Light Blue 2023.1.2 release notes

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We’ve just released Light Blue 2023.1.2, which is a minor update that adds new features and fixes bugs reported since we launched Light Blue 2023.1. It includes the following changes:

We’re now handling a change in 12-hour time formatting in macOS 14 Sonoma that could interfere with autocompleting times.
You can now import multiple sales from the Inbox in a batch by using Shift-click on Command/Control-click to select several sales before clicking the “Import” button.
You can now open “failed to send” emails from the Outbox and send them via a different email account, e.g. using the Light Blue email servers instead of one of your own email accounts.
Our HTML editor now allows mailto: and tel: URLs to be added.
Added a “Check Server Connection Before Trying to Sync” preference. We’re also providing more information in the “Background Activity” window if your internet connection appears to not be working.
Importing a form that’s been submitted for a shoot that’s been deleted is now treated as if you’re importing a form that’s not linked to anything.
On Windows, we now default to ignoring your display’s scale factor when printing.
Added a “Reset” button to the template translation editing dialog, to clear any customised translation and revert it to the default value.
In the custom report dialog, changed the wording from “quick or saved query” to “quick query”.
Changed the wording of the “Set Opt-In” button in “Set Mailing List Opt-In For Contacts From CSV” dialog to “Change Opt-In Status”.
In the “Revenue By Product” report, the “Product Code” column is now only be shown if if “Show Product Code” option is checked.
Fixed a bug that caused the query for potential duplicate contacts when you’re previewing incoming data to be case-sensitive.
Fixed a bug where drag-reordering contact methods in contact add dialog appears to not work.
Fixed a bug where querying on a time field and setting the operator to “Is Blank” or “Is Not Blank” wasn’t hiding the value field and the query couldn’t be run.
Fixed a bug where the query dialog’s advanced mode’s closing bracket could disappear when clicked on to activate them.
Fixed a bug where the printed version of quotes weren’t using the “Quote/Sale Notes Label” from template translations.
Fixed a bug where the last row of the CSV file could be ignored when using “Set Mailing List Opt-In For Contacts From CSV” housekeeping tool.
Fixed a bug where the address label popup arrows don’t appear in contact add dialog when adding a contact to a shoot.
Fixed a bug where mail-merging a centrally aligned %InvoiceURL% tag in an email template changed it to left-aligned.
Fixed a bug where merging duplicate contacts from a shoot could cause the sort order of the preserved contact to change unexpectedly.
Fixed a bug where checking the “preview mail-merge tags” checkbox while editing contract text opens blank pages in your default browser.

Light Blue 2022.1.2 release notes

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We’ve just released Light Blue 2022.1.2, which is a minor update that adds new features and fixes bugs reported since we launched Light Blue 2022.1. It includes the following changes:

You can now import GotPhoto orders into Light Blue as sales, using the GotPhoto orders export CSV format. You’ll find the “Import GotPhoto Orders CSV” command in the Records menu and Light Blue will offer to set up one of your shoot custom text fields to store the GotPhoto job ID and automatically link all of the orders for a particular GotPhoto job to the correct Light Blue shoot.
Added an “Open URL In Browser” button to our HTML editor’s link dialog, to allow you to test the URL.
Made the member of staff linked to a mileage claim available in the query window.
Fixed a bug where the Preferences window could show a grey bar at the top on macOS 12.
Fixed a bug that could cause the quick sale window to default to the wrong tax rate.
Fixed a bug that could show options that don’t apply to the selected type of report when changing the “basis” option.
Fixed a bug where converting a workflow message to a normal message for an appointment that’s also linked to a shoot could use the shoot’s details instead of the appointment’s details for %EventX% mail-merge tags.
Fixed a bug where Sale “next payment due date” and “next payment amount” values could be incorrect if the payment schedule due dates have been manually edited.
Fixed a bug where clicking the “Export Template” button in “Email Templates” section of Preferences window doesn’t save changes to the body of the email.
Fixed a bug where the cash basis version of the tax report can fail to show the tax amount for some individual payments.
Fixed a bug where importing sales from a CSV file and using the “Tax name” column would not save the that tax name and would instead show it as “Custom”.
Fixed a crash that could occur when editing a form that has a contact roles control that doesn’t specify any roles.
Fixed a crash that could occur when editing a quote with a percentage booking fee when using a space as your thousands separator.

Light Blue 2022.1 available with new online scheduling features

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Light Blue’s new online scheduling calendars allow your clients to book shoots and appointments directly into your diary. You no longer need to send messages back and forth to find the perfect time, or rely on complicated integrations with third-party tools.

