System Preferences

Contract Description

The name you want to use instead of Contract. The application will change occurrences of menu names, form and box names and report headings in the Costing system and elsewhere to reflect the new name you choose. Note that on some forms, the application automatically converts the name to plural by adding an 's'; for example 'Project' becomes 'Projects'.

You must also run Update Data Structures to propagate these name changes to the database tables.

Job Description

The name you want to use instead of Job. The application will change occurrences of menu names, form and box names and report headings in the Costing system and elsewhere to reflect the new name you choose. Note that on some forms, the application automatically converts the name to plural by adding an 's'; for example 'Task' becomes 'Tasks'.

You must also run Update Data Structures to propagate these name changes to the database tables.

Phase Description

The name you want to use instead of Phase. The application will change occurrences of menu names, form and box names and report headings in the Costing system and elsewhere to reflect the new name you choose. Note that on some forms, the application automatically converts the name to plural by adding an 's'; for example 'Stage' becomes 'Stages'.

You must also run Update Data Structures to propagate these name changes to the database tables.

Department Description

The name you want to use instead of Department. The application will change occurrences of menu names, form and box names and report headings in the Costing system and elsewhere to reflect the new name you choose.

You must also run Update Data Structures to propagate these name changes to the database tables.

Dimension 1 and Dimension 2

The names you want to use instead of Project and Department if you are using the Advanced Nominal Ledger and you want to use these additional dimensions for analysis purposes. You control whether these dimensions are used by selecting the corresponding option on the Options tab of the Company Profiles form. If you amend the default, the application will change all occurrences of menu, form and box names and report headings in the Nominal module and elsewhere throughout the system to reflect the new name you choose.

You must also run Update Data Structures to propagate these name changes to the database tables.

Default Web Site

The default web site that is loaded when you click the internet icon on the system's toolbar when it is enabled. If the current record has an associated web site, it is loaded instead.

Use Calculated Foreign Price Unit Decimals

Maximum Number of Search Results

The maximum number of records that are retrieved when using the search facility for key records. For example, this will control the number of stock items displayed in the search list when locating an item for a detail line in order processing. The limit is designed to restrict the number of records retrieved from the database so that processing is not unduly hindered; especially if a large number of records are maintained within the company database. You can set this to suit your requirements. Variables such as the speed of your network, number of users and so on will influence your choice

Password Expiry Days

Each user has a User ID to log into the application. They can also have a password and, if required, they can be forced to change their password every so often. This box holds the number of days that a user can keep a password before they must change it.

The default number of days is set to zero which sets each user's expiry date to 31/12/2099 and disables it. This means there is effectively no expiry date for the users' passwords.

If you enter a number of days in this box the application checks the computer's date and warns you when you log in if your password will expire in the following ten days. If you get a warning you must change your password in those ten days. If you do not, you cannot log in after the password has expired; the administrator will have to change the password for you.

If this feature is used, each user has a password expiry date on the User Profile form:

• When the Password Expiry Days box is set for the first time, all the users' expiry dates are set to the number of days after that day. For example, if the box is set to '30' on the 1 December, each user's password expiry date is set to 31 December.

• If this box is set again to a different number of days, only those users' with expiry dates after the new date are reset. Users with expiry dates before the new date are not changed. For example, if the box is set to '20' on the 01 December, users with expiry dates later than 21 December will be reset to 21 December. Those users with expiry dates before 21 December will not be reset.

• When a new user is created, their password expiry date is set to the date after the number of days in this box. For example, if they are created on the 1 December and this box is set to '30', their password's expiry date is set to 30 December.

Use Event and User Logs

An option that determines whether records are written to the event and user log files when using the system. The setting of this option will apply to all events and user records associated with this company's database and by default, the option is selected. If cleared, no events will be available for display when you use the View Event Log command nor any user activities listed when you use the Monitor Users command.

Update Company Balances

An option that determines whether balances on the Monitor Companies form are updated automatically, or controlled manually using a Calculate Balances command. If the option is selected, the totals on the Monitor Companies form will reflect the latest figures and can be updated manually using the Refresh command button or automatically by selecting the Automatic Refresh (every 10 secs) option. If the option is cleared, the totals on the Monitor Companies form will reflect the figures from the last time balances were calculated. The form then includes a Calculate Balances command button that you can use to recalculate balances for one or more companies.

Notification Service messages

Options that determine the amount of time that users are reminded that a shutdown of Opera 3 is scheduled. A message is displayed for each number of minutes you enter. For example, if you add 20 to the first box and 5 to the second box, all chosen users will be warned 20 minutes before the shutdown event and warned again 5 minutes beforehand.

To make sure that chosen users are well informed of a shutdown event, three messages are sent beforehand. These boxes control how long before the shutdown the second and third messages are displayed. The Show ... before box on the System - Scheduling - Shutdown form controls how long before the shutdown event the first message is sent.

Keep The PDF Printer

This option is only visible if the Use Opera PDF Printer option on the System - Preferences form is selected for the active user. Show ...

An option that determines whether the PDF printer is removed when the Publisher form is used to create a document in the system. If this option is cleared, the Publisher creates the PDF printer whenever it is required and then removes it when the printing is finished. If the option is selected, the PDF printer is retained.

With this option selected it is possible to set user-specific horizontal and vertical margins for PDF documents created in Opera. The margins can be set on the Workstation Settings tab of the System - Preferences form.

Printing will also be faster and non-power users will be able to create documents if this option is selected. However the PDF printer will also be visible in other Windows applications. We strongly recommend you do not use the PDF printer in other applications.

Important: If this option is not selected, each user needs to have 'power user rights' so that the PDF printer can be created, and then removed each time a document is generated in the Publisher.

PDF Font Embedding

An option that determines whether some fonts are fully embedded in PDFs created in the application. PDFs that include embedded fonts are typically larger than those where fonts are not embedded. However, the on-screen and print quality is improved. The PDF is portable between computers without losing print quality.

Even if this option is selected, only some fonts are embedded in PDFs. An example of a font that can be embedded is the Tahoma font. Other fonts are never fully embedded in PDFs, for example; the Arial font. Most reports in the application use the Arial font so unless reports have been modified to use other fonts like Tahoma, the PDF size is not affected.

Reverse Charge De-minimis level

If you supply certain high value items to VAT registered domestic customers, this option determines the transaction value level when the HMRC Reverse Charge accounting procedure must be used . This level is set by HMRC so should only be changed if you are advised by HMRC to do so.  You must have Manager Rights to change the level. What's Reverse Charge Accounting?

This box is displayed only if the RC Sales List option is ticked on the System - Maintenance - Company Profiles form and you are logged on to Opera using a login ID which has Manager Rights.