Act! 20.1 Update 6 is a great release! #ActCRM

Today, Swiftpage has released Update 6 for Act! 20.1 and it has some significant improvements. Enough to be a service pack rather than just an update.

Twenty-two new or enhanced features and 90 closed defects!

Yes, you read that right! The developers and QA guys at Swiftpage have been putting in some serious effort to get this done – and yes, for those who don’t know, I have been contracted to help with QA as their Certified Act! Expert (the only one in the world) for the past year.

And here is the list:

Outlook integration improvements

1. When sending an email to a someone whose email address isn’t in the database, you now have the option to create a new contact or to attach the email to another contact.
   
   
2. You can now enter ID/Status when creating a new contact from Outlook.
   
   
3. A preference setting to auto-attach histories to contacts and NOT to your My Record.
   
   

User Interface Improvements

1. A Documents Tab option to save the selected file locally
   
   
2. Contact column should display by default on Group and Company history tab
3. Display preferences tabs on two rows
   
   
4. Enable 'Look for' field in list views by default
5. Move Lookup > Favorites further down the menu
6. Remove inactive paging controls under the calendar task view
7. Allow 'Create Lookup' from multiple selected companies (Windows client only)
   
   

Act! Premium for Web Improvements

1. Left align the big button menu
2. Managing opportunity processes to use the same terminology as windows
3. Reduce Act! icon file size to improve performance
4. Version numbers displayed should match windows client

Improvements to the Update

1. Update Act! Notification link to point at the “What's Fixed” KB article
2. Includes new Custom Tables package

SDK Improvements for custom add-on developers

1. Add event where a contact, group or company is added to an opportunity
2. Add events where opportunity total is modified or recalculated
3. Add events where a relationship is added to a contact
4. Add open and close events for the layout editor
5. Provide consistent event for LayoutLoaded
6. Record Created events are inconsistent or missing

Defects Closed

1. FR- APFW - Task list view/ Activity Tab - Edit and Delete links are truncated
2. FR- APFW - History list / Tab - Edit and Delete links are truncated
3. FR- APFW - Notes Tab - Edit and Delete links are truncated
4. TS - FR - Text Overlaps Button Edges When Deleting Contacts.
5. TS - When creating a History item and selecting the Type as Other, the follow up button on the local install is greyed out, however it remains active on APFW.
6. TS - Rescheduling a recurring activity with attachment does not create a rescheduled activity.
7. Windows - Companies - Update linked fields messaging was not updated for "update linked fields" button
8. LC - DE– Browse button is truncated on Save Copy As dialog
9. LC - CF - Truncation in emarketing profile
10. LC-FR-“Post” should be “Code postal” on Contact Detail View.
11. LC–FR-On the Copy/Move Contact Data page, the text can’t be showed fully.
12. LC–FR-On the “Reset Menus and Toolbars” truncation
13. LC-DE- The selection box of “Opportunity (select one)” is misaligned in Act! Emarketing--Webpage dialog.
14. Two same hotkeys “Alt + S” appear in the “Schedule Activity” box.
15. Chrome-User Log out automatically with an error message occurred after using “Attach File…”.
16. LC-FR-APFW: Truncation display on the Activity part on contact detail view
17. Chrome – Dashboard – The activity cannot be deleted when we select “delete all activities in the linked series”.
18. LC-FR-APFW: There should be more space between these buttons and the dialog frame
19. TS - Relate Contact Window cannot be resized.
20. LC-FR: Truncation in Email System Setup Outlook Address Books page
21. TS - Act! Network Sync Service Update refers to Act! Update
22. Lock/Unlock filter slider text needs to be centered as it's topmost currently
23. TS - APFW - DE - Spelling error in Emarketing Opt Out menu.
24. Space needed for easier reading Monthly contact limit
25. Unable to connect to sync server error is incorrect
26. APFW - The “Send At” field displays blank in the “Next Scheduled Email Campaign” section
27. TS - APFW - Defunct 6 month survey appears
28. TS - APFW - Error in Application when trying to change password when 'User cannot change password' is enabled.
29. White icons of ‘Product Reports’ & ‘Opportunity Reports’ appear in New Report dialog.
30. The ‘Favorite’ icon was changed from icon to text after resetting the Columns in the contacts List View.
31. TS - APFW - Deleted Activities in IE do not disappear from list without refreshing page
32. APFW - Calculated fields allow blank if set before choosing "calculated" as field type
33. APFW - Activities - Schedule for dialog displays current user instead of "created by"
34. LC - DE/FR/CF - Pro Welcome Page isn't directed to the correct regional page.
35. Act! Update package (20.0 u5) references ACT2000
36. TS - APFW - Unable to filter task list by keyword in IE.
37. No scrollbar when creating calculated field with long formula
38. TS - APFW - The advanced query open window doesn't always close in IE11.
39. TS - Unable to delete a complete activity series in IE.
40. TS - APFW - When using the 'replace' option when importing into APFW, information that is not being imported is removed from the record.
41. TS - APFW - Company activities tab showing all activities after lookup in IE.
42. TS - APFW - Standard Users unable to create secondary contacts if 'Delete Records' permission removed.
43. TS - APFW - Able to create a remote database from another remote database via Web.
44. LC-DE- Truncation issue occurred on Emarkting Overview.
45. TS - APFW - Attempting to delete an in use opportunity stage gives misleading error.
46. DE - Act! Notification message contains truncated text
47. TS - APFW - Removing a field from a database when included in a 'customised columns' selection causes a logout
48. LC-DE/CF/FR: The help descriptions of all charts are not translated into German or French.
49. TS - APFW - Logged out of web or error message after adding a document to a new contact
50. TS - APFW - Alarms window not appearing after a session times out
51. TS - Old databases open in 20 without needing to update
52. LC - CF/FR –Truncation issue occurred in Select Contacts dialog.
53. LC_FR/DE/CF Truncation issue occurred in Act! Update Details dialog.
54. LC – CF/FR Truncation issue occurred in Contact Merge Options dialog when import database.
55. APFW - IE - Selecting "delete all occurrences" of recurring activities still only deletes one
56. LC-DE Truncation issue occurred on the ‘Create, edit, or delete drop-down lists’ dialog.
57. LC – CF/FR Truncation issue occurred in Opportunity Graph Options dialog.
58. LC – DE/CF/FR APFW - Truncation issue occurred in Opportunity Pipeline Options dialog.
59. TS - ISPA.exe runs at 100% CPU on TS environments.
60. LC – CF ‘Share’ button is not translated to French on Open/Share database dialog.
61. LC-FR/CF/DE – Translation issue occur during the creation of custom tables.
62. LC – FR/CF/DE ‘Delete local preferences’ prompt box is not translated to French/Germany.
63. LC – FR/CF/DE Some contents are not translated to French/Germany in Map Entity Fields page for Custom Tables.
64. LC – FR/CF/DE Translation issue occur in Customize Columns dialog for Custom Tables.
65. TS - APFW - History Result incorrect when sending an aem campaign via Web.
66. TS - Email address from Outlook contact is used instead of email address in Act!.
67. LC – FR/CF/DE The prompt box name – ‘Custom Tables’ is not translated to French/German.
68. LC-FR/CF/DE – The contents of all prompt boxes are not translated to French and German when edit a record in the custom table.
69. LC – FR/CF/DE - Truncation issue occurs in Mail Merge Wizard (7 of 7) dialog when mail merge by E-mail.
70. TS - Upgrading Pro Databases to Premium 20.1 does not always update the Product Tier correctly.
71. LC-DE Truncation issue occurred for ‘This contact is dynamically included in the groups listed below’ on the ‘Dynamic Groups Membership’ dialog.
72. LC – DE/CF/FR The ‘company field’ is overlapped by the field selection box in Define Fields dialog.
73. LC – DE ‘Browse…’ button is wrapped in Import List Items dialog.
74. TS - History has no line break after the Regarding field in preview pane
75. TS - APFW - Unable to schedule an activity series in Chrome when one of the activities is in the past.
76. APFW-Custom Tables-Create a 2 Number fields and a Calculated Numeric field, using the Number fields, in Custom table via APFW gives errors
77. APFW - Custom Tables - Creating a Field in Custom Tables before creating a custom table logs user out of APFW
78. APFW - Custom Tables - Editing a custom table calculated field gives an error.
79. APFW - Custom Tables - Cannot edit custom table field name.
80. APFW-Custom tables-Clicking on Picture field in Custom table Layout Designer for Web gives error
81. APFW-Custom Tables-Create 2 Picture fields in Custom table and add an Image in each of the fields via APFW, last Image added, overrides both fields
82. APFW - Custom Tables - Industry Template Library option is unresponsive
83. Custom Tables-Creating a Calculated field, based on Numerics, does not validate formula.
84. TS - Web Info tab - Open Browser link uses IE and not default browser
85. LC-FR : Missing translation for “Address” in Contact detail view.
86. Pressing keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F5 when viewing AEM in Act! causes an error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
87. Custom Tables - Calculated fields on Custom tables, break Schema export
88. Deleting Series causes popup for delete recurring activity
89. (Chrome) Warning in activity series doesn't let you continue
90. Groups tree doesn't stick when navigating away

