Blog.Free.Crm

• We integrated Google Maps with addresses. Each address you view will now include a map for it as long as Google can map it.
• You can now set incoming emails to be saved automatically as contact notes when the email is viewed. You can also determine that attachments will be saved as documents and where available attached to the the contact. If a contact does not exist you can have the system create a new one for you. See Preferences, page 2 (bottom 3 new settings). This is available to the Pro version only.
• You can now delete emails from your mail server.
• Deal exports (via left menu) now contain contact information fields for the primary contact as well
• Deal pipeline report now includes deals by source.
• Identifier field was added to custom view available fields for contacts and companies
• Remember me will now remember your entire login until you log out, instead of just your user name. Please note that if you are on a shared computer, it would be more secure not to use this feature.
• This won’t really relate to most of you, as you you are already using the system, but we’ve completely redone our registration process.

• We’re introducing a brand new support site at http://support.freecrm.com. It contains video tutorials, a knowledge base, docs and downloads.
• Pro Users: we’re phasing out the old crm support system in favor of a the new ticketing system in the new support site. You can log in using your FreeCRM login and post your support cases there. This will enable us to better track and handle all of your support cases. Please click here for more information.
• You’ll now find a Quick Search drop down with all of your saved searches. Using that drop down you can now call up any of your previously saved searches from any screen you’re on.
• The web search tab showing search results for companies now works with Google search, providing web, local, video and blog searches.
• Call search now shows Call To columns with both contact and company links where appropriate.
• You can now ‘lock’ the sort order of search results so that it will be the default sort order used.
• Custom views now contain a page list at the bottom of the view as well as at the top.
• Pro users can now change the site’s title from FreeCRM.com to their company name (or any other title of their choice).
• Pro users can now duplicate email campaigns and copy their subscriber list to a new campaign.
• Resolved a pipeline issue when counting deals by stage.

We’re happy to introduce our new dedicated support site at http://support.freecrm.com!
The new support site completely replaces our old support system and built-in FAQ section. It will enable us to better track all support cases and respond to them in a more timely manner than was possible using the old system.
The support site contains an ever growing knowledge base of frequently asked questions, solutions, ideas and guides. You will also find video tutorials demonstrating various actions around the CRM.

Pro users: You can log into the support site using your existing CRM login. Logging in will give you access to the support ticketing system where you can post any problem or question you might have.
Unfortunately we cannot import existing cases from our old system into this new one. If any old case is still valid one, please reopen it in the new system. We apologize for this extra step.

• Contacts can now have an image assigned to their record.
• Email campaigns now include a new option to prevent the same email from being emailed twice on a campaign.
• You can now allow other users to add contacts to your own email campaigns. This can be turned on by the Administrator via the Setup->Security Settings screen. This does not give users access to view the campaign page or use it to mail out - they can only subscribe contacts to it.
• The call search form now includes a search by all call date fields and by assigned to field. It has been organized better. The search results will now include additional fields by default (flag, assigned to etc.)
• Follow up link on calls will now carry the relevant contact/company/task/deal etc. data to the call form.
• User Administrators can now clean up tags globally for the account. See Setup->Manage Tags.
• We resolved a problem with importing parent companies and merging it into existing records.
• We resolved a problem where certain pro users could not update their credit card information.

This is a small complimentary release to the last one. We’ve ironed out a few issues some of you had with the last release and will continue to improve the functionality and stability of the system.

• We update the rich text editor we use (the fantastic TinyMCE) to version 3.0.2.1.
• User administrators can now choose to allow users to change fonts and colors in their rich text editors (if they are using them). You can find this option in Page 2 of the Profile Settings screen. (we’re working on making this ever increasing selection of options be more manageable).
• You can now add the following menu items to the left hand side menu: Contact Search, Company Search (both go to the full search forms). The FAQ menu item has also been made available after it was mistakenly omitted in the last release. You can add those items from Setup->Setup Left Menu.
• Record history has been returned to its rightful place below the left menu bar.
• A few fixes were made throughout the site to resolve reported issues with the previous release.

UPDATE: Please clear your browser’s cache if your home page looks funny.
A big one this time! Lots of new features that have been in the works for quite a while now.

