The EstiMate Software Blog » EstiMate 2011The EstiMate Software Blog https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog Pricing & Business Advice Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:36:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 New EstiMate Build Available: 3.1.0.2 https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/new-estimate-build-available-3-1-0-2/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/new-estimate-build-available-3-1-0-2/#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:28:39 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=976 A new EstiMate build has been prepared that addresses several issues and adds quite a few small but helpful new features.

The complete list of changes:

EstiMate 3.1.0.2

New Features:

  • 33651: File attachments are now limited to 5MB in size.
  • 33652: The option to exclude file attachments when making a backup has been added. This allows smaller backups to be sent to the tech support desk.
  • 33550: The ability to print the material waste calculations for Wide Format and Flatbed Digital printing has been added.
  • 33661: The QuickBooks link now persists the form settings (checkboxes checked, grid column widths, etc.)
  • 33662: Newly copied jobs and estimates now have today’s date; jobs also have the default status flag rather than the status flag of the original job.
  • 33664: Incremental search has been added to the QuickBooks export screen.
  • 33669: You are no longer required to check a box verifying that QuickBooks is running before proceeding with the quickbooks export process.

Fixes:

  • 33646: The left and right arrows to scroll through open estimates on the customer dashboard were covered by the customer’s phone number.
  • 33659: The headers were missing from the top of the columns on the printed purchase order.
  • 33660: The Screen Printed Signs and Thermal Printing plugins now show dimensions as width and height rather than width and length.
  • 33654: The transactions by date report failed when sorted by customer name.
  • 33655: The total lines on the Transactions by Date report were cut off on the left side.
  • 33656: When copying a job or estimate that has been sent to quickbooks, the copy was still marked as having been sent and didn’t show up in the Export to QB list.
  • 33665: When another network user saved a job or estimate, the open list would jump around.
  • 33670: Duplicate job and estimate numbers should not be able to happen anymore. New behavior is that when another user on the network saves a job or estimate, and you are working on a new, unsaved one, you will actually see the number change on the one you are working on!

This build is still in testing but so far stable.  It will be released later this week but I wanted to give everyone a heads up if you want to get it sooner.

Download links are:

EstiMate 3.1.0.2 (29.4 mb)

EstiMate 3.1.0.2 Multi-User Server (8 mb)

The link for the Multi-User Server is for those of you who like to keep everything up-to-date; it is not necessary to update the server to use this build.  EstiMate 3.1.0.2 is compatible with all previous versions of the server.

Enjoy, and have a great week!

 

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/new-estimate-build-available-3-1-0-2/feed/ 2 EstiMate 2011 Build 3.0.0.91 Just Published https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-build-3-0-0-91-just-published/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-build-3-0-0-91-just-published/#comments Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:49:42 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=969 The rollout of EstiMate 2011 has highlighted a few things that needed fixing – and they’re fixed! We expect to roll out a build here and there over the next week or two that will correct any other issues that come up.

In the meantime, click Help > Check For Updates and download the new build.

The issues fixed in this build can be found in the release notes for 3.0.0.91.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-build-3-0-0-91-just-published/feed/ 2 What a day! https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/what-a-day/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/what-a-day/#comments Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:00:27 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=970 Today was one hell of a day!

Orders for EstiMate 2011 have been flooding in, along with little final bug reports and an insane number of trial downloads.

All in all we have closed 95 customer service cases (orders, queries, etc) in the last 24 hours, as well as done battle with a mail server that crashed for 2 hours (wonder why?)… We are one tired crew! ;-)

As for those bug reports, I just released a new build that covers the more important ones.  It turns out that if you use commas for your decimal separator, EstiMate 2011 would not upgrade your EstiMate 2 data properly… made me very happy that I built in a failsafe rollback if the upgrade failed.  With the new build you are good to go.

But none of that is really the point.

I’d like to take a moment to publicly thank Nancy and Phillip for their dedication and hard work. These two have worked tirelessly to help bring this release to fruition with me, as well as stuck by EstiMate through a lot of change and transition, and I am extremely grateful to them.  Please chime in and give them a shout in the comments!

There’s another important thank you here

And that’s to YOU.  All the people who are excited, ordering, emailing, and asking questions.  This release so far is a huge success and we are so grateful to all of you for your part.

Have a wonderful evening.  Cheers!