Saving memory when running #ActCRM on servers

I was recently asked about how to remove some of the Act! items that load for each user from a machine used for Terminal Services, where only a few of the users needed Act!.
The following ideas are also worth doing on any system/server where Act!’s Outlook/Google Integration isn’t required. This also applies to Web Servers with Act! Premium for Web as the integration is done from the client end.
There are two basic areas where you can remove these components.

Startup Folder Shortcut

The All Users Windows Startup Folder can be found at:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp

These programs start up for all users. To open this folder, bring up the Run box (Windows Key + R), type shell:common startup and hit Enter.

From there, you can remove:

• Act! Integration – this shortcut is only needed to set the Preferences for the ISPA (Integration Services Patch for Act!) that provides the synchronisation of Contacts/Activities with Outlook and/or Google.

If you want to make this available to specific users, you can place the shortcut in their individual Startup folders, located at:

C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

These programs start up for the current logged in user only. To directly access this folder for the current user, open Run (Windows key + R), type shell:startup and hit Enter.

Windows Registry Run Keys

Bring up the Run box (Windows Key + R), then type regedit and hit enter

Warning: We strongly recommend that you back up the system registry before making any changes. Incorrect changes to the registry could result in permanent data loss or corrupted files. Please make sure you modify only the keys specified. For detailed information on backing up the Windows Registry, click the link below:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Check each of the following locations:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

From there, you can remove any of the following keys if you like:

• Act! Preloader – This loads parts of Act! to make it faster when opening and using the program
• Act.Outlook.Service – Needed to load the Act! address book in Outlook and for recording history
• Act.Outlook64.Service – Needed to load the Act! address book in Outlook and for recording history
• ACTSchedulerUI – Used for changing the Scheduler settings. Likely only needed for the admin
• ISPA - Integration Services Patch for Act!. Provides the synchronisation of Contacts/Activities between Act! and Outlook, Exchange, Office365 or Google.

Memory Saving

In my testing, removing all of these saves about 50MB Private memory and 200MB Commit memory per user for those not needing Outlook/Google integration with Act!.
Let me know, in the comments, if your results differ.

Fix: Issues when installing .Net Framework 3.5

One error that sometimes occurs when installing/upgrading Act!, and many other products, is during the install/upgrade of MS SQL Server.

For Act! installs/upgrades, the typical error you might receive is as per this knowledgebase article: "Act! pre-requisite has encountered a problem and needs to close." When Installing Act!

This error is not an Act! issue, but an issue installing MS-SQL on Windows operating systems from Windows 8 onwards, when the .Net Framework v3.5 isn’t enabled or has a problem with its setup.

You can also get similar issues updating SQL Server 2014 or adding Roles when the .Net 3.5 install lacks the right service pack.

The first step is to try enabling the Framework manually via the Control Panel.

Installing .Net 3.5 via Control Panel

As per this Microsoft article, you can enable the .NET Framework 3.5 through the Windows Control Panel. This option requires an Internet connection.

1. Press the Windows key Windows on your keyboard, type "Windows Features", and press Enter. The Turn Windows features on or off dialogue box appears.

2. Select the .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) check box, select OK, and reboot your computer if prompted.

You don't need to select the child items for Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) HTTP Activation and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Non-HTTP Activation unless you're a developer or server administrator who requires this functionality.

Troubleshooting .Net 3.5 Installation Failure

During installation, you may encounter one of these errors 0x800f0906, 0x800f0907, 0x800f081f, or 0x800F0922.

Or you might get the error “The following feature couldn’t be installed, The source files could not be found”.

Or, on Server 2012, you might get “Do you want to specify an alternate source path? One or more installation selections are missing source files on the destination server”

Microsoft covers some of the basics in this article. However, as it misses fixes for some of the errors and is, in my opinion, incomplete, I thought I would document my preferred solutions.

Check the System and Security Action Centre

1. Hold the Windows Key and press R
2. In the Run dialogue, type: wscui.cpl
3. If you see any warnings, you should resolve them.

Using DISM and an SFC/DISM Scan

Try installing via DISM to enable the .Net 3.5 Framework:

1. Open a Command or PowerShell Prompt as an Administrator – Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu and choose Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin) from the menu.
2. When the Command Prompt starts, changing “X” for the drive of your Windows ISO.
   DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:X:\sources\sxs
3. The operation will now start. Keep in mind that it can take a while to finish, so don’t interrupt it.

If that fails, perform an SFC scan, by doing the following:

1. From an Administrator Command Prompt
2. sfc /scannow and press Enter.
   
3. SFC scan will now start. Keep in mind that SFC scan can take about 15 minutes to finish, so don’t interrupt it.

Once the SFC scan is finished, try to install .NET Framework 3.5 again.

