As part of your subscription to Genie, you receive 60 minutes of hotline support from AbleOwl. Genie also has a built-in Hotline tool that allows you to lodge and track hotline requests from within Excel. The process for using the Hotline tool varies depending on your access to the internet and your email application. Not all businesses allow for direct access to the internet from applications on staff computers.

A quick way to test whether or not you have direct access is to open the Version/Subscribe/Contact tab of the Genie options, help and admin dialog box:

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Admin | Version (Alt G A V).

Choose Refresh this information.

If a message appears saying: This requires an active internet connection, then you cannot access the internet directly.

If Genie is able to communicate with the AbleOwl website, and you don't need to add screenshots to your hotline request, then follow the steps in Use Hotline with direct internet access.

If you do have direct internet access but wish to add screenshots to your hotline request, then follow the steps in With Microsoft Outlook or With other email application, depending on your email software.

If Genie is unable to contact the AbleOwl website from within Excel and you use Microsoft Outlook for emails, then follow the steps in With Microsoft Outlook.

If Genie is unable to contact the AbleOwl website from within Excel and you don't use Microsoft Outlook for emails, then follow the steps in With other email application.

To open the Hotline dialog box:

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

Use Hotline with direct internet access

Create hotline request

Follow the procedure below to create a hotline request:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(2) Select the Create hotline message tab.

(3) Enter a descriptive Subject for your request.

(4) Enter the Body of your request.

Be as descriptive as possible. Explain the situation: What are you trying to do? What have you tried already? What is the problem or error that is occurring?

Files that you attach can be very useful to our consultants as they work to determine the cause of your problem and to find a possible solution.

(5) If you have any files to attach, choose Attach files.

The Attach files to hotline to send dialog box opens.

The dialog box displays a list of open workbooks.

(6) If the workbook you want to attach isn't open, choose Browse to include other files button.

An Excel Open dialog box displays.

(7) Browse for the files you wish to attach to the hotline request.

(8) Once you have selected the desired files, choose Open.

The Open dialog box closes and the selected files are added to the Files list in the Attach files to hotline to send dialog box.

(9) From the Files list, select the files you wish to attach to the hotline.

Hold Ctrl or Shift when you click on filenames to add multiple files to the hotline request.

(10) Choose Attach selected files.

The Attach files to hotline to send dialog box closes and you are returned to the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

(11) Choose Send.

A success message displays and you are returned to the Tracking log tab of the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

Track hotline response

Follow the procedure below to track AbleOwl's response to a hotline request:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

The top half of the Tracking log tab displays a list of hotline requests and AbleOwl's responses.

(2) To update the list, choose Refresh.

The Refresh hotline information dialog box opens.

(3) Leave the From and To settings as they are and select Live refresh.

(4) Choose Refresh.

Genie contacts AbleOwl and updates your hotline request information, which is displayed in the Tracking log tab of the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box. If AbleOwl has sent replies to your hotline request, they are downloaded and added to the Tracking log.

Each hotline request is given a Status label:

- means that your hotline request has not been processed by AbleOwl.

S means that your hotline request has been received and processed. AbleOwl are busy finding a solution to your request.

R indicates that the message is a response from AbleOwl to your hotline request.

(5) Click on any message to see its content in the bottom half of the Tracking log tab.

If a reply from AbleOwl contains attached files, the filenames of the attachments are displayed at the bottom of the tab.

(6) When only one or two files are attached, you can click on a filename to open the workbook in Excel.

If there are more than two attachments, a message informs you to choose Open/Change files to open the extra attachments.

If any attachments are files other than those that can be read by Excel, such as screenshots of the process you need to carry out, you will need to open them from the hotline response, sent to your email application.

Reply to AbleOwl's hotline response

There will probably be times when you want to reply to AbleOwl's response to your hotline request. For example:

AbleOwl's response to your hotline request asks you to supply extra information.

You wish to ask for further details about the supplied solution.

You feel the need to offer praise to the AbleOwl consultants for their excellence in solving your problem.

To reply to the hotline response, follow the procedure below:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(2) Select the AbleOwl response you wish to reply to from the top half of the Tracking log tab.

(3) Choose Reply to.

The Create hotline message tab is displayed, with the subject heading from the hotline response entered in the Subject text box. The subject heading is greyed out and cannot be changed.

(4) Enter the reply into the Body field.

(5) Attach any required files. See step (5) of Create Hotline request.

(6) Choose Send.

Use Hotline with Microsoft Outlook

Create hotline request

Follow the procedure below to create a hotline request:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(2) Select the Create hotline message tab.

(3) Enter a descriptive Subject for you request.

(4) Enter the Body of your request.

