So you might be wondering what “BETA” means….BETA in software lingo, means we have rolled out a new feature, but it’s not 100% complete.  The base functions are ready for public consumption, but we plan to work on this feature over the next few weeks.  Go ahead and use the new feature, but know that some things may change before the BETA label is removed.

Now that we have that out of the way, lets talk about “Week at a glance”.  The week at a glance feature was created to help you easily visualize holes in your schedule and see a graphical representation of any given week.  You will find the week dates across the top of the graph, with the times of day down the left hand side.  Your appointments appear as blocks of time (based on the service length) within each day’s column.  You will see the name of the client at the start of the appointment time as well.  You can find the new Week at a glance view by clicking the “Week at a glance” tab from the main scheduling screen.

Week at a glance tab

As of right now, each time you click this tab, the calendar will refresh itself, and it will always start on the current day.  You can change which day the week view starts on by clicking in the “Select Start Date” box and selecting a new start date from the popup calendar.  You can also jump forward or backward a week by clicking the “Previous Week” and “Next Week” buttons found on the upper right hand side of the screen (see below):

Changing which day the calendar starts on.

Lastly, to help you see what time an appointment starts simply hover your mouse over the name of the client, and that row will highlight, showing you what time the appointment starts.  Notice the highlighted row turns a light red, and the start time of the appointment is highlighted on the far left hand side of the screen (see below):

Row Highlighting

If you have any questions about this new feature let us know if the comments!  We look forward to hearing your feedback!

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.