If it doesn’t work, you might have to perform DISM scan as well.

To do that, just follow these steps:

1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Now run each of the following commends:
1. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
2. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
3. DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

The scans can take more than 15 minutes to complete, so be sure not to interrupt them

Once you complete the DISM scan, reboot and try to install .NET Framework 3.5 again.

Installing from a Clean ISO

Sometimes, the Windows files you have can be damaged. In that case, you need to follow these steps

Download the Windows Media Creation Tool

1. For Windows 10 users, download the Windows Media Creation Tool, which is a tool that helps you create a Windows 10 ISO. If running Windows 8.1, download the Windows 8.1 Installer.
2. Use the Windows Media Creation Tool to create a Windows ISO image locally.
3. When the download is complete, mount the ISO by double-clicking on it.

For Windows Server 2012 R2, you can download the appropriate Evaluation ISO

Copy the SXS folder

1. Open the mounted ISO, and go into the Sources folder.
2. There should be a folder named sxs.
3. Copy the folder to another location on your computer.
4. Right click on the copied folder, and choose Properties from the drop-down menu.
5. When the Properties window opens, click on the Security tab.
6. Select your username from the Group or user names box; check if there is a checkmark next to Read and Write in the Permissions for [Your Username] box. You could also add “Everyone” or “Domain Users” if wanting to store and run from a network share.
   
7. If you do not find the check marks, you should click on the Edit button, select your username, and check both the Read and the Write box.

Edit the Group Policy

Press Windows Key + R and enter gpedit.msc. Now press Enter or click OK. Keep in mind that this tool is available only on Pro versions of Windows 10, but there’s a way to run Group Policy Editor on the Home version of Windows.

1. When Group Policy Editor starts, in the left pane go to:
   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System.
2. In the right pane, double-click on
   Specify settings for optional component installation and component repair.
3. A new window opens.
4. Select Enabled.
5. In the Alternate source file path, enter the address of the sxs.
6. Then click on Apply and OK.
   
   Optional: Check Download repair content and optional features directly from Windows Update instead of Windows Server Update Services.
7. After making these changes, you just need to start Command Prompt as administrator and run gpupdate /force command to apply the changes.

Finally

Now it should install from an Admin Command Prompt with the command:
DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:X:\sources\sxs
Remember to change “X:\sources\sxs” to the correct location of the sxs folder.

It’s also advisable to backup your system and, if you’ve had issues like this, you might also consider:
Repairing your Windows Image

Please post to the comments if these worked for you, or if you’ve encountered this problem and these solutions didn’t help.

What's New in #SageACT! 2012 – released Sept 1st

This is the official information from Sage. I will soon post an article on my opinions of the new version.

Update: Sage have release a day-0 Hotfix 1 … Any installs from now will get this update slipstreamed and there will be a download soon for the early birds. As soon as I find out what this fixes, I’ll let you know.

The Sage ACT! 2012 release is focused on a number of  significant enhancements including Google® Integration, Scratchpad, Connected Services, Universal Search and much more. All this enables you to work and communicate more effectively, become more productive and efficient, and better serve your contacts. Click on one of the links below for more information on the specified topic.

 

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New Features and Functionality

For details regarding each new feature, click the link for Knowledgebase article for that feature.
Google Contacts, Calendar and Gmail Integration

• Contact Synching capabilities from Google to Sage ACT! and Sage ACT! to Google.
• Contact Sync set capabilities to allow users to select a sub-set of their Sage ACT! contacts to synch over to Google.
• Calendar synching that allows users to update both their Google and Sage ACT! Calendars and have them synch regardless of where events were created or modified.
• The ability to choose which systems alarms display in for events.
• Users can select whether they want Sage ACT! or Google to “win” for conflict resolution when both calendars have been changed.
• Activity type synching options allow users to choose which activity types will synch. The defaults options are Appointments and Meetings.
• Scheduling synching options as frequently as one minute is available, but to limit performance impact, the suggested synching interval is 10 minutes.
• A new Google Integration synchronization panel from the Tools menu is available to set up both Contact and Calendar synchronization at once.

Knowledgebase article: 27988

Sage ACT! Scratchpad

• Provide Sage ACT! users with a virtual piece of paper on their desktop to do the following tasks:
  • Quickly jot down notes, reminders, and to-dos in one simple user interface, with or without Sage ACT! running
  • Organize items in the list
  • Check-off or delete items
  • Print the list so you can take it with you
  • Add items as notes, history or activity in Sage ACT!
• Items from Sage ACT! Scratchpad will be sent to the Sage ACT! database that the user is currently logged into.

Knowledgebase article: 28077

Universal Search

• Users now have the ability to find that key documents or piece of information they need in their contacts, groups, companies, opportunities, notes, history, and attachments, because search is faster and more expansive than ever.
• The ability to perform advanced search using operators
• Filter search criteria by all dates, last 24 hours, last week, and last month
• View search results displayed by relevance and double-click on the item of interest to be taken to that particular field or attachment.
• Users can also filter search results for secondary contacts and products

Knowledgebase article: 28034

Services Discoverability/Connections View

• A new Connections view within the Sage ACT! application that helps users sign-up and learn more about Connected Services that could improve their bottom line and efficiencies in running their business.
• Users can manage their existing Connected Services through this view.

Knowledgebase article: 28094

Installation/Getting Started

• For new customer installs, third party applications such as Microsoft® Office, Microsoft Outlook® and Internet Explorer® do not need to be closed before Sage ACT! installation. Users can now continue to be productive while Sage ACT! installation is progressing.
• Installation panel that provides prerequisites and average times to install before installation begins.

Knowledgebase article: 27964 (Sage ACT! Pro), 27971 (Sage ACT! Premium)

Database Administration

• Improved usability in opening and sharing databases
• Shows all databases attached to the local SQL Server® instance and the most recently used databases in a dialog.
• Users can also share databases from within this dialog – no need to find the buried menu.

Knowledgebase article: 28142

Import

• Import logs are now available to give counts of successful records imported and details of what records failed.
• Import log is displayed at the final stage of import.
• Users can quickly get out of the import process (no need to confirm that they want to cancel an import process)

Knowledgebase article: 27976

Outlook Integration

• When Sage ACT! detects that the user is attempting to integrate Microsoft® Outlook® 64-bit with Sage ACT!, a message dialog will be displayed that states that Microsoft Outlook 64-bit is not supported, and that the 32-bit version is supported.

