Act! 2010 to Outlook 2007 calendar integration

[Liontamer]

General Info:
I am using Windows XP Media Center Edition, SP3
I have onboard Microsoft Office Professional 2007

My Question:
Recently I purchased Act! 2010 for my CRM needs.
I was also encouraged to purchase: The Official Act! by Sage QuickStudy Guide
written by: Susan Clark, Act! Certified Consultant, Swiftpage Certified
Consultant, Cornerstone Solutions, Inc.

I was expecting that by studying this publication for my training purposes
that I would acquire a good understanding of the functionality of the Act!
2010 program. Unfortunately, I've run into three specific problems, one
which I will elaborate upon herein.

Using the Act!2010Demo which comes with the program itself, appearing on the
contact tab, of the program itself, I attempted to learn more about the Act!
program by following the directions within the QuickStudy Guide. I did not
attempt to set up my own database with this program. For I felt it was more
important to familiarize myself with how the Act! 2010 features work.

The program itself at it's most basic level does a fine job in the area of
basic contact management. However, I felt it would be better to first get
acquainted with the programs many features before actually putting the
program to use for my own business purposes. Simply put, my thinking on this
amounts to: learn it first the right way the first time rather than doing
something wrong, undoing it, and redoing it correctly. Which i think most
people would agree is an excellent approach to a feature rich program such as
Act! 2010.

So what is my problem?
Well following the instructions in the QuickStudy Guide (QSG) on pages 132 -
135 and just using the Act2010Demo, I attempt to: Copy > Act! calendar to
Outlook (recommended). This was Step #4 on page 132 of the QSG. By
following this instruction, I am expecting only that the Act calendar will be
copied to my Outlook calendar.

Step #3 allowed me to choose: Other > Current Month
All I wanted to see here was for the data on the Act calendar for one month
if it would copy to my Outlook calendar for the current month. But that is
not what happened. In fact, the Act program copied everything from my Act
2010 Demo calendar to my Outlook 2007 calendar for several years. Why this
happened: I don’t understand.

Furthermore, I cannot remove the activities. I’ve tried to check: Remove
Act! activities from Outlook. And then both: Remove Act! activities from
Outlook and Outlook activities from Act! (even though I never selected to
copy my calendar from Outlook to Act!). In both cases, I cannot seem to
remove the activities from my Outlook calendar. And I do not understand why?
or what happened to cause this?

I even went back to the Act! Scheduer dialog, and I made sure that the Stop
Service option was selected. I tried to remove the activities once again
from my Outlook calendar and still no results.

This is a major problem in my Outlook 2007 calendar now. All I wanted to
see happen was for only one month to be copied from the Act! 2010 Demo to my
Outlook 2007 calendar. Then I wanted to remove it as instructed on page 135
of the QSG. Again, the entire calendar from the Act! 2010 Demo copied over
into my Outlook 2007 calendar, not once by about five times (in the day view)
and according to what I can see on my calendar view (3 times copied) of
Outlook.

I feel company Act! by Sage is responsible for this incorrect training
advice to its new users. And I've expressed my concerns to their customer
service people and now in the general manager's office for North America. As
you can well imagine, I am annoyed and frustrated that the Act! by Sage
organization did not scrutinize the publication written by Susan Clark enough
to see that what she is teaching in her QSG, works properly with the online
Act2010Demo.

I am writing you today in the hopes of learning that perhaps Microsoft's
program has something to do with this problem.

You need to know that earlier this morning, I ran the Microsoft Office
Diagnostics on my computer system. The results follow:
Diagnostics run: 6
Diagnostics that ID-ed problems: 0
Diagnostics that took corrective actions: 0

I'm surprised at Act! by Sage for not checking upon how the recommendations
within the QSG reacts with their own Act2010Demo online. How else are their
new customers supposed to learn about such a complex program? Why Act! 2010
by Sage Editors let this slip by them is beyond me.

Right now, I am seeking help on solving the aforementioned problem. Perhaps
a Microsoft MVP understands this situation. I need to remove the activities
copied from the Act2010Demo to my Outlook 2007 calendar. I don't want to
lose anything all ready in my Outlook 2007 folders, etc.

It seems as if the sales people over at Act! 2010 are doing a fine job.
They seem to really want to be helpful to new customers. But it also seems
that Act! Customer Service is pulling a fast one on it's customers. Because
they give you only so much time on what they call: Getting Started Support
then they cut you off. The new customer then finds themselves trapped in a
difficult situation. They need to have the customer support services of
Act!. But getting this support will now cost you $299 to $499 for an annual
support contract. Holly cow, I didn't expect that when I signed on and
purchased their Act!2010 program, which I felt was fairly priced at that time.

