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Record Windows - Paste Special

You can use the 'Paste Special' feature in many fields to bring information in to a record from another register or setting. For example, when you enter an Invoice, you can use 'Paste Special' to choose a Customer or Payment Term. The following example shows pasting a Customer Number into an Invoice:

Place the insertion point in the Customer field and press the ⌘-Enter or Ctrl-Enter key combination. A new window will open, showing the contents of the register or setting from which you can select a record (in this case, the window will list Customers in the Contact register). This window is similar to a browse window in its behavior, so you can sort and search as previously described. Select the Customer you want by double-clicking or by highlighting and pressing Enter. The Customer Number and other details are transferred to the Invoice.

If you are using Mac OS X, when you move the insertion point into an empty field where you can use the 'Paste Special' feature, you will see the following image in the field:

You can make the 'Paste Special' feature more powerful by saving the sort order of the 'Paste Special' list. For example, whenever you need to choose a Customer, you will probably know its Name but not its Number. The first time you use the 'Paste Special' feature to choose a Customer, sort the list by Name and then select 'Save Position' from the Window menu. From now on, the list will be sorted by Name when it opens. Now you can type the first few characters of the Customer Name in a Customer field and then press ⌘-Enter or Ctrl-Enter. When the 'Paste Special' list opens, the highlighted Customer will be the first one to match the typed characters. If this is the correct one, all you need do is press the Enter key and carry on typing without interruption. In the example shown below, we typed "pena" into the Customer field in an Invoice and then pressed ⌘-Enter. The 'Paste Special' list opens, with the first Customer whose name begins with "pena" highlighted:

If the record you are looking for does not exist and so is not shown in the 'Paste Special' list, you can often enter it on the fly. In the 'Paste Special' window, press ⌘-N or Ctrl-N, or click the [New] or [Duplicate] buttons as appropriate (or use the relevant keyboard shortcuts, ⌘-N/Ctrl-N and ⌘-Y/Ctrl-K respectively). A new Customer screen (in this example) is shown. Enter the new Customer, click [Save] and the new record is saved. At the same time, the Customer Number is entered in the Invoice.

If you realize that your information about the linked record (in this case, the Customer) is out of date (they might have changed their address or telephone number, for example), highlight the Customer in the 'Paste Special' window and press ⌘-Shift-V (Mac OS X) or F2 (Windows). The Customer record will be opened, allowing you to make the necessary changes. You can also do this if you have already entered the Customer Number in the Invoice. With the insertion point in the Customer Number field, press ⌘-Shift-V or F2. This feature is available from most fields with a 'Paste Special' link.

You can also drag and drop records from a browse window or 'Paste Special' list onto a record window. For example, you can drag a Customer Number from the 'Contacts: Browse' or the 'Paste Customer' window into an Invoice. When a record contains a list (e.g. the list of Items in an Invoice), you can open the 'Items: Browse' or the 'Paste Item' window and select a range of Items by clicking while holding down the Shift key. Then, drag them to the Item field in the first empty row in the list. All selected Items will be added to the list.

You can also use 'Paste Special' when you are in a date field to choose a date from a calendar.

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