Be as descriptive as possible. Explain the situation: What are you trying to do? What have you tried already? What is the problem or error that is occurring?

Attached files can be very useful to determine the cause of your problem and to find a possible solution.

(5) If you have any files to attach, choose Attach files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box opens.

The dialog box displays a list of open workbooks.

(6) If the workbook you want to attach isn't open, choose Browse to include other files button.

An Excel Open dialog box displays.

(7) Browse for the files you wish to attach to the hotline request.

(8) Once you have selected the desired files, choose Open.

The Open dialog box closes and the selected files are added to the Files list in the Attach files to hotline to send dialog box.

(9) From the Files list, select the files you wish to attach to the hotline.

Hold Ctrl or Shift when you click on filenames to add multiple files to the hotline request.

(10) Choose Attach selected files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box closes and you are returned to the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

(11) Select via email.

This tells Genie to use your email application to send the request rather than contacting AbleOwl directly.

(12) Choose Send.

The Send hotline email dialog box appears.

(13) Select Send email by Outlook and then choose Send.

Microsoft Outlook opens a new message with your hotline request details and any attachments entered. If you wish to add additional information such as screen grabs, you can do so in the top part of the message. Do not alter the bottom part of the message, as it contains information used by AbleOwl to process your request, and any incorrect details here may prevent the request from being processed.

(14) Choose Send.

Outlook sends your hotline request to AbleOwl.

Track hotline response - Send a refresh request to AbleOwl

Follow the procedure below to track AbleOwl's response to a hotline request:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

The top half of the Tracking log tab displays a list of hotline requests and AbleOwl's responses.

(2) To update the list, choose Refresh.

The Refresh hotline information dialog box opens.

(3) Select Send request for refresh data by Outlook.

(4) Choose Refresh.

Genie automatically creates and sends an Outlook email message with your refresh request to AbleOwl.

Process refresh response from AbleOwl

Once AbleOwl has processed your Refresh request, they will send a reply back to you. To update your hotline Tracking log, follow the procedure below:

(1) Open the message in Microsoft Outlook.

(2) Click anywhere in the email message and press Ctrl+A.

This selects the entire message from AbleOwl.

(3) Copy the selected text.

(4) Go to Excel and open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(5) Select the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab.

The Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab opens.

(6) Select the Hotline text emailed by AbleOwl text box.

(7) Paste the copied message into the text box.

(8) Choose Add to tracking log.

(9) Genie checks the hotline response to make sure it displays the correct type of information. If everything checks out, Genie updates the Tracking log and returns you to the Tracking log tab.

If AbleOwl has sent a response to a hotline request and you haven't yet processed the response, it will be added to the Tracking log when you process the refresh response. However, any attachments associated with the hotline response will not be added. You can open and process the hotline response as shown in Receive hotline response to add the attachments to the tracking log, or you could use the Open/change files button in the Tracking log.

The top half of the Tracking log lists the hotline requests and responses, and displays a Status label for each message:

- means that your hotline request has not been processed by AbleOwl.

S means that your hotline request has been received and processed. AbleOwl are busy finding a solution to your request.

R indicates that the message is a response from AbleOwl to your hotline request.

(10) Click on any message to see its content in the bottom half of the Tracking log tab.

If a reply from AbleOwl contains attached files, the filenames of the attachments are displayed at the bottom of the tab.

(11) When only one or two files are attached you can click on a filename to open the workbook in Excel.

If there are more than two attachments, a message informs you to choose Open/Change files to open the extra attachments.

If any attachments are files other than those that can be read by Excel, such as screenshots of the process you need to carry out, you will need to open them from the hotline response, sent to your email application.

Receive hotline response

When you receive a hotline response from AbleOwl, follow the procedure below to add the response to Genie's Hotline tool.

(1) Open the message in Microsoft Outlook.

(2) If the message contains attachments, either save them to your computer, or open them in Excel.

(3) Click anywhere in the email message and press Ctrl+A.

This selects the entire message from AbleOwl.

(4) Copy the selected text.

(5) Go to Excel and open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(6) Select the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab.

The Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab opens.

(7) Select the Hotline text emailed by AbleOwl text box.

(8) Paste the copied message into the text box.

(9) If there were any attachments sent by AbleOwl, select Attach files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box opens.

The dialog box displays a list of open workbooks.

(10) If the workbook(s) you want to attach aren't open, choose Browse to include other files button.

(i) Browse for the files you saved from the hotline response.

(ii) Once you have selected the desired files, choose Open to add them to the Files list in the Attach files to hotline dialog box.

(11) From the Files list, select the file(s) you received in the hotline response.