• Customizable Home Page! - You can now customize what’s on your homepage. We’ll be adding more boxes you can place on your homepage soon. Note that you can either drag home boxes around, or use the arrows icon to move them with a single click. If you take out a box and would like to add it back, use the Add boxes menu item on the left navigation menu.
• Customizable tabs! - You can now customize which tabs are required for your organization. If you don’t use Email campaigns, you don’t need to have that tab appear on every screen for example. Tabs are customized by administrators but you can also allow regular users to customize their own tabs - see Page 1 of the Profile settings page for that option’s switch. (pro users only).
• Customizable left menu - You can now customize the left hand menu bar! (pro users only).
• Quick Create form can be called up from anywhere. Need to create a quick contact or company record while editing a different record? No problem - just click the Quick Create button on the left menu and a quick create form will pop up.
• Vonage integration - Got a Vonage account? Integrate it with freeCRM (pro users only). This will enable you to place calls (and create corresponding call records for them) straight from the CRM. See the setup screen for the vonage configuration form.
• You can now choose to hide the pencil icon from the views. You will not be able to edit empty fields or link fields from the views when the pencil is hidden.
• Resolved a few issues with the new Editable Views and Internet Explorer 7.
• Next/Previous buttons on a contact page now takes you to the next record based on your contact display mode (first name or surname first).
• You can now create alerts to notify you of a record’s creation
• User administrators can now set a security setting to allow all saved searches to be shared amongst the entire team. You’ll find this option in Setup->Security Settings.
• We resolved a few minor issues with extended field searching and special characters.

We are happy to introduce ‘Editable Views’: In the company and contact’s views, you can now double click a value (or for empty values, single click the pencil icon) to edit that value then and there. Once edited, use Enter or Tab to make the new value ’stick’. We are rolling this feature out as a test in company and contacts form only, and you’ll notice it does not include all fields. If you have any issues or suggestions with this feature please let us know via the Support section (pro users only). During the following week we’ll be rolling out this feature to the rest of the views and fields.
In addition to that, this release includes:

• Email campaigns now show counts for successful mail outs, failed ones and queued emails. This breakdown is shown in each email campaign page. The count in the email campaign listings will show successful mail outs only.
• POP3 and SMTP accounts now support custom ports and SMTP accounts support SSL and TLS security methods.
• User Administrators can now edit or delete messages written in the message board even if they did not create the original message.
• Contacts and company records now show Previous and Next buttons to advance to the next record in alphabetic order.
• When you now save a shortlist you will have the option to overwrite existing copy with the same name by ticking a box. If you do not tick it and a shortlist with the same name exists, a copy of it will be created (e.g., if you have ‘My shortlist‘ already and try to save a shortlist with the same name, ‘My shortlist 2‘ will be created if that box is not ticked).
• We updated the XML based web service documentation to reflect that you can set Case close date and deadline fields via the service. As well you can now define the behaviour of handling duplicates when using the update_criteria option (update or reject record). See the docs for more.
• You can now assign a Knowledge Base node (document or folder) to a case.
• When you are saving email arriving from your POP accounts as contact notes, attachments will also be saved as documents for the contact.
• New report added - you can now view a list of the last 100 notes entered into the system across all record types in one unified view.
• Fixed a problem with Flag All button from a custom view.
• Fixed an issue when exporting criteria campaign mailer list
• Fixed an issue with document form when creating a document from a deal screen.
• Right clicking a company link will now also show all of its addresses in the pop up panel.
• By default, event notifications will now also show Contact and Company contact info in the event notification email. You can customize this (pro users) as well and use 2 new tags in the template: [CONTACT] and [COMPANY]
• You can now share saved shortlists between all your users. See the new setting in the Setup->Security Settings screen.

We’ve put in a fix for a recent problem sending emails via GMail. We’d like to remind you that GMail has a limit on how many emails you can send in a day (around 500) so keep that in mind when you are sending out campaigns via GMail. If you are a serious user of the email campaigns, consider using your own SMTP servers or one other then GMail.
As well, we’ve put in a minor update to the way email campaigns report how many emails where sent. The campaign page will now show how many were sent successfully and how many failed. A look at the archive for each campaign will yield more information for each individual email.

We have new Toll Free numbers and direct dial for international users. The new numbers are 866-829-7011 and 415-874-8040. We’re working hard to improve customer support and getting a toll-free support number online was important and is in place.

Additionally we have a new Knowledge Base and Tutorials set up at:

http://faq.freecrm.com/kb/

A small release this time with a few fixes:

Additions:

• Added Company Name to the old-style email campaign criteria filter.

Fixes:

• Fixed a problem with pagination when searching by referrer contact.
• Raw export error now fixed.
• Sorting by date/date-time extended fields will now sort properly