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Number Series - Contacts

Each Contact has its own unique identifying number, based on a sequential series. When you enter a new Contact, the next number in the sequence will be used. If required, you can have a number of such sequences running concurrently, perhaps representing different types of Contact (e.g. Customer, Supplier or Contact Person) or different departments.

Use this setting to define these sequences, or Number Series. The different series should not overlap. If you leave the setting empty, Contact Numbers will start at 1 and continue consecutively. If you want to start from another number, simply specify it in a new Contact record before saving.

Once you have defined number sequences for Contacts, you can optionally use the Number Series Defaults setting in the System module to specify the number sequence that is to be used by default. The first new Contact that you enter will take its Number from the number sequence specified in the Number Series Defaults setting or otherwise from the first valid Number Series in this setting. For a particular Contact, any user can change to the first unused number in any other valid Number Series using 'Paste Special'.

When you save each Contact for the first time, its Contact Number will also be saved in the Number Series Defaults setting. So, if you used 'Paste Special' to change to another Number Series, that Number Series will provide the default Number for the next new Contact.

You should define Number Series - Contacts using the setting in the Sales Ledger. Use the [Module] button in the Master Control panel to enter the Sales Ledger and then click the [Settings] button, also in the Master Control panel. Double-click 'Number Series - Contacts' in the resulting list. The following window appears:

Enter each new Number Series on the first blank line. The Comment will be shown in the 'Paste Special' list, so enter some text that will help you choose a number from the correct sequence. The N/L field common to all Number Series settings is not used with Contacts. Then, when finished, click the [Save] button in the Button Bar to save the changes. To close the window without saving changes, click the close box.

Note that you can only enter numeric characters in the Number Series - Contacts setting, but Contact Numbers can also contain alpha characters. So, you can only set numeric number sequences, but when entering Contacts you can use alpha characters providing you remain within the sequence. For example, if you have a sequence of 1-100, you will be able to use Contact Numbers 1, 1A, 1B, 2 and so on, but not A1 or B1. You will also be able to use Contact Numbers with leading zeros (001, 002 and so on), but you will need to set this format in the first Contact you enter or in the Number Series Defaults setting, not in the Number Series setting. The format will be remembered for subsequent Contacts.

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Settings related to Contacts:

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