Hold Ctrl or Shift when you click on filenames to add multiple files from the hotline response.

(12) Choose Attach selected files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box closes and you are returned to the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

The Attachments are listed next to the Attach files button in the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab.

(13) Choose Add to tracking log.

Genie checks the hotline response to make sure it matches up with the hotline request. The hotline response also lists what attachments have been sent with the response. If Genie finds a filename that hasn't been added to the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab, it displays the following message:

(14) Choose Yes to continue without attaching the file, or No to stop and attach the file.

Follow steps (9) to (11) to attach a file.

Genie now processes the hotline response and adds it to the Tracking log.

Reply to AbleOwl's hotline response

There may be times when you want to reply to AbleOwl's response to your hotline request. For example:

AbleOwl's response to your hotline request asks you to supply extra information.

You wish to ask for further details about the supplied solution.

You feel the need to offer praise to the AbleOwl consultants for their excellence in solving your problem

To reply to the hotline response, follow the procedure below:

(7) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(8) Select the AbleOwl response you wish to reply to from the top half of the Tracking log tab.

(9) Choose Reply to.

The Create hotline message tab is displayed with the subject heading from the hotline response entered in the Subject text box. The subject heading is greyed out and cannot be changed.

(10) Enter the reply into the Body field.

(11) Attach any required files.

See step (5) of Create hotline request.

(12) Select via email.

This tells Genie to use Microsoft Outlook to send the reply.

(13) Choose Send.

Microsoft Outlook opens a new message with your hotline request details entered.

(14) Choose Send.

Outlook sends your reply to AbleOwl.

Use Hotline with another email application

Create hotline request

Follow the procedure below to create a hotline request:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(2) Select the Create hotline message tab.

(3) Enter a descriptive Subject for your request.

(4) Enter the Body of your request.

Be as descriptive as possible. Explain the situation: What are you trying to do? What have you tried already? What is the problem or error that is occurring?

Attached files can be very useful to determine the cause of your problem and to find a possible solution.

(5) If you have any files to attach, choose Attach files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box opens.

The dialog box displays a list of open workbooks.

(6) If the workbook you want to attach isn't open, choose Browse to include other files button.

An Excel Open dialog box displays.

(7) Browse for the files you wish to attach to the hotline request.

(8) Once you have selected the desired files, choose Open.

The Open dialog box closes and the selected files are added to the Files list in the Attach files to hotline to send dialog box.

(9) From the Files list, select the files you wish to attach to the hotline.

Hold Ctrl or Shift when you click on filenames to add multiple files to the hotline request.

(10) Choose Attach selected files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box closes and you are returned to the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

(11) Select via email.

(12) Choose Send.

The Send hotline email dialog box appears.

(13) Select Send email by other email program and then choose Send.

A message box displays a checklist of steps to take to add the hotline request to your email software.

(14) Choose OK.

(15) Go to your email application and create a new message.

(16) Select the message body and choose Paste.

The content of your hotline request is pasted into the email.

(17) Enter the address hotline@ableowl.com into the To text box.

(18) Copy the subject from the second line of the message body and paste it into the Subject text box.

In the case of the image below, the Subject copied was 'Help with PivotTable (2011Sep12_095533)'.

(19) Attach any required files to the email message.

(20) Choose Send.

Your email program sends your hotline request to AbleOwl.

Track hotline response - Send a refresh request to AbleOwl

Follow the procedure below to track AbleOwl's response to a hotline request:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

The top half of the Tracking log tab displays a list of hotline requests and AbleOwl's responses.

(2) To update the list, choose Refresh.

The Refresh hotline information dialog box opens.

(3) Select Send request for refresh data by other email program.

If your computer can directly access your company's email server, you can select Send request for refresh data by other means. In this case, Genie bypasses the email software and sends the request directly to AbleOwl.

(4) Choose Refresh.

The message box below displays a quick reference to the steps required to send a request via another email program.

(5) Choose OK to copy the refresh request to the clipboard.

(6) Go to your email application and create a new message.

(7) Select the message body and choose Paste.

The content of your hotline request is pasted into the email.

(8) Enter the address hotline@ableowl.com into the To text box and the subject Tracking log records request into the Subject text box.

(9) Choose Send.

Depending on your email software, this button may have a different name.

The email requesting a refresh of your hotline Tracking log is sent to AbleOwl.

Track hotline response - Process refresh response from AbleOwl

Once AbleOwl has processed your Refresh request, they will send a reply back to you. To update your hotline Tracking log, follow the procedure below:

(1) Open the Hotline history request message in your email application.

(2) Click anywhere in the email message and press Ctrl+A.

This selects the entire message from AbleOwl.

(3) Copy the selected text.