Web Administration (Sage ACT! Premium web client)

• Ability to manage critical administration tasks from Sage ACT! Premium (access via web) client.
• Manage users
• Manage teams
• Lock/unlock a database
• Manage password policy

Knowledgebase article: 28095

 

Fixed Issues for Sage ACT! Pro and Sage ACT! Premium

Synchronization – Remote Databases

• In previous versions, changing fields to a different drop down field list does not sync to remote databases. This issue has now been resolved.
• In previous versions, updates on the parent database do not get synchronized to remote if both sides modify the same contact. Original data on the remote replaces the changes on the parent. This issue is now resolved.
• The changes made in the document attached to a contact in the remote database are not synchronized to the document on the parent database. After editing and syncing to parent, a GUID number is added to the file and updated properly on the remote database. On the parent, the document is still linked to the original file name. On remote, the document is linked to the edited attachment. This issue is resolved.
• Outlook contacts are removed from the remote database after syncing to parent. Issue is now fixed.
• Resolved issue of not being able to change settings on multiple remote databases.

Outlook Integration

• There was an issue where Contact and Calendar sync were failing with the following combination of conditions: User Account Control (UAC) in Windows® is turned ON, sync is run from the Sage ACT! menu or sync is run from the Sage Integration menu, and both Outlook and Sage Integration are run as/by a Windows Standard user. This issue has now been resolved. In other user privilege combinations and if a failure occurs, the proper messaging guiding users on how to resolve the issue is displayed.
• Issue where the Outlook add-in for Sage ACT! displays a runtime error during loading when upgrading to Sage ACT! 2011 SP1, is now resolved.
• Performance degradation when loading task list after sending an email using Outlook. Specific to Windows 7 and Office 2007 environments. Issue has been resolved.
• In Terminal Services environment, Act.Outlook.Sync.exe errors display when logging in with multiple users. Multiple users can now log on to the same machine and sync Sage ACT! and Outlook simultaneously.
• When attempting to send an email to two separate distribution lists on the same email, the email will not attach back into Sage ACT!. Issue has been resolved.

Contacts/Companies

• Issue of not being able to continue using Sage ACT! without saving company name has been resolved.
• Salutation field is deleted when users have set a preference to not fill the salutation field. Issue has been fixed.
• Error while editing data in Company list view while in customize columns mode. Issue has been fixed.
• In the Company detail view, if a user creates a company with divisions and then expands the tree view in the left navigation to show divisions and then switches the layout of the detail view to another layout, the expansion in the left navigation collapses.
• Company name is right justified after performing a lookup. Issue is now resolved.

Import/Export

• If contact with several names is not mapped in the multiple contact name dialog, nothing is imported into the database. Issue has been fixed.
• Contacts of Opportunities are not exported when export from one database to another database. Issue has been fixed.
• Import from Microsoft Excel® showing incorrect date format. Issue has been resolved.

Security

• Emails sent to other users incorrectly adds the file to the attachment supplemental files folder. Issue has been resolved.

Lookups

• No response after clicking Go to Advanced Query link on Lookup Opportunities view. Issue has been fixed.
• Record Manager listed as Manager when doing lookups. Issue has been fixed.

Copy Database/Save As/New

• The issue of not being to delete users in empty copy databases after applying Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 has now been resolved.
• The issue of not being able to change default duplicate checking criteria in empty copy database after applying Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 is now resolved.
• Teams created when setting team level security in empty copy database.

Reports

• Gross Margin by Product calculated total cost incorrectly. Issue has been fixed.
• Opportunity by Product does not display correct information. Issue has been fixed.
• Issue of Group reports coming up blank when all sub groups are selected for selected groups is now resolved.

Smart Tasks

• Deleting or changing an attachment to a Smart Task step after that Smart Task has been set to auto-run will result in no attachments being included in the Smart Task step. Issue has been resolved.

Activities/Notes/Histories

• When adding a resource to an Activity in Sage ACT!, the activity is duplicated in the task list if the filter criteria for the task list is set to “all users”.

Restore

• Database Restore does note restore custom layout.
  Workaround: Use "Restore As" function instead of "Restore".

Sage ACT! Email Client

• Attaching emails to contact history is not working from the Sage ACT! Email client. History recording to Groups or Companies does not work as well for emails from Sage ACT! Email.

Other

• Error message displays when users select “Add Permissions” link in Manage Users dialog. The link now opens correctly without error message.
• Sage ACT! Office Add-in disables Quick Print function in Microsoft Word 2007/2010 after applying Sage ACT! 2011 SP1 update. Issue has been resolved.
• Company Web Info tab links are not refreshed with current entity data if Web Site field has never contained data. Issue has been resolved.
• Information on relationship between two contacts is not saved when using the Relationship hyperlink. Issue is now fixed.
• When printing calendars using Quick Print, data from days other than those showing on the screen are printing.
• When using the Facebook® and Google® links in Internet Explorer® 8, information will not display in the web info tab because of changes made by these sites to not display in frames. Issue has been resolved.
• OLEDB Provider – Ambiguous Column Name when querying table with spill-over tables.
• Alarms – Snoozing alarms causes error: Index was outside the bounds of the array.
• Follow up activities not marked private even though the preference of "Make new activities public" is unchecked. Issue is now resolved.
• If a user edits a layout within the first two minutes of opening Sage ACT!, Sage ACT! will switch between views and the layout designer 5 times. This behaviour is intentional; therefore we do not have plans to turn off background loading at this time.
  Workaround: Wait for more than two minutes before editing layouts after opening Sage ACT!.
• When performing a mail merge to a Microsoft® Word document using Microsoft Word 2010, no history record is created for the record.

 

Fixed Issues for Sage ACT! Premium (access via web)

Installation/Uninstall

• Syncconfigfile.xml file not copied during install, resulting in not being able to set up the Sage ACT! Internet Sync service. Issue has now been resolved.

Contacts/Companies

• Contact Detail view is blank after selecting contacts from the contact lookup list, and when users navigate to other views, they are logged out of the database. Issue has been resolved.
• Clicking on an email address in contact list gives a 404 error. Issue has been fixed.
• When Customizing Columns in Contact List view, the dialog is in a distorted view that displays only the Available Fields. Issue is not resolved.

Activities

• Resolved the issue of not being able to sort activities by date or time from Web client when start time is after 5:00 PM.

Outlook Integration

• Outlook displays error about missing .dll files when loading Outlook integration. Outlook integration is now loaded without errors.
• Sage ACT! address book is not listed as an available address book in Outlook for Outlook integration. Issue is now resolved.
• When updating the time on a Sage ACT! activity and checking the “send invitation email” box on the activity dialog, the sender will get an updated iCalendar invitation, but the time still shows the original time for the activity.
  Workaround: The sender must manually change the activity time and/or date inside the email message. The manually updated message does update the receiver’s existing Outlook Calendar.
  Note: Microsoft currently has no plans to refresh the cache more often or provide a mechanism for Sage ACT! to refresh their cache due to performance.
• Act.Outlook.Sync.exe errors when logging in with multiple users in Terminal Services. Issue has been resolved.

Preferences

• Fixed the issue of not being able to change record creation options from the Web database client.

Opportunities

• Custom date ranges on opportunity list filters does not return any results/data. Issue has been fixed.

