Lesson #156
Personal – User Preferences function
In addition to system-wide preferences that are the same for all users of your RB system, you can set your own user preferences that customize your experience in RB9/RB Lite.
When you log into RB for the first time, the User Preferences function will automatically appear because there are a couple of defaults that you must set before using the system. You can also customize what your RB windows and emails look like and set other defaults and preferences. Some preferences entered here override global system preferences but for your account only — they won’t affect other users. You can update your user preferences at any time.
My Profile
The first default you must set before using RB is how you want your name to appear in RB. You can update it at any time. Enter your first name, last name, and optionally your middle name or initial, then choose from the various combinations — such as last name first — how you want your name displayed inside RB.
You can also enter your default personal email address for sending emails from within RB. You can update it at any time.
General
The other default you must set before using RB is which business unit (BU) you plan to use most often when setting new jobs and billing jobs.
The other 2 general options are already set but you can change them. The default row count for results grids is 50 rows per page. You can choose from 20, 50, 75, or 100 rows to display in result grids. Higher row counts take longer loading results and require more scrolling; lower row counts will load faster but require more page flipping.
The default RB visual theme is dark text on light backgrounds, but you can choose to set your RB windows to reverse/light on dark mode. Be aware that when you change between these modes, your browser will refresh and you will lose any unsaved changes in other open RB tabs. So always save your data before switching modes.
New Job
Customize default settings for new jobs. Set your RB job clock to your time zone and choose whether you want RB’s job clock to change with daylight savings time (the default is to automatically change). Enter a default city and/or state where most of your jobs take place to speed up new job entries.
Report
The other default you must set before using RB is which BU you want to associate with your reports. It does not have to be the same as your default BU for jobs.
Notifications and Messages
If you would like to have messages you receive in RB’s internal message system also sent to your email address, you can turn on the option to have RB automatically forward carbon copy messages to your email. Hyperlinks in forwarded messages will not work; and reminder messages from RB are not forwarded.
Email Subscriptions
You can select which RB emails you subscribe to: newsletters, update notifications, and/or new idea notification emails.
Email
The default is to use the email address(es) that were set up in System Preferences. If you are not going to use the email address(es) the rest of the office is using, you can set up your own email address(es) and preferences.
When you do, the Email section lists any email addresses already entered with the main email address selected as the default sender address for RB email. You can:
- Add email addresses.
- Change the default sender address.
- View, edit, delete, or test any listed email address.
You can export this list of email addresses as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, or use in other applications.
When entering a new email address, you can designate that it use either the standard email protocol or Microsoft 365 Office email protocol. If using the default email protocol, you must include the email server address and you can add security measures like SSL encryption of your email and SMTP authentication. If using a Microsoft 365 email account, you verify the account through RB before using it.
The rest of the email setup is the address, user name, and any Bcc email addresses to include in emails by default (if you like to keep copies your sent emails, enter your email address here). You can create a signature using formatted text, images, hyperlinks, and even tables that appends automatically to the end of your emails. Edit your signature in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.
Finally you can make this email address your primary email address for messages sent in RB. Depending on the function, you may have the option to override which email address you use when sending an individual email.
After setting up an email address, you can test it within this same function to see if you have the correct settings for sending emails within RB from this address. You can also view the sent email to see if you want to make any changes to the signature.
Whether you use the system-wide or your own personal email address(es) if you like to review your emails before sending them, turn on the “show mail composer” option. Then before you send an email from RB, the default will be to show you a preview of your email. In the preview you can check the email and its attachments — and update them if needed before sending the email. Whether you turn on this option or not, you can override the setting when sending individual emails.
Startup Functions
You can have RB9/RB Lite open specific functions when you log in. Select up to 5 functions to load by default when logging into RB. You can add and remove startup functions at any time as your needs change.
TL;DR: Set 2 required user preferences before using RB9/RB Lite, plus customize other options to work better for you.
RB concepts in this lesson
Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately, such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.
Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >
Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.