This document provides tips and tricks for using the X3 maintenance management system. It covers topics such as adding items to the quick bar, enabling edit-in-place functionality, setting up email notifications, and more. Instructions are given for tasks like printing related parts on work orders, notifying maintenance contacts about new work requests, and removing permanently deleted records. Best practices are also shared, such as being careful when editing data dictionaries and using auto-numbering for standardized IDs.

1. Tips and Tricks 1
Tips and Tricks
Thank you for attending the Tips and Tricks presentation. This document will assist you in accomplishing any of the
tasks that we have covered today.
Please note that some of the topics covered here require manipulating the Data Dictionary. Be very careful when
making changes to a Data Dictionary record. Even a single letter in the wrong place can cause serious problems with
your account. When in doubt, click the “Cancel Changes” link to start over again or simply close the window. Of
course, the safest route is to call technical support and let us assist you in getting the results you desire.
Adding Items to the New Quick Bar
The new Quick Bar could quite possibly become your new best friend. Its ease of use and the convenience it
provides makes it a simple yet powerful tool. To put it to use, click the Navigation tab. The Navigation tab contains
all of the menu options available in your X3 account. Each item has an icon to the right. Clicking this icon will add
the menu option to the Quick Bar. Clicking it again will remove it. At present, the Quick Bar can display a maximum
of ten items at one time.
Edit-in-Place (Double-click Edit)
Speaking of convenience, Edit-In-Place has become a feature loved by the entire eMaint staff. To use Edit-in-Place,
you must enable it in My Account (or Change Your Settings) > General System Settings. Once enabled, simple
double click on a field in a detail view you would like to change and make your changes, then click the green “” to
save or the red “x” to cancel. Please note that not all fields can be edited. Fields that cannot be edited in this manner
will indicate this by changing your mouse cursor to a “No” icon.
Work Requestor Email Notification
X3 piggy-backs the Work Requestor email notification with the Perform For settings. Go to My Account > Work Order
Email Settings. The top two sections of this page allow you to configure who to send a copy of the work order when it
is created and closed. Clicking „Yes‟ for the Perform For contact will also send a copy to the requestor.
Parts Reorder Point Notification
Stay on top of your inventory by setting X3 to email you when your stock parts become low. Head over to My
Account > Inventory Control Settings. Place your email address list in the “Default Email address for Re-Order List”.
Be sure to separate the address with a comma (no spaces).
Printing Related Parts on a Work Order
To view the asset‟s related parts on the work order HTML printout, head over to My Account > Work Order General
Settings and check „Yes‟ to any of the “HTML Print option to display...” settings.
The Request Notification Group
The Request Notification keeps your workers notified of new work requests being added. This feature requires two
settings to make it work. First, go to the My Account > Work Order Email Settings screen, and in the Work Order
Request Notification section change the setting for “Send Email to Notification Group” to „On‟.
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Now that X3 is set to send the email blast, the next step is to indicate which maintenance contacts are to receive the
email. View the detail screen of a contact that is to receive the email and locate the “Request Notification Group?”
field on the form. If you don‟t see this field displayed on the form, you must add it. Once the field is added to the form,
simply edit the contact and change the value on the field from „False‟ to „True‟. This contact will now receive an email
each time a request is created.
Records Marked For Deletion
Deleting records in eMaint is a two-step process of which many users are not aware. First, select the “Delete” option
on the record you would like to remove. This does not actually remove the record, but marks it in red and disables it
from doing any system functions (like a PM that is set to auto-generate). To finalize the deletion, go to the Remove
Deleted Records menu option in the Navigation Tab. This page lists all the tables in X3 that can hold marked
records. Find the table with your deleted record and click the magnifying glass to view the list of records that are
marked for deletion. If the list is correct, close that window and click the Trash Can icon. After clicking „Yes‟ on the
confirmation window, all your deleted records will be permanently removed from X3.
Note: Once you have used the Remove Deleted Records option, the contents of that table are permanently removed
and are unrecoverable. Use with caution.
Email Reminder on Maintenance Calendar
The Maintenance Calendar can be used to add activities that don‟t require a work order PM schedule. Go to the
Maintenance Calendar and click „Add Activity‟. Fill in the required information, and don‟t forget to make use of the
email reminder function. Click the checkbox and enter the date you want the reminder to be sent.
Site Activity Report
Keep tabs on who is logging into your account by visiting the Site Activity Report section. This section will provide
you with a list of accounts that were logged in within a seven day period. Clicking on a user ID will provide you with a
detailed view of where the user was and at what time. Please note the server time is Eastern Standard Time.
