Overview - Using This Manual

Top  Previous  Next

The information in this manual varies from the very basic to the highly complex. If you are not comfortable with using Windows software, you should start by going through the Quick Start guide with the software, and then read the Terminology and Helpful Hints sections thoroughly before proceeding. You may also want to skip the Setting Up… and Program Options… sections and start at The Dynamic Interactive Report Screens section for more basic program information.

If you are a seasoned Windows user, you can probably skim these sections and dig right in to the Setting Up Your Campground Database section. The Quick Start guide is still recommended as a quick introduction to how the software works, however.

The sections of this manual have been generally organized in order from the most basic to the most complex, so that you can get started quickly by learning the most common functions of the software and gradually explore in more depth as needed. Likewise, topics within a section are arranged this way to provide a natural progression into the details of the customer database, for instance. Hopefully every step will be an easy one, and you will soon be an expert.

The exceptions to this easy-to-complex order are the Setting Up Your Campground Database and the Program Options and Settings sections, which come first. These have been placed before the other sections simply because setup must be done before you can use the software to make reservations. Even so, those section are more of an overview of what is needed to do the setup, since in many cases you won't be doing the setup anyway (assuming you have someone else to do the setup). Whoever actually does the setup will need to refer to the Maintenance sections which appear later, so you might want to read the setup sections anyway to gain a better understanding of how things are put together. This will help you understand why things look the way they do, and why the software might look or operate slightly different on your computer than the examples given here.

It is highly recommended that you have the software running on your computer and actually use it as you read this manual. You can then experiment with the functions as they are described. This is the fastest way to learn the software. Once you actually do it yourself, you will remember it much better than just having read about it.

WARNING - You will probably not want to use the real database for experimenting -- either use the sample database that comes with the software, or make sure you have a backup before making any changes, and know how to do a restore from the backup once you are finished experimenting.


Topics:

Terminology

System Requirements

Installing the Software

Running the Software

Logging In and Out

The Main Program Window

Helpful Hints --- Getting the Most Out of Your Keyboard and Mouse

Right-click is your friend

Keyboard shortcuts

Data Entry Basics

Copying and Pasting

---

Page URL http://CampgroundMaster.com/help/usingthismanual.html

Campground Master Home