How do I link Sage Accounts to my Act! Contacts and Companies using Act! Link for Accounting? (UK Only)

Question:
How do I link Sage Accounts to my Act! Contacts and Companies using Act! Link for Accounting?

Product Details:
Product Family: Act!
Product: Act! Pro (UK edition), Act! Premium (UK edition)
Version: v18 and later
Integration: Act! Link for Accounting

Environment:
Third Party: Sage 50 Accounts, Sage Instant Accounts

Answer:
You can use Act! Link for Accounting to match your existing Sage Accounts records to your existing Act! Contacts and/or Companies. This can be done in two different ways: manually and automatically. Follow the steps below, depending on how you wish to link contacts:

Automatically Linking Existing Records (Recommended)

Linking Companies

1. In the Accounting settings, under Automatically Link Companies, set the desired fields to use for matching the records from each program to each other
2. Click Link Companies
3. When prompted whether you wish to proceed, click Yes
    

Linking Contacts

1. In Act!, click Accounting > Settings
2. Under Automatically Link Contacts, set the desired fields to use for matching the records from each program to each other
3. Click Link Contacts
4. When prompted whether you wish to proceed, click Yes

Manually Linking Existing Records
Although the Automatic method of linking is recommended, the Manual method can be used in instances where you may have a new Contact or Company in Act! for an existing linked Company in Sage Accounts and you wish to link them together. Follow the steps below:
 

1. In Act!, navigate to the Company you wish to link to Sage Accounts
2. In the Sage Account tab, click Link to Sage
3. Type the Company name into the Search field and click Find
4. Select the appropriate company
5. In the Main Address, Billing Address, and Shipping Address drop-downs, ensure the desired addresses are chosen
6. Depending on which you wish to do, click one of the following
   • Link to Act! - Completes the link so that the Sage Account tab is populated, but none of the fields in Act! on the Company business card are changed
   • Link & Update Act! – Completes the link so that the Sage Account tab is populated as well as the fields updated in Act! on the Company business card to reflect the information from Sage Accounts

Note: This process is the same for Contacts, with the only exception being that Contacts do not have Billing and Shipping addresses, however these drop-downs will still appear when you go through the linking process with Contacts.