FAQ - First-Time Use
I printed out my first work order and the company address is missing. What do I do?
Why do some of the colors I set up in my heading change?
How do I customize what is filled in automatically for new customers and vehicles?
How much setup do I have to do to get started before I can make invoices?
I downloaded the demo but I can't get into the program. What do I do?
The program comes up and runs but the screens appear broken and jumbled. Why it that?
I printed out my first work order and the company address is missing. What do I do?
You need to go into Settings | Invoicing | ShopHeading and put in your address. The Motive Power engraving files set your company name and phone number. You must go into this form and fix your heading before the information gets propagated to all parts of the program.
Why do some of the colors I set up in my heading change?
Motive Power makes sure that you can actually read the information that gets printed on your invoice. This prevents you from picking a color that would be difficult to see on your invoice.
How do I customize what is filled in automatically for new customers and vehicles?
The information that is filled in automatically when you start a new customer or add a new vehicle is determined by the settings for the Default customer (both customer code and license are Default) . Go to that customer to make changes. Anything you fill in or change on this customer and/or vehicle is the way new customers and/or vehicles start. This enables you to pre-set your city and state, main pricing and tax types, etc. The one exception is the in-house comments field; this is never copied to the new customer or vehicle.
How much setup do I have to do to get started before I can make invoices?
The pre-set data files in the settings section of Motive Power are the same in the real files as you see in the demo and tutorial files you downloaded. These files are appropriate for automotive and light trucks. You need to add some brands and types to the default set for heavy trucks and motor homes. At the present time you need to set up more files for other industries. We will develop several sets of starting files to cover different kinds of shops. Examples are chain saw, lawn mower, bicycle, marina, sewing machine, computer and other businesses that provide service, maintenance, or repair. If you want to be the first shop of your type, we will give you a free copy of the program. We will work with you to set things up at no charge to you. After that, the basic setup for your industry will be available as a starting point for new Motive Power customers.
I downloaded the demo but I can't get into the program. What do I do?
Motive Power has context sensitive help available at all times. If you look at the sign in screen you will see that it tells you to press F1 for help. Since you are not in the program yet, the proper context is to help you sign in. Pressing F1 will tell you that the default user is SW for the real files and for the tutorial files.
The program comes up and runs but the screens appear broken and jumbled. Why it that?
Motive Power requires a minimum screen resolution of 800x600. If your screen resolution is less than this the screens will overlap themselves and be unusable. This can also happen if you are running a utility like Twin-View on a single screen. Twin-View lets you have two desktops running at the same time. This could be done on one monitor or on two monitors. When you do this on a single monitor you will not be able to make an 800x600 desktop unless your monitor is capable of 1600x1200 or higher resolution.