Phoenix - User Help

To enter an Account Transfer:

Move to the “Cat/Ac” field in dissections and press F2 to display the Income/Expense & Account Transfer lists.

Press Alt A to change to the account list.

Select the account for the transfer.

You can search for an account in exactly the same way you can search for a category.

See also: Linking & Transferring

When entering in the Pay To / Pay From field, if the entry is not in the card file Phoenix will ask if you would like to add it to the card file.  Adding the new name to the card file will add the name to the selection drop down list so in future transactions there will be no need to re-type the name.

Pressing the edit button from the auto add screen will open the card file entry screen, this is available so more of the company details can be entered.

This option can be turned off so that Phoenix won’t present this option when an entry is not in the card file.  This can be turned off by unticking the box at the bottom of the screen when it pops up.  It can also be turned off and on under Tools / Options from the menu selection at the top of the screen

If the option is turned off there is a button next to the pay to / from field that will allow the user to add the entry into the card file.  After entering in the new name click that button and it will add it to the card file.

When selecting a category, you can either:

Type the category code, or,

Type a few characters from the category you want.

For example, typing “ins” instead of the code finds category 22, “Crop Insurance”…

If the highlighted category is not the one you want, then you can press the F3 key to have Phoenix search for further matches. For example, if you are searching for Stock Insurance, press F3 to continue searching for it further down the list.

Once you have found the category you want, press the Enter key to move on to the Sub-category.

Use the backspace or delete keys if you want to remove search characters you enter.

As an alternative to the F3 key, you can use the Ctrl ¯ key combination instead. You can also go back to a previous match by pressing the Ctrl key combination.

Remember!  Even after entering search characters, you can still type the code directly, or use the up and down arrow keys to choose a different category.

The button next to the Pay to / Pay From field will allow the user to enter any additional comments about the transaction.  These comments can be printed on tax invoices or reports provided that the correct options are selected when designing your Invoice or Statement Layout.

The easiest way to delete a dissection entry is to click on the dissection using the right mouse button.

When you click the right mouse button, you display a small local menu. For dissections, the menu has just one option, “Delete Entry”.

Now click on the Delete Entry option (using the left mouse button) to delete the entry.

In any dissection field, you start typing to make a new entry in that field. If you are editing any existing dissection, then whatever you type replaces the entry already there.

Use the F2 key if you want to change an existing entry without completely overwriting it. In many Windows programs the F2 key is used to start editing, and Phoenix is no different. For example, when you move to the Comment field:

Press F2 to initiate the edit.

Use the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor to the point where you want to make the changes.

Type the changes or use the Delete or Backspace keys to remove characters

Note that pressing the F2 key while in the Cat/Ac field displays the category list.

Remember! Even after pressing F2, if you start typing while an entry is highlighted, what you type completely overwrites the entry already there. You will find that all Windows programs follow this rule.

When editing an entry for a transaction, you can use the Esc key to escape any changes you just made to the entry field.

The Esc key will work until you move out of the field you are editing. Once you move onto the next field, you cannot undo the changes without cancelling the edit for the entire transaction.

You can undo an edit for an entire transaction by clicking the Cancel button, or by pressing Alt C.

When entering a date, the up and down arrow keys increase or decrease the day, month or year already shown.

For example, when the cursor is in the “month” position of the date, press the up arrow key to increase the month by one, or the down arrow key to decrease it by one. Use the left and right arrow keys to move between the day, month and year positions.

Press and hold down the Shift key, then press the Tab key to move back in the form. This is the normal practice for Windows programs.

You can press either the Enter key or the Tab key to move forward through the Transaction Entry form. When you edit a transaction, Phoenix starts you in the “Type” field, and by pressing either the Enter or Tab key, you move to the “Ref” field, and so on.

When the transaction entry form is first displayed, the New button has, in Windows terminology, “the focus”.

You can tell it has the focus by the dotted rectangle drawn inside the button around the word “New”. While a button has the focus, you can press the Enter key to click the button.

If you want the Edit button instead, press the Tab key to move the focus to it, then press the Enter key to click it.

When entering a series of numbers in the Ref field Phoenix will try and enter a reference number for you.  A drop down list of previous references entered is available.  When selecting a number from this list Phoenix will automatically add one to the number selected.

If this function is not needed enter the reference number with a full stop after the number, this will stop any automatic numbering in the future.

Press Alt S to save instead of using the mouse.

The “S” in Save is underlined. This is the clue Windows gives you so you know which key to press to access the command without clicking the button. It’s easy to do with just one hand:

After a few transactions, you will start doing it automatically, without having to think about it!

1. In Transaction Entry:

Use the Escape key to quickly change accounts or periods. When not editing a transaction, the Esc key drops down the Account, Period or Search selection window. Phoenix "remembers" which selection window you last used, and drops that one down for you when you press the Esc key. Remember also that once you have one of these dropped down, you can quickly move to the others by pressing the left and right arrow keys.

2. In statement view (Customers and Suppliers):

a) use the Esc key to drop down the Customer/Supplier, Statement and Print selection windows;

b) after saving a new invoice, press Esc to exit from the invoice entry window back to the statement view.