Phone

When in doubt, enter the number (with "temporary" as Category)

How many times have you phoned someone, then decided not to enter their name and number into PhoneBook, only to find out, days or weeks later, that you wished you had saved their number?

In order to avoid the annoyance of having to track down a number for the second time, some palmtop users have adopted the policy, "When in doubt, enter the number into the palmtop."

There's a disadvantage, though, in adding entries, willy-nilly, to your PhoneBook: the more entries your PhoneBook has, the larger the program's file. And a large file means slower load and search times.

To prevent your PhoneBook file from getting too large, try entering the word "temporary" in the Category field whenever you add a record for a contact you're not sure you'll ever use again. Here's how this can be helpful.

Whenever you think your PhoneBook file has gotten too large, use the Subset function to list only those records with the word "temporary" in the Category field. (To create such a subset, press (F6) (Subset), (ALT)+(D), (ALT)+(G), then choose "temporary" as the category. (See Screen 5.) Now press (F10) and name the subset.)

When the "View Subset" box appears, highlight the "temporary" subset, then press (F10) (OK). Only the records with "temporary" as the category will be listed. You can now easily prune out those contacts who really were temporary, and who you're convinced you'll never call again.

Creating a subset for only those records that have "temporary" as the category will help you prune out unwanted records.