Over the last few weeks we’ve launched a few upgrades to the Pencil’em Mobile platform.   We are always striving to make things easier when it comes to the mobile platform, and our new upgrades bring a whole new level of functionality to your hand held device.

Client List

We’ve changed the way the “Clients” button works to make it a little more user friendly.  Clicking the “Clients” button now displays your entire client list.  You can scroll through the list and click on a client who’s information you would like to see.  The new client screens look something like this:

New Client List

New Scheduling Features

We’ve also made some changes to the way you interact with your schedules.  We’ve added a delete appointment function that you will find when viewing your daily schedule.  Click the “View Schedule” button and you will be taken to a screen with today’s appointments.  (You can select a different day by changing the options in the drop down menu at the top of the page and clicking “Go”.)  Notice, there is now a red x floating off to the right hand side of each appointment.  Clicking this X will bring up a confirmation screen, so you don’t accidently delete an appointment you didn’t mean to.   This looks like this:

Delete Appointments from your mobile device.

New “Appointment Quickview”

We’ve added a new feature from the same “View Schedule” screen that gives you a more detailed look at any particular appointment.  To open the “Appointment Quickview” click on “View Schedule” in the main navigation.  Click (or press) on the client name and the “Appointment Quickview” will open.  This view gives you a more in-depth view of the appointment, service being performed, client information, and appointment notes you’ve left for yourself.  See below for more details:

New "Appointment Quickview"

Pencil’em Mobile was built for ease of use and portability of your schedule.  If you haven’t already, check it out!  If it’s your first time accessing Pencil’em Mobile on your mobile device, simply enter the web address below in your mobile web browser.

http://m.pencilem.com

You will see a log in screen where you will enter your email and password.  Once logged in you will have full access to your schedule, client list,  and appointment creating functions.  Everything will be auto-synced to your desktop version, so any changes you make on your mobile device are available to you online as well.

Don’t hesitate to contact Pencil’em Support at “support@pencilem.com” with any questions or comments you might have.

Let me start this post off by saying I hope all of the Pencilem users had a safe and happy 4th of July! We hope your holiday was great!

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!

This is a question we get frequently here at Pencil’em so we wanted to give you some information on which browser works the best with the Pencil’em web application.  Pencil’em is a web based application, so you access the software through your computers web browser.  You are probably familiar with Internet Explorer if you use a Windows based computer, or Safari if your a Mac user.  Many people do not know there are many other options when it comes to which browser you use to access Pencil’em.  There are four main browsers I want to address today, and I will list them relative to their performance on the Pencil’em application.

The following browsers are all compatible with Pencil’em:

1. Google Chrome (http://www.google.com/chrome)
2. Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/)
3. Safari (Mac – http://www.apple.com/safari/download/)
4. Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx)

Google Chrome is listed at number 1 for a reason.  It is by far the fastest browser we have tested the software on, and it gives the best user experience.  It’s fast, free, and Google….three of my favorite things!  Coming in at number 2 is Firefox, also an incredible browser, known for it’s ability to be extended and modified based on user preferences.  It’s not quite as zippy as Google Chrome, but the difference is minimal.  Safari, the Mac browser, also does a good job.  The experience here is similar to that of Firefox and Chrome.  Coming in last on the list is Internet Explorer, versions 6, 7, and 8.  While Internet Explorer remains one of the most popular web browsers, it is by no means the fastest when it comes to our standards at Pencil’em.  Version 6 was released on August 27, 2001 making it almost 8 years old.  Web browser technology has come a long way in the last eight years, and we highly recommend using one of the other browsers listed above.

If you have any questions about which browser your currently using, you can typically find your browser version by clicking “Help” from the main menu, and then selecting “About”.  We welcome any questions you might have about browsers in the comments!

We’ve recently received a lot of requests for storing more than one phone number for your clients.  We agreed and our techs have been hard at work to bring you this feature!  Once you’re logged into the Pencil’em application, click on the Clients Button, then select the Add New Client tab.  There are now three fields for phone numbers, the Main Phone, Cell Phone and Work Phone.

New Phone Number options for clients

Now that you’ve added those new phone numbers, let us show you where you can view them later.  From the clients screen, simply click the “Client List / Appt. Log” tab, then click on a client from your client list.  There information will appear on the right hand side of the screen.  Each field is not denoted with an icon, to make it easy to tell what your looking at.  Notice, next to the main phone number there is an option to “Show All”.  Clicking this button will reveal secondary phone numbers (cell and work) below the main phone number.  It looks something like this:

Showing multiple phone numbers for one client.

That’s all there is to it!  We’ve got a lot of exciting new features coming in the next week or so for helping you better manage your clients, so stay tuned!  As always, if you have any questions or comments please send them to support@pencilem.com.

Thanks!