In my opinion, there's something wrong with that model of salemanship. Even
if I agreed to a one time charge of $45 to solve a particular incident
involving their Act! 2010 program then it's still not fair play with their
new customers.

It all boils down to this: The Act! 2010 by Sage company executives sell
the QSG. That QSG should in fact easily and precisely train a new user on
how their program operates, in all its functionalities. If the training
instructions within their QSG fails to explain the programs functionality
properly then it shoud be the Act! by Sage organizations responsibility to
make things right. And not by forcing the new customer to explore their
extensive knowledgebase for answers themselves. They caused the situation to
occur. They need to fix it.

And, just for your information, I spent several hours this morning
attempting to review and look through the Act! by Sage Knowledgebase. I am
exhausted trying to make heads or tails of this situation. I now ask my
friends at Microsoft Discussion Group for help. Thank you.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Because not many of us here use Act, you'll get better answers in the Act
forums - http://community.act.com/sage/

My comments (which may not match those in the Act community since I don't
use Act) are:
Did their tutorial use outlook 2007? If not things might have changed if the
new version.

1. Unless the Act calendar allows you to pick dates, expect that its going
to import.
2. Did you try deleting them from the outlook calendar? Use a view such as
all appointments - or By category if they have a unique category - and
delete. It might be easier to add the last modified field to the view sort
by if.

 

[Liontamer]

Hi Diane Poremsky:
I will be trying out your suggestions in the near future. And I will get
back to you once I've determined the effects of your advice. Please standby,
I will get back to you soon. Thank you.

 

[Liontamer]

Diane Poremsky:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Some of your suggestions pointed me in the right direction.
And I was able to figure out how to completely clear my Outlook 2007 calendar.
Whew! I was really worried about this situation for quite some time.

For the other readers of this postings benefit, the solution I discovered
boils down to:

View > Current View > All Appointments
then
Edit > Select All > Delete

I also discovered that I can delete things either item by item or in item
groupings. However, when I realized that the above procedureof Selecting All
was available that made more sense. So, I just wiped the whole calendar
clean. Fortunately, I'll be able to put my calendar back together without
the Act! 2010 Demo appointments and activities.

I originally thought since the Act! 2010 Demo put the postings to my Outlook
2007 calendar that the only way to rid them was through the Act! 2010 Demo.
With Diane's help, I was able to correct my thinking on this matter.

I was overlooking the fact that Outlook 2007 has own controls for deletion
of postings to its calendar. That means I did not need to do this through
the Act! 2010 program. Why didn't I think of that before? (Well, I guess I
thought that the Act! 2010 program had some kind of "electonic string"
attached to it's own postings to my Outlook 2007 calendar. For some reason,
I felt locked in to using the Act! 2010 program to undo, what it should have
been able to do on its own, in the first place.)

Fortunately, this problem is now solved thanks to Diane pointing me in the
right direction.

However, I found in my study of the Act! 2010 program two other areas of
their CRM program to also be a disappointment, which mattered in terms of
their programs functionality. In a nutshell, I think Act! by Sage, in their
efforts to release their new Act! 2010 program, can and must do a better job
at making sure their training guide is in sync with their Act2010Demo. I
supplied them with a very clear and pointed critique of their program in
these two other areas. I can only hope they truly act upon my suggested
comments on improvements. Otherwise, they will continue to confuse and
frustrate their customers.

However, at this point in time, I do not, after what I've experienced and
attempted to learn about their program, rate this company very highly.
___

If you can recommend a CRM application developed by a company:
1. That is oncerned about providing excellent training resources.
2. That are clear and easy to learn and follow. Ex. Microsoft Step by Step
guides.
3. That has programming functionality that works as expected witout flaws.
4. That such functionality is both logicial and consistent with prior
application learnings about its very own program.
5. That has a reasonable price.
6. That doesn't have a surprisingly hefty fee for customer support services
as an option available to the new user that is running into problems learning
about their program, after a brief start up period of initial support.
7. That has a good community of users supporting the program with good
testimonals that are genuine comments.
THEN: I will be most definitely interested in learning about such a program.

Right now, I regret my experience with the Act! 2010 program. And that's so
sad because I expected so much better from such an established organization.

There was a time in the distant past that I read a text on Microsoft
Dynamics. That program seemed so on target and so effective. But it wasn't
available for single users, at that time. It designed and targeted big
corporations as its customers.

I am currently reviewing another CRM application. And I hope they have
their act together. Have a nice day!

