How to Save and Use Layouts
A layout is a named arrangement of a screen — its filters, columns, sort and grouping — that you can save and bring back with one click, such as a morning dispatch view and an end-of-month review. Layouts are on the Calls list, the Customers list and the Scheduler, in the Layouts control under the screen's name at the top of the filter rail. Each screen has its own list of layouts, and your layouts are yours alone.
How do I save the screen as a layout?
Arrange the screen the way you want it, open the Layouts control at the top of the filter rail, choose Save as a new layout…, type a name and press Save.
- Arrange the Calls list, the Customers list or the Scheduler: filters, columns, sort, grouping and so on.
- Click the Layouts control under the screen's name at the top of the filter rail. It shows the name of the layout you are on.
- Choose Save as a new layout… near the bottom of the list.
- Type a name, for example "Today's active calls".
- Press Save.
The new layout appears under Saved layouts and the screen is now on it. The footer of the name box reminds you: "It is saved for you only, and appears in this list."
How do I switch to a saved layout?
Open the Layouts control at the top of the filter rail and click the layout's name. The whole screen re-arranges itself in one step, and the control shows the layout's name.
The list has two sections. Layouts holds the two rows every screen has, Default Layout and Last Used Layout. Saved layouts holds the ones you have named, in alphabetical order. As you point at a row, the footer of the list says what it will do, for example that it will show the calls the way that layout has them.
A Calls layout's date window is saved as a word, so a layout saved with "This week" shows the current week whenever you pick it, not the week it was saved in. A date filter on another column, such as Started, is different: it keeps the dates it had when you applied it. Picking a layout also takes the list back to page 1, because a layout never saves which page you were on.
What are Default Layout and Last Used Layout?
Default Layout puts the screen back as it comes out of the box, which is the quickest way to undo everything you have changed. The one thing it keeps is a search typed in Search calls on the Calls list: press the × on the Search chip to clear that too. On the Calls list that is this week's open and active calls with the standard columns; on the Customers list, active accounts by name with the standard columns; on the Scheduler, the work week with every engineer from 8 to 6.
Last Used Layout is where you left the screen last time. ABM Service keeps it for you as you work, a moment after you stop changing things, so the screen comes back the way you left it even if you never saved anything. It cannot be renamed or deleted.
How do I choose which layout a screen opens on?
Click the star (★) beside a layout in the Layouts control; its name is "Open on this layout". The screen then opens on that layout every time, and the star also shows on the control itself.
To make the Calls list, the Customers list or the Scheduler open with your own filters every morning, save them as a layout first, then star it:
- Set up the screen the way you want it: the filters and columns, and on the Calls list the date window, or on the Scheduler the view and settings.
- Open the Layouts control at the top of the filter rail and choose Save as a new layout….
- Type a name and press Save.
- Open the Layouts control again and click the star beside your new layout.
At first the star is on Last Used Layout, so the screen opens where you left it. Putting the star on Default Layout gives you a clean screen every morning. Coming back to a screen with Back always returns you to exactly where you were, whatever the star says.
How do I save changes to a layout I'm on?
When you change the screen while on a saved layout, a dot (•) appears after its name in the Layouts control and a save button appears beside it. Press the save button (its name is Save…) and choose:
- Update and the layout's name — replaces the layout with what is on screen now.
- Save as a new layout… — keeps the layout as it was and saves what is on screen under a new name.
On Last Used Layout and Default Layout there is never a dot or a save button: Last Used Layout follows the screen by itself, and Default Layout cannot be changed. Use Save as a new layout… from the list to keep that arrangement under a name. Picking another layout without saving drops your changes to the one you were on.
How do I rename or delete a layout?
To rename, switch to the layout, open the Layouts control and choose Rename followed by the layout's name. Type the new name and press Save.
To delete, open the Layouts control and press the × beside the layout (its name is Delete). ABM Service asks first under the heading Delete a layout, naming the layout and adding "Nobody else uses it — layouts are yours alone.", with Keep it and Delete. Deleting cannot be undone. After either button you are back in the list, so you can tidy several in a row.
Deleting the layout you are on leaves the screen as it is and the control shows Last Used Layout. Deleting the starred layout moves the star to Last Used Layout.
Why can't I save a layout?
The Layouts control tells you the reason under it or in the name box:
- Save stays greyed out while the name box is empty.
- "You already have a layout called" followed by the name — names must be different, ignoring upper and lower case and spaces at either end. Save stays greyed out until you change the name.
- "That is as long as a layout name goes — 60 characters." — names stop at 60 characters.
- "You have 30 saved layouts, which is as many as this screen holds. Delete one you no longer use." — each screen holds up to 30 saved layouts.
If a save fails for any other reason, the reason is shown under the Layouts control and nothing is changed. While a save is on its way, the star and delete buttons wait until it has finished.
Can I share a layout with a colleague or set one for everybody?
No. Every saved layout in the Layouts control on the Calls list, the Customers list and the Scheduler belongs to the person who saved it. Nobody else sees it, there is no company-wide layout, and changing or deleting yours never changes a colleague's screen.
To give a colleague the same view, tell them what you chose: the filters, the columns, the sort and grouping, and on the Calls list the date window. They set their screen up the same way and save it as a layout of their own with Save as a new layout… in the Layouts control at the top of the filter rail. If they want the screen to open on it every morning, they then click the star beside it.