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How to Write in the Details and Resolution Documents

Every call carries two formatted documents, side by side on the call screen's Details section: Details, what the problem is and what the engineer reads first, and Resolution, what was done, which goes on the job card. Each has its own formatting toolbar, and both are saved with the call when you select Save.

What is the difference between the Details and the Resolution document?​

Details is the description of the call: what the customer reported, pasted e-mails, access notes, and the running log of notes the office adds. Its heading on a saved call says "What the engineer reads first"; on a new call it says "Start here: paste the e-mail, or type what the customer told you". The Calls list can show the start of it in its Problem description column.

Resolution is the account of the work done, and its heading says "on the job card". Select the Resolution heading to fold the document into a narrow strip when you need room for Details, and select it again to open it. On a new call, Resolution starts folded.

Both documents keep their formatting, pictures and links exactly as they are saved, including documents written in ABM itself. A document you start from empty is written in Arial, size 16. Type straight into either document; nothing needs to be switched on first.

When a call already has engineers' visits scheduled, editing the Details document (or the Comment) offers, in the Scheduled visits card, to give the same words to every visit when you save.

How do I add a dated note to a call?​

Select Note at the left of the document's toolbar on the call screen. ABM Service adds two blank lines at the end of the document, then a stamp with your name, the time and the date, and puts the cursor on the line underneath, ready for you to type. The stamp starts with two asterisks and reads "New Note, Entered by", then your name, the time and the date. It is the same stamp ABM itself writes, so a call worked in both programs reads as one log.

  1. Select Note on the Details (or Resolution) toolbar.
  2. Type the note under the stamp.
  3. Select Save at the top right of the call screen, or press Ctrl and S together (Ctrl+S).

What does each button on the document toolbar do?​

The toolbar above each document on the call screen has, from left to right:

  • Note – adds a dated note stamp at the end of the document.
  • Paste – pastes what is on the clipboard at the cursor.
  • Bold, Italic, Underline – format the selected text; each shows as pressed when the text under the cursor already has it.
  • Font colour – the coloured square; choose a colour to apply it to the selected text.
  • Bulleted list and Numbered list.
  • Undo and Redo – step back and forward through your edits. Undo is greyed out on a document you have not changed since it opened.
  • Zoom out, the zoom level (for example 100%), Zoom in – draw the document smaller or larger, from 50% to 200%. Select the level to go back to 100%. Zoom only changes what you see; it is never saved and never changes the document.
  • Font and Font size – the font and size of the selected text. Font offers Segoe UI, Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, Courier New and Verdana, and Font size runs from 8 to 36. A document written in a font that is not in the list shows that font too.

The documents have no right-click menu; use the toolbar and the keyboard. While the call screen is still starting the editor, the toolbar is already there: selecting a button then shows a moving progress bar under the toolbar (a screen reader also hears "The editor is still starting; the formatting commands will work in a moment."). Select the button again once the document has opened.

How do I paste an e-mail into a call?​

Copy the e-mail in Outlook or any other program, click in the call's Details document where it should go, and press Ctrl and V together (Ctrl+V), or select Paste on the document's toolbar. ABM Service pastes the formatted version when there is one, keeping the layout and pictures at a sensible size, then plain text, and a picture on its own only when nothing else was copied. The document shows "Pasting…" while the paste goes in; a large e-mail can take a second or two. Shift and Insert together (Shift+Insert) pastes too.

Pasting into a call document can show one of two messages under the document:

  • "The Paste button needs a secure (https) address; on this one, paste with Ctrl+V — large content will take longer to appear." This one comes from the Paste button: your browser only lets a web page read the clipboard on a secure address. Ctrl+V still works.
  • "Your browser is blocking this site from reading the clipboard — allow Clipboard for this site, then paste again." This one can come from the Paste button or from Ctrl+V. Allow the clipboard for ABM Service in your browser's site settings, then try again.

Select the × on the message to close it.

Clicking a link in the Details or Resolution document opens it in a new window: a web address in your browser, an e-mail address in your e-mail program, and a phone link in whatever your computer uses for calls. Web addresses typed into a document become links by themselves. Following a link is reading, not editing, so it never makes the call look changed.

For safety, only web, e-mail and phone links are followed. A link that points anywhere else, which can happen in a pasted e-mail, is not opened at all: clicking it does nothing, and no message appears on the screen.

In the ABM Service desktop app, only secure web addresses (starting https) are handed on to your browser. A web address starting http without the s, an e-mail link and a phone link do nothing there when clicked. That is why more links seem not to work in the desktop app than in a browser.

When a link will not open, and the address is written out in the document, select the address, copy it by pressing Ctrl and C together (Ctrl+C), and paste it into your web browser or your e-mail program yourself.

Can I print a call, or its Details or Resolution document?​

There is no print button on the call screen, but in a web browser you can print one of the call's documents on its own: click inside the Details or Resolution document on the call screen and press Ctrl and P together (Ctrl+P). The document opens in a print window of its own and prints in full, without the rest of the call screen.

  • To print the Details document, click anywhere in it, press Ctrl+P, and choose your printer in the print window. Do the same in the Resolution document to print that one.
  • To print the whole call screen, use your browser's own print command with the cursor outside the documents. It prints the page as it appears on screen; ABM Service has no layout of the call made for paper.
  • In the ABM Service desktop app, Ctrl+P does not print anything, inside a document or outside one. If you also use ABM Service in a web browser, open the call there and print the document with Ctrl+P.

The call's service docket is a different thing: ABM itself prints or e-mails it, as set in the customer's Docket & e-mail section, once an engineer's visit is marked Finished. Nothing on the call screen prints a docket.