Automated File Status Change Notifications

The System has a new function linked to the change of Status for a file. The new code allows for the assignment of an automated Task notification of the Change in Status for a file to an identified User or Users. The original option to send manual Tasks is still retained.

This new function is accessed from the Company Summary screen under a Blue Bar, Automated Tasking by File Status Change. The Blue Bar will display a full listing of all Folders and any assigned Users by Status Change for a Folder.

When you select Edit, the Folder select screen displayed, will display all Folders for the Company and indicate if they have been edited with Task assignments. 

The Folder List will vary by the Folder Type settings for the Company. 

Selecting a Folder with or without a prior assignment will place you on the assignment screen with a shuffle box for each. 

The possible Status changes will vary by Folder based on the Permissions of the Roles for the Company.

When a User or Users are shuffled to the Selected box they will get a Task notice anytime a File in the Selected Folder changes to the Status indicated. This function works for both internal and external Users. The automated function cannot be managed by the User changing the File Status.

The Tasking generated follows the logic of the current Tasking, with the exception, that the User who Changes the Status of a File does NOT receive a Task on their screen only the recipient(s) receive the Task. If there are multiple Users assigned the Task the Tasks are linked and ALL Tasks will close when any one of the Users completes the Task.

NOTE: If you are interested in this function feel free to contact us.

Buttons! Buttons! Way too many buttons!

Directory View has an update as to how the Orange Buttons work.

Many of the Orange command buttons can work with either a Folder or File selected. Other buttons however are only functionally operable depending of which you select or make little logic sense even if they do function for a particular context.

The growing addition of new buttons, each adding a new function, had simply reached a point where they were crowding the page layout by jamming up the File Path breadcrumbs.

As a result we have made a modification as to when an Orange button displays. Everything is still there, the buttons are now simply organized in a fashion that is more logical to what the User is doing at a given moment.

The Display is now:

Folder Selected:

File Selected:

Note: Batch Print. I suspect several of you are curious as to what that feature might be. You won't have to wait long, just another week or so. ;-)

Missing any emails lately?

Share this one with your IT guys & gals.

We have had several calls over teh past month or so where recent updates to a site's firwalls have resulted in emial issues. Some emails are a reuslt of a Task being issued User to User within the system. For that type of task the Creator name is inserted as sender. When the Recipient, is atteh same domain as the Creator, it is likely that the spam filters try to match the email server domain from the sender line with teh originating email server domain, finds a mis-match and blocks the email.

Not all emails coming from Tasks have this same situation so the issue may appear intermittent.

The fix is to have IT , make < mail.pbtg.com > a trusted site.

Task ticklers…at last…well duh!

A recent conversation opens a new feature for all users. I am embarrassed to admit that I was wearing “system contextual” blinders or I would have shared this over a year ago when we added the email function to ALL tasks.

On several occasions we have been asked to add a “Tickler” (reminder) function to our Tasking. So that a User can remind themselves, in advance of the actual due date that they have a Task coming due. Also to set a reminder to checkup in a follow-up mode on something of import, say did the Portable exhibit return. If shipping is fully employed the system does address this, but many companies only utilize the order entry functionality and not the integrated shipping module (but perhaps I am lecturing here...sorry).

This is a brief explanation, feel free to call if you want a quick Web Demo.
The User must have Receive emails when a Task is issue set to YES.

This is all provided as a MS function completed inside Outlook.
1. The User receives an email when a Task is issued.
2. The User right clicks on the email with their mouse.
3. A drop down will appear. Select < Move to Folder >.
4. Drop Down refreshes. Scroll down and select < Tasks >. Click OK in the upper right of drop down.
5. A Task screen appears with the original email embedded.
6. The Subject is populated from the email's subject line.
7. In the lower left of the banner click < Reminder >. A date and time field open.
8. Enter the date and time you want Outlook to remind you of the Task.

Tip: In the future, the emails we issue will have a link in them, like when the airlines send you your reservations; the link will automatically call the Task function and insert the actual due date along with the Subject. But as one of our Super Admin partners is fond of saying, "7/8 of a loaf is better than no loaf at all and this works right now!"

Embarrassingly it has also worked for the past two years…really sorry about that one.

Discussion gets an Upgrade!

And our little friend finally gets a real job.

Standing guard on the Project Home page for the past year, our little friend has done a wonderful job of noting every file with a Discussion. But that was the extent of his support. He stood solitary and without purpose, except as noted. Now however he can speed you along by popping the Discussion History Report for the selected file. You get to maintain your current URL and open any file's Discussion, with a full history, all from the convenience of the Project Home page.

Tip: Don’t forget to apply < ICON_BLANK_> to the icon's column name in your filter settings to obtain a blank column header if you are using this icon.

When time is of the essence.

We are a date driven industry. But sometimes the hour counts as well.

We recently added the ability to assign due time along with due date to our Upgraded Tasking functions. Now that you can add time it seems only right that we display that time on your dashboard views.

Both the Home Page and the Project Home Page Task views have been updated to offer a concatenated view of date & time.
If no time is associated the value will display blank.

Past a Hyperlink into a Task?.

I KNOW...I didn't know you could do that either.

Imagine that you get an email from a service like You Send It, one of the many free FTP services available on the net that you can instruct your clients to use to transfer large files. The email has a hyperlink that will connect you to a target file for download. Very cool, except you need your graphics team to have the file in order to execute your layout or production file.

