Act Consultant Karen Fredricks shows Act users how to solve some of their Act tech support issues.

1. DIY Tech Support
Brought to you by:
Tech Benders
Karen Fredricks
Your Act! Guru
Karen@TechBenders.com
561-470-5450 x1

2. Your Support Options
1. Act Premium Subscription comes with free SwiftPage Support
(877-716-6296)
2. Pro does not come with Swiftpage Support
• You can purchase $40 installation Support
• There is currently a promotion that includes install support
• You can purchase $100 5-Ticket Support
3. Tech Benders Support 561-470-5450
– Ext 1: Karen: Sales, Training & Consulting
– Ext 2: Kim: Database repair, Conversion & Support
– Ext 3: Roy: Reports, Tables & Support
4. DIY Tech Support

3. Tech Benders Support Policy
• We give you pre-sales support so that you make sure you
are purchasing the correct product
• We send you installation instructions when you purchase
your software
• We keep your license number and download links on file
permanently
• We will answer brief emails that can be answered in a
sentence or two via email from our existing customers for
free
• Support that requires phone or email intervention will be
billed at $150/hour

4. Why Purchase an Act! Subscription from
Tech Benders?
• We sell Act for below the retail Price
• We answer your pre-sales questions
• We send customized installation instructions
• We keep your download links and serial numbers on file
• All subscription users receive Quarterly Webinars for free 

5. #1 I Can’t Register My Software!
Quick Fix:
• Right-click your Act! icon and choose Run as
Administrator
• Re-register when Act! opens

6. #2 I need to re-install Act!
Where’s my Software???
• Quick Fix: the download center
http://www.act.com/resources/downloads/
• Quick Fix: be sneaky…
http://www.act.com/download/pro2011
http://www.act.com/download/premium2012
http://www.act.com/download/premiumv18
• Quick Fix: if you purchased from Tech Benders we have your
license number and download link on file 

7. Where in the World is my License
Number???
License Numbers:
– If you are on Subscription your License Numbers starts with a 5
– It will work with v17, 18, and 19
– It will work with v20 when it’s released later this year
– If you purchased from Tech Benders we have it on file
– If you purchased from SwiftPage or another vendor you will have
to call them

8. I’m being asked for my user
name and password!
• Yes, EVERY database has at least one user
– If you don’t know it go to Tools/Manage Users
• A single user database doesn’t require a login unless you do
something special like update or restore your database
• The password is CaSe SenSitive, the User name is not
• Both the User Name and Password must be correct to log into the
database
– Quick Fix: Try leaving the password field BLANK
– Try variations of your name: kfredricks, Karen, Karen Fredricks,
Karen F, KarenF
– KISS: Use Bob Smith rather than Mr. Bob A. Smith, Jr.
– Be consistent for all users!
• We offer password recovery for all Act! versions for $100

9. Help! I lost my Password!
Aren’t you sorry you clicked the
“Remember Password”
Check Box???

10. #3 Outlook

11. Outlook Rules of Thumb
Outlook must be installed prior to
Act!
That means:
If you UPGRADE to a new version of Office you must reinstall Act!
Act! v17 & v18 require a FULL 32 BIT installation of Office.
That means:
It will not work with 64 bit installations of Office
It will not work with “Office 365 Click to Run” installations
You must purchase v19 to work with Office 365
That means:
If you purchase a new computer you must install Office first!

12. Please use only the
Recommended Settings!

14. My Outlook Stopped Working
1.Right-click the Act! Integration Icon
and select Show Progress
2.Click the Not Attached Message tab
3.Clean ‘em up!

15. Outlook is still not cooperating
There are a lot of other possibilities:
• Your Inbox is overflowing
• You turned off the Act!/Outlook Addin in Outlook
• Your Outlook profile is corrupted; try creating a temporary
profile.
• You have other addins in Outlook that are causing a
conflict
• You have remnants of multiple versions of Office on your
machine because you never uninstalled the prior
version(s); this means the registry has to be edited.
• Your database is corrupted; try opening the Act! Demo.
• There are maintenance procedures that you can do in
Outlook; I do mine once a month.

16. #4 What happens when I upgrade?
• Visit https://techbenders.com/learn-more-about-act/
• Upgrading Rules of Thumb
– Check your version of SQL before upgrading
• Go To Act!Diag and it will tell you your version of SQL
• All new versions of Act! have SQL 2014
• Remove SQL from Control Panel starting with Item 1 of 5
– Remove Act!
– Turn Off
• UAC
• Windows Firewall
• Temporarily disable your Anti Virus Software
• No, you will NOT lose your customizations!

