Deleting Synchronized records
 

by Rich Spitz

There are two special lookups that aren't applicable for everyone, but can be very important for users who are synchronizing. The first is Lookup | Synchronized Records | Last Synchronized and the other is Lookup | Synchronized Records | Deleted by Remote users.

The Last Synchronized is important because often times users want to know what a remote user changed. This lookup does not specify every field that was changed, but just shows the records that were changed by the remote user. The Last Synchronized changes each time a new sync comes in so if it's necessary to find out who changed what on a certain sync, then you should save the last synchronized lookup with another name.

When doing a synchronization, ACT! has a minor security feature to check to see what records are deleted. Records that are deleted by one user are not automatically deleted by the system. This is done as a check so that deleted records (whether one user deleted them accidentally or on purpose) won't be carried across to the other users. This feature has its "cost" in that now, each user needs to confirm the other user's deletions.

I'll show you what happens in this process and how it works. In this example I am using a user to user sync. The process is similar whether it's 'With other users' or 'Database to Database'.

If a user has deleted records, once the sync is complete you will receive a message: (see Figure 1)

Figure 1

So what ACT! is saying is that you need to confirm the deletions. I would recommend that you always say Yes and complete this step while it is fresh in your mind. Often times you may find that you have no idea who the contacts are that someone else is deleting. If someone else had added a record then deleted that record, you may not know the contact, but you will need to confirm that deletion. In a multi-user environment, ACT! will tell you who deleted the record.

Once you say Yes, the following dialog box appears. (see Figure 2)

Figure 2

This dialog box lets you confirm the records that were deleted by another user. If you don't confirm these records then the number of contacts each one of you have may not be the same. By the way, even if you do confirm, them the number of contacts may not be the same because of private records. I tell users not to get hung up on the number of records. If they match, great, but if not that's OK too.

To confirm the deletion of these records, you need to Select All, and then Lookup Selected. This creates a Lookup which you can now safely delete. Now that you have a lookup, you can go to Contact menu, Delete Contact and select Delete Lookup, which are the records you have selected. You will receive one or more dialog boxes asking you to confirm the deletion. This completes the process. Although not mentioned specifically, the method to delete groups is the same as deleting contacts. Make sure that you check Records to show as Groups to see if Groups have been deleted. If by chance there is a record that should not have been deleted, then you can select Restore Deleted Record. This will put the record "back in circulation".

While it may seem like a lot of steps just to confirm what someone else has done, it is a better way than the old method of sync and hope for the best. This method was improved in ACT! 2000 and should give you better understanding of how the sync process works.

Rich Spitz is an ACT! Certified Consultant and SalesLogix Business Partner. He runs SCS, a training and consulting firm in New Rochelle, NY. He has been ACT! Certified since 1994 and has helped hundreds of users in a wide variety of industries.