| Contents Click on underlined links to go there. | |
| Main Screen | On this screen make your shopping list. Also make recipe lists, menu lists, or any other kind of list. The three-dot Options button opens a screen where you select the default list of items that shows when the program opens. The Print button opens a screen where you select the shopping list and the store for printing your shopping list. |
| Menu | At the top of your screen are the following menu choices, starting with Stores. |
| 1. Add your neighborhood store to the list of stores. 2. Edit store name, store address, store phone. Map store aisles by assigning food categories to specific aisles. | |
| 1.
Create and edit recipes. 2. Go to recipes online where you can download recipes for this program. 3. Edit list names. Add, rename, delete shopping lists. Also determine the type of list; for example, decide whether it is a recipe list or a regular list. 4. Edit list types. Types of shopping lists are Recipe lists, Menu lists, and Regular lists. You can make up any other type that you want. When you organize lists by type, then you can easily re-use them to make your regular shopping list. | |
| 1. My Shopping List. You can also print your shopping list by clicking the Print button at the lower right corner of the main screen. 2. Other Shopping Lists. If someone else emails you a shopping list, then you can print their list, and you can shop for them. 3. Store Aisles/Categories. To help you organize the store aisles, you can print the aisle information. You can also get at this function through the Stores menu. | |
| 1. Email other users in your area who also use this program. Email another user your shopping list so that they can shop for you. 2. Email Simply Shopping. Find help on the web for using this program, or email Simply Shopping directly with your question. | |
| The Information menu choice offers several kinds of information, including the opportunity to tell your friends about the program and give them a free password too. | |
| The Help menu offers both a high-level overview and a link to this website. | |
Under the Stores menu find all the tools you need to organize stores and their aisles. This is where you tell the program that canned fruit is on Aisle 7, and so on.
The first choice, Edit Recipes, goes to a screen where you can create and edit recipes. On that screen you enter recipe ingredients and cooking instructions. Recipe ingredients are different than a recipe shopping list. For example, a recipe ingredient calls for one egg. But a shopping list calls for a carton of eggs. So the Recipe screen handles ingredients, and the main screen handles shopping lists for recipes as well as any other kind of shopping list.
The second choice, Online Recipes, goes to the Simply Shopping website where you can download recipes that can be imported into this program.
The third choice, Edit List Names, allows you to organize your shopping lists by renaming, deleting or adding shopping lists. You may keep an unlimited number of shopping lists.
The fourth choice, Edit List Types, allows you to organize your shopping lists on a deeper level. Just like a department store has a men's department and a women's department, you can make different departments for different kinds of lists. For example, you have your regular weekly shopping list; so call that a Regular list. You also have a list of items you need to buy to make apple pie; so call that a Recipe list. Your apple pie Recipe list will not have the recipe instructions nor the exact measurements for each ingredient, but it will contain the list of items you need to buy at the store in order to make that recipe. This simplifies recipe shopping.
Two list Types that come with the program are Recipe and Menu. Recipe lists contain items that make one recipe. Menu lists contain items that make one meal. An example of a Menu list may be turkey dinner. This simplifies meal planning and shopping.
You can have an unlimited number of Recipe lists and Menu lists. And you can make up other Types too, besides Recipe and Menu, just like a department store can add any department they want to.
The advantage of having many specialized lists is that you can use them as building blocks to create a larger list. In this way, you bypass the tedious chore of making each new list from scratch. Once you're organized, this simplifies your list making.
The first choice, My Shopping List, is the same choice as the Print button at the lower right of the main screen. Here you select any shopping list to print. Also select the store, because the same list prints differently for different stores. Why? Because the aisle layout is different for each store, and the list prints aisle-by-aisle.
The second choice, Other Shopping Lists, allows you to print a shopping list that another user of this program emails you.
The third choice, Store/Aisles Categories, allows you to print a list of store aisles, along with the food categories found in each aisle. This helps you when you map the store aisles.
The first choice, Email Other Users, allows you to email your shopping list to another user of this program so that they can shop for you.
The second choice, Email Simply Shopping, allows you to email questions or suggestions to the program creator.
The first choice, Referrals, lets you email your friends and family, telling them about this program.
The second choice, Web Information, provides links to various Simply Shopping web pages.
The third choice, About Simply Shopping, shows the version. The version also shows at the top title bar. Check for updated versions at our home page.
The first choice, Basic Summary, gives you an overview of how the program works and how to find context-sensitive Help on the different screens.
The second choice, Online Tutorial, goes to this web site which you are now viewing.
Approach this screen from left to right, just like you read a book. Start with the Show Items list in the upper left. Notice that All Items is now selected, but you have other choices. Click on the down arrow, and it drops down a list of choices. For example, you can choose to show only items for which you have a coupon. That simplifies coupon shopping. Or you can choose to show Recipes, and then the Recipes that you have previously created become available as building blocks from which to create your shopping list. After you have created a bunch of Recipe lists, how do you use them? The answer is to select Recipe here, and then you will see all your previous work.
To the right of that first dropdown list in the upper left corner is a button with three dots. This button leads to a screen where you can select the default choice for the first dropdown list. For example, instead of starting out with All items, as shown above, you can default to Items with coupons when the program first opens. This makes it automatic, so that you won't have to manually make that choice each time.
At the upper right are two other dropdown lists. First, Show Lists affects what shows in the dropdown list below it. For example, you can show ALL LISTS or just Recipe lists or any category of list that you choose.
Second, the dropdown list called Show Shopping List shows the shopping lists that you have made. The program automatically remembers them. This means that you can either re-use an old shopping list or create a new shopping list. To re-use an old shopping list, select it from the dropdown list. Then add more items to it or delete items from it. All such revisions will be automatically saved.
