Creating shortcuts to your Plus company file

Networking with MYOB Plus Overview > Putting it all together > Setting up file sharing, mapping network drives and creating shortcuts > Creating shortcuts...

Each time you start Plus on a computer that isn't storing your Plus company file, you'll click a button labeled Open an Existing Plus Company File so you can work with your company's data. Once you click this button, the Open dialog box appears, requesting that you locate your Plus company file on the network. The process of using this dialog box to locate the company file on the network can be a bit tedious, especially if the company file is nested several folders deep into the host computer.

Fortunately, all versions of Windows allow you to set up a shortcut to your company file, which makes the process of navigating to the company file a little simpler. When you use a shortcut to the company file, the company file will open automatically, and Plus' Sign-on window will appear-allowing you to avoid the process of locating the file.

The process of setting up a shortcut is the same for all versions of Windows. Here's how you do it:

  1. Close or minimize enough windows so the desktop is visible on your computer screen.

  2. Point the mouse pointer on an empty area of the desktop and click the right mouse button once. A "floating" menu appears; choose New>Shortcut from the menu. The first window of the Create Shortcut assistant appears.

  3. In the Command line field (or the Type the location of the item field in Windows 2000 Professional), enter the location of the Plus program (not the company file) on the computer you're currently using. You may want to use the Browse button to quickly and accurately enter this location. When you're finished with this step, click the Next button.

  4. In the next window of the Create Shortcut assistant, enter a descriptive name for the shortcut in the Select a name for the shortcut field. When you're finished with this step, click the Finish button. After a couple moments, the new shortcut will appear on your desktop; it should look like the Plus icon.

  5. Click the right mouse button once on the new shortcut. Another "floating" menu appears; choose Properties from the bottom of the menu. The Properties window for the shortcut appears.

  6. Click the Shortcut tab in the Properties window. In the Target field, notice that the location of the Plus program on the computer you're currently using is displayed. To use this shortcut to open your specific company file, position the cursor to the right of the text that appears in the Target field-but don't remove the text that appears in the Target field. Next, use the SPACEBAR to enter a space after the existing text in the Target field; after that, enter the name of your company's company file (don't forget to type the company file's .PLS extension). For example, if your Plus program is stored in C:\MYOB11 and your company's company file is named COMPANY.PLS, the entire contents of the Target field should be:

    C:\MYOB11 COMPANY.PLS

    (Don't worry if the company file is stored on another computer. Your entry in the Target field should be the same.)

  1. In the Start in field, enter the drive letter, computer name and folder name of the computer on which your Plus company file is stored. For example, if the company file is stored in a folder named MYOB11 on a computer named HOST that's been mapped as the "E:" drive, enter E:\\HOST\MYOB11 in the Start in field. Keep in mind that you must enter two backslashes (\\) after the drive name and only one backslash after the computer's name.

    Very important! Remember that each computer on the network might be using a different drive letter to map to the computer that's storing your Plus company file. When you perform this procedure on each of your computers, remember to use the proper mapped drive letter for the computer whose shortcut you're setting up.

    When you're finished with this step, click OK to close the Properties window.

  1. To test the shortcut, double-click it. The Plus program on the computer you're using should start, open the company file located on the host computer and display Plus's Sign-on window.

    That's it! Remember to use the shortcut from now on to open your company file quickly.

Now that you've reached this point, your network is set up and ready to go.

Networking Overview -Creating shortcuts to your Plus company file