How to Open a Call or Customer in a New Tab or Window
The call numbers in the Calls list and almost every customer name in ABM Service are links, and beside each one is a small open-in-new button that opens the same call or customer in a new browser tab while your list stays exactly where it is. In the ABM Service desktop app the same button opens a new window instead of a tab.
How do I open a call in a new tab?
Point at the call number in the Calls list and select the small open-in-new button that appears beside it; its tooltip says Open in a new tab. The call opens in a new tab and the Calls list stays as it was in the tab you are in.
- Point at the call number in the Calls list, or move to it with the Tab key.
- Select the open-in-new button beside the number.
- Switch to the new tab to work on the call.
You can also use your browser's own shortcuts on a call number in the Calls list or on a customer's name:
- hold Ctrl and select the link (Ctrl-click) to open it in a new tab;
- click it with the middle mouse button to open it in a new tab;
- hold Shift and select the link (Shift-click) to open it in a new browser window.
An ordinary click, or pressing Enter on a link, opens the call in the tab you are in, and Back brings you back to the list. When you open a call or customer in a new tab from a list row, the list still marks that row, so you can see where you were.
On the Scheduler, the call you have in hand from the To schedule column has the same open-in-new button beside its number. Call numbers elsewhere, such as in the Calls section of the customer screen, open the call in the tab you are in and have no open-in-new button, so to see such a call in a new tab, open it from the Calls list.
Note: In the ABM Service desktop app the button's tooltip says Open in a new window, and it, Ctrl-click and middle-click all open a separate ABM Service window. If that call or customer is already showing in another desktop window, ABM Service brings that window to the front instead of opening a second one, with anything you typed there still in it.
How do I open a customer in a new tab?
Point at the customer's name and select the open-in-new button beside it; its tooltip says Open the customer in a new tab. Selecting the name itself opens the customer in the tab you are in.
A customer's name is a link, with the button beside it, almost everywhere ABM Service shows one, for example:
- the Customer and Invoice to columns of the Calls list, the Name, Code and Invoice to columns of the Customers list, and the rows of Customers without a location;
- on the customer screen, the customer named under Invoice to, and, in the Contacts section, the other customer's name shown under a shared contact;
- the customer card in the filter rail of the Calls list and the Scheduler, and the line that says which customer the screen is showing;
- the customer's name at the top of the call screen and on the call screen's customer card;
- the peek card of an appointment on the Scheduler, and the Quick call card;
- the map's customer sheet, and the customer names on Home.
Some places offer only the button, because the name there is not a link. The Customer and Invoice to filter chips in the Calls list toolbar, and the Customer chip in the Scheduler toolbar, reopen the customer picker when selected; the Customer chip in the Customers list toolbar just shows the customer you picked; and an appointment on the Scheduler opens its peek card and can be dragged. Each of these shows just the open-in-new button. On the Scheduler the button appears on an appointment only when it is wide enough to hold it; on a short appointment, open its peek card and use the customer's name there.
The results list of the customer picker also shows the button beside each customer's code and name when you point at it, so you can look at a customer in a new tab before choosing it. It works with the mouse only; with the keyboard, Enter chooses the customer as usual.
A call with no customer shows no link, because there is nothing to open.
How can I tell my ABM Service tabs apart?
Each tab's title names what is in it, followed by the product's name, so you can find the right tab in the tab bar. A call's tab says Call and the call's number; a customer's tab says the customer's name; the lists say Calls, Customers, Customers without a location or Scheduler, and the landing screen says Home. An address that leads nowhere says Page not found. A new call says New call, and a new customer says New customer until you type a name. On a development site the product's name reads ABM Service Development, so you can tell a test system from the real one.
In the ABM Service desktop app, the screen's name appears in the middle of the window's title bar, and when you point at the desktop app's button on the taskbar, each window is listed by that name followed by your company's name, its server and database, and the ABM Service version.
Does my unsaved work follow me into the new tab?
No. Each tab is separate: a call or customer opened in a new tab is read fresh from the database, and it does not show changes you typed but did not save in another tab. Your unsaved changes, and the reminders for them in the bottom-left corner, stay in the tab where you typed them. Save your changes first if you want to see them in another tab.
The same is true of Back: each tab has its own history, so Back in a new tab has nothing behind it and the call screen shows no back arrow there. The call screen and the customer screen have no navigation menu of their own in a browser, so when you are finished in the new tab, close it and carry on in the tab you came from. In the ABM Service desktop app, use the Go menu in the window's title bar to move to another screen.