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earlier discussion

Do you have a question on how to get more out of your Watchlist? Now that we have retired our old-style Stocklist and Fundlist tools, we are welcoming many new Watchlist users and would like to help you get comfortable with Watchlist.

You can replay our online discussion with readers that was held at noon. Smartphone users, this link should work better for you. A transcript appears below.



<iframe src="https://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php/option=com_altcaster/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=bc9276db04/height=650/width=460" scrolling="no" height="650px" width="460px" frameBorder ="0" allowTransparency="true" ><a href="https://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=bc9276db04" >Watchlist: We're here to help</a></iframe>


11:55

Sonali Verma - Hello! I'm Sonali Verma, digital editor at the Report on Business. Thank you for joining us. We'll be starting our discussion shortly.

11:56

Sonali Verma - How is Watchlist working for you? What can we help you with? Have you got any suggestions to make it better? This is the place to send in your questions and comments.

11:57

Sonali Verma - We are going to be joined by Jonathan Tracy, who is our main software developer for Watchlist, as well.

12:03

[Comment From vina marks]

Please put stocks in alphabetical order

12:04

Sonali Verma - Hi there. You can actually sort the column containing names on your Watchlist by clicking on the column heading. That puts them in alphabetical order. If you click again, it reverses the alphabetical order.

12:05

[Comment From gilbert309]

Will you be able to compare other funds against each other like the old fundlist?

12:06

Sonali Verma - Absolutely, that's the intention. You will be able to do that in the future.

12:06

[Comment From Bruno]

Hi! The print function on Watchlist needs improvement. Is there a fix for this?

12:07

Sonali Verma - Yes, indeed, there is. You'll be able to put all the data into a single CSV file and print that, using any of your favourite spreadsheet applications. We're hoping to get that out in a couple of weeks.

12:07

[Comment From Josef Eichenhofer]

I used to be able to compare charts of my mutual funds, This very useful tool seems to have been deleted. Will this be brought back?

12:08

Sonali Verma - Hello, Josef! Thanks for joining us. Yes, it will be. We're on it.

12:08

[Comment From gilbert309]

Haven't been able to transfer my old fundlist to the new.

12:08

[Comment From gilbert309]

I hit the import button but nothing appears in the watch list under funds.

12:10

Sonali Verma - The best way to get help for that is to email globeinvestor@globeandmail.com -- they are experts on the import process.

12:10

[Comment From robert]

Is there a place to indicate my cost price

12:11

Sonali Verma - If you use the My Shares view, you can input the number of shares you own.



If you want to put in the cost price, your best bet is our portfolio tool: http://portfoliodb.theglobeandmail.com/gishome/plsql/port_gis.homepage

12:11

[Comment From gilbert309]

Why the change if the new doesn't do what old did?

12:13

Sonali Verma - The change is purely for business reasons. Stocklist and Fundlist were free tools that run on an old technological platform that is very expensive to maintain.



We also wanted to introduce a number of new features that our readers had been asking for. Stocklist and Fundlist did not support these -- but Watchlist, also free but built on a newer platform, does.



We are working towards bringing much of the same functionality to Watchlist as well. Thank you for bearing with us.

12:13

[Comment From Karen]

Can you tell me how the watchlist functions differently

12:15

Sonali Verma - Hello, Karen! We have a pretty simple guide to using Watchlist that explains all its basic features and uses. Here it is:

http://tgam.ca/wlguide

12:17

[Comment From Ed]

How can I review just today's news for all my watchlist companies. A listing like Stocklist News was very handy. Now I have to sort through every item to see if any news. Is there another way of seeing all relevant news from today?

12:18

Sonali Verma - Hello, Ed! Have you tried the All News view on Watchlist? That ought to pull all the latest news.



If you want to see only today's news, we'll have to work on that. Thank you for your suggestion.

12:18

[Comment From tom ]

i like to arrange my stocks alphabeticly

12:19

Sonali Verma - Hello, Tom. You can actually sort the column containing names on your Watchlist by clicking on the column heading. That puts them in alphabetical order. If you click again, it reverses the alphabetical order.

12:19

[Comment From tom]

thank you

12:20

[Comment From gilbert309]

Why are YTD on iShares so wrong compare to iShares site

12:20

[Comment From gilbert309]

http://ca.ishares.com/tools/index_tracker.htm

12:21

Sonali Verma - Hello! I passed your question on to our data team, and here is what they said:



Hello Gilbert309,



Thank you for the suggestions on how to better display the data on our Watchlist.



