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The VCR-style Navigator Bar on Brooklyn's opening screen looks like this:

The first 4 buttons on the bar allow you to easily navigate through your database.
The first button takes you to the first record in the file, the second button goes to the previous record, etc. If a button is inappropriate, it will be "grayed out" (such as the first two buttons if you are already at the top of the file).
This is what the rest of the buttons do:
Add a new record. This is the first button you will use when you first run the program.
Delete the current record from the database.
Edit (modify) the current record.
Post changes to the database (used in conjunction with the "Add" and "Edit" buttons above).
cancel Cancel changes (used in conjunction with the "Add" and "Edit" buttons above).

Also, like those desktop rotary card files of yore, you can just tap the first letter of the name you are looking for and then the first entry starting with that letter will appear.

Word Wrap. This is a toggle button. When checked, the memo field is in Word Wrap mode. But if you pasted text from another application with different right margin, it may not look right. Then you can click to uncheck this button, turning Word Wrap off. When wrapping is off, the background color in the memo field will change to yellow and a horizontal scroll bar will appear. Clicking again will turn Word Wrap back on.

You also use the buttons in the top panel. Here is what clicking on each one does:

Dial Telephone. Click this button to call using the telephone connected to your modem. If the program finds more than one phone number in the Name and Memo fields, it will let you choose which you want to use (move the selection window aside if you need to look at the database record). If the program cannot find anything that looks like a phone number (it will only recognize U.S.A. format phone numbers), it will let you enter one manually and, after you complete the call, will offer to add the number to the current entry's memo field for you. The actual dialing will be handled by whichever program you have installed to handle dialing for you. If you haven't installed any yourself, it will use the Dialer program that is included with Windows. Before using this option for the first time you should check that the dialing program is configured properly for your use, including how to handle area codes. If you are using the Dialer that comes with windows, then using the Window Start menu do:
Start|Run, then enter or Browse to: c:\window\dialer.exe (or wherever it is located) and click on Tools|Dialing Properties in the Dialer.

E-mail. Send a message to an e-mail address or addresses appearing either in the Name or Memo field. If more than one e-mail address is found, they will all be displayed. You can pick one address, or else click the box that will appear to send your message to all addresses listed. The email program that is registered as the "MAPI" program in Windows will then be invoked to send your message (if you have selected "send to all" you can now delete any unwanted individual addressee). Depending on the MAPI registered program, you may have to have your email program loaded. Hint: this may be the easiest way to maintain an e-mail mailing list.

Web page. Click on this to go to a World Wide Web page contained in your entry's Memo field. If more than one site has been entered, you will be allowed to choose one. Your default browser will then be activated and the page should appear in a few moments. When including web sites in an entry, in order to be recognized by this program the URL must start with either www., http://, https:// or ftp:// (case insensitive).
So that you can see the context, at the bottom of the window you will see the relevant line from the memo, with any preceding line right above it (use the down arrow key to move down the list) - this is a new feature with Version 4.0.

Open file Open. Open an application, document, image or media clip; must be listed (with full file path including drive) in the Memo. For example, you can view an image or pdf file, work on a spreadsheet, or play an audio or video clip. You can use Windows Explorer's Tools|Folder Options|FIle Types to pick the desired program to open any particular file extension (In Vista and Windows 7, that utility is accessed by clicking on the Start button and selecting Default Programs). When the Default Programs box appears click on "Associate a file type or protocol with a program").
So that you can see the context, at the bottom of the window you will see the relevant line from the memo, with any preceding line right above it (use the down arrow key to move down the list).

Hint: with all of the above buttons, you can use them even if you don't yet have an appropriate entry as you will be prompted to enter one, and it will be automatically entered into the record after the appropriate action has been taken.

Playlist. Create or modify a playlist containing clips or images listed in the memo field. Clips you select can be moved up or down, or to the top or bottom of the playlist. You can also click a button to invert the list of clips. Any playlist you save will be in .m3u format, which virtually all media players can use, including Microsoft's Media Player.

search Filter (Search). Filters the database so that only those entries containing the string (word, word fragment or phrase) you choose will be displayed. The search is case insensitive. If you check the box on the screen which will appear when you click this button, then both the Name and Memo field will be searched, otherwise only the Name field will be searched.

