Options Screen

Use the Options screen to set options for backing up your data file, Reminder Management, QuickBooks, and Label Creep Adjustment. To access this screen, open the Tools tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Options. When you are finished with it, click the Close button.

The tabs on the Options screen are described below.

File Maintenance tab

The File Maintenance tab manages backup functions. This tab is only visible if you are using Open Security, or if you are using User-Level Security and have Administrator privileges.

If you want to have Keystone prompt you to back up your data file when you close Keystone, check the Prompt for Data Backup upon Exiting? box on the File Maintenance tab.

Here are some strategies for deciding whether to check this box.

If you are running Keystone solely on a single computer, checking this box is highly recommended.
If you are on a network where someone’s computer is also acting as the server for Keystone, we recommend checking this box on the copy of Keystone being used on the computer acting as a server, but not on any other computers running Keystone on your network. This ensures that only one person is backing up the database.
If you are on a network where the server is a completely separate computer (i.e., no one is using the server as their own computer), we recommend leaving this box unchecked on every computer on your network. This means that someone should take the responsibility for making sure the server gets backed up regularly.

The Destination field shows the current directory in which backups of your data file are currently stored. Click the Change Destination… button to select a different location for your backups.

Backing up your data is absolutely essential. If something should happen to your database (data file becomes corrupted, computer crashes, computer is stolen, etc.), then it is lost forever if you have not backed it up. For more information about backups and backup strategies, refer to the Backup Strategies section.

Reminder Management tab

Use the Reminder Management tab to set personal preferences for how reminders are shown when you start up Keystone. These settings are specific to each user running Keystone. If various volunteers and staff share a computer, each user can have their own reminders settings through their own username.

The Show At Startup pane allows you to set whether you want reminders to appear when you start Keystone.

Choices for automatic reminders are:

Do not show anniversaries and reminders - disables automatic display of anniversaries and reminders at startup. You can still view your reminders on the Reminders and MTD News screen whenever you need to.
Show all anniversaries within next 30 days and all reminders that are due or past due - when you start Keystone, all anniversaries that will occur within the next 30 days from the current date and all open reminders automatically appear. You will see all such anniversaries and reminders regardless of the user initials assigned to them.
Show all anniversaries within next 30 days and only the reminders that are due or past due and entered by - when you start Keystone, anniversaries that will occur within the next 30 days from the current date and open reminders for the selected user automatically appear. If you are using Open Security, you can select the user’s initials for those reminders in the drop-down list to the right. Only due or past due reminders assigned to that user will appear at startup with this option.

If you have Keystone set to Open Security, you can select the initials of any person whose reminders you would like to view. If you are using User-Level Security, you can only view other user’s reminders if you have administrator privileges or are logged in as the Administrator. Otherwise you are restricted to viewing your own reminders.

You will see the Reminders and MTD News screen when you start Keystone if you have anniversaries or reminders that fall within the settings you enabled on this tab. You also can open the Reminders and MTD News screen by clicking the Show button on the Reminders and MTD News Management screen. To open the Reminders and MTD News Management screen, open the Tools tab in the Keystone ribbon and click Reminder Management.

QuickBooks tab

Keystone allows you to post closing fees, mortgage payments, and donations directly to QuickBooks. Because your affiliate may have QuickBooks on all computers, some of them, only one, or none at all, Keystone allows you to configure the link with QuickBooks based on your setup. Below are descriptions of how you should use this tab to set up your link with QuickBooks. For more information, see the Using Keystone with QuickBooks section.

Throughout this Help library, “QuickBooks” is used to refer to the entire family of QuickBooks products, not one particular version.

QuickBooks is like Keystone in that it has a front-end program that you use to work with your information and a back-end database that stores that information (called a 'company file' in QuickBooks). The words 'Local' and 'Remote' in the following refer to where the QuickBooks front-end program is located. 'Local' indicates that it is on your computer; 'Remote' indicates that QuickBooks is not installed on your local computer and that you intend to use the QuickBooks front-end via some other user's system on your network.

If you do not use QuickBooks at all, select None from the Connection list. This is the default.
If you use QuickBooks and have it installed on your computer, select Local from the Connection list if you want to use Keystone’s QuickBooks functionality.
If you want to use Keystone’s QuickBooks functionality but you do not have QuickBooks on your computer, you can “share” a copy of QuickBooks located on another computer on your network. This will allow you to post data from Keystone to that copy of QuickBooks. To do this, select Remote from the Connection list. When posting Keystone data to QuickBooks, use Remote Data Sharing to link to QuickBooks on the other computer.

Other tab

Use the Get MTD News check box to control whether Keystone downloads news from the MTD web site when you log in. A check in this box means the news feature is turned on. Note, however, that if the Get MTD News box is unchecked on the Affiliate Info tab in Affiliate Setup, this option does not appear here on the Other tab. For more information, see the MTD News Service section.

When the Get License From Web box is checked, Keystone validates your software subscription license via the web automatically. This is checked by default. You should only uncheck this if your computer is not connected to the Internet and you will use the File-based Renewal Process to keep your Keystone annual subscription up-to-date. Note: If you uncheck this box and your license expires, Keystone will switch to read-only mode. For more information, also see the Keystone Subscription Service and Licensing section.

Use the Other tab to set the Label Creep Adjustment for printing labels in Keystone. For more information, see the Adjusting Label Spacing section.