 

[Julie Cooper]

FYI, Create your own database before you start to use the ACT! scheduler; ie Copy ACT! Calendar into Outlook. DO NOT Set up preferences in the DEMO database! Remember most demo databases that come with software are indeed ment to learn on, but you cannot go as far as to intergrate it completely with your current programs.

As far as you had selected only one month to be pushed to Outlook but the who year copied over.... I've never heard of any of my clients or myself with this issue.

Try going to Community.act.com it is a grate resource.

PS I think Susan Clark is a great reference book writer!
No matter what you think!




Liontamer wrote:

Act! 2010 to Outlook 2007 calendar integration
16-Feb-10

General Info:
I am using Windows XP Media Center Edition, SP3
I have onboard Microsoft Office Professional 2007

My Question:
Recently I purchased Act! 2010 for my CRM needs.
I was also encouraged to purchase: The Official Act! by Sage QuickStudy Guide
written by: Susan Clark, Act! Certified Consultant, Swiftpage Certified
Consultant, Cornerstone Solutions, Inc.

I was expecting that by studying this publication for my training purposes
that I would acquire a good understanding of the functionality of the Act!
2010 program. Unfortunately, I have run into three specific problems, one
which I will elaborate upon herein.

Using the Act!2010Demo which comes with the program itself, appearing on the
contact tab, of the program itself, I attempted to learn more about the Act!
program by following the directions within the QuickStudy Guide. I did not
attempt to set up my own database with this program. For I felt it was more
important to familiarize myself with how the Act! 2010 features work.

The program itself at it is most basic level does a fine job in the area of
basic contact management. However, I felt it would be better to first get
acquainted with the programs many features before actually putting the
program to use for my own business purposes. Simply put, my thinking on this
amounts to: learn it first the right way the first time rather than doing
something wrong, undoing it, and redoing it correctly. Which i think most
people would agree is an excellent approach to a feature rich program such as
Act! 2010.

So what is my problem?
Well following the instructions in the QuickStudy Guide (QSG) on pages 132 -
135 and just using the Act2010Demo, I attempt to: Copy > Act! calendar to
Outlook (recommended). This was Step #4 on page 132 of the QSG. By
following this instruction, I am expecting only that the Act calendar will be
copied to my Outlook calendar.

Step #3 allowed me to choose: Other > Current Month
All I wanted to see here was for the data on the Act calendar for one month
if it would copy to my Outlook calendar for the current month. But that is
not what happened. In fact, the Act program copied everything from my Act
2010 Demo calendar to my Outlook 2007 calendar for several years. Why this
happened: I don???t understand.

Furthermore, I cannot remove the activities. I???ve tried to check: Remove
Act! activities from Outlook. And then both: Remove Act! activities from
Outlook and Outlook activities from Act! (even though I never selected to
copy my calendar from Outlook to Act!). In both cases, I cannot seem to
remove the activities from my Outlook calendar. And I do not understand why?
or what happened to cause this?

I even went back to the Act! Scheduer dialog, and I made sure that the Stop
Service option was selected. I tried to remove the activities once again
from my Outlook calendar and still no results.

This is a major problem in my Outlook 2007 calendar now. All I wanted to
see happen was for only one month to be copied from the Act! 2010 Demo to my
Outlook 2007 calendar. Then I wanted to remove it as instructed on page 135
of the QSG. Again, the entire calendar from the Act! 2010 Demo copied over
into my Outlook 2007 calendar, not once by about five times (in the day view)
and according to what I can see on my calendar view (3 times copied) of
Outlook.

I feel company Act! by Sage is responsible for this incorrect training
advice to its new users. And I have expressed my concerns to their customer
service people and now in the general manager's office for North America. As
you can well imagine, I am annoyed and frustrated that the Act! by Sage
organization did not scrutinize the publication written by Susan Clark enough
to see that what she is teaching in her QSG, works properly with the online
Act2010Demo.

I am writing you today in the hopes of learning that perhaps Microsoft's
program has something to do with this problem.

You need to know that earlier this morning, I ran the Microsoft Office
Diagnostics on my computer system. The results follow:
Diagnostics run: 6
Diagnotics that ID-ed problems: 0
Diagnostics that took corrective actions: 0

I am surprised at Act! by Sage for not checking upon how the recommendations
within the QSG reacts with their own Act2010Demo online. How else are their
new customers supposed to learn about such a complex program? Why Act! 2010
by Sage Editors let this slip by them is beyond me.

