Privacy Mode

If Privacy Mode has been enabled on your Appointment Book, your appointments will appear like this:

To show patient names again, simply uncheck the Privacy option, which can be found at the top left of your Appointment Book.

Front Desk allows practitioners' columns to be removed or hidden in the Appointment Book.

Step 1

To check your Appointment Book settings, go to System Information.

Step 2

Go to the Appointment Book tab, then the Practitioners tab. Make sure that the Show All Practitioners option has been selected.

Step 3

Next, go to the Columns tab. Make sure the practitioner you're expecting to see is included in the list.

Step 4

Click on the Prac. Days button. This will allow you to see if any practitioners' columns have been hidden on a particular day of the week. You can show the practitioner again by ticking the relevant day.

Step 5

Close and reopen your copy of Front Desk.

Step 6

Your practitioners should now be visible in the Appointment Book. If you need further assistance, please contact Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours.

To download Front Desk, login into the secure area of the website (www.smartsoft.com.au/support).

Full installation of latest version

This includes an installation of SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, and the latest version of Front Desk. Please download this if you need to install Front Desk and the Front Desk database on a new computer.

Network client installation of latest version

This installs the latest version of Front Desk. Please download this if you're setting up a new network installation of Front Desk. If you require help connecting this to the Front Desk database please call Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours.

Front Desk upgrade

Download this to upgrade a current Front Desk installation to the latest version.

Previous Front Desk versions

If you require an earlier version of Front Desk, please contact Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours for assistance.

This should be done on a clean installation of Windows. If there was a previous installation of Front Desk on the computer, you may require one of our technical staff to assist you. Please call us during business hours.

Step 1

Follow the installation instructions located here: Front Desk Installation Guide

Step 2

Once Front Desk has been installed, run Front Desk. The default password for the Admin user is "admin".

Step 3

Select Restore from Backup from the System menu.

Step 4

You will be asked for an unlock code

Step 5

Due to security concerns related to the sensitivity of your Front Desk database, we can only provide a restore unlock code once you have logged in to the secure area of our website. If you don't have login details, please contact Smartsoft during business hours.

Request a restore unlock code (www.smartsoft.com.au/support/requestrestore).

Step 6

Type in your unlock code and click OK

Step 7

The following dialog allows you to browse for your Front Desk backup file. Once you have located it, click Restore.

Step 8

When complete, you will see this message:

Step 9

Restart Front Desk. Congratulations, you have successfully installed Front Desk and restored your database.

Step 10

If you require assistance getting network client PCs connected to the Front Desk database, please call Smartsoft helpdesk during office hours.

To restore a Front Desk backup, please follow these instructions.

Step 1

Run Front Desk. The default password for the Admin user is "admin".

Step 2

Select Restore from Backup from the System menu.

Step 3

At this stage, if your copy of Front Desk has a temporary registration, you will be asked for an unlock code.

Step 4

Due to security concerns related to the sensitivity of your Front Desk database, we can only provide a restore unlock code once you have logged in to the secure area of our website. If you don't have login details, please contact Smartsoft during business hours.

Request a restore unlock code (www.smartsoft.com.au/support/requestrestore).

Step 5

Type in your unlock code and click OK

Step 6

The following dialog allows you to browse for your Front Desk backup file. Once you have located it, click Restore.

Step 7

When complete, you will see this message:

Step 8

Restart Front Desk. Congratulations, you have successfully installed Front Desk and restored your database.

You may see the following message:

The most likely reasons for this to occur are:

1. The date on your computer is incorrect. Please check this and try again.
2. The code has been typed incorrectly. Please check and try again.
3. The registration code you requested has now expired. Registration codes are only valid on the day they have been requested.

If your Front Desk registration has expired, please call the Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours.

If you need an emergency registration code outside of business hours, you can get a temporary registration code which will expire in 4 days' time here: www.smartsoft.com.au/afterhours/requestreg

This code is only valid for today; it can be used on as many computers as required.

To enter this code, go to the Front Desk Registration utility. You will need Windows Administrator access to do this.

Windows 7:

Windows 8:
Go to the Windows Start Screen. If you have a Start button, click on this. Otherwise, bring up the Start Screen by moving the mouse to the bottom left of your desktop, and clicking on the thumbnail-sized Start Screen which will appear.

Enter the registration code in the Unlock Code field, and click Accept.

If successful, you will see the following message:

Please call Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours for a permanent Front Desk registration.

When running Front Desk, you may see this message:

To troubleshoot this problem, follow these steps:

Step 1

First, determine whether you are attempting to run Front Desk on the database server or a network client. In the message above, the user is attempting to connect to a database on a computer called "Server01". This indicates that it is being run on a network client PC. On the database server, the message would be "Unable to connect to the Front Desk database 'Front_Desk' on '.\FRONT_DESK'"..

Step 2

If you are attempting to run Front Desk on the server, and it won't connect to the database, you should first check whether the SQL Server database is running. If you are attempting to run Front Desk on a network client, go to Network Client troubleshooting.

