          This is IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ THIS INFORMATION!

Welcome to Peachtree Accounting for Windows Release 3.0!
This file contains important information for Peachtree Accounting 
for Window users who are upgrading AND last minute information that 
all users will find useful. 

SECTION I.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR USERS UPGRADING from Release 2.0 ==>>

REGISTRATION for CURRENT USERS: If you are upgrading from any 
Peachtree Product and you are prompted to register by the product 
after you install it, when you call or FAX for your registration
PLEASE tell the person you speak with that you are an UPGRADE 
customer. This is important in order to keep your customer account 
record accurate. 

INSTALLING THE UPDATE 
The length of time it takes to convert your company depends upon 
the size of your company data files. Large data files (over 4 MB)
could take a considerable amount of time. Do NOT interrupt the 
conversion process or you will have to start over using a backup
of your Release 2.0 data. 

We strongly recommend that you disable any screen savers that
you may be using prior to completing a conversion. You may enable
the screen saver after you convert your Release 2.0 company data. 

1. Be sure you back up your company data before loading the 
   update. If there is a problem during the installation or 
   conversion, your data may be damaged and you will have to 
   begin the conversion again with clean data.
   Creating a backup before you install ensures that you will
   be able to start over with the correct information. 

2. Print all of your reports from your current company prior to 
   loading and converting your company to Release 3.0. After 
   converting, you should compare the two sets of reports to 
   be sure everything converted properly. 

3. The conversion process happens the first time you load 
   your company. Be sure you back up your company data before 
   you select to convert. 
   Converting your data will require up to two times the amount
   of space your company data files use now.  The conversion 
   process is completed automatically when you select to open
   your existing company. How long it will take, depends upon
   the size of your data files.
   Once converted to Release 3.0, you can no longer use your 
   company data in Release 2.0. 

4. Specific conversion notes:
   Release 3.0 no longers stores Sales Reps in a separate 
   file. Sales Reps are converted and stored in Maintain 
   Employee.  Their Sales Rep ID will include the letters 
   -SR to distinguish them from employees. 
   Employees can now be Employees, Sales Reps or both. 

   Inventory items can now be marked as subject to commission
   (for the purpose of the Sales History reports). All items
   will be converted as subject to commission; if you have 
   items you wish to make not subject to commission 
   (such as Freight), please edit each item.

   FORMS: The Forms Designer has many enhancements and 
   changes. All of your old forms will convert to the new 
   format. However, many fields (such as ID's, Vendor Invoice
   #) have been increased in size and additional fields have
   been added to invoicing (such as Ship Via, Ship Date) and 
   payroll checks (such as, additional pay type fields for 
   salary and hourly workers). If you wish to print these 
   new features on your forms, you have several options. 
   First, you can use the new forms we have added that are 
   identified by the characters R3 in their name. These 
   include pre-printed, non-graphic and plain paper forms. 
   If you have a supply of preprinted forms that you wish 
   to use before purchasing the new forms, you can modify 
   your forms to accommodate the larger fields by changing
   to a smaller point size, for example, Courier New size 10. 
   You will have to add the new fields where ever you wish. 
 
5. FORMS DESIGN - General Information
   Forms Design is no longer accessed from the Maintain 
   Menu list. To modify a form, go to Reports. Select the
   folder identified as a form (Customer Invoices, Customer
   Statements, etc.).  Highlight the form you wish to 
   modify, then select the Design button on the Tool Bar. 

   This will display the form design. Save the form to a new 
   name and add a description if you wish. You'll find major
   improvements in forms design that make it much easier to 
   customize your forms!

