The last two newsletters emphasized a few 'oldies but goodies' features of the program. If you missed them, here are the links to Part I and to Part II. Each contains good summaries of 'essential features and tools' of Pathagoras.
In those newsletters I asked you to share your questions and you did. So here are three of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Q. Can I create and Intake Forms that I can send to my clients/customers to complete?
Word forms:
- Simple table: a two column or two row Word table. Place the variable names in row (or column) 1. The client/customer completes the adjacent row (or column).
- Fancy table: multi-column and row Word table, 'friendly' prompts. User completes the cells with the requested information. (The actual variables are hidden from the user, but readily visible to Pathagoras when scraping.)
Excel Spreadsheets:
- Simple--a two column or two row spreadsheet. Place the variable names in row (or column) 1. The client/customer completes the adjacent row (or column).
- Fancy -- this type can be as fancy as you wish; colors, fonts, dropdown lists. Fancy Excel forms uses 'named cells' to capture data.
Adobe Acrobat™ Forms: - Assign Pathagoras variable names as names for the fillable fields in your Acrobat form. Client/customer simply fills out the form and shoots it back.
In each case above, you would send to the client (or the client would download) the form for completion and return. Once returned, a couple of button clicks will cause Pathagoras to 'scrape' the data from the form and create an Instant Database record.
Q. Can I nest a variable within another variable? When I create my document, I don't know how many Sellers (or Buyers) there will be for a particular transaction. I need a multiple choice variable like the following:
[[Seller]/[Seller 1] and [Seller 2]/[Seller 1], [Seller 2] and [Seller 3]]
When I run the Instant Database, Pathagoras replaces the multiple choice variable with my selection as expected. But then I have to re-Scan the document to capture the new variables. Is there another way?
Answer: Piece of cake. Choose the desired item from the list as you would choose any multiple choice variable. Then double-click in the box that now shows your selection. Pathagoras will automatically create the new variable(s) in the left column to reflect your choice. Now you can complete all your variables at one time. No rescanning required. (The Repeat and the Cumulative routines will work as well to create the variables you want.)
Q. Can I make my variables stand out in the document? Sometimes it's hard to edit my documents because the variables blend in with the rest of the text. Is there any way to make them 'pop'?
Answer: There is. Just 'paint' them. The fastest way is to press Alt-Q (which contains a listing of 'Quick Picks') and select the 'Paint Markers' button. An alternative way is to select 'Pathagoras Features | Wizards and Assistants | Paint Markers' from the toolbar. Both get you to the same place -- a 'painted' document where all Pathagoras markups will 'pop.'
We encourage you to paint all of your primary documents before you save them. Don't worry about the colors staying in the final draft you give to your client. They won't.
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If you have a question for me, shoot it over. I will answer it directly to you, place it in our FAQ bank if it doesn't already exist, and perhaps feature it in this newsletter.
Thanks.
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