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/what-a-day/feed/ 0 EstiMate 2011 Is Launched! https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-is-launched/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-is-launched/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:15:54 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=967 Today we released EstiMate 2011, a full four days ahead of schedule.

Time to break out the champagne!  After several thousand hours of work and revision after revision of the codebase, EstiMate 2011 is finally here!

Over the next three days we will be rolling out the serial numbers and links to our EstiMate Freedom customers and to everyone who pre-ordered EstiMate 2011.  The pre-orders have been a huge success and I’d really like to thank everyone who had enough faith to order EstiMate 2011 sight unseen.  I’m always humbled by how many people believe in EstiMate and our mission of having software that makes you money every time you use it!

So far EstiMate 2011 is making many shops very happy with all the new features and abilities.  The customer dashboard, the ability to add file attachments to quotes, purchase orders and job time sheets, and many more features are finally available to EstiMate users.

Feedback is coming in very strongly about how helpful the quick access to templates is when quoting jobs – apparently it’s speeding quoting up by about a factor of three!

Needless to say – we’re pretty tired! Next up for us is the SGIA show in Las Vegas, Nevada where we will make the public debut of EstiMate 2011.  Come out and see us – we’d love to talk to you in person!

You can download a trial of EstiMate 2011 and until this Saturday you can place a pre-order and save a bundle.

Happy Pricing!!

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-is-launched/feed/ 0 EstiMate 2011 Feature Of The Day: File Attachments (Video) https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-file-attachments-video/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-file-attachments-video/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:26:02 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=951 Today I’d like to show you one of my favorite new features in EstiMate 2011 – File Attachments.

This Enterprise-level feature allows you to attach any file to customer records, vendor records, estimates, and jobs.

Now you can keep all the paperwork related to a specific client attached to their record in your database, or all the paperwork related to a specific job attached to the job itself.

Attachments to customers and vendors can be accessed through a customer’s or vendor’s record directly or on the customer dashboard.

Attachments to estimates and jobs can be accessed directly from that estimate or that job.


Have You Heard About EstiMate 2011?

If you don’t know about EstiMate 2011 yet, read the complete announcement here.

Pre-Release Sale Pricing

Read the full announcement here about our massive pre-release sale for EstiMate 2011! You can save 30-50% off EstiMate 2011 from now until October 1, 2010.

Your Feedback Is Welcome

Please leave a comment about new features as we blog about them, and let us know what you like and don’t like about where EstiMate’s new feature set is headed. Our goal is to make EstiMate the most robust pricing and shop management software the sign and graphics industry has ever seen.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-file-attachments-video/feed/ 0 EstiMate 2011 Feature Of The Day: Group And Ungroup Line Items (Video) https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-group-and-ungroup-line-items-video/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-group-and-ungroup-line-items-video/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:01:58 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=943 In EstiMate 2, line item groups were introduced that allowed you to create groups of items that showed up as a single item on your estimate. This was really helpful, except for when you’d created a group item and wanted to “unroll” it onto your quote – or if you had items on your quote that you wanted to “group” after you’d created them.

In EstiMate 2011, you can group and ungroup items at will. Watch this video to see how!


Have You Heard About EstiMate 2011?

If you don’t know about EstiMate 2011 yet, read the complete announcement here.

Pre-Release Sale Pricing

Read the full announcement here about our massive pre-release sale for EstiMate 2011! You can save 30-50% off EstiMate 2011 from now until October 1, 2010.

Your Feedback Is Welcome

Please leave a comment about new features as we blog about them, and let us know what you like and don’t like about where EstiMate’s new feature set is headed. Our goal is to make EstiMate the most robust pricing and shop management software the sign and graphics industry has ever seen.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-group-and-ungroup-line-items-video/feed/ 3 EstiMate 2011: Customer Dashboard In Action (Video) https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-customer-dashboard-in-action-video/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-customer-dashboard-in-action-video/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:55:30 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=932 When I first wrote about the new customer dashboard in EstiMate 2011, we got a flurry of requests for more information.

Today I’ve made a video that shows the Customer Dashboard in action for you, and some of the new features that are available with it, such as notes, file attachments, customer metrics, and the merging of customers and their histories.  This overview shows you how this insanely powerful new tool can give you laser-like focus on your work, your customers, and their value to your business.


Have You Heard About EstiMate 2011?

If you don’t know about EstiMate 2011 yet, read the complete announcement here.

