Method:Classic General Q&A

Re: help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:55:14 GMT

Thanks for those tips! This has been the best day of help I've received - much accomplished! Thanks!

Re: help with this error, please

Method_Paul — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:48:02 GMT

Shane - when you are ready to import your leads, here are two things to keep in mind:

1. Make sure you run a test first with just a few leads to make sure you like the results.

2. Don't import leads into the Contacts table. Import them into the Customers table, but add the field 'IsLeadStatusOnly' to your import, with the value of 'True'. That will create your customers with lead-status (so they don't go into QuickBooks yet), plus it will automatically create a default contact for that customer.

Paul

Re: help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:37:40 GMT

Thanks!

Shane

Re: help with this error, please

Method_Valbon — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:22:51 GMT

Hi Shane,

In Method try going to Customize>>>Tabs
Locate the tab (i.e. QuickBooks Home) and click on Edit Tab Links…
Make sure there is a tab link opening the right screen (i.e. QuickBooks_DashBoard)

Re: help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:19:53 GMT

This is excellent information! - I am actually talking about two different things I'm doing.

1) cleaning up customers

2) adding 8,000 customer leads...

more later---

oh, I have lost my QB dashboard - I don't know how to get the Method one back on by QB tab... you've been so helpful!

Thanks,

Shane

Re: help with this error, please

Method_Paul — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:25:57 GMT

"Do I assign a number to all of my contacts and use that as a record ID?"

-Nope. Record ID is automatically generated by Method, and cannot be edited or input. Putting a random number in there will cause the customer that actually has that RecordID to get overwritten with someone else's address - (yeah...be careful....this import is powerful but dangerous stuff...).

"aslo, can I export my Customer list, make tons of corrections and then upload it back to Method? Mainly what I'm correcting is address fields - when we put them in, we used the wrong fields and now I have to correct 500 customers"

-Great. Yes, you are fully on the right track. But, now that I know you want to update addresses, you should be exporting and updating *customers* not contacts, since the address fields belong to the customer, not the contact (unless you've done some customization where each contact has your custom address fields - doubt it).

1. Export your existing customers, not contacts.

2. Make sure only select the fields you need to update.

3. The big ahh-ha: make sure you also export the Record ID column. This is so that when you re-import it, Method will know which customer to update. That was the missing piece, wasn't it? :)

4. In Excel, get rid of the rows that have customers you don't care to update.

5. Clean up your addresses.

6. Import. When you import make sure you select the "Update existing records by matching the key fields".

Tip, it is better to save a CSV to import, rather than copy from clipboard, that way any addresses that have commas in them don't screw up the import.

Paul

Re: help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:06:43 GMT

aslo, can I export my Customer list, make tons of corrections and then upload it back to Method? Mainly what I'm correcting is address fields - when we put them in, we used the wrong fields and now I have to correct 500 customers.

Thanks,

Shane

Re: help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:04:37 GMT

I know what you mean by RecordId column as I've seen it as a field to choose. Do I assign a number to all of my contacts and use that as a record ID?

Shane

Thanks - and this is helping!

Re: help with this error, please

Method_Paul — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:01:10 GMT

@Shane - okay, that helps a lot.

For the import, have you selected "Update existing records by matching the key fields"? If so, you need to have something to signify what record to update. Typically, if you have "Update existing records by matching the key fields" selected, you need to include the RecordID column and make sure it is a valid value.

If you are trying to import, rather than update, don't select "Update existing records by matching the key fields".

Also - please make sure that you have the Entity column filled out. In Method, Contacts are really intended to belong to an Entity (Customer,Customer Lead,Vendor or Vendor Lead). So just importing a Contact and not associating it with anyone will be pretty useless. Just wanted to mention that in case you were going down that path.

And finally....some advice. When importing, import a few records first and make sure you are happy with the results before importing hundreds or thousands of records. We've seen situations before where a few tests can make save hours of headache of undoing an undesired import.

HTHs,

Paul

Re: help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:49:03 GMT

I am using the import function. I am using importing to a Contacts table. I have tried the copy/paste funtion and also uploading a csv file and get errors eitiher way.

the only time the import function has worked for me was when I used a Customer table but I definitely do not want to upload to a Customer table - just a contacts table.

Shane

Re: help with this error, please

Method_Paul — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:38:44 GMT

Shane -

Can we have some context? What screen are you in, and what are you doing while this happens?

Has this ever worked?

Is it a standard screen or custom?

Paul

help with this error, please

Shane — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 01:29:54 GMT

Error:We couldn't update current record because we couldn't find a single unique parameter that will match your update criteria.

Shane