Merlin provides an advanced search feature. Using this feature, you can define complex search criteria and save them for future reuse.
How to define complex search criteria that you can reuse 1. Click on the magnifying glass icon in the search field
2. Select "Advanced Search…" to open the advanced search dialogue box.
3. Build your desired search criteria
4. If you need to save your search results click the drawer icon in the left bottom corner
5. Click the "Add Search" button to save your advanced search under a custom heading
You can double-click the added entry to edit the search name or press "delete" to remove the selected search
Refine your advanced search
When an advanced search is in effect, its name is displayed in grey. You can enter a keyword to further refine the search.
Printing
General
This section will show you how to effectively use Merlin's printing capabilities.
The print dialog is displayed by selecting "File - Print" in the menu or with the ⌘P keyboard shortcut. In the displayed dialogue you can make all the required settings for your printout and send the results to a printer or create a PDF file.
All the settings you make here are persistent across projects including new ones.
How to create a specific workspace for printing If you want a specific printout look
Use workspaces to provide an easy way of customizing the look and feel of the active view you wish to view on the screen or print.
Headers and Footers
You have the option of adding a header or footer to your printout.
By enabling Print header and footer checkbox, you can activate this function. Each footer is broken into 3 zones. Left, center and right. Select the desired zone then click on the "Header" or "Footer" text area to enter the desired text. If you wish to
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use automatically generated entries, simply select the item from the "Insert" popup menu and Merlin will insert a tag to the right of the cursor in whichever area the cursor was last active in.
Further customization can be achieved by pressing the "Font…" button. Please note that font changes apply to the entire header and footer.
Possible auto-entries are:
Title: The title of the project
Page Count: The total number of pages for this printout Page Number: The page number
Project Image: The project image as entered in the Project settings.
Print Time: The date/time stamp of the printout
You can adjust die size and transparency of the project image by the use of the according slider.
Settings According to the Selected View
It is imperative that the printout deliver ideal results in each of the views; therefore, Merlin provides individual settings for each view. The last tab in the print dialogue box has been reserved for the relevant views
Activities View
In the drop down menu, you can select how you would like to print your project.
Only the outline, only the Gantt chart or both.
The Alternating row background can be difficult to view on some printers (or plotters). If you experience problems, uncheck this option.
The same applies for the shadows. Some plotters do not implement shadows in the printout.
If you would like to Print column headers on every page, enable this option.
Otherwise, Merlin will print the column headers on the first page only.
The Page breaks at Rows will create controlled page breaks at the end of each page without cutting any rows.
Netplan View
As the Shadows cannot be printed by certain printers or plotters, it is possible to deactivate this option here.
The Page Break at Rows will create controlled page breaks at the end of each page without cutting any rows.
The Page Breaks at Columns will create controlled page breaks at the end of each column without cutting any boxes vertically.
Resources View
You can Print column headers on every page using this option.
The Page Breaks at Rows will create controlled page breaks at the end of each page without cutting any rows.
Utilization View
In the drop down menu, you can select how you would like to print your project -only the outline, -only the Gantt chart or both.
The Alternating row background can be difficult to view on some printers (or plotters). If you experience problems, deactivate this option.
The same applies for the Shadows. Some plotters do not implement shadows in the printout.
If you would like to Print column headers on every page, activate this option.
The Page Break at Rows will create controlled page breaks at the end of each page without cutting any rows.
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Reports
Merlin has a powerful built in reporting system. To help most users, Merlin comes bundled with a group of pre-defined report templates. Reports can be either printed, e-mailed or made into PDFs.
How to create a report
1. Open the project for which you would like to create a report for 2. Select "File - New Report…"
3. Select the desired template then click "Ok"
Once you are in the reports preview dialogue, you will be presented with several tool bar buttons. You can use these toolbar buttons to further interact with the reports, send them to other applications or modify the template you are pre-viewing.
Templates
At any time, you can easily change the current report template. Click the "Template"
button and a sheet will list all the available templates.
Options
Some reports can be further modified. These changes can be made by clicking on the "Options" button.
Refresh
If you happen to change your project file while previewing your reports, you can refresh the report by pressing the "Refresh" button.
Create E-mail
To send the previewed report by eMail. Press the "Create E-Mail" button and Merlin will do the rest. Merlin will create a PDF of the report and attach it to a new email message.
Save
Press this button if you wish to save your report. You can save your report as either a PDF or HTML file.
If you wish to print your report, press the "Print" button and you will be presented with the standard Mac OS X print dialogue.
Reports Logo
If you wish to include a specific logo or image in place of the standard "Merlin"
logo, you can do is the project settings