Pre-Release Sale Pricing

Read the full announcement here about our massive pre-release sale for EstiMate 2011! You can save 30-50% off EstiMate 2011 from now until October 1, 2010.

Your Feedback Is Welcome

Please leave a comment about new features as we blog about them, and let us know what you like and don’t like about where EstiMate’s new feature set is headed. Our goal is to make EstiMate the most robust pricing and shop management software the sign and graphics industry has ever seen.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-customer-dashboard-in-action-video/feed/ 2 EstiMate 2011 Feature Of The Day: Service Version Of The Multi-User Server (Video) https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-service-version-of-the-multi-user-server/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-service-version-of-the-multi-user-server/#comments Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:29:15 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=917 The Multi-User Server is the program that allows multiple copies of EstiMate to all connect to the data files on one machine.

Due to the fact that it is an actual Windows program that must be running in the background, someone always has to be logged into that machine for it to be running.  Not only is this a pain for the network administrator, who has to log in and start the server in the morning, but it’s also a security risk because that user has to remain logged in, reducing security to a password-protected screen saver.

With EstiMate 2011 we’ve written a Windows Service version of the server that, once installed, is “always on” and nobody has to be logged in for EstiMate users throughout the  network to connect to it.

This 2 minute video demonstrates the service version of the server.

The Service Version Of The Multi-User Server


Have You Heard About EstiMate 2011?

If you don’t know about EstiMate 2011 yet, read the complete announcement here.

Pre-Release Sale Pricing

Read the full announcement here about our massive pre-release sale for EstiMate 2011! You can save 30-50% off EstiMate 2011 from now until October 1, 2010.

Your Feedback Is Welcome

Please leave a comment about new features as we blog about them, and let us know what you like and don’t like about where EstiMate’s new feature set is headed. Our goal is to make EstiMate the most robust pricing and shop management software the sign and graphics industry has ever seen.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-service-version-of-the-multi-user-server/feed/ 0 EstiMate 2011 Feature Of The Day: Drop-Down Lists Sorted By Category (Video) https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-drop-down-lists-sorted-by-category-video/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-drop-down-lists-sorted-by-category-video/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:12:21 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=890 We’ve gotten a lot of requests for sorting the drop-down lists by category inside the plugins themselves, and that’s been implemented in EstiMate 2011.

So now, instead of just looking through a huge list of items by name, you can fly down to the proper category and then select the item you are looking for.

Check out this 1.5 minute video to see how it works!


Have You Heard About EstiMate 2011?

If you don’t know about EstiMate 2011 yet, read the complete announcement here.

Pre-Release Sale Pricing

Read the full announcement here about our massive pre-release sale for EstiMate 2011! You can save 30-50% on your first year with EstiMate from now until October 1, 2010.

Your Feedback Is Welcome

Please leave a comment about new features as we blog about them, and let us know what you like and don’t like about where EstiMate’s new feature set is headed. Our goal is to make EstiMate the most robust pricing and shop management software the sign and graphics industry has ever seen.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-drop-down-lists-sorted-by-category-video/feed/ 4 EstiMate 2011 Feature Of The Day: Wide Format Material Waste Calculations (Video) https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-wide-format-material-waste-calculations-video/ https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-wide-format-material-waste-calculations-video/#comments Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:00:58 +0000 Mark Smith http://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/?p=866 With EstiMate 2011, the Wide Format Inkjet Plugin is getting some hardcore material waste calculation logic.

When we debuted the Flatbed Digital Printing plugin, one of it’s key features was material waste calculation, taken from art to science.  This is being introduced into the Wide Format Inkjet Plugin with EstiMate 2011.  Watch this 1.5 minute video to learn more!

If you don’t know about EstiMate 2011 yet, read the complete announcement here.


Pre-Release Sale Pricing

Read the full announcement here about our massive pre-release sale for EstiMate 2011! You can save 30-50% on your first year with EstiMate from now until October 1, 2010.

Your Feedback Is Welcome

Please leave a comment about new features as we blog about them, and let us know what you like and don’t like about where EstiMate’s new feature set is headed.  Our goal is to make EstiMate the most robust pricing and shop management software the sign and graphics industry has ever seen.

]]> https://www.estimatesoftware.com/blog/estimate-2011-feature-of-the-day-wide-format-material-waste-calculations-video/feed/ 0