Getting started with Personal Property Pro             Back to the main help page      

Setting up your Company Information and preferences
Setting the default State and County for new returns
Customizing the Transmittal Letter, Invoice & Extension Letter
Selecting your Printer
Adding Clients/Properties & Duplicating Client Returns
Adding Client/Property Data (Owner & Property Information, Inventory, Assets)
Previewing Returns
Printing Returns (Including batch printing and saving returns as PDF files)
Database Functions
Registering your software

Year-End Utility: Click File/Utilities to clear out last year's 'Return is marked complete' flags.

1. Setting up your Company Information and preferences.
   Click on Setup/Preparer Information, Passwords, Printing, PDF.
   a) Add your company name, address, phone number etc.
   b) Set an Administrative Password (optional).  If set, this is needed to clear 'Return is Complete' flags, and to reset Client/Property passwords if used.
   c) Decide whether or not to allow passwords to be set for each Client/Property.
   d) From this screen you can clear all client passwords.
   e) Option to print the Firm Information on returns (firm name and/or address and/or date depending on the state or form).
   f) Click on 'Printer' to select the default printer for PPP (this can be done later, and changed on the fly).
   g) PPP can save your returns as a PDF (Adobe) files.  You have the option to save pages individually, or to save returns as one file.
   i) One of my personal favorites - an option to play a WAV file on startup.  Select them and print the 'Play' button to listen to them.
    
2. Setting the default State and County for which you will usually be preparing returns.
   Click on Setup/County Information.
   a) By default, the program ships with the default state set to Oklahoma and the default county set to Tulsa.
   Change this to the state and county where you will do most of your returns.  When you add a new client, the program will default to this state and county, but you will have the option to change it before it creates a record for the new client.  In Texas, once a return is saved for a particular county, you cannot change the return to another county.
   b) You can change any county information.  The software contains information for 398 counties, so it's possible our database may have a misspelled address, or the county assessor might change etc.  If you correct any county information, you will see a button giving you the option to 'Save County Changes'.  When you click this button, it will save the new county information in your system, and you will be given an opportunity to notify us of this change.  If you do NOT notify us of the change, the next update you get will contain the original data again for that county, over-writing your changes, so please let us know when you make a valid change to county information by answering 'yes' and filling in the change on the website page you will be redirected to.
    
3. Customizing the Transmittal Letter, Invoice & Extension Letter - This allows you to customize the contents of your transmittal letter (or 'cover letter'), the invoice, heading and salutation, slip sheet, and extension letters (where extensions are allowed).  By default, the program comes with a simple and straightforward transmittal letter, invoice, and extension letter that you can use 'as is'.  These are called 'Program Default Sections' that contain certain embedded codes.  You start with a copy of these 'default sections' that you can modify, which makes them your default/customized sections.  You can change the text as well as insert @codes@ to print various information, such as the county assessor or firm information, due date, reason for extension etc.  Depending on how you came to this window, you can always modify your 'Default Sections' (blue radio button in the upper-left corner), or, if you are in the clients window and have selected a client OR you have opened a client, you can edit the specific transmittal letter for the client that is selected/opened (2nd blue radio button in the upper-left corner.  Usually, you will want to modify your 'Default Sections' to what you want them to be.  Then, when you have them the way you like, click on menu item 'Options' and then the sub-menu item 'Rebuild ALL Letters and Invoices for ALL of your clients based on your Default/Modified Sections'.  This will force the program to re-create, from this point forward, any letter/invoice/extension based on your customized default sections from scratch when you print/preview them again.  If you want to restore the program's original sections, click on menu item 'Options', then click 'Restore the Program's Original Text and Embedded Codes...(for THIS section that you are working on, or for ALL 5 sections)'.  If you want to change the font and/or font size, be sure to change it for all default sections, as they are each treated separately.  Also, in the upper-left section, there are two buttons.  One button is a camera which will show you what the actual letter will look like ('Preview the section').  The other button puts you back in the 'raw text and codes' format of editing the section.
   
   To insert a code, click the drop-down combo box, select what you would like to insert, and click the 'pencil' button, which will insert the appropriate code where the cursor is located within the section you are modifying.
   
   Note: You cannot insert a graphic image into any of these sections.  We are working on finding a way to allow you to do this in the future.
    
4. Selecting your Printer
   Click Setup/Printer.
   Select the default windows printer this computer is using, or pick from the list of available printers.  If you want to print transmittal letters on your letterhead instead of blank paper, set your margins so that the transmittal letter prints beneath/inside your letterhead borders.
    
5. Adding Clients/Properties, and Duplicating Returns if a Client has several locations
   Click Clients
   The program ships with several 'Sample Clients'.  We provide sample clients for each unique return that the software generates, so you can see what the particular forms looks like.  From the Clients form, you can Add, Edit, Delete, and Duplicate Client/Properties as well as import assets for a  selected client.  You can also Preview and Print returns from here.  To open a client you can either double-click the client, or highlight the client (single-click) and then click the Edit button, or press Alt-E. 
   
   All throughout our software you will find hot-keys for many buttons.  You can navigate through much of the program just by using your keyboard.  Pressing ESC takes you 'back a level', such as out of the assets window back to the client data window, etc.  We encourage you to learn these steps as it will greatly increase the speed in which you can add and edit clients, property information, assets etc.
   
