How to Go Back to Where You Were
ABM Service remembers how you left each list and screen, so going Back puts you where you were: the same filters, the same page, and the call or appointment you opened marked and on screen. Use your browser's Back button, or the back arrow at the top of the call screen and the customer screen; both take the same step.
How do I go back to the list I was on?
Press your browser's Back button, or select the back arrow at the top of the call screen or the customer screen, and ABM Service returns you to the screen you came from, set up the way you left it. The back arrow and the browser's Back do exactly the same thing: they step back one screen in this window, and they restore the same things.
- Open a call from the Calls list, or a customer from the Customers list.
- Do what you need on the call screen or the customer screen.
- Select the back arrow at the top of the screen, or press your browser's Back button.
You land on the list with your filters, your date window, your columns and sorting, and the page you had turned to. The row you opened is marked and scrolled into view, so you can carry on down the list. If that call or customer is no longer on the page you left from, because something changed while you were away, nothing is marked and the rest of the list comes back as it was.
The back arrow is named for where it usually leads (Back to calls on the call screen, Back to customers on the customer screen), but it always goes to the screen you actually came from. If you opened a call from the Scheduler, the back arrow on the call screen takes you back to the Scheduler.
Tip: Screens you reach from the menu remember themselves too. If you leave the Calls list for the Scheduler through the menu and then press Back, the Calls list comes back as you left it.
A call or customer opened from the Find a call box on the Calls list, or the Find a customer box on the Customers list, comes back the same way: Back returns the list as it was, with the row you had marked still marked even when the one you opened is not on the list, and the box empty.
If your company logs calls by voice from the customer screen, the bar at the foot of the screen that says how a voice call ended follows you from screen to screen, and its Open call, Log a call and Check calls buttons leave the screen you are on the same way, so Back brings that screen back as you left it. What Does the Call Logged Bar Mean? explains the bar itself.
What do the lists and the Scheduler remember when I come back?
Each list, and the Scheduler, brings back its arrangement when you return to it with Back: how it was set up and what you had marked, not the exact scroll position. ABM Service marks the thing you had selected and makes sure it is visible.
- Calls list — your choices in the filter rail (Which calls and the ticked items in each list), the date window, the customer filter, the filters on the column headings, the columns, sorting and grouping, the page you were on, the map if it was open, and the call row you opened.
- Customers list — your choices in the filter rail (Which accounts and the ticked groups, categories and account managers), the filters on the column headings, the columns and sorting, the page, and the customer row you opened.
- Scheduler — the dates and view, the engineer and other filters, the customer filter, the map, the calls waiting in the To schedule column with the call you had in hand, and the appointment you had marked (its peek card opens again). A Quick call card you had typed into comes back with its time slot.
Home opens fresh every time, and so does Customers without a location, which always starts on its first page because the customers on it leave the list as they are fixed. Things you had half-done in passing are deliberately not kept: an open menu, a half-built filter you had not applied, the text in the Search filters box at the top of the filter rail, the text in the Find a call or Find a customer box, and the short messages at the foot of the screen.
One way out of a list does not save its place: selecting an unsaved reminder in the bottom-left corner. If you leave the Calls list, the Customers list or the Scheduler by selecting a reminder, and then press Back, the list opens the way it does when you choose it from the menu, without the page you had turned to or the row you had marked. What you typed under the reminder is not affected.
What do the call screen and the customer screen remember when I come back?
The call screen and the customer screen come back with Back on the part you were looking at, set up the way you left it:
- The customer screen — the section you were in (for example Credit & terms), the form layout you were using on the Overview and the tab you were on if that layout has tabs, which note (Service, General, Billing or Last call) was showing on the Overview, the engineer and month you had selected in the Engineers section and how that section was sorted, in the Calls section the columns, sorting, the page you turned to and the call row you opened, and in the Attachments group the item you had picked (such as All attachments or one category) and the file you had marked.
- The call screen — the section you were in, the form layout you were using and the tab you were on if that layout has tabs, and in the Attachments group the item you had picked and the file you had marked.
