QuickText

QuickText provides the ability to insert regularly used, library defined text, with just a few keystrokes. It is available in all of the text entry fields that provide the formatting functions, in all of the functions available from the Question actions bar, as well as the text entry fields with editing functions in the New screen. So, for example, in this Answer screen, it is available in the Draft answer and Contact and Notes fields. 

QuickText is provided by your System administrator (using the QuickText and QuickText groups code tables). Information for System administrators about setting up QuickText is provided in the Other Code tables help page at the “QuickText and QuickText groups code tables” heading.

The clauses shown at any QuickText point are the ones relevant to the field you are currently using only.  If there are no QuickText entries defined (enabled) for the HTML editor enabled Text area that you are in, the QuickText icon will not show in the HTML editor bar for that text area. 

Each QuickText entry has a short name to help you quickly identify the right clause.  A QuickText entry can be up to 2 million characters long, so, if it is a long entry you may see a [more] link that allows you to see the rest of that entry.

To use this function, place your cursor where you want the text inserted and click the QuickText button, or use CTRL/ALT/Q, to bring up the QuickText subwidow.

To insert a standard QuickText clause, click on the specific clause in the QuickText subwindow that you want inserted, and it will be inserted in the position that your cursor was at when you clicked the QuickText button. 

Only the body of a QuickText entry is inserted when it is used, the short name is a helpful prompt only and is not inserted when you use that entry.

You can control the order in which the QuickText clauses display using the “Sort” radio buttons in the top right of the sub-window:
Most used – presents the clauses in the order you use them most with your most used clause at the top.  This is handy if you tend to use just a few clauses frequently.
System order or Short name – presents the clauses in the order that your System administrator has specified.  This is the best choice when your System administrator has provided a lot of clauses that you use to build a response. Short name shows here if the System administrator has the QuickText code table sorting by Description, and System order shows if it is sorted by code or by sort key.

You can move this QuickText subwindow by placing your cursor on its header bar, left clicking, and dragging.  You can also shorten it by dragging up the bottom border.  Both of these functions assist if you want to see things behind the QuickText window, but remember that the text you select from the QuickText window will be inserted at the position of your cursor when you opened the QuickText window.  If your cursor is in the wrong place, close the QuickText window, put your cursor in the right place, and then select the QuickText again.  As this is just a tool that you’ll use on the odd occasion, any changed size or position is not remembered. 

Sometimes your System Administrator deliberately inserts RefTracker variables in QuickText entries. As the QuickText is inserted, the RefTracker variable will be replaced by the current value for that variable for the question you are working with. For, example, a variable might look like {Question_no} (which will be replaced by the question’s question number), or $rvb${client_name}$rve$ (which will be replaced by the client name for this question, if one exists, else nothing will be inserted). Variables can be used to personalise the inserted text.

Other times system administrators deliberately insert text in RefTracker QuickText entries that is specifically meant to be edited. Look out for such text! The convention is that text to be substituted manually appears in Capitals inside square brackets e.g. [INSERT TEXT HERE], and you are meant to remove the square brackets and all the text between them, and insert an appropriate annotation for the question you are working on.

QuickText can also include formatted text, images and hyperlinks. The permanent links for RefTracker attachments can also be cut and pasted into QuickText so that links to “Attachments” can be included in your QuickText. 

If your system has lots of QuickText it will be organised into QuickText Groups.

Your System administrator can organize QuickText to appear in “Groups”.  To make the relevant QuickText easier to find, the group that you last selected a clause from, will appear as the group that shows when you first click on QuickText (the default QuickText display).

If more than one group has been defined for the QuickText you are viewing, you can change to another group by just clicking its name in the left hand column (this column does not appear if there is not multiple QuickText groups defined for the QuickText you are viewing). The top entry in this list is the current group showing. 

The QuickText search box

The search box in the QuickText sub window makes it easy to find the right QuickText or previous answer by allowing you to search for the specific QuickText clause you want, and relevant previous answers.  Enter your search criteria into the box and click the Search icon or just hit Enter (you can use all of the same search terms that you can use in the full RefTracker Search function – single words, multiple words anded, phrases in double quotes and wildcards at the end of works).  You will be shown all QuickText for that function that contains your search criteria in the text of the entry or in its short name, in the QuickText tab, but can also look for relevant previous answers from your RefTracker system, in the Answer tab. 

