About External Tools

The following icons are available from the External Toolssection on the Advanced tab (or the Interface > External Tools menu in classic view).

• List. Select the List icon to view a list of external programs set up to open from Sage Estimating (SQL).

  You can select any program on list to open it (provided it was set up properly in the Set Up External Tools window).

• Setup. Click the Setup icon to open the Set Up External Tools window, where you can add commands to open additional applications (such as eTakeoff or a calculator, or to run an External Report configuration) from the External Tools List menu.

  To set up an external program to start from within Sage Estimating (SQL):

  1. Open the Set Up window.

     • On the ribbon, click the Advanced tab, and then click Set Up.
     • In classic view, click File > External Tools.

  2. (Optional) If you have the Edit global settings permission and you want to make the program available to all users, select the Is shared checkbox.

     Note: For another user to run a shared program from the External Tools List, it must be installed on their computer.

  3. In the Title box , type the name of the external application, as you want it to appear in the External Tools List.

  4. In the Command box, type the full file path to an .EXE, .BAT, .CMD, or other executable file (including the file name) that you want to start when the program is selected from the External Tools List.

     Example: A typical path to start Microsoft Excel is C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\Excel.exe.

     You can also browse to the file by clicking the browse button.

  5. If you want to pass an argument to the command, type the information in the Arguments box.

     Example: If you start Microsoft Excel using the Command box (as described in the previous step), use the Arguments box to add the path for a target file, such as c:\data\account.xls.

     You can click the arrow key to the right of the Arguments box to select from a list of variables that you can use with your argument.

     Optionally, you can specify a default folder for the external application by typing it directly in the Initial Directory box, or you can use the browse button to navigate to it.

     Important! Make sure you include the entire path to the folder location.

  6. To create or refresh external report data whenever you run the external software:

     1. Select the Generate External Report Configuration checkbox.

        If the external software is a reporting or business intelligence tool, selecting this option ensures that external report data is up to date for your reports.

     2. From the adjacent list, select a specific configuration to generate data for one external report configuration or select All Configurations to generate data for all configurations.

     Note: Data is generated for external report databases as specified by external report configurations that you set up in the Estimating Management Console.

  7. Click [OK] to save your changes and close the window.