Cancel Filter. Cancels the filter set by the above option so that ALL non-deleted records will again be displayed. This button will be "grayed out" if a filter is not active, so if you see this red icon you know a filter is active.

Windows Clipboard. This Button has dual use, both with just the Name (not memo) field. 1. If you are adding or editing a record (you have clicked the Plus or Up key on the Navigation Bar and haven't yet clicked the Check Mark to Post), the name field will be replaced by whatever is currently in the Windows Clipboard.
2. Otherwise, this will copy whatever is in the Name field to the Window's Clipboard for insertion into another program (for printouts, reports or whatever).
For the Memo field, the usual Windows cut-and paste methods are already enabled, you don't need this Button for that field.

Info. Click this button to see more info about the current record and the database as a whole. For example, if a filter is active you will see the total number of records which meet your filter criteria. This will also provides a larger area for the memo field.

Order. When the program starts, the grid will show records in Alphabetical order. But you can click on this button to see them in the order in which you entered them into the database (e.g. if you want to see the last 5 records you entered). To see them in ascending Alphabetical order again, just click on the up arrow image that will replace the calendar.

Report Writer. Click here for the webpage describing this flexible utility. Does not work in Windows 7

Maintenance. If your records seem out of order, or if the program seems to be running slow, click this button to physically remove records marked for deletion (thereby saving disk space) and to reindex the file. Until this option is run, records marked for deletion can still be recalled by "xbase" programs like Foxpro which are compatible with the Foxpro 2.6 file format.
After the reindex finishes (should only take a second or two), you will be asked if you want to create an archive of your database to another drive and/or directory. Important: if you ever need to restore from these archived files, remember to EITHER delete address.cdx (will automatically be recreated by the program) OR click this Maintenance button immediately upon using this program the next time - it you don't do one or the other, records that are in the database may not show in the grid or you may get other errors. Does the address book you're using now offer an easy backup option like this?

Help. Here is where you will get on-line help using your default web browser.

Because Brooklyn uses industry standard Foxpro 2.6 format files, you can import your address book into any of thousands of other software products to produce printouts, reports, etc.

You can exit Brooklyn by clicking the close button (X) in the extreme upper right hand corner of the program window, or by using the Windows Close key combination (alt-F4).

Advanced Technique - Saving disk space by using a singly copy of Brooklyn's program and support files to manage additional databases.

After you've Brooklyn for awhile, you may wish you could use it to manage a database for other folks using your computer, or for other purposes such as keeping track of recipies, inventory, whatever. Here's how you can do it without doing additional installs into other directories and therefore duplicating the program and support files:

This is an example using Windows 98. Use Windows Explorer (Start|Programs|Windows Explorer) and go to Brooklyn's installation directory (if you accepted the default during installation that should be c:\program files\Brooklyn. Use your mouse to RIGHT-click on the Brooklyn.exe entry and choose Send To|Desktop (create shortcut). Now you can exit Windows Explorer and go to the desktop. Right-click on the shortcut that was just created and choose Rename. Give it a name of your choice (maximum 10 characters using letters, numbers and dash only), for example: Recipies. After you've done that, Right-click again on the newly-renamed shortcut and choose Properties this time. The Target box should show an entry like this:
    "C:\Program Files\Brooklyn\brooklyn.exe"
After this put a space followed by the name you just chose, using our example it would be:
    "C:\Program Files\Brooklyn\brooklyn.exe" Recipies
The final step is to put the program path only part of the above into the next Box labeled "Start In" like so:
    "C:\Program Files\Brooklyn"

That's it! Now whenever you go to the desktop and double-click on this "Recipies" shortcut, Brooklyn will create the appropriate subdirectory for you - using our example it would be:
C:\Program Files\Brooklyn\brooklyn.exe\Recipies
- and create a separate database just to hold your recipies.
When doing backups, remember to back up each database to it's own directory on the backup media because each database has the same filenames.
There are other ways to create such a shortcut, to see how just do: Start|Help, click on the Index tab and type in "Shortcuts" in the entry box.

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