Network Diary Help - Procedures

Overview
FAQ
Installing the Server
Installing the Client

Using the Diary
Client Apps
Server Apps
Troubleshooting
Power User Tips
Customisation

Take a quick look at how to use the main features of the Network Diary
Viewing Appointments
Entering Appointments
Finding Information
Booking Meetings with Other Users
Viewing Other Users Appointments
Automatic Event Logging
Sending Messages to other users
Managing your list of quick launch Programs

Last revised 18-Nov-2001 (C) Acute Software 2001

Viewing Appointments

The following screen shot shows the main screen for the diary

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 quickly for viewing and editing.

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.

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Entering Appointments

Simply 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 the following dialog box:
Screen shot

The 'Details' button displays 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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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 also do a Power Search, which allows you to choose which dates to looks for.

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

Booking Meetings with Other Users

Start the meeting planner from Infolink menu, or choose 'Book a meeting' from the Appointments menu of the main DiaryClient.

Enter the time and date you want the meeting

Tick the users you want to attend the meeting

Click Make Meeting, and the requests will be sent to all ticked users
If they are not online, they will get the request when they turn on thier PCs

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Viewing Other Users Appointments

Start the meeting planner from Infolink menu, or choose 'Book a meeting' from the Appointments menu of the main DiaryClient.

Click the Show Availability button to bring up the following screen:

Automatic Event Logging

This feature is very useful in order to :

see how long you spend on various computing tasks

create accurate invoices for people who bill hourly

create employee timesheets down to 1 minute intervals

Assists Network administrators to identify which files where modified and when

Diary entries can be automatically created from a number of sources:

Recording PC Usage from InfoLink
Every minute, InfoLink records which application you are using to a logfile ( diary.raw ). At the specified interval ( 1 - 60 minutes ) the pim-util.exe program runs which summarizes the logfile into events for the diary.

Recording Files Modified from 'Autobackup'
Autobackup is a free utility from Acute Software. At the start of each day it makes a copy of all the files you have modified into a separate directory. It can also create diary entries for each file modified, showing the file size and full pathname. It cannot show how long you spent editing the file unless dserver is running and has recorded the events.

Recording "Tasks" from Acute Software's Timer
If you have purchased the Timer program from Acute Software, you can also use it to generate events when you time certain tasks - either in stop watch mode or alarm clock mode.

Recording Events from the Quick Event Recorder
The EventRecorder.exe program is a small program which can be setup to quick add commonly occurring events such as : taking phone calls, booking routine meetings. Click the Customizing the Network Diary article for more infomation.

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Sending Messages to other users

All message sending (in fact any communications with the server) is done through the InfoLink program.

To send a message to another user, you :
1. Make sure you can see the lists on the InfoLink display by resizing the form or, by going to the menu (smiley face), and choosing 'compact display mode'

2. Display the users list, by clicking on the drop down listbox on the left hand side, under the menu toolbar
A list of the users will appear and the status field in the list tells you if they are online or not.

3. 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.

4. 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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Managing your list of quick launch Programs

1. Make sure you can see the lists on the InfoLink display by resizing the form or, by going to the menu (smiley face), and choosing 'compact display mode'

2. Display the Programs list, by clicking on the drop down listbox on the left hand side, under the menu toolbar
This is your 'quick launch' list of programs , it will initially be empty., but all you need to do is drag and drop a file or folder to this area to have it added to the list.
You can edit this list with any text editor by changing the file PROGRAMS.LIS Double Click one to launch a file or folder.
Screen shot