We’re excited to announce launch of the latest version which is available as a free upgrade for all subscribers.

“Light Blue’s online scheduling automates another task that helps me focus on improving other aspects of my business, and makes the whole experience much more professional and seamless for my clients.” – Michael Love

Streamline enquiry management

Online scheduling simplifies the booking process for your clients whilst providing tight integration with Light Blue’s other powerful features such as contracts, forms, payments, and workflows (including automated emails and text messages), so you have all the important details together in one place.

“I can’t always reply to client’s calls and emails when they want to book me. Now they can check my availability and book without waiting for me to get back to them. It saves so much time for me and is a better experience for the client!” – Jane Jordan

Avoid double bookings

We know that you have to juggle all sorts of commitments so, as well as automatically blocking off times that clash with events in Light Blue, we’ve also made it possible to link your scheduling calendars to Google Calendar or calendar feeds that you can use to stop clients from making bookings that clash with your personal commitments.

Your availability is updated in real-time as you (and your clients!) schedule events in your diary, and it’s easy for you to set up weekly availability as well as ad-hoc availability for specific types of event.

“It’s a really good way to streamline booking in smaller sessions so you have to do very little, but from the client point of view it’s extremely efficient and straightforward. You can also set options to make sure you aren’t overwhelmed and ensure that your client has all the information they need to proceed without having to send a million emails. Plus, when you open Light Blue, everything you need is at your fingertips.” – Angela Ward-Brown

Free upgrade for subscribers

This has been a really popular feature request and something that we’ve been keen to implement for some time, so we are really pleased to have had such positive feedback from our testers and are delighted to offer this feature to our subscribers for no extra cost.

“Having CRM and scheduling in the same program saves a ton of time and money. Plus it saves all the headaches of trying to make two separate systems integrate.” – Julian Austin

Get started by updating to Light Blue 2022.1 and then adding a scheduling calendar via the Preferences window. Learn more about how to set up and use online scheduling calendars in our detailed help article.

You can find out about the many other new features and changes in this release in the Light Blue 2022.1 release notes.

Light Blue 2022.1 release notes

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Light Blue 2022.1 is a major update that introduces an online scheduling tool that allows your clients to book shoots and appointments directly into your diary. You no longer need to send messages back and forth to find the perfect time, or rely on complicated integrations with third-party tools.

Setting up our online scheduling tool is quick and easy, and you can choose which types of shoot or appointment are available online. Your availability is updated in real-time as you (and your clients!) schedule events in your diary, and it’s easy for you to set up regular availability as well as ad-hoc availability for specific types of event.

Our new online scheduling features also give you options to include a customised booking form, contract, and booking fee when a client is scheduling a shoot, making the online booking process easier than ever. It’s also tightly integrated with Light Blue’s automation tools, so the reminder emails, text messages, and tasks from your workflows help you to deliver great a great service for your clients.

Read on for a summary of the other new features and changes included in Light Blue 2022.1…

Light Blue is compatible with major iOS, macOS, and Windows updates that are coming soon

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We’re entering a bumper season for major OS updates: iOS 15 is due to be released next week, Windows 11 is coming in October, and macOS 12 will probably be arriving in October or November.

We’ve been testing the current version of Light Blue with the beta versions of these major OS updates and it seems to be working well. However, please read on for our usual health warning about the dangers of installing a major operating system update as soon as it’s available!

Health warning

As with all major operating system updates, it is a very sensible idea to be cautious about updating your computers or mobile devices until Apple and Microsoft have had a chance to fix some of the bugs that will inevitably be present in the next versions of iOS, macOS, and Windows. Although our testing with their betas has been positive so far, there is every chance that Apple or Microsoft could change something that breaks compatibility or that we’ve missed something because we can’t test every conceivable combination of devices and settings.

If you rely on Light Blue to run your business, we would therefore recommend holding off from updating your operating system as soon as the new versions of macOS or Windows are available. At the very least, if you really really want to update on day one, make sure that you have at least one computer on the ‘old’ operating system until you’ve had a chance to test that all of the features that you depend on are fully functional.

Also, please note that our testing has been has been focussed on the latest version of our desktop app. The vast majority of our customers are already using Light Blue 2021.2, and if you’re using older version of our desktop then please update to the latest version to ensure that you’re able to take advantage of all of the new features and bug fixes that we’ve been adding. You can update the desktop app by using the ‘Check for updates’ command (in the ‘Light Blue’ menu if you’re on a Mac, or in the ‘Help’ menu if you’re using it on Windows).

Category: Windows