How to Use the Filter Rail and the Filter Chips
The filter rail is the panel down the left of the Calls list, the Customers list and the Scheduler. It holds the screen's lists — call types, call statuses, action statuses and engineers on Calls and the Scheduler; group, category and account manager on Customers — and ticking items there narrows what you see. The filter line across the top of the screen shows every filter in force as a chip, so you can always answer "why am I seeing these?".
How do I filter using the filter rail?
Tick one or more items in a list in the filter rail on the left of the screen, and the screen shows only what matches. Ticking two items in the same list shows either of them; ticking items in two different lists shows what matches both.
- Click a list's heading (for example Call Status) to fold it shut or open it again. While items are ticked, the heading shows how many.
- Point at a heading to see Select all and None. They tick or untick every item that is showing in that list, in one step.
- Type in the Search filters… box at the top of the rail to shorten the lists to the items whose names contain what you typed. A list with nothing matching disappears until you clear the box.
The first blocks in the rail are the screen's own questions, such as Which calls and the date window on the Calls list, Which accounts on the Customers list, and Which engineers on the Scheduler; they are described with each screen.
How do I show only one item?
Click the ⋯ button to the right of the item's name in the filter rail and choose Show only this. That item is ticked and every other item in the same list is unticked, in one step.
The same ⋯ menu also has Change colour… and Reset colour to default for the item's colour.
Sometimes a list in the rail is drawn faded because it cannot narrow the question you are asking — on the Calls list, the Action Status and Engineer lists while Which calls is on To schedule, because a call nobody has been scheduled for has no engineer and no action status. A tick there does not stay: ABM Service takes it straight off again and the rail says why, starting "Calls still to schedule have no engineer and no due date." and naming what it dropped. Show only this in those lists' ⋯ menu says "This list cannot narrow what is shown right now." Switching Which calls to To schedule clears any engineer and action status ticks you already had, in the same way.
How do I filter to one customer?
On the Calls list and the Scheduler, type in the Customer block of the filter rail and pick the customer from the list that appears. The screen then shows only that customer's work, and a line appears above the rows: "One customer:" with the customer's name, "a new call from this screen is logged for them." Press Show every customer on that line, or the × on the Customer chip, to go back to every customer.
The search starts once you have typed two characters, and finds customers by code, name, address or postcode; each match says which of those it matched on, and the letters you typed are highlighted in it. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow keys and Enter to pick one from the keyboard. Once a customer is picked, the Customer block shows its name, code and address, a × to clear it, and a Change customer… box to pick a different one.
Only active customers are offered in the Customer block. To see the calls of a customer marked inactive, type the customer's name in the Find a customer box on the Customers list's toolbar, press Also search inactive accounts at the foot of its panel, open the customer and use the Calls section of the customer screen. How to Find a Customer on the Customers List has the steps.
The Customers list has no one-customer filter: its Find a customer box opens a customer rather than filtering the list. To narrow the Customers list by name or code, use the funnel on its Name or Code heading.
What are the chips above the list?
The chips on the filter line at the top of the Calls list, the Customers list or the Scheduler read back every filter in force: one chip for each list in the rail that has ticks, one for the picked customer on the Calls list and the Scheduler, and one for each column filter. On the Calls list there is also an Invoice to chip when you have picked the customer the calls are invoiced to, and a Comment chip when you have filtered by words in the comment.
On the Calls list and the Scheduler, a rail list's chip shows the names of up to three ticked items, and a count such as "5 selected" beyond that. A column filter's chip, which includes the Customers list's Group, Category and Account manager lists, shows the value when one is ticked and a count such as "2 selected" when more are.
- Click a chip's name to reopen that filter where you can change it. Its name is "Change the" followed by the filter's name and "filter".
- Click the × on a chip to remove that filter.
- Click Clear all filters, the × after the last chip, to remove every filter at once. It appears only while something is filtered.
Clear all filters does not touch the Calls list's date window or Which calls, or the Customers list's Accounts chip: there is always a window and always a choice of accounts, so neither has a × of its own.
How do I hide the filter rail to get more room?
Press the Filters button at the start of the filter line, above the list. The rail folds away and the list takes its width; press Filters again to bring it back. Its tooltip says Hide the filter rail or Show the filter rail.
Folding the rail only hides it: every filter stays on, and the chips on the filter line still show them. While items are ticked in the rail, the Filters button shows how many, for example "Filters, 3 on". On the Calls list and the Scheduler a picked customer counts as one. On the Customers list the count covers its column filters, because the rail's lists are column filters there: each value ticked in a list counts, and a text, number or date filter counts as one. With the rail folded, the menu button and the screen's name move into the top of the screen. The Layouts control lives in the rail, so it folds away too.
ABM Service remembers whether you keep the rail folded, on this computer, and the choice is shared by the Calls list, the Customers list and the Scheduler. In the ABM Service desktop app it is remembered only while the app is running: after the app is exited, restarted or updated, the rail opens unfolded again.
How do I make the filter rail wider or narrower?
Drag the edge between the filter rail and the list to the left or right. Double-click that edge to put the rail back to its normal width.
From the keyboard, press Tab until the edge (named Resize the filter rail) is selected, then use the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys; hold Shift for bigger steps. Home makes it as narrow as it goes, End as wide as the window allows, and Enter or Space puts it back to normal. The list always keeps room of its own, however wide the rail is. ABM Service remembers the width on this computer; in the ABM Service desktop app, only until the app is exited, restarted or updated, when the rail goes back to its normal width.