I’ve organized this book into six parts. Each part contains several chapters
covering related topics. The following is a brief description of each part, with
chapter references directing you where to go for particular information:

Part I: The Opening ACT!
In Part I, you get an introduction to the concept of a database and why ACT!
has become such a popular choice of database users (Chapter 1). In this part,
you read about what to expect the first time you fire up ACT! (Chapter 2) and
how to set the main preferences in ACT! (Chapter 3).

Part II: Putting the ACT!
Database to Work
Part II focuses on putting your contacts into ACT! (Chapter 4) and, more
importantly, how to find them again (Chapters 6 and 7). I show you how to
view all the details about one contact, how to pull up a list of all your contacts,
and even how to create an easy list report.
After you master organizing your contact information, Part II helps you organize
your day. ACT! makes it easy to take notes (Chapter 8) so that you start
relying on ACT! more and your memory less. You find out how to schedule
appointments, calls, and to-dos — and other important events in your life.
And, you discover how to view those activities in the daily, weekly, and
monthly calendars (Chapter 9). Your life can become complicated, but have
no fear because ACT! does its best to help you navigate through the maze. The
History, Documents, and Secondary Contacts tabs allow you to accumulate
lots of information about each and every one of your contacts (Chapter 5).

Part III: Sharing Your Information
with Others
Corporate America lives for reports, and ACT! is up to the challenge. Whether
you want to print labels or telephone directories on commercially printed
forms or prefer to utilize the ACT! built-in reports (Chapter 11), Part III shows
you how. I even tell you about building your own reports from scratch
(Chapter 12).
One of the best features of ACT! is the ability to communicate easily with the
outside world. Part III shows you how to work with templates to automate
routine documents as well as how to send out mass mail merges — whether
by snail mail, fax, or e-mail (Chapter 13). You also discover the advantages of
using ACT! for your e-mail client (Chapter 14).

Part IV: Advanced ACT!ing
We’re all different and often like to do things in our own unique way. ACT!
understands that concept and allows you to customize it to your heart’s content.
At first glance, ACT! may seem like just an over-the-counter piece of software,
but by adding fields (Chapter 15) and placing them on customized
layouts (Chapter 16), you can make it perform as well as an expensive piece
of proprietary software.
Every database needs an Administrator. If you’re elected to the job, you need
to know how to perform administrative tasks, such as adding users, checking
for duplicate data entry, and performing routine maintenance (Chapter 17). If
you have remote users that need to access all or parts of your database you
need to know how to synchronize your database (Chapter 18).

Part V: Commonly Overlooked ACT! Features
Part V focuses on four of the most frequently overlooked ACT! features:

Microsoft integration: Synchronize your ACT! and Outlook address
books and calendars; attach a Web site in Internet Explorer directly to
an ACT! contact; and explore the various ways that you can use ACT!
and Excel together (Chapter 19).

Sales opportunities: Track your prospective sales, prioritize them, and
analyze what you did right — or wrong — in making the sale (Chapter 20).

Groups: Group your contacts together to add a new dimension to your
database (Chapter 21).

Companies: This is an exciting new feature of ACT! 2005. The Company
feature enables you to view and edit contacts that all “belong” to the
same company (Chapter 22).

Part VI: The Part of Tens
With apologies to David Letterman, you have three of my favorite ACT! lists.
First, in Chapter 23, I give you a list of the major differences between ACT!
2005 Standard Edition and ACT! 2005 Premium Edition. Then in Chapter 24,
I list my favorite new ACT! 2005 features — which is specifically designed for
anyone who has used a previous version of ACT!. In Chapter 25, I give you ten
of my favorite ways to customize your layouts.