Synchronizing Timeslips and Abacus Databases

If you already have clients in both Timeslips and Abacus, you need to match (or link) the Abacus records to the Timeslips records.

To link names

  1. In Abacus, with the Name window open, select Tools > Timeslips Link > Link this record. A list of Timeslips clients appears. (The highlighted row may be the last record in Timeslips; if so, scroll up to see the other records in the list.)

  2. Select the Timeslips record that matches the Abacus name. A message bar will tell you whether or not your Abacus record is already linked to a Timeslips record.

  3. Select the record you wish to link. (Notice that, in order to minimize mistakes, pressing Enter will not select. You need to double-click a record or click the Select button.) If you accidentally click the wrong record, repeat this process and click the correct name.

NOTE: A name in Abacus can be linked to only one name in Timeslips.

To link matters

Linking a matter to a Timeslips record only affects billing (not address and phone number data).

Timeslips lets you bill client matters in two ways: the Client Project or Reference method. For ease of use, we recommend the Client Project method. For more information on these two methods, refer to Help in Timeslips.

If you use the Client Project billing method, go to each Abacus matter you want to bill for, then select Tools > Timeslips Link > Link this record to link that matter to the appropriate client/project record.

If you use the References method, select Tools > Timeslips Link > Link this record and link the Abacus matter to the client record. When you bill an event, switch to Timeslips and select the appropriate reference for the slip.

Import and export also handles matters that are linked to names with a LinkType code of CLIENT (which is configurable). Exporting from Abacus will create non-master records in Timeslips with NickName1 set to the client ID plus the Timeslips separator (usually a dot) plus the matter case number.

To link codes to Timekeepers and Activities

You can link each of your Abacus Who, What, and NoteType codes to its Timeslips counterpart ahead of time or as you go. Link a code once and Abacus automatically uses the same code thereafter. Abacus Who codes correspond to Timeslips Timekeepers and Abacus What and NoteType codes correspond to Timeslips Activities.

If you add a new code in Abacus, the first time you bill using it, you will be asked to link it to a Timeslips Activity or Timekeeper. You can then link the code and continue working.

To set up all codes, select File > Setup > Codes. Then select Who, What, or NoteType and click Edit. If Timeslips is linked and the user has security access, the codes list box has a Timeslips Link button that lets you pick a Timekeeper to link to a Who code and an Activity to link to a What or NoteType code. You may link more than one Abacus code to a Timeslips activity. (There is a hidden third column that contains the Timeslips record ID linked to that code. This is a meaningless number to the user, but it's useful to make sure a code is linked to Timeslips.)

NOTE: When billing for name or matter notes, be sure the User ID is the Who code for the Timekeeper. Since most people have Who codes that match their User ID, this is usually not a problem. You may need to add other users to the list of Who codes.