Author Properties is where you maintain your author database. You can add, delete, and edit the authors in this database (as long as you have security access to do so), as needed. This is a very straightforward process. . . .
You can access the Author Properties program in several ways.
To find an existing Author:
Click on the Author toolbar icon at the top of your [i] Merchant Desktop, if you have toolbars displayed. The Find Author screen appears. (At this screen, you can create a new Author. Simply click on the New toolbar icon at the top of the Find Author window. The Author Properties window appears. If you had entered any information in the search fields, that information will carried over to the concomitant search fields on the Author Properties screen when enetering a new author.)
or . . .
From the menu at the top of the [i] Merchant Desktop, select File-Open-Author. The Find Author screen appears. (At this screen, you can create a new Author. Simply click on the New toolbar icon at the top of the Find Author window.)
or . . .
In Product Properties, you can find an Author using the Author Role box. For information on that, please click here. (You can create a new Author via the Author Role box, as well.)
The Author Properties window is where Authors are defined. You will see four fields here: First Name, Last Name, Short Name, and Typical Role. Once you are here, if you have security access to do so, you can change the information in any of or all of the fields. You can also delete the record. Or you can simply view it and not make any changes.
To make changes to the first three fields, simply key in new information.
The last field, Typical Role, is code driven. It is a category within which to place the Author. For many Authors, you would likely use a Typical Role of "Author." But you can set this field to whatever you want. If you need instructions on working with code-driven fields, please click here.
If you want to create a new Author record that is very similar to an existing record, you can use the Save As option. This works much the same as the Save As option in other applications, such as Microsoft Word.
To use the Save As option:
Locate an Author in the Find Author window.
Once you access Author Properties for the selected Author, change the field or fields you want, making sure you alter the Short Name field. Remember, the Short Name must be unique.
Once you have changed the applicable fields, select File from the menu at the top of your computer screen.
Under the File menu, select Save As. The new Author record is created.
Close the Author Properties window. The new record will be at the bottom of the grid within the Find Author window. It will also be highlighted.
You can create notes for each Author you create, if you want. Click on the Notes icon at the top of the Author Properties window, or select Notes-Author Notes from the menu at the very top of the screen. The Notes window opens.
Once you have set all of the fields in Author Properties the way you want, Save the changes you made in the Author Properties window by clicking on the Save button in the toolbar at the upper left corner of the window, then click on the "x" at the top right of the Author Properties window--but be careful not to click on the "x" at the extreme top right of your computer screen, as that will close [i] Merchant altogether.