How to Work with Several Windows in the Desktop App
The ABM Service desktop app lets you open as many windows as you like, so you can keep the Scheduler open while you work on a call, or compare two calls side by side. Each window has its own title bar, its own Back and Forward, and its own screen. This page explains how to open more windows, and the one rule that keeps two windows from editing the same record.
How do I open something in a new window in the desktop app?
In the ABM Service desktop app, use the small open-in-new button beside a call number or a customer name; its tooltip ends with in a new window. You can also hold Ctrl and click a link (Ctrl+click), or click it with the middle mouse button. All three open the screen in a new desktop app window instead of moving the one you are in.
Other ways to get a new window:
- Press an ABM Service button on the ABM (Advanced Business Manager) toolbar.
- Choose Open ABM Service, Open scheduler or New call from the ABM Service tray icon beside the clock.
New windows open on the screen your mouse pointer is on, each a step down and to the right of the windows already open, so they do not sit exactly on top of each other. There is no limit on how many you open; each one uses some of the computer's memory, so close the ones you have finished with.
In a web browser the same button says in a new tab, because a browser opens a tab instead.
Why does a call or customer only open in one window?
In the ABM Service desktop app, a particular call or customer can be open in only one window at a time. If you ask for a call that is already open, from ABM's toolbar or from a link, the window already showing it comes to the front instead of a second one opening.
This protects your work. Two windows editing the same call would each save their own copy, and whichever saved last would silently overwrite what was typed in the other.
The same happens if you walk a second window onto that call yourself, for example by clicking the call in a Calls list in another window: that window goes back to where it was, and the window that already has the call comes to the front.
The rule only looks at what each window is showing now. A window that has moved on from a call, for example to Home, still keeps any unsaved typing on that call, but it no longer counts as having the call open, so the call can then be opened in another window as a separate copy. If you have unsaved changes on a call or customer, go back to that window and save them before opening the same record anywhere else.
Lists, the Scheduler, Home, New call and New customer are different: each request opens a fresh window, so you can have two Calls lists with different filters, or start two new calls at once.
How do I tell my desktop app windows apart on the taskbar?
All ABM Service desktop app windows gather under one taskbar button. Point at it to see each window; each is named after the screen it shows, followed by your company's name, its server and database, and the ABM Service version.
The name is the screen's own: a call window is named after its call, and a customer window shows the customer's name once it has loaded. Until the screen has loaded, the window has a plainer name such as Calls, Scheduler or New call. Each window also wears a picture of its screen, the same picture the matching ABM toolbar program carries.
If you pin ABM Service Desktop from the Start menu to the taskbar, your windows gather under that pinned button.
How do I move, resize, snap and close a desktop app window?
An ABM Service desktop app window behaves like any other Windows window, even though its title bar is drawn by ABM Service itself.
- Drag the empty part of the title bar to move the window; double-click it to maximise or restore.
- Right-click the empty part of the title bar for the usual Windows window menu.
- Use Minimise, Maximise (or Restore) and Close at the right-hand end of the title bar.
- Drag any edge to resize, including the thin band along the top edge. A window cannot be made smaller than a set minimum size, so the screen inside always has room to work.
- Drag the window by its title bar to the side of the screen, or press the Windows key and an arrow key together, to snap it to one half of the screen.
- Press Alt and F4 together (Alt+F4) to close the window, or choose Exit from the File menu, which closes only the window you are in.
The window buttons keep working even while a screen is busy, for example while the document editor takes in a very large paste.
The desktop app does not remember window sizes or positions. Every new window opens at the same standard size on the screen your pointer is on, however you left the last one; to fill the screen, double-click the title bar or select Maximise.
Warning: Closing a desktop app window does not stop to ask about unsaved changes, the way a browser tab does. Save your call or customer before you close its window.
Why is ABM Service still running after I closed every window?
When you close the last ABM Service desktop app window, the app keeps running quietly in the background, with its tray icon beside the clock. That is what makes the next ABM button or tray item open a window almost at once, instead of starting from scratch.
To stop it completely, right-click its tray icon and choose Exit. That closes every window belonging to that icon too.
ABM Service does not start by itself when Windows starts. After the computer restarts, or after Exit, the first ABM Service button you press in ABM, or a sign-in from ABM Service Desktop in the Start menu, starts it again, so that first window takes a little longer to open.
Each company you open, and each ABM name you sign in with, is a separate copy with its own tray icon, so exiting one leaves the others running. The quiet moment after the last window closes is also when a waiting update installs itself.
Can I open links to other websites from the desktop app?
Yes. A link in the ABM Service desktop app that leads to another website opens in your usual web browser, not inside the desktop app. Only secure web addresses (starting with https) are opened; other kinds of link are ignored.
That includes e-mail links. An e-mail address link, such as Send an e-mail beside a call's contact, does not open your mail program from the desktop app. Copy the address into your e-mail instead, or use ABM Service in a web browser, where the link opens your mail program as usual.
Copying and pasting works with the keyboard, including pasting into a call's documents with Ctrl and V together (Ctrl+V): the desktop app never asks for permission to use the clipboard. Right-clicking in an ordinary text box or on selected text shows no browser menu with Cut, Copy and Paste in the desktop app, so use Ctrl and C together (Ctrl+C) and Ctrl+V instead; menus that ABM Service draws itself still appear on a right-click.