Sorting and Printing

[Tim Bergman]

I’m coming from Bento, and used it as a customer database. Using Bento, I had a Library of all my accounts, then had Smart Collections based upon a Region field I created. I like this as I can isolate & focus on only those customers in a region that I may be traveling to, and further, could print a list of all of them, one line per account, that showed name, address, phone, etc, that I could have for fast and handy reference in my car.

I can’t figure out a way to get a similar sort/organization of accounts, nor printing a sorted list as described above. Any tips?

[Colleen Easley]

You can make smart collections in Tap Forms similar to Bento. Click the little gear wheel icon to the left of the search box and set the parameters you want to sort for. Then be sure to click SAVE not search. Now you’ll have the collection you want as a sub-set under your main list.

To print, I think you will have to export the group you want to an Excel file and then open that to print. But before you do that you’ll have to order the fields in the order you want them by clicking the icon in the tool bar for Forms, then click Fields. Order the fields by dragging them into the order you want – Name, address, phone, etc. Now go to export and put a check box next to each field you want in your spread sheet. Choose to export as Excel and you should be good to go. You an then open in either Excel or Numbers and print it.

I agree, it’s definitely not as slick as Bento. There a lot of Bento features I’m missing, but usually I can find a work around. Hopefully the program will continue to develop and we’ll get some of these features in future releases.

[Colleen Easley]

Another way to print the list might be to make a label layout that includes the info you want. It wouldn’t be in single lines across the page like Excel, but it would give you one record per label and if all you need is name, address and phone, you should be able to print it all on one label, but use paper. I have done something like this for my club’s membership directory and even included a photo for each person.

[Brendan]

Actually there is another way of printing a list of records without having to export to Excel. On the Print sheet, click the Show Details button and you’ll see more advanced printing options, including a Print Layout option. In there are two options; 1. Table of records, and 2. Details.

You’ll want to use the Table of records option. You can also choose which fields you want as part of the printout, choose the orientation, height of the rows, etc. Tap Forms will only print as many fields that will fit on the page though.

Also, as an added configuration ability, if you switch to multi-column list view mode on the main records list screen before you print, you can adjust the column widths of your fields and Tap Forms will use those widths for the widths of the columns in the printout.

Thanks!

Brendan

[Tim Bergman]

Thanks both! Am traveling, but will attempt these strategies upon return.

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