Regarding the YTD on the Watchlist for the iShares ETFs, I believe the difference you have noticed is a matter of dates posted on our website versus that of the iShares website. Their website has a date at the top stating the performance table is as of October 31, 2011. The YTD tab on the Watchlist will provide you performance data up to the close of the last business day.



I hope this helps.



Neil Teixeira

Globe and Mail - Mutual Fund Team Lead



12:22

[Comment From Ed]

As suggested, I just tried All News view. Seems to be just the thing. Thanks

12:24

Sonali Verma - So glad to be able to help.

12:28

[Comment From Pete]

Do you have an android app for Watchlist?

12:29

Sonali Verma - Ah, excellent suggestion. I know that we have an iPhone app and are working on a BlackBerry app. We also have a mobile Watchlist site that you can use:

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/?service=mobile

12:30

[Comment From Phil]

How can I get the date the financials were last updated for the stocks on my watch list, as part of the watch list?

12:32

Sonali Verma - Hi, Phil. If you want to see the financials for a stock, you simply have to click on the stock symbol in your Watchlist. This takes you to the stock quote page.



From there, you click on the Financials tab. That tells you which quarter or year the financials are for. It doesn't give you the date they were updated on. It's a good suggestion -- we'll have to add that.

12:32

[Comment From 4freebird]

Stocklist automatically updated throughout trading day; for Watchlist I need to go out and come back. Is there something I can tweak to get continous updates?

12:33

Sonali Verma - Hello! There is an autorefresh that occurs on the Watchlist. It autorefreshes every minute or two. It will stop refreshing if there is no activity on the page for about 20 minutes.

12:33

[Comment From mike]

how do i remove a stock from my watchlist

12:34

Sonali Verma - Hi, Mike! There is a grey X in a circle at the end of every row. Just click it.

12:34

[Comment From 4freebird]

Thank you

12:36

Sonali Verma - This question comes from Garry in the Comments section of our discussion page:



Two items. In the Funds area I have a few indexes (Dow, TSX, S&P 60 etc.) and they do not show the daily percentange increase or decrease.



Next one the old fund list would give a tab As of month end reports for monthly and yearly reports. Please let me know if you can add theses. Thanks Garry.

12:37

Sonali Verma - Hi, Garry. We are a bit confused by the inclusion of indexes in the funds area (because there is a separate indexes area where they appear, along with the percentage change that you want). Could you give us an example of the index you are looking at?

12:37

[Comment From mike]

thanks

12:38

Sonali Verma -

Garry, on your second query on funds -- that information is most likely something we would add to the fund summary page, which you can get to by clicking on the name of the fund in your Watchlist. We are hoping to add it in the future.

12:41

[Comment From Josef]

On the mutul fund list I used to be able to see up to about 10 years of year by year returns. Now there are only three. This is much less useful. This seems to be a question of space. You separate quartile rakings view from the year by year return to allow for more years.

12:41

Sonali Verma - Thank you for your suggestions, Josef. That is something we'll need to consider.

12:43

[Comment From Steve]

First off -- Watchlist is great! Thanks for the continued development of this product. I really like the GlobeInvestor iPhone app and am wondering if you plan an adding the My Shares view to the app? It's so much quicker to get an overview of how I am doing today to use My Shares rather than to log in to my brokerage account.

12:43

Sonali Verma - Sounds like a great idea! Jonathan tells me that you can expect to see it in the new year.

12:44

[Comment From Josef]

Thanks.

12:48

[Comment From Ed]

On screen that says add symbol, i can type then in, but do not have ADD like it shows on video.

12:50

Sonali Verma - Ed, could it be that your text size is set to Largest, so that part of your Watchlist is being cut off?



If you go to your Internet browser, choose the View option.



There should be an option for Text Size under that. If you choose a smaller text size, it may solve the problem.

12:51

[Comment From Phil]

watchlist is working well on my desktop. On my Blackberry I can see only the first 10 stocks. I click the "Show remaining" button but the first 10 are re-displayed and I cannot see the others.

12:52

Sonali Verma - Sounds like a glitch that we ought to fix, and fast. Could you please email: globeinvestor@globeandmail.com -- that is the best way to get help.

12:58

[Comment From Asad]

Is it possible to also plot, as a graph, the performance of all shares i.e., total portfolio, against time. You have the numeric figure for the day given near the top; what I am asking for is the performance of all shares over time in a graphic form. Thank you.

12:59

Sonali Verma - That is a good idea. I am not sure it is in the cards at the moment, but thank you for your suggestion.

1:00

Sonali Verma -

It looks like it's time to wrap this discussion up. Thank you very much for having joined us.



If you have any further questions on your Watchlist, please contact globeinvestor@globeandmail.com -- it is the best way to get help.

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