Tips & Tricks for working in WV

Austen Brown · April 2

Recently I’ve been trying to work in WV first, only going to DBV when something isn’t possible.

Things definitely take longer - WV is generally less efficient (so many extra clicks), there are new locations to learn, and processes have changed. I’m hoping that in the long run, once the move to WV is fully finalized, the time spent learning it now will pay off.

A few things that have helped me so far:

Reorganizing tiles – keeping the most-used items at the top and adjusting as priorities shift
Ctrl + F – quick way to locate a specific tile instead of scrolling
Right-click links/buttons → Split view – makes WV behave a bit more like DBV
Ctrl + click links/buttons – opens records in a new tab
Date shortcuts – entering just the day auto-populates the full date (MM/dd/yyyy) for the current month
Grid batch dropdowns – space opens the list, arrows select, tab moves forward cleanly
Home page quick links – useful as bookmarks for frequent areas (like standard reports) or external sites

The recent improvements to Grid Batch give me hope that the rest of WV can maybe be made more efficient in the long run, particularly if a keyboard-driven approach is applied to the entire view.

Curious what others are doing. Any tips or tricks that have helped you? What’s your current strategy for working in WV?

Joe Moretti · April 2

I have to say with the exception of Opportunity Lists in RE NXT (which is actually great, since there is nothing like it in DB), I am always in Database View for work. I will schedule some of the reports in RE NXT, but RE NXT is my last step to go to.

Ben Regier · April 3

I don't have much to add - I agree that keyboard-centric efficiency isn't there yet and I hope it comes eventually. Two quick things I'll add.

Tab management becomes important to use NXT effectively in the browser. Other than the shortcuts you mentioned, I'll add that Ctrl+W will close the current tab and Ctrl+Shift+T will re-open that last tab you accidentally closed. And my personal favorite - clicking a link with the scroll wheel on your mouse will open it in a new tab, no keyboard shortcut necessary.
Use the filter when looking for a specific relationship/action/custom field/etc., even when you're sure the one you want is in the next page of results.

Aldera Chisholm · April 3

I'm a pretty heavy RE user - being in at least three different instances of RE on any given day. I made it a personal mission to always try webview first, then go to dbase view when stuck. I am now working solidly 75% in webview, unless I'm needing the mail module, or admin functions like global add or import.

One of my best productivity pieces in webview is having two views open at a time so I can bop back and forth … between a report and constituent records, for example. I have started using "Split View" in Chrome - which operates like a tab, but tucks them nicely side-by-side in your viewer. I also keep all the tiles minimized except for the ones I use most frequently. :)

Bill Connors · April 3

These are great tips…another one I like is that most pages of the web view have unique URLs meaning they can be saved as Favorites or Bookmarks in the browser to get to them more quickly than navigating through the standard navigation bar.

Dan Snyder · April 5

These are must know tips and I can't say how much I love split view in Chrome and Edge. I am sure other browsers have it but those are the ones I use most often.

Alex Wong · April 6

Something I only do in WV now: Query. It is not perfect yet, but it definitely beat dbv's Query for my work. The feature of allowing more than 500 (dbv limit) on a one-of operator is amazing. When I apply SKY API, I can do UNLIMITED number of one-of.

This also doesn't apply to all, but SKY API and SKY Add-in allows customization of RE NXT to my org liking is fantastic. I wholeheartedly believe that you can't create a "one product fits all" platform, and the ability to create a completely custom experience for my org is what webview does best.

Elizabeth Johnson · April 6

I'm working in both views all of the time. To add to Alex's thread the ability to import one-of in the web view allowing 2000 at a time is sweet. Of course, if I have an unlimited amount I still revert to the tip I learned from @Josh Bekerman back in the day to use the import function to get query is still my go-to.

A tip I don’t see mentioned often: in most browsers, you can use % as a wildcard in place of *.

Sunshine Reinken Watson · April 7

This is great! I am usually in both views at the same time. Ctrl+click to open things in a new tab is a great shortcut. Shift+click will open a link in a new window.

Elaine Buescher · April 7

I keep about 4-6 tabs of RE NXT open in my browser at one time.

Standard Reports is always the first tab, Query is always second. Then Events (if I'm working in one heavily) or just 2-3 NXT tabs - to keep the main record I'm working on open, then click to the other tab(s) to do any related relationship/donation/etc. checking.

Besides spousal/non-constituent employer entry/update, specific list exports, imports and the occasional global change in DBV, I'm in NXT clicking around all day.

Tips & Tricks for working in WV

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