To create a new list, instead of re-using an old one, just type the name of your new list where it says Show Shopping List, and then press Tab or Enter to complete the entry. Alternatively, you can click the New button to create a new list.
Here's a twist about creating a new list. Instead of starting out with a blank list, the program will ask you if you want the items in the current list to be added to your new list. If you say yes, then your new list will already have some items on it. This is a shortcut way to use one list as a building block for another list.
At the upper right are two buttons with three dots. The upper one lets you select your default shopping list.
The lower button with three dots at the upper right, next to the Show Shopping List dropdown list, opens a screen to edit your list names. Here you can rename, add, and delete lists. Any time you see a three-dot button next to a dropdown list, that edits whatever is in that list. If you follow the dots in this manner, the second screen leads to a third screen, allowing you to group your lists into various types of lists, such as Recipe lists or Menu lists.
The three large list boxes in the middle of the screen is where you create your lists. Start at the left, and work right. First, choose an Item. Each Item has one or more varieties. When you choose the Variety in the middle list, the result gets added to My Shopping List at the right. How do you choose items? Some people like to click and some people like to type. You can do either. Try typing the first few letters of an item to get you close to it, and then press the down arrow to scroll to your choice. All four arrow keys work. Also the Page Up, Page Dn, Home, and End keys work. To add a Variety to My Shopping List, make sure it is highlighted, and then do one of these things: press the space bar, press Enter, or double-click it.
Qty and Unit below My Shopping List are optional. An example of Qty and Unit is 2 boxes. Another example is 3 rolls. These apply to the highlighted item on My Shopping List. If no item on My Shopping List is highlighted, then Qty and Unit become disabled. If you change Qty and Unit for an item on one shopping list, then it also changes for that same item on other shopping lists. It's tied to the item, or to be more specific, it's tied to the Variety of the Item.
At the lower left is the Help button. Whenever you see a Help button on a screen, it offers help specific to that screen, so that help is right there where you need it most. In this case, the Help button offers tips on how to edit items (add, rename, delete, put it into a different aisle by changing the category). It also offers help on entering coupons, sales, and comments.
The bottom part of the screen has places to enter Sales, Coupons, and Comments. These are tied to the Variety. To enter a Sale, Coupon, or Comment, first highlight the Variety. Then enter the information at the bottom for the sale, coupon, or comment.
For Sales and Coupons select the Store first. If it applies to all stores, then select ALL for the store. Then enter the Description. An example Description may be "Buy two get one free." Finally, enter the From and To dates. The program needs From and To dates in order for the sale or coupon information to save. Expired coupons automatically disappear from the program; so when the the date on your computer passes the To date, that sale or coupon will be deleted. The Help button provides tips on shortcut ways to enter the dates.
Comments are simpler to enter than Sales and Coupons. Comments have no dates. Use Comments to say anything you want about the Variety, including brand name or size. For example, "Buy apples without bruises."
Switch between Comments and Coupons/Sales by putting the mouse pointer over the desired button at the bottom center. One button says Show Coupon/Sale and the other says Show Comment. It's easy to switch the display—you don't even need to click—just move the mouse over the button.
Notice that up until this point you've just made your shopping list, and you haven't yet decided on the store. The last step is press the Print button at the lower right. That leads to a screen where you decide the store for which you want to print.
This screen shows when you press the three-dot button next to Show Items on the main screen.
The Show Items list shows all the items at first. And when you make your shopping list, you choose items from the long list of items. But after awhile the long list may become too cumbersome for you. To work from a shorter list, you have other options. The three-dot button next to Show Items displays the screen shown above. On this screen you can select a shorter list to be your default list. On the right side of the screen are all your choices. As you highlight a choice, the description of that choice shows below the list. For example, the screen above has My Master List highlighted. The description below says that it is a standard Simply Shopping list type. That means, it comes with the program. Other standard list types are Recipe and Menu lists. They also come with the program.
My Master List is different from all other list types, because any item/variety that you select for any shopping list automatically get added to My Master List. The items you never choose never get added to My Master List. So after working with the program for a couple months, and after you have selected almost all the items that you are ever going to select, you can switch the default to My Master List, and now you have a shorter list from which to choose, and the choosing process becomes less cumbersome.
In addition to these standard list types, you can add any other list type that you want to. In this way, you can group your shopping lists into categories.
You have two choices in selecting a default list type according to the option buttons at the left of the screen shown above. You can always start the program with a specific list, or you can tell the program to remember the last list selected and default to that one the next time it opens.
On this screen you can toggle between Item Lists and Shopping Lists by moving your mouse over those respective buttons at the top. This lets you set the default for each.
Remember, whatever your default list, you can always show different items by making the selection at the Show Items dropdown list.
This screen shows when you press the three-dot button next to Show Lists on the main screen. Here you select the default list type to show upon startup. Since you can have hundreds of lists, especially when you add recipes, and since that can become confusing, you can narrow down the lists that show in the List dropdown list by first selecting the type of list to show.
On this screen you can toggle between Item Lists and Shopping Lists by moving your mouse over those respective buttons at the top. This lets you set the default for each.
Return to main screen tutorial.
This screen shows when you press the Print button on the main screen.
To print your list, select 1) the list to print, and 2) the store for which to print. Remember, you make your shopping list before you decide which store you're going to. You decide the store last minute, just before you print the list. In fact, you can print your list twice, once for one store and once for another store. That way, you can do comparison shopping.
Notice the Print and View buttons. That means you can view your shopping list on screen before you print it.
The other buttons lead to the same places as the menu choices at the very top of your screen. This is just another way to get at them. Since this screen offers the choice of shopping lists and stores, these buttons provide ways to organize your shopping lists and stores.
Return to main screen tutorial.
(More to come)