A number on a report is a question: which invoices make up this $4,210? Drilling down answers it. Point at a line or a figure on any report; if it is highlighted, click it and SeroBooks opens what is behind it. Keep clicking and you arrive at the transaction itself, where you can read it, correct it or print it.
How to tell what you can click
- A line that opens something highlights when you point at it. Click anywhere on it.
- Some figures open something narrower than their line (see Figures that drill on their own). The pointer changes to a hand over them. A blank or zero figure has nothing of its own behind it; clicking it opens whatever the line opens.
- The footer of the report says which kind of report you are on: Click any line to see what is behind it, Click any line — or any figure — to see what is behind it, or Read-only — reports never change the books when nothing on it opens.
- On reports with headings, clicking a heading that does not open anything folds or unfolds its group instead.
Where a click takes you
| What you clicked | What opens |
|---|---|
| A summary line (an account, a customer, an item, a month) | A more detailed report for just that account, customer, item or month, for the same period. For example an account on the Profit & Loss opens its transactions; a customer on the A/R Aging Summary opens the A/R Aging Detail for that customer. |
| A document line (an invoice, credit memo, bill, purchase order, vendor credit) | The document itself, in its own form. |
| A customer or vendor name on a balance or statement-style report | That customer's (or vendor's) ledger: every invoice, payment and credit in date order with the running balance. See A customer's ledger. |
| An item | The item's history panel: stock on hand by location, prices, what sold and what was bought. See An item's history. |
| A quantity in a location column (stock reports) | The item's Stock card for that location: every movement in and out of that shelf. |
| A line written by hand (a general journal entry, an opening balance, an accrual) | The General Journal entry it belongs to. See Make General Journal Entries. |
| A month line in Summary view | The same report for just that month. |
| A chip in an alert card | The document or report the alert is about. |
Each opens as the next step in the same window. Press Esc (or use the back control) to return to the report you came from, as you left it, with the same dates and filters. Keep pressing Esc to walk back up the chain.
Figures that drill on their own
On some reports a single column means something narrower than its line, and clicking that figure opens just that part:
- On Profit & Loss by Month, the March figure for an account opens that account's transactions for March only.
- On Profit & Loss by Location, a store's figure opens that account's transactions at that store.
- On Sales by Weekday and Hour, the Saturday figure in the 14:00 row opens just the sales made on Saturdays between 14:00 and 14:59.
- On Stock by Location, a quantity opens the item's stock card for that location.
- On Money to Collect by Due Date, the customer's name opens their ledger while the rest of the line opens the invoice.
Click the name at the start of the line to open the whole line instead.
The period travels with you
When a drill opens another report, it keeps your period, so the detail adds up to the figure you clicked:
- Period report to period report — the same from and to dates.
- Period report to "as of" report — your end date becomes the "as of" date.
- "As of" report to period report — the detail report opens on its own default (the year to date), because a single day is not a sensible period. Change its dates if you need to.
- A drill that is about a specific period (a month column, a month line in Summary view) opens on exactly that period.
- A drill that is about one date keeps it. A month on the Net Worth Graph opens the Balance Sheet as of that month's end. An account on Balance Sheet by Class opens its transactions from 1 January of that year up to the Balance Sheet's "as of" date.
A drill into one customer or vendor also sets the report's name filter, so the chip at the top shows who the report is about (for example Walk-In Customer, the line that gathers sales made without a named customer). Clear the chip to see everyone.
What you can do once you are at the document
The document opens in its normal form (Create Invoices, Enter Bills and so on). What you may change depends on its status and your permissions, exactly as if you had opened it from its list: a document in a closed period is locked, a voided document is read-only, and so on. After changing a document, go back to the report and click Refresh to see the new figures.
Tips
Common problems
| Message or problem | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| Nothing happens when I click a line | That line has nothing behind it (a heading, a total, or a report that only lists). Look for highlighted lines, or use a Detail version of the report. |
| That product is not in this device's catalogue yet. | The item has not reached this computer yet. Wait a moment for SeroBooks to update its item list, then try again. |
| A … has no screen to open yet. | That kind of document cannot be opened from a report. Find it from its own list instead. |
| That document could not be opened — the screen it was opened from closed first. | The report window closed while the document was loading. Open the report again and click once. |
| That General Journal line has no journal behind it. | The ledger line was not written by a general journal entry. Use the Transaction Journal or General Ledger to see where it came from. |
| The detail report shows a different total from the figure I clicked | Check the dates on the detail report (an "as of" report drilled into a period report opens on the year to date) and any filters you added before drilling. |