Right now, I am seeking help on solving the aforementioned problem. Perhaps
a Microsoft MVP understands this situation. I need to remove the activities
copied from the Act2010Demo to my Outlook 2007 calendar. I do not want to
lose anything all ready in my Outlook 2007 folders, etc.

It seems as if the sales people over at Act! 2010 are doing a fine job.
They seem to really want to be helpful to new customers. But it also seems
that Act! Customer Service is pulling a fast one on it is customers. Because
they give you only so much time on what they call: Getting Started Support
then they cut you off. The new customer then finds themselves trapped in a
difficult situation. They need to have the customer support services of
Act!. But getting this support will now cost you $299 to $499 for an annual
support contract. Holly cow, I did not expect that when I signed on and
purchased their Act!2010 program, which I felt was fairly priced at that time.

Previous Posts In This Thread:

Act! 2010 to Outlook 2007 calendar integration
General Info:
I am using Windows XP Media Center Edition, SP3
I have onboard Microsoft Office Professional 2007

My Question:
Recently I purchased Act! 2010 for my CRM needs.
I was also encouraged to purchase: The Official Act! by Sage QuickStudy Guide
written by: Susan Clark, Act! Certified Consultant, Swiftpage Certified
Consultant, Cornerstone Solutions, Inc.

I was expecting that by studying this publication for my training purposes
that I would acquire a good understanding of the functionality of the Act!
2010 program. Unfortunately, I have run into three specific problems, one
which I will elaborate upon herein.

Using the Act!2010Demo which comes with the program itself, appearing on the
contact tab, of the program itself, I attempted to learn more about the Act!
program by following the directions within the QuickStudy Guide. I did not
attempt to set up my own database with this program. For I felt it was more
important to familiarize myself with how the Act! 2010 features work.

The program itself at it is most basic level does a fine job in the area of
basic contact management. However, I felt it would be better to first get
acquainted with the programs many features before actually putting the
program to use for my own business purposes. Simply put, my thinking on this
amounts to: learn it first the right way the first time rather than doing
something wrong, undoing it, and redoing it correctly. Which i think most
people would agree is an excellent approach to a feature rich program such as
Act! 2010.

So what is my problem?
Well following the instructions in the QuickStudy Guide (QSG) on pages 132 -
135 and just using the Act2010Demo, I attempt to: Copy > Act! calendar to
Outlook (recommended). This was Step #4 on page 132 of the QSG. By
following this instruction, I am expecting only that the Act calendar will be
copied to my Outlook calendar.

Step #3 allowed me to choose: Other > Current Month
All I wanted to see here was for the data on the Act calendar for one month
if it would copy to my Outlook calendar for the current month. But that is
not what happened. In fact, the Act program copied everything from my Act
2010 Demo calendar to my Outlook 2007 calendar for several years. Why this
happened: I don???t understand.

Furthermore, I cannot remove the activities. I???ve tried to check: Remove
Act! activities from Outlook. And then both: Remove Act! activities from
Outlook and Outlook activities from Act! (even though I never selected to
copy my calendar from Outlook to Act!). In both cases, I cannot seem to
remove the activities from my Outlook calendar. And I do not understand why?
or what happened to cause this?

I even went back to the Act! Scheduer dialog, and I made sure that the Stop
Service option was selected. I tried to remove the activities once again
from my Outlook calendar and still no results.

This is a major problem in my Outlook 2007 calendar now. All I wanted to
see happen was for only one month to be copied from the Act! 2010 Demo to my
Outlook 2007 calendar. Then I wanted to remove it as instructed on page 135
of the QSG. Again, the entire calendar from the Act! 2010 Demo copied over
into my Outlook 2007 calendar, not once by about five times (in the day view)
and according to what I can see on my calendar view (3 times copied) of
Outlook.

I feel company Act! by Sage is responsible for this incorrect training
advice to its new users. And I have expressed my concerns to their customer
service people and now in the general manager's office for North America. As
you can well imagine, I am annoyed and frustrated that the Act! by Sage
organization did not scrutinize the publication written by Susan Clark enough
to see that what she is teaching in her QSG, works properly with the online
Act2010Demo.

I am writing you today in the hopes of learning that perhaps Microsoft's
program has something to do with this problem.

You need to know that earlier this morning, I ran the Microsoft Office
Diagnostics on my computer system. The results follow:
Diagnostics run: 6
Diagnotics that ID-ed problems: 0
Diagnostics that took corrective actions: 0

I am surprised at Act! by Sage for not checking upon how the recommendations
within the QSG reacts with their own Act2010Demo online. How else are their
new customers supposed to learn about such a complex program? Why Act! 2010
by Sage Editors let this slip by them is beyond me.