Simply open the email, highlight and right click on the hyperlink, use the command < Select Hyperlink > and paste that into the Task description. The Task works like any other Task. When the recipient opens the Task they can click on the link or cut & paste into their browser.

TIP: Avoid  cutting and pasting the link. That appears to brinig undesibable formating that can cause theTask to fail.

Sometimes you want to complete...sometimes you don't.

Now you have a choice.

The Task sent when a Work Order or Addendum is released opens a preview of the work order categories to which the User has been included in the distribution list. In the past simply clicking on the link itself would mark the Task complete.

That has been changed and the user is now in control. The Task will no longer immediately close on the selection of the Task. Instead the actual work order information screen now has two buttons.

Mark Complete: Closes the screen, places the User on the Project Home page and marks the Task Complete.
Close: Closes the screen, places the User on the Project Home page leaves the Task Open.

Tip: The Link for the Task which will remain visible on the Project Home page will remain live, even though the Task has been marked complete.

Tasking just got hotter!

Tasking continues to gain new functionality.

Now when you issue a Task, you can add a desired time to the due date and mark the Task as a Hot Task.
When flagged as a Hot Task the subject line will have "HOT TASK" inserted and the Task dashboard will display a Hot Task icon.

Typical email subject line:
HOT TASK - Display Exhibits Task for Big Show - T - 25529

Date & Time Stamp:
Task Due Date: 10/15/2009 3:00 PM

My Task Dashboard icon for Creator and Recipient:

Tip: Please train your Users on the  proper and "reasonable" use of HOT. As one owner has eady suggested ; since we have added a "HOT" checkbox, we might as well go ahead and make it the default.

Tasks get Permission(s) to be even smarter!

Just last week we announced that Create Tasks got new multi-User selection.

Now they know who can send what permission.

When attaching files the Create Task screen will allow Users to past digital Approve, Reject, Revise permissions to the recipients.

What is new today is that the User creating the Task can only attach a permission that they themselves hold. Logical if you stop to think about it.

If you arrive on the Task screen during a file upload the system already knows the folder to which the file you are forwarding belongs and the checkboxes will automatically activate. However if the User is originating a Task and attaching a file, the checkboxes will not activate until the User selects a file to forward. This is a result of the fact that permissions are by folder. So until the user identifies the folder from which they are selecting a file; the system does not know what permissions to activate. Pretty cool!

Multi-File Upload Gets Face Lift

Now there is no limit to how many Users you can Task.

You may have noticed recent changes to the Create a Task screen on the User and Project Home Pages.

That same upgrade has now been added to Upload Multiple Files. In addition to the convenient quick select checkboxes for the four Project Owners, this new screen will let you Task any User who is associated with a Group who sees the Project, Internal or External. All from a convenient multi-select drop down box.

No more typing endless emails or having to navigate away and enduring 5 extra clicks to Task a User.

Tip: Just because it is now easier to Task more Users, be prudent so you don't end up with lots of usless and incomplete Tasks left on your Dashboard by Users who didn't need a Task in the first place.

File Upload Versioning > Change to Visibile/Invisible function

After months of agonizing "indecision" we have at last made one.

Prior to our recent upgrade the upload of a file resulted in the versioning of the new file and all prior file being moved to the status of Rejected. When the versioning got to Rev.#2, the code would hide in addition make Invisible all Revisions, except the next most recent Revision. This seems a logic decision, allowing for the user to review a prior version. However when you have a dozen or more files, you suddenly have two dozen files counting the older Versions.

Now, that we have released the History function that allows you to call the history of a file in displaying both thumbnail and all discussion, keeping those extra copies seems only to add to screen clutter and confusion. So we have adjusted the code to simply move ALL prior version of a file to both the status of Rejected as well as to make invisible on an upload.

The prior versions are still store and can be returned to visibility at anytime.

Tip: If you return one or more versions of a file back to Visibile, they will display in the status of Rejected, so be sure your screen filters allow your Users to see that status. And when you upload a new version of a file it will change all prior versions, including any that you may have returned to Visible back to Invisible.

PrjHom Icons...Mo, Larry & Curley.

You are needless to say, familiar with these three guys.

Shortcut to Directory View

Shortcut to Slide View

Shortcut to Multiple File Upload

They have been around for some time. And they have been ill behaved the whole time!

You may notice or hear from your Users that they, "used to have these little guys, all three of them in fact. But now one or more has disappeared." And well they should.

These little guys were more liberal in their permission set then most other icons. In fact, so liberal that they appeared for everyone. They should not have been doing that.

We never heard any complaints or had any reported issues but there was certainly a potential for some unwanted results. So they are currently being schooled as to when it is proper to display themselves.

Tip: If they are no longer available for a User who does need them you will need to revisit the permissions for that User.

File Exchange a Go2Show Upgrade

Information is a two way street.
The Confirm screen of Go2Show has a new addition.
File Exchange.

The functionality allows your customers to post files you may require to support their event and you in return can make files available for their viewing and use; all the while maintaining a single repository for the event's information in a password protected, web based environment.
All files uploaded by your customer or any files you wish to share are placed in the Show Services Folder for the Go2Show Project. As files are added by either you or your customer direct links are added to the Go2Show Confirm screen.

• You receive an automated Task notification when a file is uploaded
• You can elect to send email notification of postings to your customer

Note: Files open in their native extension and can be downloaded.