Lookups/Keyword Search

• Sorting on results of contact column after performing keyword search does not sort in any logical order. Issue is now resolved.
• Lookup Keyword Search does not find all records, specifically is searching the Current Lookup. Issue has now been resolved.

Mail Merge

• When Microsoft Word is set as the word processing editor for Sage ACT! Premium (access via web), if a user opens the mail merge fields dialog to add fields to the mail merge template, the fields are not in alphabetical order. Issue has been resolved.
• Mail merge to Microsoft Word and print does not record history. Issue has been resolved.

Firefox™ Web Browser

• Unable to perform advanced queries when accessing the web database client via Firefox®. Issue has been resolved.

Login

• User logs in and in a varying time from 5 minutes to 20 minutes, the user will start getting a pop up message stating "Continue to stay logged in". The user then receives this same popups every 1,2, or 5 minutes asking them to click to continue. Issue has now been resolved.

Technorati Tags: Sage,Sage ACT!,ACT!,CRM

Solutions to some of the SQL issues when installing ACT! 2011

Re-posted, with permission from Ben Hamilton

This is a set of common issues we have seen when installing SQL 2008 (which is part of Sage ACT! 2011), especially when upgrading a previous version that used SQL 2005

Remove .Net Framework 4.0 before install

The support staff in Sage Business Solutions Melbourne (bless ‘em) gave me a pointer that if “Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile” is installed it gives troubles. Therefore they suggested uninstalling it prior to commending an SQL 2008 install. I don’t know why or what but this was an important step. Note that just doing this still gave me a failed SQL install. I’d love to know more about the ‘why’ here. I’d also like to have been informed earlier instead of after me jumping up and down and making phone calls. But that’s a topic for another day. For now I’m very happy with their suggestion as it does appear to have contributed to a successful install, which is GOAL NUMBER ONE.

 

SQL Service Account

During the install you get the option to set which account the SQL Server Database Engine uses, instead of setting to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM as per Sage KB26994, leave it as the default. After the installation is complete you then go to services.msc and change it to Local System then.

 

Avoid Special characters in the path

As per Microsoft KB955666 you can’t use a ‘number’ or ‘pound’ (#) sign in the path name. Now I did NOT have a pound sign in the path, but there was a space in one of the folder names and a ‘plus’ sign (+). So taking to heart Microsoft's admonition, I copied the installer to a folder C:\SQL2008ExpR2\*.* and ran it from there.

 

Various other issues and resolutions

• “MsiGetProductInfo failed to retrieve ProductVersion for package with Product Code = ‘{4AB6A079-178B-4144-B21F-4D1AE71666A2}’. Error code: 1608.. ” See here and here.
• “Wait on the Database Engine recovery handle failed. Check the SQL Server error log for potential causes.” See here.
• “Error: 15209, Severity: 16, State: 1. An error occurred during encryption.” See here.
• Attempting to open registry subkey Software\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting\DW\Inst​alled
  Attempting to get registry value DW0200
  Submitted 1 of 1 failures to the Watson data repository
  Refer here, here and here.

Hope this helps someone short cut the time to resolve their SQL install.

Please add Comments with any other issues and resolutions you might find when installing SQL 2008 (especially when upgrading from SQL 2005)

Technorati Tags: ACT,Sage,Sage ACT!,SQL 2005,SQL 2008

Finding the hidden functions of ACT! with your Consultant

Part 4 of The Seven Day Blogging Challenge - Share a photo I took this week and tell you about it.

I have thought about today’s Challenge post for a while and, with this blog being about ACT!, there was not much I could think of to take a picture that would be relevant.

So I’ve taken a screen shot of a menu that describes how proper use of ACT! will benefit you:

If you can’t find these functions in your copy of ACT!, I suggest you speak to your ACT! Certified Consultant. These are the people who do more that the break-fix support you might get from a vendor support contact.

A good ACC will take the time to understand your business and the workflow of your operations. They will then assist you in designing ACT! in the best possible way to achieve your goals using functions within the product or some of the many powerful add-ons that extend it’s use.

The ACC can then assist with planning and implementing your installation roll-out including importing your data, connecting to other systems and training your users and administrators to properly get the maximum benefit from the product.

An investment in a good Certified Consultant will generate a Return many times in better managing your contacts

When looking at the ACT! Certified Consultant list, you may find many in your area. So here is an article on how you should go about picking the right one for you: How to pick the right CRM consultant

Should you have any questions on this, please let me know by posting the comments here.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,Sage,SageACT!,CRM,ACC

How should ACT! resellers/VARs deal with Microsoft install issues?

I'm sure this must be a question concerning every ACT! consultant/reseller ... but, which a number of them have asked my opinion on this, I've not seen any public discussion on it. I'd also be interested in the views of end-users as to what they believe would be fair.

The last time I was shown the figures, around 80% of install support incidents by Sage North America were not due to ACT! code, but were related to Microsoft issues - in the operating system, .Net Framework, SQL Server or Office. Note: If someone at Sage has a more current figure, please let me know

I’m not sure how long ago this happened, but I recently noticed that Sage Australia (and I assume similar in other regions) excludes many areas that fail from their install warranty. While the box says that install issues are covered under a 30-day warranty, it then refers you to the website for Getting Started Support – Free for 30 Days where you can see the majority of install issues that sometimes plague users are specifically exempted.

On one level, this is understandable, because it is sort of unfair that Sage should be responsible for supporting and repairing issues with products and components produced by Microsoft. On the other hand, it could be argued that Sage chose to use those technologies as a basis of the product and that they should provide that support.

The big problem that this raises is how should a Consultant/VAR handle this support? If you are installing a product that costs $300-500 and an OS, SQL or .Net issue requires 4-8 hours of work to resolve, how can you justify charging the user for this time?

• If the installer doesn’t charge, then they lose money to sell the product
• To charge may make a user feel less than happy at having to pay 4x the cost of the product
• Telling a non-technical user to deal with Microsoft, may also not be the best for customer satisfaction

Is a notice to users, in advance, that such a charge may be necessary the right choice? Would this tend to scare off some potential users?

Obviously this would be different for larger user sites where they would be more aware of the complexities of commercial software as well as being able to spread the cost over a larger number of seats.

As I’ve said, I’d really like the thoughts of users, resellers and even Sage staff on this topic. Please post any thoughts you might have to the comments as I think the sharing of ideas is likely to help everyone come to an amicable solution to this problem.

