Weve got a big update today that brings new functionality to the Pencilem Software. The biggest new feature to note here is the ability to book strongRecurring Appointments/strong. This is a HUGE time saver and lets you book your client appointments up to one year in advance! Weve also made some major improvements to the appointment notes system, as well as a new feature that will let you enter (or override) the price you are charging for a service. So, lets jump right in with our new Recurring Appointments feature!

Creating Recurring Appointments

When looking at the Main Scheduling Screen you will now see the icon directly underneath the Select Date label. When filling out the scheduling form, simply click the icon and a small window will open that will allow you to select the recurring frequency. This box looks like this:

After selecting the recurring frequency and clicking Create Recurring there will be a small note directly under the icon that will state This appointment will recur every X week(s). X will equal your specified week frequency. Click Create Appointment as you normally do, and the appointments will then be pre-scheduled for the next year. In the daily appointment view the appointments are now denoted with a recurring icon that looks like this:

Editing Recurring Appointments

Editing of recurring appointments is very flexible as well. By clicking the Edit Appointments tab and selecting a date that contains a recurring appointment, you will now see the same recurring icon shown above next to the time of the appointment. It looks something like: . Click this appointment and the edit screen will open. You will notice that recurring appointments have a new header (shown below).

By clicking the Apply to all box in the header above, it will allow you to apply the appointment changes to all future appointments. That means if you need to change the time, service being performed, or appointment notes, you can easily apply these changes to all future appointments. One thing to note, if you make a change to the date of a recurring appointment, it will not change the date of all future appointment, just the one your working with. If you only want to make changes to one appointment, simply do not check the Apply to all box and your changes will only be made on the appointment you are working with.

Deleting Recurring Appointments

You delete a recurring appointment just like you would a regular appointment. Click the Edit Appointments screen, click on the appointment you would like to delete, and click Delete this Appointment button. Just like editing, you can choose to delete all future appointments in a recurring set, or just the one your working with. The delete appointment confirmation box now looks like this:

To delete all future appointments that are a part of this recurring set simply click the Delete all future recurring appts. and then click Delete This Appointment. All future appointment will be deleted. To delete just the appointment youve selected just leave the Delete all future recurring appts. unchecked.

Other Updates

Service Prices

In the past, all appointment prices were based on the service being performed. This is still the case, however there is one major improvement weve implemented that will allow you to override a service price, and enter in another price of your choosing. This is useful for giving your client a discount (but still tracking the amount your charged) or if you charge your long standing clients a different price than new clients.

In our last update, we added the ability to see how much a service cost to the main scheduling screen. To override this price, simply click on the price from the main Scheduling Screen and it will transform into an input box where you can type your new service price and click save:

New Appointment Notes

Weve overhauled the appointment notes feature from the ground up. To see or add any notes for a particular appointment simply click the + Show Notes or Add Notes link found underneath the appointment name (see below):

To edit a note from the Main Scheduling Screen simply hover your mouse over the comment bubble and you will see the edit button appear at the end of the note. Click this button and the note will transform into a text input box. Type your new note and click Save Note (see below):

We think these new changes will bring a new level of functionality to Pencilem that will save you time and make things easier. As always, let us know how we are doing in the comments!

To get started using this feature, navigate yourself to the “Clients” page.  Click on a client from your client list.  You will now notice a new button called “notes”.

New client notes button.

Click this button and you will see a popup where you will be able to enter in your client notes.  These notes are just for yourself, so feel free to put anything here you need to keep track of your clients and their preferences.  Other ways to use this field could be to keep color formulas, preferences, etc..

Enter your client notes here.

Click “Save Notes” and you will get a “Saved” confirmation.  You have now saved your note and can click “Close” to close this window.  Now that you are taking notes about your clients, your going to need an easy way to view this information.  This is where “Client Quickview” can help you.  Navigate yourself back to the main Scheduling screen.  Select a day from the date picker that you know has a client that you have taken notes for.  Notice now on the right hand side of the screen, there are little contact book icons next to each booked appointment.

New Client Quickview icons let you see your client info.

Clicking this icon will launch the “Client Quickview” dialog box.  This is going to give you all phone numbers on file for the client, as well as any notes you may have taken about your client.  Check these before each appointment to give yourself a reminder about each client and their past appointments.

The new Client Quickview window give you info about your clients appointment.

We hope you enjoy these new features.

Enjoy!