Right now, I am seeking help on solving the aforementioned problem. Perhaps
a Microsoft MVP understands this situation. I need to remove the activities
copied from the Act2010Demo to my Outlook 2007 calendar. I do not want to
lose anything all ready in my Outlook 2007 folders, etc.

It seems as if the sales people over at Act! 2010 are doing a fine job.
They seem to really want to be helpful to new customers. But it also seems
that Act! Customer Service is pulling a fast one on it is customers. Because
they give you only so much time on what they call: Getting Started Support
then they cut you off. The new customer then finds themselves trapped in a
difficult situation. They need to have the customer support services of
Act!. But getting this support will now cost you $299 to $499 for an annual
support contract. Holly cow, I did not expect that when I signed on and
purchased their Act!2010 program, which I felt was fairly priced at that time.

Because not many of us here use Act, you will get better answers in the
Because not many of us here use Act, you will get better answers in the Act
forums - http://community.act.com/sage/

My comments (which may not match those in the Act community since I do not
use Act) are:
Did their tutorial use outlook 2007? If not things might have changed if the
new version.

1. Unless the Act calendar allows you to pick dates, expect that its going
to import.
2. Did you try deleting them from the outlook calendar? Use a view such as
all appointments - or By category if they have a unique category - and
delete. It might be easier to add the last modified field to the view sort
by if.

Hi Diane Poremsky:I will be trying out your suggestions in the near future.
Hi Diane Poremsky:
I will be trying out your suggestions in the near future. And I will get
back to you once I have determined the effects of your advice. Please standby,
I will get back to you soon. Thank you.

:

Diane Poremsky:Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Diane Poremsky:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Some of your suggestions pointed me in the right direction.
And I was able to figure out how to completely clear my Outlook 2007 calendar.
Whew! I was really worried about this situation for quite some time.

For the other readers of this postings benefit, the solution I discovered
boils down to:

View > Current View > All Appointments
then
Edit > Select All > Delete

I also discovered that I can delete things either item by item or in item
groupings. However, when I realized that the above procedureof Selecting All
was available that made more sense. So, I just wiped the whole calendar
clean. Fortunately, I will be able to put my calendar back together without
the Act! 2010 Demo appointments and activities.

I originally thought since the Act! 2010 Demo put the postings to my Outlook
2007 calendar that the only way to rid them was through the Act! 2010 Demo.
With Diane's help, I was able to correct my thinking on this matter.

I was overlooking the fact that Outlook 2007 has own controls for deletion
of postings to its calendar. That means I did not need to do this through
the Act! 2010 program. Why did not I think of that before? (Well, I guess I
thought that the Act! 2010 program had some kind of "electonic string"
attached to it is own postings to my Outlook 2007 calendar. For some reason,
I felt locked in to using the Act! 2010 program to undo, what it should have
been able to do on its own, in the first place.)

Fortunately, this problem is now solved thanks to Diane pointing me in the
right direction.

However, I found in my study of the Act! 2010 program two other areas of
their CRM program to also be a disappointment, which mattered in terms of
their programs functionality. In a nutshell, I think Act! by Sage, in their
efforts to release their new Act! 2010 program, can and must do a better job
at making sure their training guide is in sync with their Act2010Demo. I
supplied them with a very clear and pointed critique of their program in
these two other areas. I can only hope they truly act upon my suggested
comments on improvements. Otherwise, they will continue to confuse and
frustrate their customers.

However, at this point in time, I do not, after what I have experienced and
attempted to learn about their program, rate this company very highly.
___

If you can recommend a CRM application developed by a company:
1. That is oncerned about providing excellent training resources.
2. That are clear and easy to learn and follow. Ex. Microsoft Step by Step
guides.
3. That has programming functionality that works as expected witout flaws.
4. That such functionality is both logicial and consistent with prior
application learnings about its very own program.
5. That has a reasonable price.
6. That does not have a surprisingly hefty fee for customer support services
as an option available to the new user that is running into problems learning
about their program, after a brief start up period of initial support.
7. That has a good community of users supporting the program with good
testimonals that are genuine comments.
THEN: I will be most definitely interested in learning about such a program.

Right now, I regret my experience with the Act! 2010 program. And that is so
sad because I expected so much better from such an established organization.

There was a time in the distant past that I read a text on Microsoft
Dynamics. That program seemed so on target and so effective. But it was not
available for single users, at that time. It designed and targeted big
corporations as its customers.

I am currently reviewing another CRM application. And I hope they have
their act together. Have a nice day!

:


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