar) .
If you tick the 'Look in local files only' checkbox then it will search your local events database the same as the DiaryClient search

Leaving the 'Look in local files only' checkbox UNTICKED will ask the server to search its database of all events for the word you are looking for (remember that some users may only have date, time and location made public).

You can also specify which users you want to search and what date range by clicking the 'details' button to expand the search screen.

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2.9 Sending Messages to other users

In the Staff view, double Click a users name to send a message to them. A small screen will show up - simply type in the message and press enter.

If the user responds while your 'chat screen' is left open you can have a 2 way chat.

All messages sent to and from your PC can be viewed later by viewing the messages.log file in the Diary Client directory

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3. Other Features

This section describes each of the programs which make up Acute Softwares Network Diary Client :

InfoLink - the toolbar program which communicates with the server
DiaryClient - the main diary program for your own appointments and tasks
QuickView - screen to view others appointments
MeetingPlanner - program to book meetings with other users

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3.1 Tasks

Manage your list of things to do.

These are similar to appoinments, except that they are things which you dont have a fixed 'timeslot' to do them in (or perhaps that will take several days).

The best method is to enter all the things you want to do into the tasks list, then plan your day/week by dragging tasks to the diary events grid to make appointments for them.

If you dont get them done, you can simply drag them back to the task list.

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3.2 Notes

Manage your list of notes
- drag and drop multiple text files into the notes screen to automatically create notes

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3.3 Import Data

The File --> Import menu allows you to pick a CSV file to import date information.

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4. Advanced Topics

4.1 Server Communications and Timeouts

You can also specify the server timeout in the Options --> Advanced section.

This is the number of seconds the client will wait for the server to respond to a request. If no request is recieved the client assumes the server is not running and goes into local mode.

After a minute the client will recheck the server and reconnect silently if it is available

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4.2 Recording Events from the Quick Event Recorder

The EventRecorder.exe program is a small program which can be setup to quickly add commonly occurring events such as : taking phone calls, booking routine meetings.
You setup an event, such as the length of the event, references, etc and with a single click it can be added when ever you want - It can also run from the command line

Command Line Usage is :

"C:\Program Files\acute\netdiary\EventRecorder.exe" hi there

The above line run from the Start --> Run menu , or from a batch file will add a diary event with the details "hi there" and the date/time that it was entered

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4.3 Using Batch Files to add events from other programs

Say you want to keep track of when a program is run.
There are several options, many programs keep their own logfiles but most don't. Using the event recorder you can have a batch file call the program you need logged and use it to also make an automatic entry in the diary.

Example Batch File to run an intensive data processing job and record it:

@echo off
echo Recording Diary Event ...
cd "c:\Program Files\acute\netdiary"
EventRecorder Running Data processing job
cd "d:\apps\dataProc\"
d:\apps\dataProc\run.exe

4.4 Other Client Programs

This section describes the other 'silent' programs and misc. utilities that come with the diary client.

NetPath

Used to auto detect the diary server, based on the users PC name.

Can also be used manually to check that the server path is shared correctly (must be shared as NETSERVER .

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5. Support and Troubleshooting

If you have any problems at all with this product, please email us for FREE support
or visit the support website at http://www.acutesoftware.com.au/cont_support.html

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5.1 The Diary Client will not Start

1. try rebooting your PC (it may have locked up)
2. shutdown other programs and restart the Diary Client
3. try other programs - does Explorer, Word, Internet Explorer, etc work. If they don't then you have a problem with your PC not related to the diary. If they DO work, read below.
4. Try deleting your netDiary.ini file and running the program again. There may be a corrupted setting.
5. Write down any error message you get and email it to support@acutesoftware.com.au
6. You can also try re-installing the network diary client (some of your DLLs may have been overwritten by another programs installation.

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5.2 Cannot find the Server

1. Go to the Network Neighbourhood and see if you can see the server PC. If NOT then you have a problem with your networking which is not related to Acute Software. If you can see the Server which has the Diary server program installed, then read below
2. Make sure the server is running
3. Make sure the servers datapath is shared ( \public )

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5.3 The Server returns no data

Check the search criteria - try ticking all months or all users.

There may be no data available - that is, the user may not have entered any events

Also, the clients may have elected not to save ANY data

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5.4 Client Timed out waiting for Server

1. Make sure the server is still running
2. Make sure the clients network path is pointing to the correct path
3. Make sure you are running the correct version
4. Check for excessive load on the server - try just getting records for 1 month
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5.5 I cant see other users appointments

1. Check that you can see your own public appointments in the Quick View program
2. Make sure that the other users have not turned down their security level

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5.6 I get a 'Server Not responding' message

If this is the first time you have connected this client to the server :

1. Check with your administrator that the server is running and that you have been added as a user (either your name or, most likely - your PC name)

2. Make sure your name (InfoLink-->Server Menu-->WhoAmI) is in the above list of folders in the \user directory and is spelled correctly [contact your administrator if it is incorrect or missing]

3. Go through the Checklist of Tests in section 1.4

If your installation was previously working correctly

1. Browse Network Neighbourhood to prove that the Network is still working (browse in to your Server PC name, \NetServer\users\[your name]

2. Try Pinging the server, using Tools Menu --> Ping Server

3. Delete any *.OK files in your Network datapath above

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5.7 General Windows Troubleshooting Procedures

This section gives a very basic method of troubleshooting windows

1. Have you changed any hardware
2. Have you installed any software recently
3. Do other applications still work
4. Run the Windows 'Help Troubleshooter' to assist in finding any problems on your PC (Start Menu --> Help ---> 'Troubleshooting' )
5. Did you change any settings in control panel.
6. Make sure you have the latest version of the program you are having problems with. This may involve downloading the latest patch from the authors website.

� Copyright 2001-2003 Acute Software
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