Making phone formats permanent

[dannopcs]

Good day.  I just downloaded ACT 2009 as a trial version.  I  have been using ACT since version 1.0 and stopped updating when version 7 came out with the new database format.  I converted one small database (90 records) from version 6 to version 11.  I find that when I add a new Company, I must set the Phone Format on the 3 phone fields from "U1" to "United States".  This would not be a big problem except for the fact that I have to do this for every new company.  the Phone field in the Contact screen does not appear to have this problem.  Apparently the conversion took care of setting the phone format for those records.  Is there a way to make the Company Phone Format default to "United States" for all existing and/or new records?  I appreciate any help with this.  This is my first entry to this board, so if I did something wrong, please advise.

[rbrust]

Here's what I did to make the phone formats permanent, let me know if you've tried this:

1. click the "..." button next to any phone field

2. there should be a small window titled "Enter Phone Number" that appears

3. click on the "Edit Formats..." button

4. add one you want, or ensure that there is a default

5. click OK to leave that window, then OK again to leave the next window

This has changed all phone formats for all phone fields for me.  If this is not working, I wonder if there is a Windows system setting that is overriding/interfering with ACT!  You said the Contact screen is not having this issue, which is wierd.

Try the above and let me know what happens...

[dannopcs]

Good day Richard.  Thank you for responding.  I tried your solution, but it didn't make any difference.  When I try to insert a new company, the phone format for all three phone number fields comes up as default "U1" instead of "United States".  I have searched for a flag setting in ACT, but I can't find anything.  I have no idea what Windows Setting could cause this.

Thanks, Dan...

[rbrust]

Could you post something:

Go to Help>About, and copy/paste the version info.  For example, mine is:

ACT! by Sage Premium 2009 (11.0) Version 11.0.1.500
English (United States)
Sage Software, Inc.

I cannot seem to find the phone version you are mentioning, and this might help.  Thanks...

[FILLSTAFF…]

Here is a quick download how to video    http://fillstaff.com/HowTo.aspx     ACT! Set or Change Phone Field Formats   

Cheers - FSB

[dannopcs]

Good day Richard.  Here is the data you requested.

ACT! by Sage 2009 (11.0) Version 11.0.0.367
English (United States)
Sage Software, Inc.
© 2008 Sage Software, Inc.  All rights reserved.  The Sage Software logo and ACT! are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Portions of the ACT! application and associated documentation were created by third parties and are hereby acknowledged as follows: © 2000 Microsoft Corporation. © 2002-2003 The Genghis Group. © 1991-2002 ComponentOne LLC. © 1991-2004 The Imaging Source Europe GmbH. All rights reserved.

This is a trial version and no serial number has been entered yet.  I have not checked for updates yet. 

Thanks, Dan...

[dannopcs]

Good day Bill.  Thanks for responding.  Your video explains how to change the phone format in a given record, but not how to set the format so that any new records use the format you have chosen as the default.  This only appears to be happening in the Company Records.  The Contact records which were all imported as the result of a conversion of a version 6.0 database all seem to be using the default format and have no problem.

Thanks, Dan...

[dannopcs]

Good day again Bill.  After I re-read my last post to you, I decided to go into the database and try to enter a new contact record.  Sure enough, the phone format is coming up as "U1" instead of "United States".  The problem is not isolated to the Company records as I thought.

Thanks, Dan...

[dannopcs]

Good day again Richard.  I don't know whether you can see the posts to Bill or not, so I will repeat.  The phone format problem is also occurring when I try to enter a new Contact record as well. 

Thanks, Dan...

[rbrust]

Dan - A few more questions/comments, as I cannot seem to find anything that is a "U1" in my database.

• first, there is an update (you can tell by the version number), but I also have your version running, and it does not happen in that version.  Not sure this is the issue, just wanted to let you know.
• second, go to Tools>Preferences, and the first tab should be "General".  Make sure the first box ("Always display country codes in phone fields") is unchecked
• finally, tell me exactly where you see this "U1".  When I go to phone fields, I get "United States [1]"

Thanks...