Scheduling an Activity

Activities can be scheduled for contacts, referrals, listings, closings, or just as reminders for yourself.

You can schedule an activity from a number of different areas, all of which flow through the Add Activity form. The topic you are reading now will cover the most common way of scheduling an activity. For a complete reference of the ways of reaching this form, see "The Add Activity Form".

Tip: If you are scheduling an email activity, you can set up custom-branded email stationery that can be automatically merged into outgoing email messages. For more information, see "Setting Up Email Stationery".

To schedule an activity:

1. Open the Add Activity form. How?

   • From the Main Menu bar, go to Calendar > Add Activity.

2. Select the activity Type from the drop-down list.

   Note: To schedule an activity with your whole team, see "Scheduling a Team Appointment".

3. Fill in the activity's details. Required fields are indicated by an asterisk. For a complete list of the fields and their meanings for each activity type, see the " Add Activity Form" reference topic. Some fields to note are:

   • Description: Select a description from the drop-down list, or enter one in the text box. To add a description to the drop-down list for future use, click the Add link and specify a value.

   • Link to Listing/Closing More Info:

     If the activity is related to a listing or closing, you can link the activity to it. You can also make the activity date dependent on important listing or closing dates.

     1. From the Link to Listing/Closing drop-down list, select whether to link the activity to a Listing or Closing.

     2. Select the listing or closing from the drop-down list below.

        Note: If the record you want is not listed in the drop-down list, click the View All [Record Type] link. Select the record and then click Select [Record Type].

     3. To automatically adjust the activity date based on a listing or closing date, in the Date section, select the Auto-adjust dates when changes occur to check box. Select the date you want the activity date dependent on from the drop-down list below.

     Once the activity has been marked done, you can choose to have it appear on the appropriate service report.

   • Recurrence: See " Creating a Recurring Activity" for more information. This option is only available when None is selected in the Link to section.

   • Drop from Activities: Not available for appointments. More Info:

     The drop-off date comes into effect if you do not mark the activity done on the scheduled date. When the activity date has passed, the activity remains in the Activities Summary screen for as many days as you select from this drop-down list.

     Note: Selecting Do not drop off ensures that the activity remains in the Activities Summary screen until you mark it done if you are viewing a specific activity type. The Do not drop off setting is not applicable when viewing All Activities on the Activities Summary screen. Example:

     The Activities Summary Screen

     

   • Reminder: Only available for appointments. More Info:

     You can receive email reminders for your appointments. If you also use the Google Calendar, you can set up Top Producer Google Sync to receive additional reminder types, including mobile alerts on your device and pop-up reminders. If instead you use the Outlook Calendar, you can set up Top Producer Outlook Sync to receive these additional reminder types.

     1. Select when you want to receive the reminder from the Reminder drop-down list, and then select Remind me by email.

     2. By default, the reminder is sent to the email address specified in your My Account settings. Specify a different email address in the field provided, if desired.

     Note: To ensure you receive your email reminders on time, if you set the reminder to 30 minutes or less, you will receive a reminder via email 30 minutes before the appointment. Example: If you set a reminder for 5 minutes before an appointment, you will receive the email reminder 30 minutes before the appointment is scheduled.

4. If you started from a contact, referral, listing or closing record's Activities tab, the activity will be automatically linked to the associated contacts. You can link more contacts in the Contacts section, as well as view/remove contacts. More Info:

   • Drag and drop contacts from the Contacts Lookup, or click the Search & Attach Multiple Contacts link to use the Search for Contacts feature. For more information on the fields available when performing a search, see the "Search for Contacts Screen (Activities)" reference topic.

   • To view all contacts associated with the activity, click the Mass Open Contacts  link. Click the <Prev and Next> links at the bottom of the screen to view the selected contacts.

   • Remove linked contacts from the activity by clicking their Delete icons. Alternatively, remove multiple contacts by following these steps:

   • 1. Click the View/Remove Contacts link. This link will only be visible if you have more than 8 contacts linked to the activity, and the contacts were added using the Search for Contacts feature.

     2. From the Linked Contacts dialog box, select the check boxes beside the contacts you want to remove, or click the check box in the header to select all contacts.

     3. Click Remove Contacts, and then click Yes to confirm deletion.

     4. Click Close to return to the Add Activity screen.

5. If the activity you are creating requires a template (letters, labels, envelopes, postcards, or email messages), the Template section will be visible once the activity Type is selected. Select the template you want by defining the template's Category and then choosing the template itself from the drop-down list. More Info:

   • Preview the template by clicking the Template Preview link.

   • Edit the copy of the template that will be used for the current task by clicking the Edit Template link. This will only affect the version of the template used by the current task and will not change the template in your Template Library.

   • If you have multiple contacts attached to the activity, you can customize the content for each recipient:

   1. 1. Click the View [Template Type] link.

      2. Use the <Prev and Next> links to locate the contact you want to customize the content for. The contact names appear along the top of the screen.

      3. Once you've located the contact, make your modifications. The changes you make will only appear for the displayed contact.

      4. Repeat steps b and c above to customize the content for additional contacts.

      5. Once finished, click Save & Close.

6. When you have filled in all of the required fields, you have the following options:

   • If you are creating an email activity, click View Emails to preview the email before sending it, or click Send to send the email.

Note: If any of the selected contacts do not have an email address entered in their record, the Email Address Missing dialog box appears. Click Yes to send the email to the remaining contacts.

1. • If you are creating a letter, postcard, label, envelope or email activity, click the Print Preview action link to preview and print the item.

   • Click the Mark Done action link to save your changes and mark the activity as complete.

   • Click the Add Activity button to save the activity.

   • Click the Save & Add Another Activity button. This saves the newly-created activity and displays another Add Activity form.