As you move from field to field or select buttons descriptive information will appear at the bottom of the screen. Many buttons have an underlined character. Pressing Alt with the underlined letter has the same effect as clicking the button with the mouse.

When you start to change a record the record selector on the left side of the record changes from a triangle to a writing pencil. Any changes you have made can be undone by pressing the Esc key once or twice while the pencil is writing. Moving to another record or closing a form will automatically save the record. Clicking on the record selector will also save the record.

As you move from field to field on a form the current information will be selected, that means it will appear with light letters on a dark background. Anything you type will replace what is selected. Sometimes this is what you want in order to replace the existing contents of the field. Other times you may wish to edit the information without retyping it all. In order to switch from having the text selected to being able to edit it you should press F2 or click in the field with the mouse. F2 will also select a field that you are currently editing.

If you are working in a field that contains a large amount of text but only displays a portion of it you may wish to press Shift-F2 in order to view and edit all of the text at once. This may be especially helpful when adding an address to the Paid By field when receiving a payment.

All reports appear on the screen prior to printing. This allows the user a chance to review the results before using paper. Sometimes this is sufficient to view a report and you can avoid printing entirely. If you wish to print the report after viewing it on the screen then click the Printer Icon at the top of the program or click on the File menu item then select Print or press Ctrl-P. You may print all pages or only selected pages if you prefer. The ESC key acts as shortcut to close the window displaying the print preview.

If you want to save the report as a PDF you have two options. 1) Click on the “PDF or XPS” icon on the PRINT PREVIEW tab. The Access Runtime will prompt you for a location to save the report as a PDF; or 2) if you have installed PDF Creator then click on the PDF icon ( ) on the ADD-INS tab. This will save the report with an automatic filename. After it creates the PDF file the program will inform you of the location and name of the file. Generally, it will save the files in the TaxYear folder.

The year of the currently open file appears in the title bar for each form. This is especially important during the times of the year when you may be switching between tax years.

The program keeps its data files in a folder named TaxCollection that it will create in your Documents folder. Each year you will receive text files from the county that you will need to import and you will create text files to send to the county and school. The files you receive should go in the folder for that tax year under the TaxCollection folder. Similarly, when the program creates files it will put them in the folder for that tax year under the TaxCollection folder.

Click the TaxColl2k icon that the installer puts on your desktop or click the Start button and the Tax Collector Program will appear on your Programs Menu

When you start the program for the first time it will prompt you for your district number, tax year and file location (the program stores your data files in this folder and you should not normally change it). The actual location of the Documents folder varies with the version of Windows. After the first time you start the program it will remember the settings and open the program without asking you. If you want to change the data you are working with you may use the button in the Utilities Menu labeled Chg Dist/Year.