Step 3

Go to SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Windows 7:

Windows 8:
Go to the Windows Start Screen. If you have a Start button, click on this. Otherwise, bring up the Start Screen by moving the mouse to the bottom left of your desktop, and clicking on the thumbnail-sized Start Screen which will appear.

Windows 10:
The SQL Configuration Manager should appear by searching the start menu of Windows 10, if not it can be opened directly as below.

32-bit Operating System:
Navigate to C:\Windows\System32 and open SQLServerManager11.msc.

64-bit Operationg System:
Navigate to C:\Windows\SysWOW64 and open SQLServerManager11.msc.

Depending on the version of SQL server installed on your machine it may also be titled SQLServerManager12.msc, SQLServerManager10.msc or SQLServerManager.msc.

Step 4

Click SQL Server Services. On the right, SQL Server (FRONT_DESK) should be in a "Running" state.

If it's "Stopped", try starting it by highlighting it and clicking the green Start Service button in the toolbar.

Once the service has started, close SQL Server Configuration Manager and try running Front Desk again.
If Front Desk still won't connect to the database, or if the SQL Server service fails to start, please call the Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours for further assistance.

Step 5

Have you recently attempted to restore a Front Desk backup? If so, your database may be corrupt or in an unstable state. Please contact Smartsoft during business hours so that one of our technical staff can assist you.

If you are attempting to connect a network client to the Front Desk database, we recommend calling the Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours for assistance.

If you would like to attempt to fix it yourself, here is a quick checklist. You may need the assistance of an IT professional for some of these items.

Step 1

Run NetSetup.exe which is located in the Front Desk installation directory. Under most circumstances you should be able to enter the name or IP address of the server and successfully test the connection. If you already have a network client which is connected to the database, copy the settings from NetSetup.exe on the working network client to the computer which you are trying to set up.

Step2

Can you ping the name and IP address of the server from the network client? If not, you may have a general networking issue.

Step 3

If you have other network clients already connected to the database, go to step 7.

Step 4

In SQL Server Configuration Manager on the server, check the protocols for the FRONT_DESK instance. TCP/IP and Named Pipes should be enabled.

Step 5

In SQL Server Configuration Manager on the server, check the properties of the TCP/IP protocol. On the IP Addresses tab, under IPAll, the TCP Port should be set to 1433, and TCP Dynamic Ports should be blank. If the TCP Port already has another value in it, take a note of this number and leave it as it is.

Step 6

If you have made any changes in SQL Server Configuration Manager, changes will not take effect until the FRONT_DESK instance of SQL Server has been restarted.

Step 7

If the network client still won't connect, attempt to establish a telnet connection to the server on the correct port (1433 by default). If this fails, you most likely have a firewall which is blocking your connection. You should add an exception for TCP/IP connections on port 1433 (by default).

Step 8

You may be attempting to connect using a version of SQL Server Native Client which isn't installed on your PC. Front Desk should be using SQL Server 2008 Native Client (version 10). If you have an earlier version installed, you can download version 10 from the Microsoft website.

Step 9

In NetSetup.exe, in the Network Database field, try adding ,1433 after the server's IP address. If SQL Server is listening on a different port (see step 5), use this number instead of 1433.

Step 10

For any further assistance, please contact Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours.

When attempting to send SMS from Front Desk, you may see the following message:

Step 1

Please check that you have a working Internet connection on the computer from which you're sending SMS by going to www.smartsoft.com.au

Step 2

Temporarily disable any firewall or security software running on your computer (you may require assistance from an IT professional).

Step 3

If you are still unable to send SMS, please email sms@smartsoft.com.au for further assistance.

If you see the following message:

Step 1

Check that your username and password have been correctly entered in Front Desk. Go to System Information.

Go to the SMS tab. Make sure your Username and Password are present. If you know your password, try retyping it. Click the Get Balance button to test the connection to our SMS server.

Step 2

If you are not on a current upgrades and support agreement, it's possible that your login details have expired. Please contact Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours for further assistance.

If you see this message:

You have used all of your SMS credits. Please purchase additional credits through the Smartsoft website. Note: payment for SMS is processed during business hours.

If you are experiencing problems related to your HICAPS terminal, please try the following steps:

Step 1

Restart your HICAPS terminal by unplugging the power cable and plugging it back in.

Step 2

Restart your PC.

Step 3

Check the cable between your HICAPS terminal and your computer is securely connected at both ends.

Step 4

Check that your HICAPS terminal is connected to your phone line.

Step 5

The HICAPS Connect icon should be displayed at the bottom right of your screen.

If it's red (as above), HICAPS Connect can't detect your HICAPS terminal. You should call HICAPS helpdesk on 1300 65 08 52 for further assistance.

If it's yellow (as above), HICAPS Connect is working correctly. If you're still experiencing problems, please call Smartsoft helpdesk during business hours. We recommend processing HICAPS and EFTPOS transactions manually through the terminal in the meantime.