   Duplicating a Client: On the Clients window, you can highlight a client and then Duplicate that client.  Duplicating a Client is handy when you have a Client that needs to file many returns (several different locations in different counties or even states).  If you purchased the Corporate version, this is also how you can quickly setup multiple locations.  To use the 'Duplicate Client' feature, you would create one Client record, adding the client's 'Owner Information' and save the record.  Then from the Client window, click the 'Duplicate Client' button.  After confirming the duplication, you are asked to select the State and County that the new return is for.  At that point it creates a new record, and copies all of the 'Owner Information' from the initial record.  This includes Company name, address, phone, signer etc.
   
   Importing Assets: On the Clients window, if you highlight a client you can Import Assets by clicking the 'Import Assets' button.  Importing assets is covered more thoroughly here.
    
6. Adding Client/Property Data (Owner information, Property Information, Inventory and Assets)
   When you add a client you are asked to pick the state and county for which this return is to be created.
   
   IMPORTANT NOTE:  For Oklahoma and Florida, you can change the county after you started entering data for the return.  For Texas, you cannot change the county once you have selected the State and County, since the asset categories vary from county to county..
   
   Once you have selected the State and County, a window opens up whereby you enter all of the Owner, Property, Asset and Inventory information.  This window will be slightly different depending on which state the return is for.
   For all three states, the Asset screen (or 'Tab') is pretty much the same.  You can manually add, edit, and mark as deleted assets.  The major difference is the 'Asset Categories', which varies from state-to-state, and in the case of Texas, from county-to-county.
   
   While you are editing the client data, you can Preview or Print the return.
    
7. Previewing Returns
   While editing a client or from the clients window you can preview pages of the actual return on your screen.  If you are on the clients window, single-click a client and then click the 'Preview Return' button.  A new window will open which will in turn load page 1 of the return.  The first page takes a few seconds longer to load after starting the program each time.  Pages load much quicker after the 1st page is loaded and displayed.  The preview will show you what the actual printed page will look like.  From this window you can preview other pages of the return by clicking on the drop-down combo box in the upper-left section of the window next to 'Form:'.  While previewing any page, you can print the current page you are previewing by clicking the 'Print Form' button, or you can print the entire return by clicking the 'Print Return' window, which opens a new window and lets you select which pages to print, whether to print to the printer or to a PDF file etc.  At this time, you cannot preview the transmittal letter or the extension letter.  You can also change the printer from here.
    
8. Printing Returns, Batch Printing & Saving Returns as PDF Files
   From several places in the program you can print Client returns.  This can be done from the main Client window, while editing a particular Client, and while previewing a return for a Client.  When you click to print a Client Return the Print Return window is opened.  By default, the program calculates what pages it thinks should be printed for this client, and puts a check-mark next to the pages that are to be printed.  You can check and uncheck the pages as you see fit.  Various options are whether to print an 'Asset Cross-Tab Summary Report', which is a grid showing the asset categories across the top, the years down the left, and the grid is filled with the 'Cost Totals' of the assets currently in service for those categories and years.  Another optional report is called 'Asset Listing - Generic'.  This is a report that groups and subtotals all of the assets in the system for this client.  You will see a series of three radio buttons on this form.  If you click the 2nd radio button, you can see several different ways in which you can subtotal and sort the 'Asset Listing - Generic' report.  You can group and subtotal by Category then Year, or by Year then Category etc.
   
   At the top of the window, you have the option to 'Print Single Client' or 'Print Multiple Clients'.  If you click 'Print Multiple Clients', you will see a list of all of your clients/properties.  You can check which Client returns to print, OR you can use the drop-down combo box and select 'ALL', 'Returns marked as 'Complete', or 'Returns NOT marked as 'Complete'.  In batch print mode, you can also print the 'Asset CrossTab Summary Report" and the 'Asset Listing report'.  When you batch print returns, if one or more clients have passwords set, you will be asked for the password before you can print them.
   
   Finally, whether you are printing ONE Client or Multiple clients, you can either print them, or save them as PDF files.  If you choose to save them as PDF files, you will need to have set a valid 'Manual Backup' path.  You can do this by clicking on File/Database Functions/Manual Backup... and then enter a valid location for the 'Backup Location'.  If you are running PPP in a multi-user environment, be sure this location is a shared location.  Do not use your own personal folder, otherwise when others run the program and attempt a manual backup or try to create PDF files, they will get an error if they do not have rights to this folder.  The 'Manual Backup' path is also where PDF files are saved to.  If you have saved PDF Files and wish to view several of them, click on File/View Client PDF Returns.
    
9. Database Functions
   Click on File/Database Functions
   Here is where you can set the location for your manual backups, and where you can perform a manual backup.
   Other options can be set here which are fully explained on the form.  Be sure to backup your data (manual backup) occasionally, especially if you are not performing nightly/weekly automatic backups of your system on a server.
    
10. Registering your software
    Click on Help, Register.
    When you purchase a license for Personal Property Pro for the current tax year, we will send you an email when your email address has been registered on our server.  Go to this window and type in your email address where it says 'Email Address to Register at this Location', and press the 'Register button.  The program will connect to our web-server and then activate the program for the current year, number of seat licenses, etc.  If successful, it will pop up a window showing you your settings.  You can re-register at any time, but it must be done from the same computer that it was originally registered from.  Need to move the program (with your data) from one computer to another?  Click here for instructions.

Well that should get you started.  If you have any other questions please call us at (918) 252-1157.  We love to help you.

Lastly, by now you have fallen in love with the software and are on the verge of purchasing a license (see the watch on the string swinging back and forth?), and now we'd like to ask you for a favor... Would you please pick up the phone and call a few of your business associates who also do these returns and tell them about this exciting product?  Maybe even call your county assessor's office as well as businesses who you know do their own returns, and encourage them to take a look at it.  We intend on making this product better each year, and we really do need your help to spread the word.  Thank you very much.

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