How to Choose the Date Window on the Calls List
Every Calls list covers one window of dates, on either the date each call was logged or the date its visit is due. Change it in the By Date section of the filter rail, or from the question pill near the start of the toolbar, just after Filters, which also has the arrows that step the window back and forward.
How do I change the dates the Calls list covers?
Use the By Date section of the Calls list's filter rail: press Today, This week or This month, or press More… for every other window. The list changes as soon as you press.
- Choose Logged or Due at the top of the By Date section, to say which date the window is on.
- Press Today, This week or This month for the period that contains today.
- Press More…, or the date range shown underneath the buttons, to open the Date window dialog for anything else.
The same controls are on the toolbar: select the date half of the question pill (it reads, for example, Logged · This week, followed by the dates) and a small By date panel opens with the same buttons. Close it with its ×, by pressing Escape, or by clicking anywhere else.
Windows are whole periods: This week runs Monday to Sunday, This month runs from the 1st to the last day, and a year runs from 1 January to 31 December. So a window on Due includes the work still ahead of you this week, not only the days that have passed. The dates the window stands for are always shown, in day/month/year form, under the buttons and on the question pill.
What is the difference between Logged and Due on the Calls list?
Logged filters the Calls list by when each call came in; Due filters it by when each engineer's visit is due. There is always exactly one of the two in force, so the list is always limited by a date.
- Logged — "When the call came in." Use it to review what has arrived: today's calls, this week's calls, last month's.
- Due — "When the work is due. A call with nobody on it has no due date, so it drops out." Use it to plan: what is due today, what is booked for next week.
Because a call nobody has been scheduled for has no due date, a window on Due always leaves those calls out. That is why Due cannot be chosen while To schedule is picked under Which calls: the button stays on screen but refuses, and hovering it says "Calls still to schedule have no engineer and no due date." Choosing To schedule while the window is on Due moves the window back onto Logged and says so under the date buttons.
Switching between Logged and Due also re-sorts the list by that date, newest first, so the order matches the window you are looking at.
The Logged and Due column headings have a filter button too. Using it on the column the window is not on moves the window onto that column: there is only ever one window.
How do I go back or forward a week on the Calls list?
Use the arrows at either end of the question pill on the Calls list's toolbar. The left arrow goes back one period and the right arrow goes forward one, where a period is whatever the window is: a day, a week, a month, a quarter or a year. A step never changes the size of the window, so a week stays seven days however far you go.
As you step, the question pill names where you are: Last week, Next week, then, further away, Week of and the Monday's date, or a month's name and year. The date range beside it shows the exact days.
To come back to the present, press Today, This week or This month in the By Date section. While you have stepped away, the button for the period you are stepping through is drawn outlined rather than filled, and hovering it says where you are and that a click brings you back.
The arrows only appear when the window is a whole period. A rolling window such as Last 30 days, or two dates you picked yourself, cannot be stepped, so the question pill shows no arrows then.
How do I pick yesterday, next month, a quarter or a year?
Open the Date window dialog from the Calls list: press More… in the By Date section of the filter rail, or press the date range shown under the buttons. The dialog groups its windows under four headings:
- Now — Today, This week, This month.
- Step — Yesterday, Tomorrow, Last week, Next week, Last month, Next month.
- Longer — This quarter, This year, Last year.
- Rolling — Last 7 days, Last 30 days, which end today and are measured back from it.
The dialog also has Logged and Due at the top, so you can change the date and the window together.
Nothing changes on the list while you pick. The line at the foot of the dialog says exactly what will be asked for, such as the date, the window's name, its dates and how many days it covers. Then:
- Press Apply to use it. Pressing Enter does the same, as long as a button or a date box in the dialog does not have the focus.
- Press Cancel, the ×, Escape, or the dimmed area outside the dialog to leave the window as it was.
Once applied, a quarter, a year, a rolling window or dates of your own show their name on the More… button in the rail instead, for example Last 30 days, This quarter or Custom, so you can see at a glance which window is in force. A day, a week or a month, such as Yesterday or Last week, is shown on the Today, This week or This month button instead, drawn as stepped away from today, and More… keeps its name.
How do I choose my own two dates on the Calls list?
In the Calls list's Date window dialog, click one day in the calendar and then another: the days between them become the window, both ends included. Or type the dates into the From and To boxes under the calendar. Then press Apply.
- Press More… in the By Date section of the filter rail, or press the date range under the buttons.
- Click the first day in the calendar under The window. The line under the calendar says "now click the other end."
- Click the last day. The calendar marks the range.
- Press Apply.
Use the arrows beside The window to show earlier or later months; moving the calendar does not change your choice. When the window covers three months or more, the calendar shows a strip of months instead of days, and clicking a month makes that whole month the window, ready for Apply.
A window you choose yourself is shown as Custom on the question pill and in the rail, and it has no arrows, because there is no "next" of two dates you picked.
The widest window the Calls list allows is 366 days. If your dates are further apart, the dialog says how many days that is, that the widest window is 366, and to pick a shorter one; Apply will not use it until you do. To look further back, choose This year or Last year and then step through the years one at a time with the arrows on the question pill.
Can I filter the Calls list by when a visit started or ended?
Yes, from the column heading: Started, Ended and Follow up date (once you have added it from Choose columns…) each have a filter button in their heading that adds a date filter of its own, on top of the window in the By Date section. The window in the rail is only ever on Logged or Due.
A date filter on one of those columns leaves out every row that has no such date, for example calls that have not been started yet. It shows as its own chip on the toolbar, and its × removes it without touching the main window.
The main window has no × of its own and is not removed by Clear all filters, because the list always needs one date window.