Adding or modifying watch fields

Show expandable text

New (tax) year, new help!

Fixed Assets and UltraTax CS 2023 help is now on Help and Support. We're still moving articles, but you can find most content for the 2023 tax year there. Continue using the Help & How-To Center for tax years 2022 and older.

Each federal UltraTax CS application includes predefined watch fields which you can use to easily monitor important values on a client's tax forms. Each watched field and the data it contains is displayed in the Watch tab of the federal Diagnostics window. To open the window, press CTRL+D or click the Diagnostics button on the toolbar.

You can use the Watch Fields dialog to modify or delete existing watch fields and their descriptions, as well as to add your own watch fields.

Adding new watch fields

  1. Open a client whose return contains the form(s) with fields that you want to add to the Watch Fields dialog.
  2. To switch to Form view, press CTRL+F or click the Form View Form View button button on the toolbar.
  3. Navigate to the field you want to add to the watched fields list, then right-click and choose Watch Field from the context menu. The Add Watch Field dialog opens.

    Note: If you chose a field that is already watched, the dialog that opens is called Edit Watch Field. You can modify or delete existing fields and descriptions in this dialog, but cannot add new fields.

  4. Enter the description for the new watch field in the Description field. This description will display on the Watch tab in the federal Diagnostics window. Click the Enter button to save the new description and add the field to the end of the Watch fields list.
  5. If desired, click the Move Up and/or Move Down buttons to modify the placement of the added field in the Watch field list. The field order in the Watch tab in the federal Diagnostics window mimics the list in this dialog.
  6. Click OK to close the Add Watch Field dialog.

Deleting watch fields, modifying watch field descriptions, and customizing Watch list order

  1. Choose Setup > [Entity] to open the federal Product Information dialog for the desired entity.
  2. Click the Watch Fields button in the Product Information dialog.
  3. Highlight the field that you want to modify or delete, then do one of the following:
    • Click the Edit button and modify the text using the Description field, then click the Enter button when finished.
    • Click the Delete button to remove the field.
    • Click the Move Up and/or Move Down buttons to modify the placement of the selected field in the Watch field list. (The field order displayed in the Watch tab in the federal Diagnostics window mimics the list in this dialog.)
  4. Click OK to close the Watch Fields dialog.

Tips

  • To restore the default field order and field descriptions, click the Restore Default button in the Watch Field dialog.
  • You can also freeze the Watch tab to make the watched values easier to track.

Was this article helpful?

Thank you for the feedback!