Search results appear in two tabs:

The QuickText tab shows the group that the QuickText entry that matches the search criteria resides in, as well as its short name and its text.

To use a clause in the search results screen, simply click anywhere within its text or short name, as you normally would.

If you didn’t find the clause you want, just enter a new search term and search again, or click the [All QuickText] link to go back to the full QuickText display with the group that you were last using showing.

Alternatively, you might want to find information from an answer previously provided in RefTracker.

The Answers tab shows the most relevant previously provided answers in RefTracker, for the search term that you entered, sorted by relevancy of the Question and Answer text and any attachment names. 

According to your user signon’s Answers database parameter (My preferences Search parameters tab) you may see all closed questions in RefTracker here, or just the KB and/or FAQ answers, or you may not see this tab at all.

If there are no matches to your search term in QuickText you will be automatically shown the Answer tab results.

If an answer is useful, cut and paste the useful part from here into your Draft answer, and close the sub window. To copy an attachment, right click the attachment name and choose “Copy link”, then paste.

Sometimes there are lots of answers returned and, although you can page through the results in this tab using the [Next]  link at the bottom of the page, you may want to refine the search.  To do that click on the [Use Answers search] link on the top right of this tab and you will be taken to the standard Answers Search sub window with your search term already showing, and the sort order already set to relevancy (Request text).  In this Answers sub window you can use all of the normal searching parameters to refine your search until you find the previously provided answer that you are after, and then cut and paste the relevant part/s into your draft answer and close the Answers sub window.

Exercise

Try using QuickText to add a signoff to your Draft answer (or choose a relevant clause to add to your Draft answer from the range of QuickText available in your QuickText subwindow).

Don’t forget to try QuickText as we move through the other Question action functions in this manual. Your System Administrator has defined different QuickText for each large text entry box in the Question answering screens. The QuickText icon in the formatting functions above the text area you are working in, indicates that that field has been QuickText enabled.

QuickText: automatically inserted

In this Answer screen, QuickText can also be used in the Contact and Notes fields. The QuickText clauses defined by your System Administrator will be different for each of the functions available (more about Contact and Notes later in this manual).

By examining each of these functions you will see that some have been set up to have a QuickText clause automatically inserted as soon as you select the function. The Inform Client contact action shown in the screen print above has the shown text set so that it inserts automatically. 

Note that automatically inserted QuickText, can provide the complete text required for a workflow; it may have places for you to insert some specific details; or it might only provide part of the text for a workflow, with the need for you to add specific text, or perhaps additional QuickText as appropriate to the particular question.

Even when a field has QuickText automatically inserted in it, there may be other QuickText defined for the field that can be used for completing the text for that workflow, by clicking the QuickText icon or using CTRL/ALT/Q in the field. 

Even if QuickText has been inserted, always check and amend it to suit your specific needs. You can even remove the automatically inserted QuickText if appropriate. Automatically inserted QuickText does not change your ability to determine exactly what is entered in this field.

Exercise

Try selecting each workflow type from the drop down list, and seeing the various QuickText set up for each (either as automatic insertion test, or view the selection of clauses available for that workflow by double clicking in the Workflow notes field).

Hints for QuickText use and setup for Partial answers

Separate QuickText is provided for each action box in RefTracker except that the Answer and Partial answer boxes show the same “Answer” QuickText.  This is because the same QuickText is often used when providing Answers and Partial answers. Making the same QuickText available in both these locations makes using and maintaining this QuickText easier as it only needs to be maintained in one place.

If you have some text that is only used for Partial answers your System Administrator may have used one of the following techniques to make it easy to find:

• Provided separate QuickText groups for Answer and Partial answer and put the ones that are specific to Partial answer only in the Partial answer group and those applicable to both in the Answer group.  
• Given the ones that are only applicable to Partial answer a shortname that includes a word like “partial”, and grouped them together using the Sort key, so they are clearly indicated.  This will also allow them to be easily found using the word search mechanism in the QuickText screen by searching for “partial”.

Information for System administrators about setting up QuickText is provided in the Other Code tables help page at the “QuickText and QuickText groups code tables” heading.