Printing History
There is no print function in X3 to print your history view, but there is a Windows function you can use to print the
page quickly. You will want to hide your Quick Bar so that the side bar is not printing with your history. Do this by
clicking the „X‟ on the bar with “X3 Quick Bar” on it. Now, right-click on your page when the history or charges view is
enabled and click „Print‟. You can then show the quick bar again by clicking the tab that appears under the Home tab.
Automatic PM Parts Charge
When you need certain parts to perform a PM, use the PM Parts table on the PM Schedule to relate the specific
inventory items you expect to use. When adding the parts to the related table, enter the value that you would like to
automatically charge out in the field labeled “Auto Issue Qty”. When you close the PM work order, a section will
appear on the Closeout form that lists the PM parts. Uncheck any items that weren‟t used. When closed, the work
order‟s charges table will list the parts that were consumed.
Adding an Image to a Record
Images can be a valuable resource for your records. They can help a user identify a part in inventory or include a set
of blueprints needed to complete a job. Putting images on your records is an easy process. The images you would
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like to add to a form must be hosted. A company server with a public folder or an internet ftp site is recommended.
Ask your IT department for assistance.
When your picture is uploaded, navigate to the record that will display the picture and click edit. Click the “HTML
Editor” link to load the HTML editor. On the panel above the text box, click the image button (the square icon with a
picture of a tree). Insert the image‟s full URL in the “Image URL” field. An example of a corporate URL is
servenamefolderfolderimage.jpg. All other fields are optional. Click save on the window, click Save on the HTML
editor, then click Save Changes on the form. Just like magic, there‟s an image on your form!
Adjusting the Tab Order
Why use a mouse to navigate to the next field when you can hit the tab button? Head to the form you wish to adjust
and click Options > Customize Form. Simply start clicking the blue numbers next to the field in the order you wish the
tab to follow.
After clicking the blue number, the confirmation window will appear with a link to “Go Back”. DON‟T CLICK IT! Press
the backspace key to go back to the form and click the next number. Continue this process until the last field, and
then click that “Go Back” link. You‟re all finished! Exit design mode then edit the form. Click on the first field and
start tabbing away!
Auto Numbering
When you don‟t need to standardize your part numbers or asset ID‟s, auto-numbering is just what the doctor ordered.
Enter design mode by clicking Options > Customize form. Click on the Properties icon of the keyfield and enter your
code in the “Default Value” field.
The less “human friendly” of the two codes is “$$SYS(2015)$$” (without the quotes) and produces IDs like
“_1BG0TCOZB”. Not as pretty as the other code, but easier to remember.
If you like the random number but hate the underscore ( _ ), use the code “$$STRT(SYS(2015),‟_‟,‟‟)$$” (without the
beginning and ending quotes). This number will look like “27A168I26”. Please note that the code contains all
apostrophes ( „ ), no quotation marks ( “ ).
The more advanced code, “$$GetCounter(„NAME‟,5)$$” (without the quotes), is a bit more complicated. When you
enter this code and create your first record with it, X3 creates a counter. In addition, X3 will use the numeric value in
the code string to know how many digits to use. For example: entering “$$GetCounter(„ASSET‟,4)$$” will create the
counter “Asset” and the counter will have four digits, 0000 – 9999.
Hiding and minimizing related tables
A related table contains a lot of important information for your records, but that doesn‟t mean you have to see it all the
time. Use the new minimize option to hide the line items from view by clicking the “ – “ link on the right side of the
table. The table will still be visible, but not the 36 line items.
If you don‟t use a table at all, there‟s no reason to let it use valuable “real estate” on the page. Click Options >
Manage Related Tables to access the related table manager. Remove the check for any table you do not want to
display. Click Save and your unwanted tables are now gone from view.
Adding a Simple Lookup and Auto-Populating Values
Lookups can be a huge time saver when you‟re entering many records at one time. Click Options > Customize form
and click the properties icon of the field to receive the new lookup. On the Field Properties screen, expand the
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Lookup Properties section and click the Modify Lookup link. On “Field has a lookup”, change the value to „Yes‟. For
our example, we‟re going to create a regular Lookup, so on “What kind of lookup?” select „Lookup‟. Now click the
“Save / Define” button.
Now a text box will appear which allows you to populate your list. Enter a value and press enter. Do this for each
option available for the lookup. Alternatively, click the “Populate list with existing field values” link to have X3 look at
all the records and pull any existing values the field may have and place it in the list for you. Finally, click the
“Proceed” button to save your list. Close the window, click „Exit Design Mode‟ and edit the form to give your new
lookup a test drive.
Note: The last item in the list will be the default value for the lookup on a new record. We at eMaint suggest creating a
blank record at the end of your value list to create a blank default value.