Whether the sections sidebar on the call screen and the customer screen stays open or folds away is not part of Back: it is your own setting on this computer, the same for every call and every customer, and you change it with Keep the sidebar open or Let the sidebar fold away at the top of the sidebar. Anything you had typed and not saved is kept apart from all of this: it waits under its reminder in the bottom-left corner however you left the screen, Back or not.
Why is there no back arrow on the call screen?
The back arrow on the call screen, the new call screen, the customer screen, the Customers without a location screen and a file you opened from the Attachments section only appears when there is a screen to go back to in this window. If you opened the call from a link, a bookmark or a new tab, there is nothing behind it, so ABM Service does not show an arrow that would do nothing. The call screen and the customer screen have no navigation menu of their own in a browser, so to reach the Calls list or another screen, switch back to the tab you opened the call from, or open ABM Service again from your usual bookmark.
The same applies in the ABM Service desktop app: a window opened straight onto a call from the ABM toolbar has no back arrow until you have moved from one screen to another inside it. In a desktop window, use the Go menu in the title bar and choose Home, Customers, Calls or Scheduler.
Cancel on the new call screen always throws the new call away and steps back one screen; when there is nothing behind it, Cancel takes you to the Calls list instead.
How do I get back to the call or customer from a file I opened?
Select the back arrow at the top of the file, named Back to the call or Back to the customer, or press your browser's Back button. When you select Open on a picture or a PDF in the Attachments section of a call or a customer, the file opens in the same tab, in place of the call or customer screen. Back returns you to the call or customer as you left it: the same Attachments item, the file still marked with its details showing, and anything you had typed on the call and not yet saved still there.
A file opened in a tab or window of its own, with the open-in-new button beside Open or with Ctrl-click, has nothing behind it in that tab, so it shows no back arrow; close that tab when you have finished with the file. How to Open or Download an Attachment explains Open for each kind of file.
Why did the customer open on Overview instead of the section I was in?
A customer screen only returns to the section you left when you come back with Back. Opening the same customer again from a list row, a customer's name or an unsaved reminder is a fresh visit, and a fresh visit starts on Overview. This keeps every fresh visit predictable, while Back still returns you to exactly where you were.
The same rule applies to a new customer you had started and left: when you return to it from its unsaved reminder, your typing comes back, but the screen opens on Overview. What you typed is kept either way; only the section you were looking at belongs to the visit.
Back is the one gesture that restores a customer screen's arrangement. A customer screen opened any other way, such as from a row or a customer's name, opens the way it normally opens.
Two ways in name a place of their own and open there instead. A reminder for a file's details that you had not saved opens the customer on its Attachments section, with that file marked and its details showing. Check calls on the bar that says how a voice call ended opens that customer on its Calls section.
Why does a call show fresh details when I open it again?
When you press Back on a call screen where you have not changed anything, ABM Service treats that as "I am done with this call" and closes it. The next time you open that call it is read again, so you see what is in the database now rather than what it said earlier.
Leaving a call by another route is different. If you select the customer's name on the call screen, or go to another call, ABM Service keeps the call screen open in the background. Pressing Back then returns you to it instantly, with the document scrolled where you had it. ABM Service keeps two call screens open in a browser tab, counting the one you are on, plus any others holding unsaved changes, so once you open other calls, the oldest call screen with no changes on it is closed quietly and read fresh the next time you open it.
A call where you have typed something, or where a voice note is still being added, is never closed by Back: your changes are kept until you save or discard them, and a reminder appears in the corner of every screen. What Happens to Unsaved Changes When You Leave a Screen explains how that works.
Why can't I undo a Scheduler move after I leave the Scheduler?
The Undo offered after you move or resize an appointment on the Scheduler lasts only while you stay on the Scheduler, like the other short messages at the foot of a screen, which stay for about six seconds. The move itself was saved the moment you made it, so nothing is lost by leaving. To change it back, go to the Scheduler and move the appointment again.