Main Menu Overview

 

The Main Menu in Image Accounting is very powerful and full of time saving features. There are many features which will be explained in this article.

 

When first loading Image Accounting, the Company Navigator menu will appear displaying Form & Report Favorites, Scheduled Activities and Quick Search tailored to the specific user logged in. Each user can customize the Form Favorites section to display up to 12 of their most frequently used forms by clicking the Edit link. Each user can also customize the Report Favorites section to display up to 12 of their most frequently used reports by clicking the Edit link.

 

For example, if a user working in the AR department logs in, they will be able to display the forms and reports they use the most saving time navigating through the menus. The Company Navigator will also display the users upcoming scheduled activities.

 

The Scheduled Activities will display the next 5 up coming activities for the user. You can select any activity to view the Day Planer and make changes or add new activities by clicking the New link.

 

The Quick Search provides a very fast way to find Customers, Prospects, Inventory, Receivables or Vendors. For example, in the Customer/Prospect combo box it allows a user to type in any part of a Customer or Prospects ID, Company Name, First Name, Last Name or Phone Number.  When you press enter or select a record from the list using the mouse it will automatically open either the Customer or Prospect form (depending on the data found) to that record.

 

In the example below notice that typing the letters re filtered the Customer/Prospect combo box to show only customers/prospects that have re in their name.  This will find the data entered anywhere in those 5 fields even if it is in the middle of their name like Green or Furniture.  Selecting Allison Green opens the Customer form to that specific customer.

The Toolbar can also be used to quickly open certain forms.  Each toolbar item has a tool tip to explain what it does.

 

The Keyboard Shortcuts are another time saving feature in the main menu.  Many of the frequently used forms have an assigned keyboard shortcut to them as shown in the Sales menu.  For example holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the F4 key will open the Prospects form. You can see a list of all the keyboard shortcuts in the help file.

 

The Company Overview displays a variety of charts and other details about your company. The Company Overview can display a Monthly Sales, Yearly Sales or Revenue vs. Expense Chart. The Company Details can be customized to show a variety of information by clicking the Edit link.

 

This is the Yearly Sales Chart which can be displayed by selecting it from the Chart combo box.

 

This is the Revenue vs. Expense Chart which can be displayed by selecting it from the Chart combo box.

 

The Workflow menu displays a graphical flow of each of the main accounting modules. Clicking on any of the workflow menus will open the corresponding workflow as shown below.

 

This is the Purchasing Workflow which can be displayed by selecting Purchasing from the Workflow menu.

 

This is the Inventory Workflow which can be displayed by selecting Inventory from the Workflow menu.

 

This is the Accounting Workflow which can be displayed by selecting Accounting from the Workflow menu.

 

This is the Payroll Workflow which can be displayed by selecting Payroll from the Workflow menu.

 

This is the Contacts Workflow which can be displayed by selecting Contacts from the Workflow menu.

 

This is the System Manager Workflow which can be displayed by selecting System from the Workflow menu.

 

The Workflow itself is a small tight form that snaps to the upper left corner of the Main Menu. This keeps it small and out of the way when the graphical workflows are not in use.

What is nice about this design is none of the actual workflows need to show unless you click one of the menus in the workflow.  So the Main Menu has a clean look like shown below when a workflow is not in use.  The graphical workflow can be automatically turned off when you select any of the top pull down menus.  After getting more familiar with Image Accounting you might prefer using the more advanced pull down menus instead of the graphical workflows.


The Workflow itself can be turned on or off from the File pull down menu if a user would rather use the more advanced pull down menus instead.


Even if the user decides they do not want the Workflow displayed they can still show only the Company Navigator on the main menu as shown below.  None of the other workflows can do this except the Company Navigator.  In order to use the other workflows you must have the Workflow enabled.

The Advanced Menus can be used to access every aspect of the program. Listed below are all the menus located at the top of the Main Menu.

 

File Menu

 

Edit Menu

 

Sales Menu

 

Purchases Menu

 

Inventory Menu

Accounting Menu

Payroll Menu

Contact Manager Menu

 

System Manager Menu

 

Reports Menu

 

Help Menu

 

All the Forms & Reports can be limited per user by setting options in the Security form.  So if you do not want a user to be able to open certain forms or reports they will not be able to.

Using the User Preference form you can decide if you want to the Company Navigator to open automatically or not on startup.


Also using the User Preference form you can decide if you want the Workflow to display on the main menu or hide it. The same option can be set in the File pull down menu as shown above.

The background of the Manu Menu can display a graphic a lot like wallpaper.  You can select your own custom background graphic using the User Preference form.

This only affects the Image Accounting desktop and not your Windows desktop.


Clicking Help in the Workflow or selecting Help & Support Center from the Help pull down menu opens the handy Help & Support Center form.  This form provides help to many of the frequently ask questions and also provides a link to our up to date Knowledgebase Articles.