6. NETWORK Users should remember that if they have Release 
   2.0 programs loaded on individual workstations, these 
   workstations must also be updated with the new release. 
   If you ever receive an update, you must always be sure
   that each workstation is using the same update. When you install
   the product, you will be asked if you will share Peachtree
   data on a network. If Peachtree is installed on a network 
   and several users will be accessing the data from different
   workstations, you should answer Yes. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR UPGRADE USERS: Version 5 ==>>
   When you upgrade from Version 5 to Release 3.0, you must first
   convert to the previous Release 2. Be sure you back up
   your company before starting the conversion. When you placed
   your upgrade order with Peachtree, you should have also been
   sent a copy of Release 2 disks. You will install these first and 
   open each company (so Peachtree can convert them). 
   After this conversion, you should load the new Release 3 product.
   The installation instructions for installing Release 2 are basically 
   the same as Release 3 so refer to the Release 3 installation manual 
   for information.  The length of the conversion depends upon how 
   much data you have. 

SECTION II
GENERAL INFORMATION FOR ALL USERS:

1. SHARE - Peachtree Accounting for Windows requires the 
   use of the Microsoft SHARE program. If you do not have this
   command in a startup files, please see the installation manual
   to learn how to add the SHARE.exe command. 

2. ON-LINE Help - Help information is just a keystroke away 
   when you're in Peachtree. You can get information about 
   how to use Peachtree by pressing F1, selecting the Help 
   button when it is displayed or by selecting Help from the
   Main menu. In many cases, on-line help may contain more 
   up-to-date information than the manual due to the  
   printing schedule. Please use the on-line help as 
   frequently as possible. The tutorial and Tips in the 
   Action Items also contain many helpful tips on how to use
   Peachtree's functions for your business. 

3. INVENTORY
   Inventory is a perpetual inventory costing system and the cost of 
   goods is calculated at the time you post the sale.  Because of 
   this, as a general practice, you should enter all of your purchases
   for items before you enter your sales in order to get accurate costing
   information.
   
   Generally, according to GAAP (Generally Accepted 
   Accounting Procedures) you should only select one type of
   costing for your inventory items, average, LIFO or FIFO.
   If you wish to use more than one costing method,
   you should ask your accountant's advice. 

4. FINANCIAL GRAPHING Example for DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)
   This release contains a very useful DDE example that 
   allows you to produce graphs in Microsoft's Excel 
   spreadsheet program. The Excel spreadsheet uses DDE 
   links to Peachtree to automatically read your company's 
   income, expense and budget data.  To learn how to use this, read 
   the chapter in the Peachtree User Manual on DDE (Chapter 17).
 
5. SUPPORT OPTIONS
   There is a booklet in the box which explains 
   Peachtree's Support options and how to reach us or an 
   authorized Peachtree Support Center. 
   New users are entitled to 30 days of free support from 
   Peachtree Software from the time of their FIRST SUPPORT 
   CALL (NOT from the date you register). To make the best 
   use of your free support period, you should try to find 
   the answer to simple questions in the manual or the 
   on-line help before calling Peachtree.  Be sure to 
   follow the guidelines listed in the Customer Support 
   booklet for requesting support and have the necessary 
   information on-hand when you call.  
   Much of the information you need can be provided by 
   printing the Technical Support FAX from within Peachtree. 
   To do this, open your Peachtree company, select Help 
   from the Main Menu, then select Technical Support. 
   Fill out the information, then select the Print icon 
   to print the FAX. 

   You can also receive information about using Release 3.0 
   if you have a FAX machine. To do this, call our 
   PeachFAX line, 404-925-2777, which is available 24 hours 
   a day. To find out what topics are available, you can 
   request a catalog of documents, which will be sent directly 
   to your FAX machine.  If there is a document you wish
   to read, you can then call the PeachFAX number 
   and have it transmitted to your FAX machine. 
   PeachFAX's are updated on a regular basis. 

   Another way to receive free advice or information is on 
   Compuserve, America Online and Prodigy. We have support 
   representatives on all of these bulletin boards daily.

CD ROM Users - ON-LINE MANUAL
   CD ROM users will find the manual on-line. In order 
   for the manual to display properly, you must have a 
   Postscript printer driver installed in Windows.  
   See the addendum in the CD ROM package for more 
   information. 

Installing Maintenance Updates
If you install a maintenance update from Peachtree, be sure to read
the instructions that come with it. You should always back up your
data before installing any software update. Generally, maintenance 
updates require a full installation. 

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