Overview

The discussion below presents several suggestions what you should do when you are done using Trail Blazer for the day.  Please read the entire article before taking any action.

Suggestions

Locate the Open Windows area of the Application Menu.  This area is shown in the picture below.

Go through the various windows that are listed in the Open Windows.  Do the following:

        1. Save and close any unfinished emails or letters that you are composing.

        2. For our Political Customers: If you have an unsaved FEC or state reporting window open, decide if you want to save the report or restart it at a later date.  Also see the section titled Exceptions to the Suggestions.

        3. Do a Save and Close on any window that allows for data entry. 

        4. Close any search window.  If you want to save the query as a favorite click here.

        5. You cannot close the Start Page. 

Once the Open Windows only contains the Start Page window listed, exit Trail Blazer by clicking the X in the upper-right most part of Trail Blazer.  You are logged out.

We advise doing this for several reasons: 

         · Your changes to data are ensured to be retained in the database.  Until you explicitly save changes, the changes only exist on your screen, not in the Trail Blazer database.  Unsaved data will be lost if the power goes out or the internet connection is lost.

         · Logging out of Trail Blazer while you are going to be away from it for a long period (such as overnight or several days) ensures that no unauthorized person is using Trail Blazer from your machine while logged in as you.

         · Logging out of Trail Blazer frees up your computer’s resources to be used for other things.

An Additional Suggestion For RDC Users

If you use a Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) to log into Trail Blazer’s secure Windows Server from your Mac or from a Tablet computer, there is an additional suggestion from Trail Blazer for you.  We advise after you have exited Trail Blazer, that you logout of your RDC instead of closing it.

Before you do this, close out of every application that you have open inside the RDC window.

Steps to follow to log out of RDC:

        1. In the lower left corner of your RDC window, find the Windows Start button.  It looks like this the picture below.

        2. Doing that action will pull up a menu like the one shown below.  Click the Log Off button.  It is in the red rectangle of the picture below.

        3. You have logged off the RDC connection.

Exception to the Suggestions

There is one situation where you would not follow the suggestions made above.  It is when you are running an import that has not finished.  In this case, do not exit Trail Blazer and do not log out of any RDC that you have open.

That is the only time we suggest leaving Trail Blazer open when you have finished for the day.