Controlling Sort Properties in the List View
Did you know when you create a new field on any form it is not available for sorting in the list view? After you create
the new field, access the properties of the field by clicking the Properties Icon. In the General properties section,
there will be a checkbox labeled “Sortable”. Place a check in the box and click save. Next, click the link provided in
the red text to reindex the table. Now on your list view you‟ll be able to sort it by clicking the column header of the
displayed field.
Adding a Checkbox to a Logical Field
If you prefer a checkbox rather than a True or False value, then this tip is for you. Open the properties of the logical
field by clicking Options > Customize Form and clicking the Properties Icon of the field. At the bottom of the Field
Properties, click the link for the Data Dictionary. This will take you directly to the field‟s Data Dictionary record. Click
the “Edit” link and look for the field “Lookup?” and change the value for this field to „True‟. Directly under that is a field
labeled “Clooktype”. In all capital letters, enter „CHECKBOX‟ then click the “Save Changes” link. Close the window,
exit design mode and observe your new checkbox.
Creating a Read-Only List Lookup
The purpose of a lookup is to keep your data accurate. Unfortunately, users will sometimes choose to bypass picking
from a lookup and instead will type a value directly into the field. To prevent this from happening and force a user to
select from a lookup, open the field properties by clicking Options > Customize Form and click the Properties Icon of
the field. At the bottom of the Field Properties, click the link for the Data Dictionary. This will take you directly to the
field‟s Data Dictionary record. Click the “Edit” link and change the “Lreadonly” field value to true. Save the data
dictionary record, close the window and exit Design Mode. Now, the only way to populate this field will be to use the
lookup; hand-entered values will not be permitted.
Adding a Row to a Form
If you like to have the information in your forms separated by spaces or sectioned off into neat partitions you have two
options: adding either a full row or adding a half row between fields.
To add a full row, access the Design Mode by clicking Options > Customize Form. Hover your mouse over the icons
of the row above your new row‟s location. A pop-up will appear with 2 numbers separated by a slash. The number
on the left is the Row value; the number on the right is the Column value.
Place the number of the Row value in the “Insert Row After” section at the top of the form and click the “INS” button.
You‟ll receive confirmation of the change and a link to “Return to Design Mode”. Click the link and your new row is in
place.
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To create a half space between rows you must first select the field properties for the field in the right column by
clicking Options > Customize Form and clicking the Properties Icon of the field. At the bottom of the Field Properties,
click the link for the Data Dictionary. Once in the data dictionary record for this field you must then select the “Edit”
menu option and locate the field labeled “nspceafter”. Once this field is located enter the number “1” into the field and
save the data dictionary record. Next, close the window and exit design mode. You should now notice a half space
between your rows.
Adding Help Text to a Field
Help text can be used to identify a field, describe its contents or offer specific instructions for populating the field. To
configure a field with help text, access design mode, Options > Customize Form and click on the Properties link of the
field. On the Field Properties window, scroll to the bottom and click the link for the Data Dictionary. This will open the
Data Dictionary record for this field. Click the “Edit” link at the top, then locate “dd_helptext”. Enter your help text in
the corresponding text box, then save the form. Close this window and exit Design Mode. Now place your mouse
cursor over the field and hold it there. The question mark will grab your users‟ attention, while the help text provides
the user with specific instructions for this field.
Adding a Field to the Closeout Form
Open a work order record and click Options > Customize Form. Click the properties link of the field you wish to add
to the closeout form. Scroll to the bottom of the Field Properties window and click the link for the Data Dictionary to
open the field‟s Data Dictionary record. Edit this form and locate the field labeled “Mroutine”. Next, type
“CLOSEOUT” in the text box in all capital letters and save the form. Close the Data Dictionary window and exit
Design Mode. Now, when you close a work order, the fields you have added to the closeout form will appear in the
bottom section of the form.
Use the Demo Account
Training new employees can be very stressful, but when it comes to learning eMaint, it doesn‟t have to be. Let the
new employee learn X3 using our online demo account. It‟s filled with sample data so the user can do anything
he/she will be doing after training.
And while we‟re at it, why don‟t you give it a shot? The demo account gives you the opportunity to try that
customization without the fear of breaking something on your live account.
Account ID: Demo
Password: Demo
Contact Support
We all have one of those days. That‟s why eMaint is ready to give you a hand.
Give us a ring: 856-810-2700 x1
Start a chat: http://www.emaint.com/livechat.cmms
Send us an email: support@emaint.com
Thanks for attending the Tips and Tricks Presentation!
Last updated: November 21, 2007
©2007 eMaint Enterprises LLC