Technorati Tags: ACT!,Sage,Sage ACT!,CRM,Support,SQL,.Net

Supporting Remote Users with ACT! by Sage

With users like the Professional Sales Road Warriors that made up much of ACT!'s early user base to field service technicians, trades-people, telecommuters who work from home, remote offices and others who need access to their data while out of the office, ACT! has needed to make use of every changing technology so that the data can be provided to the users as they need it.
From it's creation in 1987, ACT! has been at the forefront of remote and mobile users. From the ability to merge

Technorati Tags: iPhone,iPad,Android,Blackberry Vs iPhone

databases with ACT! for DOS 2.0 in 1990 (where users would need to bring their databases into the office to sync) then through the HP95LX PDA version in 1992 and ACT! Mobile Link for laptop users in 1995, ACT! users have been able to access ACT! while remote from their office.
Over time advances in internet speeds, more scalable databases, browser technologies and other technological improvements have made it easier for organisations to implement and administer remote access solutions for their staff.
Currently, there are a range of options available to provide this remote access but users are often not sure how to determine the solution most suitable for them. So I thought I'd provide a selection of the most common options available... but remember, that for many sites, a combination of these should be implemented.
For some users, it may be better to have the database hosted externally, then using one or more of the options to provide access. One host providing this at very good rates is Conetix

Direct Access of the database via VPN

• Infrastructure
  • Requires the technical skills to setup and maintain VPN server
  • Needs higher than normal internet bandwidth as the VPN protocols use up a significant amount
  • Users lose access to the data if their internet connection goes down
• Installation
  • Sharing a database over a VPN is no different than sharing the database over a LAN. Each remote user must obtain a copy of the .PAD file for the shared database and have read/write access to the database folder and the Supplemental Files folders.
  • See - http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/02/sharing-act-network-or-sync.html
  • Firewall exceptions on server should be same as for LAN
• Administration
  • Administration and Maintenance of the VPN needs to be done well. Many VPNs tend to drop out WINs and then ACT! won't be able to find the server
  • It is usually more reliable to use the IP address of the server in the PAD file rather than the machine name. But for most VPN implementations, using Sync is the best solution.
  • All users need to be using the same version and build of ACT! - so upgrades and patches need to be carefully planned
• Speed
  • Speed is dependant on both the bandwidth of the main server and the bandwidth that the users connect to the internet
  • Remember that most consumer internet connections don't have as fast an upload speed as they do download - if the server is also on a consumer grade connection, the actual speed will be the slower of both the user and server.
  • Due to the overhead of the VPN protocol most internet connections won't be adequate and users may be better using sync
• Security
  • If the VPN is set up correctly, this type of access is very secure.
  • User access to records can be determined by Limited Access in the Premium editions
  • Other security may need to be implemented if you wish to prevent users from exporting or reporting data that they have access to locally

ACT! Synchronisation Services

• Infrastructure
  • Remote users only need direct connection to the master database when they need to sync
  • ACT! by Sage does require ACT! to be open and logged into the Publisher database to sync but Premium editions can use Network or Internet sync servers to allow sync as a Windows service
  • Sync for remote users doesn't require Internet Sync server (which uses IIS). It can also be done with Network Sync server and port forwarding or VPN using a VPN server or Hamachi
• Installation
  • ACT! is set up normally, but then Remote Data Base files are created for each remote.
  • For more info, see:
    http://blog.glcomputing.com.au/2009/01/sharing-act-network-or-sync-part-1.html
• Administration
  • All users need to be using the same version and build of ACT! - so upgrades and patches need to be carefully planned. If using sync server, these should also be updated when patching ACT!
  • Note: If you update the local users, the remote users still access their local data and can sync when you update them.
  • If syncing a database larger than 4GB and wanting all data to sync, needs SQL standard at each point the database will be located
  • Sync can be automated with ACT! Scheduler - better if using Premium
  • The Administrative Dashboard can be used to determined when users sync
  • If using sync via VPN, administration and maintenance of the VPN needs to be done well. Many VPNs tend to drop out WINs and then ACT! won't be able to find the server
• Speed
  • Speed for each user is dependant on their local hardware (RAM and HDD speed)
  • Speed for the sync is dependant on the bandwidth between the user and server. If using VPN, speed is reduced due to the protocol overhead.
  • Sync speed depends on volume of changes and bandwidth of connection - especially if syncing a large number of attachments
  • As only the delta (changes) are sent, this uses less bandwidth than a direct connection
• Security
  • Users only have access to the records in their defined sync set and, if using the Premium editions, that they have access to
  • The sync process itself is reasonably secure as data is encrypted during the sync process (I have not heard of a breach)
  • Additional layers or security can be achieved by:
    • Using a different port for the sync process
    • Sync via VPN - this is a very secure protocol and removes the need for port forwarding from the internet to the database server
    • If using Premium Editions, putting the Sync server in a DMZ

ACT! Premium for Web

• Infrastructure
  • Requires a Windows server running Internet Information Services (IIS) - can be hosted by a third-party if the user lacks infrastructure or skills. If hosted, it is better to select a host who specialises in ACT! for Web hosting and knows how to maintain it
  • Remote users only need a supported web browser and internet connection
  • ACT! for Web is also the only solution for allowing access to MAC users (internal or remote) via the Safari browser support (currently Safari 3.0)
• Installation
  • Installed once on IIS server. Easiest and fastest install for IT with suitable skills
  • IIS must be set to 32bit if on a 64bit OS – can cause issues with other apps
• Administration
  • Easy to administer and maintain as everything can be on a single server. It's a bit more complex if using multiple servers
  • IT doesn't need to worry about remote users OS or hardware
  • Sharing of user preferences makes admin and backup a bit easier. while not the default, is done as per this ACT! Knowledge Base article
• Speed
  • Speed is dependant on the server speed, configuration and bandwidth
  • For large volumes of users, implementing one or more web servers separate from the database server allows better allocation of resources
• Security
  • As this is a Premium edition, users only have access to records according to ACT!'s Limited Access and Teams
  • Additional layers or security can be achieved by:
  • Using a different port for the web server
  • Putting the IIS server in a DMZ
  • Using HTTPS/SSL
  • Requiring Windows Authentication to the Virtual Folder before getting access to the ACT! for Web interface
  • Access Web via VPN
  • It is important to add additional security (preferably VPN) is users might connect via any public WiFi connection

Remote Desktop (Terminal Services, Citrix)

• Infrastructure
  • Requires Windows Terminal Server, Remote Desktop Services in Windows 2008 or Citrix - can be hosted if user lacks infrastructure or skills
  • Remote users only RDP client and internet connection
• Installation
  • Installed once on server.
  • Here are the steps to install on Windows 2008 Remote Desktop Services
  • Fully server based … emails sent from local Outlook not recorded in ACT! unless you also have ACT! for Web setup
  • Requires some additional work for Outlook integration. See: this ACT! Knowledge base article
• Administration
  • Relatively easy to administer and maintain as everything on a single server
• Speed
  • Speed is dependant on the server speed, configuration and bandwidth
  • For large volumes of users, implementing one or more client servers separate from the database server allows better allocation of resources
• Security
  • If using a Premium edition, users only have access to records according to ACT!'s Limited Access and Teams
  • RDP on TS and Citrix provide a range an additional security options

