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You can change the length of the first section of your Contract or Contract Item IDs. Other changes require a key change performed by Sage Expert Services. These steps are only for the first section of the Contract or Contract Item IDs. Don't use them to change any other ID in the system, because certain ID changes require a key change.

To increase the size of the first section of a Contract Item ID:

1. Instruct all operators to exit all Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate applications.
2. From Sage Desktop or the module, select the Tools menu, select File Tools, Rename.
3. Rename the Active.cna file to XActive.cna.
4. Repeat step 2 and rename the Active.cnc file to XActive.cnc.
5. From the File menu, select Company Settings, Custom Descriptions.
6. Click the Description field for CN Contract or CN Item.
7. Click Set Up Sections.
8. Modify only the Size for Section 1 as needed.
9. Click Test Entry to verify the size is adequate.
10. Click OK.
11. Select Tools, File, Tools, Rename.
12. Rename the XActive.cna file back to Active.cna and the XActive.cnc back to Active.cnc.
    • Caution: Don't open Contracts before renaming the files back to the original name.
13. Open Contracts.
14. Verify the change has taken place correctly:
    1. To verify a change to the contract:
       1. Select File, New Contract.
       2. Enter a Contract number to verify the format is correct.
       3. You can delete the contract if you don't need it.
    2. To verify a change to the contract item:
       1. Select File, Open Contract.
       2. Choose a Contract.
       3. Choose a Contract Item.
       4. From the Edit menu, select Add Contract Item.
       5. Enter a Contract Item number to verify the format is correct.
       6. You can delete the item if you don't need it.

Notes:

• Any Contract or Contract Item added with the new format in the data folder will print at the end of your reports
• Sage 300 reports will sort from the shortest to longest length if you have varying lengths of Contract Items
• To modify this sort order, customize your reports to sort numerically instead of by length
• If you use alpha-numeric IDs, use the alpha-numeric text field to sort
• The maximum size of the entire Contract Item, including all sections, is 10 characters (excluding punctuation)

Other changes to the Contract Item format require a Key Change:

1. Download and fill out the attached Key Change Form.
   Attachment: KeyChangeForm.doc
2. Attach and email Sage Expert Services (SES) to get an estimate and schedule the key change. See Sage Expert Services (SES) for contact information.

How do I rename a file using File Tools?
Can I change a formatted ID without a Key Change?
How does an alpha-numeric text field sort?