(4) Go to Excel and open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(5) Select the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab.

The Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab opens.

(6) Select the Hotline text emailed by AbleOwl text box.

(7) Paste the copied message into the text box.

(8) Choose Add to tracking log.

(9) Genie checks the hotline response to make sure it displays the correct type of information. If everything checks out, Genie updates the Tracking log and returns you to the Tracking log tab.

If AbleOwl has sent a response to a hotline request and you haven't yet processed the response, it will be added to the Tracking log when you process the refresh response. However, any attachments associated with the hotline response will not be added. You can open and process the hotline response as shown in Receive hotline response to add the attachments to the tracking log, or you could use the Open/change files button in the Tracking log.

The top half of the Tracking log lists the hotline requests and responses, and displays a Status label for each message:

- means that your hotline request has not been processed by AbleOwl.

S means that your hotline request has been received and processed. AbleOwl are busy finding a solution to your request.

R indicates that the message is a response from AbleOwl to your hotline request.

(10) Click on any message to see its content in the bottom half of the Tracking log tab.

If a reply from AbleOwl contains attached files, the filenames of the attachments are displayed at the bottom of the tab.

(11) When only one or two files are attached, you can click on a filename to open the workbook in Excel.

If there are more than two attachments, a message informs you to choose Open/Change files to open the extra attachments.

If any attachments are files other than those that can be read by Excel, such as screenshots of the process you need to carry out, you will need to open them from the hotline response, sent to your email application.

Receive hotline response

When you receive a hotline response from AbleOwl, follow the procedure below to add the response to Genie's Hotline tool.

(1) Open the message in Microsoft Outlook.

(2) If the message contains attachments, either save them to your computer, or open them in Excel.

(3) Click anywhere in the email message and press Ctrl+A.

This selects the entire message from AbleOwl.

(4) Copy the selected text.

(5) Go to Excel and open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(6) Select the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab.

The Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab opens.

(7) Select the Hotline text emailed by AbleOwl text box.

(8) Paste the copied message into the text box.

(9) If there were any attachments sent by AbleOwl, select Attach files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box opens.

The dialog box displays a list of open workbooks.

(10) If the workbook(s) you want to attach aren't open, choose the Browse to include other files button.

(iii) Browse for the files you saved from the hotline response.

(iv) Once you have selected the desired files, choose Open to add them to the Files list in the Attach files to hotline dialog box.

(11) From the Files list, select the file(s) you received in the hotline response.

Hold Ctrl or Shift when you click on filenames to add multiple files from the hotline response.

(12) Choose Attach selected files.

The Attach files to hotline dialog box closes and you are returned to the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box.

The Attachments are listed next to the Attach files button in the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab.

(13) Choose Add to tracking log.

Genie checks the hotline response to make sure it matches up with the hotline request. The hotline response also lists what attachments have been sent with the response. If Genie finds a filename that hasn't been added to the Paste email sent by AbleOwl tab, it displays the following message:

(14) Choose Yes to continue without attaching the file, or No to stop and attach the file.

Follow steps (9) to (11) to attach a file.

Genie now processes the hotline response and adds it to the Tracking log.

Reply to AbleOwl's hotline response

There may be times when you want to reply to AbleOwl's response to your hotline request. For example:

AbleOwl's response to your hotline request asks you to supply extra information.

You wish to ask for further details about the supplied solution.

You feel the need to offer praise to the AbleOwl consultants for their excellence in solving your problem.

To reply to the hotline response, follow the procedure below:

(1) Open the AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box

In Excel, choose GenieOnline | Hotline | Lodge and track (Alt G H T).

The AbleOwl Excel Genie hotline dialog box opens.

(2) Select the AbleOwl response you wish to reply to from the top half of the Tracking log tab.

(3) Choose Reply to.

The Create hotline message tab is displayed with the subject heading from the hotline response entered in the Subject text box. The subject heading is greyed out and cannot be changed.

(4) Enter the reply into the Body field.

(5) Attach any required files.

See step (5) of Create hotline request.

(6) Select via email.

This tells Genie to use your email software to send the reply.

(7) Choose Send.

A message box displays a checklist of steps to take to add the hotline request to your email software.

(8) Choose OK.

(9) Go to your email application and create a new message.

(10) Select the message body and choose Paste.

The content of your hotline request is pasted into the email.

(11) Enter the address hotline@ableowl.com into the To text box.

(12) Attach any required files to the email message.

(13) Choose Send.

(14) If you get a message informing you that your message has no subject, choose OK / Send.

The message subject is embedded in the body of the email message. The actual name of the button may vary depending on your email software.

Your email program sends your reply to AbleOwl.