Get Familiar with TallyPrime and TallyPrime Edit Log Features

Let’s take a quick look at the TallyPrime features & patterns like Basis of Values and Go To that will help you to work efficiently with minimal learning. Understand these features & patterns so that you can try any feature in the product.

Once you install TallyPrime, activate the license, create a Company, and then you can start using TallyPrime features and record your business transactions. To make use of the flexibility of TallyPrime and enhance your productivity, take a quick look at the interaction experiences and understand the patterns.

Home screen that you see when you open TallyPrime includes the top menu, Go To/Switch To buttons, Gateway of Tally, and buttons on the right hand side. These options aid in finding and opening different ledgers, vouchers, and reports that help you accomplish your business tasks. There are multiple ways in which you can reach the desired destination. You can choose the ways you prefer.

Navigation across TallyPrime widely uses Enter key and Escape key. While there are different ways in which you can reach a destination, pressing Enter will take you to the next level of information, and Escape will take you back to the previous level, until you reach Gateway of Tally. In addition to that, the same Escape key will let you close TallyPrime, with a confirmation. Similarly, you can use different key combinations to achieve what you want. In fact, you can navigate and use TallyPrime features completely using a keyboard.

Data entry for recording different types of transactions are made similar to enhance learning, and retention of knowledge. Master creation is made simple by using similar actions wherever possible, and multiple ways to reach the create options.

Reports are presented in a hierarchical manner for easy analysis. While TallyPrime provides a large number of reports, reading and understanding the reports are simplified with similar interactions. When you open a report, you will get the summary data for the most relevant report period. From there you can change the report period, presentation format, and so on, up to the value that forms the basis of the report. Consistent interactions make it easier for you to navigate, and memorise the steps.

Sharing data in printed formats, or in electronic file formats through e-mail or export is one of the useful TallyPrime features available by default. You can share individual vouchers, or reports, as well as in bulk, with just a few key presses. Sending payslips to your employees, or reminder letters to your parties are equally simple.

Easy setup enables you to start using TallyPrime for recording your business transactions in a couple of minutes. While there are many features available out-of-the-box, you can decide to start with the minimal set, right away. You can start using the other TallyPrime features as and when you come across a business need. You can explore and use many features as your business grows and diversifies. This facility helps you to start simple, and gradually add more features as needed. You can switch many features on and off as you want or require. Alternatively, you can start using all the TallyPrime features in the beginning, if needed.

Set up for personal preferences is another flexibility that you get to in order to use the application comfortably. Such configurations can be done independently for every installation of TallyPrime using F12 Configurations. Different types of ledgers and vouchers can have different configurations. Similarly, you can set your preferences for reports, printing, and other data communication options.

Home Screen

When you open TallyPrime, you can see a home screen with different items – a top menu bar with pull down options, the details of the Companies that are open, the Gateway of Tally menu, and a button bar on the right-hand side of the screen.

Gateway of Tally

Top Menu has options to manage your Companies, TallyPrime application, users in your Companies, and your data storage & sharing. This menu and child items in the menu are also accessible from any screen in TallyPrime. Help menu has options to launch TallyHelp and to upgrade your application to a newer release of the product. Availability of a newer release is indicated with a red dot notification on the menu name Help. Additionally, other options under the Help menu include What’s New,  TallyShop for buying add-ons, Troubleshooting to repair your application and data in case there are issues, Settings to configure your application, TDL & Add-On to manage your extensions/customisations, and an About report that shows the details of your TallyPrime installation and its environment.

Shortcuts form an easy way to use TallyPrime features. Shortcut/hotkey to access each option in the top menu is shown in bold capital letter that is underlined, or F1. When the shortcut has a single underline, you can just press Alt and the letter key to access the corresponding option. Shortcuts without underline work with the single key press. When you access any of the menu items, a list of options grouped under the menu item opens, and you can access each using the corresponding shortcut or mouse. For example, Alt+K > C will open Company Creation screen.

Tip: You can use just the keyboard to interact with TallyPrime and use TallyPrime features if you prefer so. You can also comfortably use mouse. This is possible on all screens in TallyPrime.

Go To option on the top menu helps you to quickly access any report or TallyPrime features that you want to use. Any screen that you access using Go To will open on top of the current screen, and closing the screen will take you back to the screen that was open earlier. You can use Alt+G to access Go To.

The option Switch To is placed with Go To as a toggle to help you move from the current screen to any other screen. You can use Ctrl+G to access Switch To.

More about Go To and Switch To are given below.

Tip: Use Alt key to access the shortcuts with a single underline. To access the shortcuts with double underline, use the Ctrl key.

Company details are shown below the top menu, on the left side of the screen. The details include the CURRENT PERIOD and CURRENT DATE, the names of the Companies that are open, and the last date of transactions in each Company. Further, in case your Company is connected and is accessible online, that is also shown here with (c).

Gateway of Tally groups the different TallyPrime features, based on the nature of activities. Options on the main screen of TallyPrime include Masters, Transactions, Utilities, a few Accounting and Financial reports, and an option to view more reports. When you select any of these options, a screen opens that lets you create or alter a master or transaction, view a report, or list other options. Notice that every option in the Gateway of Tally has one bold capital letter, the shortcut to access the option. You can just press the letter key to access the corresponding item. For example, K is to open Day Book, and B for Balance Sheet.

Right Button Bar on the home screen of TallyPrime has two buttons F2: Date and F3: Company. On pressing Alt key the options change to F2: Period and F3: Select Company. Pressing Ctrl+F3 keys show the option Shut Company. Alternatively, you can click the expand option, < next to each button to view the corresponding options. Options on the right button bar change based on the screen that is open as per the actions relevant to the screen or the transaction you are working on. However, the shortcuts associated with different options are consistent across masters, vouchers and reports. For example, F2 is always for date, Alt+F2 is for period, F10 in master screens is for Other Masters & voucher screens is for Other Vouchers, and Ctrl+B in reports is for Basis of Values.

More about Right Button Bar is given below.

Let us explore a little more about the buttons on the right button bar.

F2, F3, F12 options – remain constant on all screens, transactions, masters and reports.

F4 to F10 – each one has a preset but different action in transactions, masters, and reports.

F4 to F10 buttons on the right button bar

Ctrl+B/H/J – has preset actions only in reports.

Ctrl+F/H/I – has preset actions only in vouchers.

In a similar manner, there are predefined list of buttons for different actions. Check different buttons when you are on different screens to know these options better.