Included ACT!Link for PDA/Smartphones – no-longer available

• Infrastructure
  • Currently supports Palm OS and Windows Mobile devices (no Palm OS support for Windows 7, so no ACT! Link support)
  • Uses direct USB connection to full ACT! client - no support for Web or Remote Desktop (Terminal Services/Citrix)
  • Only supports fields and functions in PDA PIMs
• Installation
  • Installed on each user PC
  • Care needs to be taken for supported Phone OS and driver versions, depending on version of ACT!
• Administration
  • Can be complex to maintain with issues if user updates their phone OS or driver
  • Admin can only set if the users can sync via Manage Users
  • Administrator has no control over what is sync'd and connection issues are known to cause duplication in the ACT! database
  • No access to Custom Activity types
  • No support for Activities, Notes, Histories that link to multiple contacts
  • Calls, SMS, Emails sent from phone not recorded in ACT!
• Speed
  • Speed is dependant on the phone type and amount of data sent
• Security
  • If using a Premium edition, users only have access to records according to ACT!'s Limited Access and Teams
  • User can select to sync any records they have access to
  • Data on lost phones can't be wiped

Handheld Contact Sync to PDA/Smartphones

• Infrastructure
• Currently supports Blackberry OS, iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android 
• Uses a console with wireless sync - fully supports Web and Remote Desktop (Terminal Services/Citrix)
• Professional Edition adds support for up to 76 fields and many additional functions
• Field formatting and pull-downs maintain data integrity
• Can support very large numbers of mobile users from one console.
• Installation
  • Installed on ACT! server, it's own server or on user's PC
  • Easiest PDA solution to remotely configure and install remotely for one or more devices
• Administration
  • Very easy to roll out and maintain
  • Administrator controls what data is sync'd and how often.
  • Administrator can set contacts sync'd with each user based on Groups an Activities
  • No known issues with duplication or loss of ACT! data
  • HHC Professional supports ACT! Custom Activity types for activities and history
  • HHC Professional supports Activities, Notes, Histories and Email that link to multiple contacts
  • Calls, SMS, Emails sent from phone recorded in ACT! if instigated from HHC Professional
• Speed
  • Speed is dependant on the phone type and amount of data sent – typically faster than other link options.
  • As HHC can send items based on Groups or Activities, users can reduce the number of records they keep on the phone
• Security
  • Administrator has full control over what is sync’d to each user
  • Data on lost phones can be erased remotely by Admin, providing phone in radio range and turned on
  • Data is sent securely in small packets via https and encrypted

Technorati Tags: ACT!,ACT,ACT! by Sage,CRM,Remote,Web,IIS,Synchronization,VPN,SaaS,PDA,phone

How to Download and Apply the ACT! by Sage 2010 Hot Fix 4

NOTE: This document has now been superseded by - ACT! 2010 Service Pack 1 is available!

This documentation describes Hot Fix 4 for ACT! 2010 for the following versions:

• ACT! by Sage 2010
• ACT! by Sage Premium 2010
• ACT! by Sage Premium for Web 2010

Do not apply this hot fix to any other versions or products.

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Note: To determine the version of the product you are using, see the version number in the Help > About box. After the hot fix has been installed, the version number will read "12.0.409.0, Hotfix 4" depending on the version you originally had installed.

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This hot fix applies to all international English locales.
Note: This hotfix (including any software and related documentation) is provided "AS IS." Sage Software disclaims all express or implied warranties of any kind with respect to the utility, including but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose

Who Should Install This Hot Fix?

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Note: Apply this hot fix to all machines that are involved in database synchronization to avoid issues surrounding renaming layouts, queries, and reports. This includes all machines that contain the Main Synchronization Database, Main Remote Database, and machines that have the ACT! Network or ACT! Internet Sync Services applied.

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ACT! hot fixes are cumulative, so hot fix 4 also resolves issues fixed in hot fixes 1, 2 and 3. If you have already installed hot fix 1, 2 or 3, you can safely install hot fix 4.

Hot Fix 4 for ACT! version 2010 may resolve your issues if:

• You are an ACT! Premium for Web user and are unable to print from the address book.
• You cannot replace the contents of the Record Manager using Edit > Replace.
• You are using a Microsoft® Outlook® rule to automatically attach incoming e-mail to ACT! contacts and see Microsoft Outlook stop responding when you received e-mail.
• Your installation has advanced queries or dynamic group/company membership that is based on contact access (contact is private) and have problems after upgrading your database from ACT! by Sage 2008 (10.0) or ACT! by Sage 2009 (11.0) to ACT! 2010.
• You see slow performance when switching views or looking up records.
• You are an ACT! Premium customer whose installation includes customized databases, have upgraded from ACT! by Sage Premium 2008 (10.0) or ACT! by Sage Premium 2009 (11.0), and are now seeing generic application crash errors when viewing Group, Company, or Opportunity views in ACT! by Sage 2010
• You are an ACT! Premium customer whose installation contains fields set to “No Access” that reside in the Contact Spillover Table (spillover tables are created with customized databases). Since upgrading your database to ACT! Premium 2010, the schema update fails and corrupts the upgraded database.
• You are an ACT! Premium customer whose installation contains fields set to “No Access” that reside in the Contact Spillover Table (spillover tables are created with customized databases). Since upgrading your database to ACT! Premium 2010, you are unable to build a remote database.
• You are using a certified add-on application with faxing capabilities and have problems when doing a Mail Merge direct to Fax when your word processor is Microsoft Word.

The following tables list the area affected by the hot fix, the description, and the effect of the hot fix for each known issue.

 New in Hot Fix 4

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Address Books	ACT! Premium for Web users are unable to print from an address book.	Enables the user to print from the address book.

Fixed in Hot Fix 3

ACT! hot fixes are cumulative, so hot fix 4 also contains the following fixes distributed in hot fix 3.

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Contacts	Record Manager is unavailable as an option in the Edit > Replace field function.	Enables the Edit >Replace field function for Record Manager.
Outlook Integration	Users see slow response time when opening a database or performing a lookup on a database that contains a large number of fields.	Repairs memory issue so performance does not suffer during this operation.
Database Upgrade	Customers who have sync sets built on Opportunity and who upgrade to ACT! 2010 see ProductException error messages.	Updates the SQL statement to correct the syntax which can cause the update not complete successfully.
Database Upgrade	Upgrade users who have queries or dynamic membership based on contact access receive error message when attempting to access Contacts, Groups, or Companies.	Modifies the schema to find and correct any syncset, group, or company queries where Contact Access is part of the criteria.

New in Hot Fix 2

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Performance	Users see slow response time when opening a database or performing a lookup on a database that contains a large number of fields.	Enables layouts to refresh more quickly.

Fixed in Hot Fix 1

ACT! hot fixes are cumulative, so hot fix 2 also contains the following fixes distributed in hot fix 1.