17. What’s the latest Update
for my version?
• Visit https://www.act.com/resources/downloads
• What’s been fixed:
http://kb.act.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36573/kw/36573

18. #5 Act! won’t open!
• Quick Fix (90%)
– With Act! closed….Type services.msc at the Windows
prompt
– Scroll down to SQL Server (Act! 7)
– Either Start or Restart the service
• A/V Software
– Add exceptions for act.exe and sql.exe
• Turn Windows Firewall off (Control Panel)
• The Bottom Line: Act! and SQL have to “talk” to one
another

19. #6 My Linked In & Facebook Links Broke
Linked In:
https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/f?keywords={Contact}
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q={Contact}
1.Go to Web Info tab
2.Click Edit Links
3.Select LinkedIn or Facebook
4.Click Advanced Edit
5.Replace the Source URL with the above URL

20. #7 How often should I make a backup…
Or… My IT Guy has it covered (Not!)

21. How Often Should I Backup & Do
Maintenance
Warning: Not all “automatic system backups” are
capable of backing up SQL databases!
• Use it to run nightly backups
• Use it to run weekly maintenance
• Use it to automatically sync your remote
database hourly
• Use it to automate the synching of your Outlook
calendar
You must run the Act! Scheduler on the server or
computer that houses your database!

22. #8 I didn’t know that would happen….
• Be careful if changing the Admin User or resetting the
Admin User’s Password as the Act! Scheduler will no
longer work. You can see this error in the A/S Task Log.
• Make sure everyone is synching; this can cause a big
backup of unapplied data.
• Do you have a lot of unnecessary history in the History
List?
• Do not remove essential elements from the Layout like
Access Control or Stages/Processes.
• Is your computer up to the challenge? How much
memory do you have and how many programs are you
running?
• DO NOT SET FIELD HISTORIES FOR EVERY FIELD!

23. #9 The Main Thing Not to Do!
• DO NOT CHANGE CORE FIELDS!
They will affect:
– Lookups
– Reports
– Labels
– Templates

24. #10 Four “Must Use” Fields
• Use the ID/Status for EVERY contact in your
database!!
• Use Last Results for your prospecting.
• Use the Record Manager field instead of
creating your own “Sales Person” field. It ties to
numerous reports.
• Use the Referred By field rather than creating a
“Referral” or “Source” field. It ties to a specific
report.

25. #11 Act! is taking forever to start and/or
I’m getting out of memory errors!
Too many Activities!
Old uncleared activities
+ Too many “alarms” scheduled for a variety
of times
+ Too many recurring activities
+ Uncleared recurring activities
= ONE BIG CORRUPTED DATABASE

26. Remember:
• Clicking “Select All” and “Snooze” for
your alarms isn’t helping the cause
• All Activities do not need an Alarm
• Activities can be Timeless
• Clear Completed Activities
• Dynamic (not static) Groups are
designed to help you “remember” things

27. But I have to use Activities!
No, you need to use Processes
• Prospecting: I use Last Results
• Sales: I use Opportunities
• Customer Retention: I use Dynamic
Groups

28. #12 My Database is Act!ing Up!
Act Diag
Advanced Maintenance
• All users must exit out of
Act!
• This must be run on the
server or main computer
– Start/Run/ActDiag
– Select Databases/ Database
List
– Tools/Repair Database
– Tools/Reindex Database
– All Database Rebuilds
Basic Maintenance
• Tools/Database
Maintenance
• Check and Repair
• Integrity and Re-Index
– This is preventative
maintenance and does not
repair.
– Same Maintenance that is
run by the Act! Scheduler
– Do this after a large
deletion, change or import

29. #13 I have a ton of duplicates
• Are users checking for contacts prior to adding new ones?
• Have you recently done an import?
– Did you fully understand how “duplicate checking” works?
• Did you try to set up Outlook/Act! contact synch?
– Take my word for it – DO NOT DO IT!
• Are you synching to your phone
– Did you start by wiping all the contacts in your phone
– Do you have I-cloud turned on? It’s a great way to get I-
duplicates!

30. When all else fails….
• Search Kb.act.com by error message
– You must be exact in your messaging
• Search Google
– It does a better job of searching
– Go figure!
• Make a suggestion:
https://community.act.com/t5/Share-Your-Ideas/idb-p/ideas
• Ask a question:
community.act.com
• Take my course at lynda.com:
– https://techbenders.com/act-training-videos2/
– Lynda.com/freepass/kfredricks

31. Act! Database Repair!
• We can repair any damaged database from Act! v1 –
v19.
• We offer weekend service & overnight service.
• We are faster & cheaper than SwiftPage.
• We fix databases for SwiftPage that they can’t repair
or convert.
• Call 561-470-5450 x1 for further details