Area	Description	What the Fix Does
Groups/Company/Opportunities	This issue impacts ACT! Premium 2008 or ACT! Premium 2009 installations where fields residing in the Contact Spillover Table (spillover tables are created with customized databases) are set to “No Access”. Upon upgrading the database to ACT! Premium 2010, the schema update fails and corrupts the upgraded database. The user experiences generic application crash errors when viewing Group, Company, Opportunity views in ACT! Premium 2010. ACT! Premium 2010 users who have spillover tables and set fields to “No Access” will not be able to create and restore remote databases.	Enables metadata to be created for the upgrade scripts.
Faxing	Users will not be able to mail merge directly to fax.	Enables the SDK method call to trigger a response from ACT!

Applying Hot Fix 2 for ACT! 2010

This hot fix is for version 2010. Do not apply this hot fix to any other version of ACT! To determine the version of the product you are using, see the version number in the Help About box. After the hot fix has been installed, the version number will read "12.0.409.0, Hotfix 2".
Apply this hot fix to all machines that are involved in database synchronization to avoid issues surrounding renaming layouts, queries, and reports. This includes all machines that contain the Main Synchronization Database, Main Remote Database, and machines that have the ACT! Network or ACT! Internet Sync Services applied.
Applying the Hot Fix

1. Log onto to your computer as an Administrator.
2. Stop the Network Sync Service.
3. Please click on the link below to download Hot Fix 2, depending on the version of ACT! 2010 you have installed and your locale.
   ACT! by Sage 2010 Standard Tier (All Locales)
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Standard Hot Fix 2
   
   ACT! by Sage Premium 2010 Tier (Locale Specific)
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Premium Hot Fix 2 - (US) United States
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Premium Hot Fix 2 - (AU) Australia
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Premium Hot Fix 2 - (CA) Canada
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Premium Hot Fix 2 - (EU) Europe
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Premium Hot Fix 2 - (LA) Latin America
   • ACT! by Sage 2010 Premium Hot Fix 2 - (UK) United Kingdom
4. Close ACT!.
5. When the download dialog box comes up, choose Save and save to your Desktop.
6. After the download completes, close ACT!, Internet Explorer® and all Microsoft Office applications.
7. Locate the ACT12HotFix.exe that you downloaded to your desktop and double-click it to begin the installation.
8. The Unpacking ACT! progress indicator briefly appears followed by the Disclaimer dialog box.
   
9. Review the disclaimer, and then click Apply.
10. The installer verifies your Windows® rights and ensures that no open programs will conflict with the hot fix installation. If any of these conditions exist, the appropriate message will appear. Please follow the on screen instructions.
11. The ACT! - Applying Updates window appears while the hot fix is being installed.
12. When finished the ACT! dialog box appears.
    
13. Click Ok to complete the installation.
14. For all Windows Vista® users with UAC enabled, you will see a Program Compatibility Assistant dialog box. Click This program installed correctly to complete the installation.
15. Restart the Network Sync Service.
16. If you are using the Internet Sync Service, you must reset IIS:
    1. Click Start.
    2. In the Run box, type IISReset.
    3. Click OK.
17. Start ACT!
18. From the Help menu, select About. The version number will "12.0.409.0, Hotfix 2".
    

Changes To Your Installation

Installing the hot fix applies the following files:

• ActFramework.MailMerge.dll
• Act.UI.Wordprocessor.dll
• Act.DataCreation.dll

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage

Which MS SQL versions should you use with ACT! 2010 (#ACT2010)

There have been some changes to the supported SQL versions with ACT! 2010 and some users may need to look at which version to use in order to maximise the performance or scalability of ACT!

The standard ACT! by Sage 2010 only supports SQL 2005 Express as per: ACT! 2010 System Requirements

The Premium and Corporate versions support SQL 2005 Standard and now even MS SQL 2008. For a full list of supported versions, see:

• ACT! by Sage Premium 2010 System Requirements
• ACT! by Sage Corporate Edition 2010 System Requirements

While ACT! is only shipped with MS SQL 2005 Express, you can set the Premium version up with SQL 2008 Express (x32 or x64)’ and the Corporate versions with those and also SQL 2005/2008 Standard (x32 or x64)

Note: You must purchase SQL CALs for Standard separately from Microsoft

But, should you change the version of SQL and, if you chose to, how do you do it? To make this decision, you should have a look at these:

• SQL Server 2005 Features Comparison
• SQL Server 2008 Features Comparison

From these, you will note that the advantages of Standard over Express are:

• Express is limited to a 4GB database size – There are very few users that will reach this limit. It’s only the ACT! ADF that’s limited, it doesn’t include attachments
• Express is limited to 1 CPU and 1GB RAM – If your server machine doesn’t have multiple processors and 3GB (or more) RAM, you will not see a benefit to ACT! in using the Standard version. But, on a machine suitably configured, there will be a performance advantage in using Standard.
• Changing to Standard on a suitable server should definitely be considered for 25 or more users.

Here are some useful ACT! Knowledge Base articles on installing ACT! with different editions of SQL:

• Understanding SQL Less CAL
• How to Manually Create the Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 (Standard Edition) ACT7 Instance
• How to Manually Create the Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 (Express Edition) ACT7 Instance
• How to Manually Create the Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 (Standard Edition) ACT7 Instance
• How to Upgrade an Existing ACT! by Sage Premium 2010 ACT7 instance to Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008

There are a couple of additional points to note:

• While having Standard (2005 or 2008) on the server and Express on the workstations is ok. If you upgrade to SQL 2008, you must also upgrade all systems sharing the database via Sync to 2008
• You can upgrade the SQL 2005 instance of ACT7 to SQL 2008, you can’t upgrade to the x64 versions. You would need to uninstall the ACT7 instance and manually create one using the x64 edition of SQL.
• While I have not tested these personally, I have been told by Sage that there is no noticeable advantage to ACT! in using SQL 2008 or the x64 versions. So the only reason to implement these would be to comply with a current infrastructure where these are already implemented.
• While the Enterprise editions are not officially QA tested or supported, I have heard from a number of users that these work with the Premium and Corporate versions of ACT! as per the SQL Standard editions with the additional performance levels they provide. The same applies to using SQL 2008 Express with the standard version of ACT! by Sage – not supported, but should work if required.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,ACT! 2010,ACT2010,MS SQL,SQL

Upgrading ACT!, especially when you are using add-ons

It is important to note that many add-on products will require updated versions in order to work with different versions of ACT!. If you are using any specific add-on(s), you should check with the add-on vendors to see if they support the new version and the procedures to get an updated build, if required.

For ACT! 2010 some add-ons (like Handheld Contact) just require a new download while others may charge an upgrade fee for the new version.

When upgrading ACT!, it is usually a good idea to uninstall any add-ons first. Then perform the ACT! upgrade and then install the latest versions of the add-ons after checking they support the new version.

This also applies if you want to upgrade your MS-Office version or your operating system – you should confirm that your version of ACT! supports this or if you need an upgrade.

Checking these things first reduces potential disappointment if you later find out you need other upgrades that might not yet be available or that you hadn’t budgeted for.

Technorati Tags: ACT,ACT!,ACT! by Sage,Upgrade