Show Me My Stuff: the Bluetracker Blog

Always Adding New Reports

2009-03-07T18:18:00Z

One area where Bluetracker has a leg up on competitors is our analytics. We track, measure and report on almost everything. This is a source of valuable data for Executives and Administrators. And we are always adding new Reports to Bluetracker, to enable users to better manage their information.

The latest report is an "Email Audit Trail" report. It shows a list of all email notifications sent by Bluetracker, the number of recipients, who they were, and what was said in the email. Of course everything is date and time stamped for accuracy. This could be useful if it were ever necessary to provide additional details on communications between people.

All Bluetracker reports can be exported to XML, CSV, TIFF, Excel and PDF using the export drop-down menu. Give them a try. Once you are logged in, select "Analytics" from the top Bluetracker menu.

New Search Fields

2009-01-15T16:35:00Z

We have received several requests from our customers asking us to add new fixed search fields to projects. The most popular request is for some kind of docket number, or project number.

The problem is every company will have a different convention for how they name projects, and it's impossible to code for all these situations.

But we have a solution! We have updated our search algorithms to now include any custom fields that are added to a project.

These custom fields can be created at any time, and can be labeled whatever you want. This is useful if you want to catalogue additional information about a project. The fields could be called docket #, budgets, resources, special instructions, or just notes. Whatever you want. The important thing is they are now fully supported by our text search. To create custom fields, go to the project "Details" tab, when you are creating a new project or editing an existing one.

To search them, click on the "Extended Search" button after you log on, and type your keywords in the TEXT search.

/pcm

Bluetracker is 100% Chrome-friendly

2008-09-09T16:35:00Z

At Bluetracker, we love Google's new Chrome browser. It's fast, and the simple design does everything a browser is supposed to do; no more, no less. And did I mention it's fast? It even does spell-checking, which is real handy when adding comments in the comment window.

So we are happy to announce Bluetracker is 100% Chrome-friendly. We recently updated our code to optimize Bluetracker for Chrome. Pages load quicker, and project thumbnails display almost instantly. The whole experience is just faster.

Chrome is only available for XP/Vista now, but word is a Mac and mobile version are in the works. Check back on this blog for more details on Bluetracker support for upcoming versions. To download Chrome, go to Google.com, and follow the Chrome links.

Happy Bluetrackering!

New Web Look

2008-08-08T20:00:00Z

New Bluetracker Web Look

We have updated the dot COM site with new Flash animations that give the site a cleaner look. These animations have been developed to include taglines that showcase key features of Bluetracker.

The taglines are:
"Absolute control, with 8 levels of users"
"Monitor activity, with advanced reporting"
"Enjoy the simplicity of no software to install"
"Eliminate the frustration of version confusion"
"Store all project history for future reference"
"Total flexibility, unlimited projects for every account"
"Share and track feedback from anywhere in the world"

The Marketing team selected these phrases because they represent the best of Bluetracker and communicate key differentiating features, that set us apart from the competition.

Stay tuned for more updates to the web site, as Bluetracker grows!

-pcm

Updated Bluetracker Icons

2008-07-22T16:09:00Z

We have updated the Bluetracker icons, used for thumbnails on Source files, or files that do not get automatically converted to PDF. These preview icons will show in the Project Grid as you mouse-over projects. It gives a quick visual reminder as to the file type for that project.

By default, Bluetracker uploads BOTH the original file, and automatically creates a PDF version. But if you want to only upload and share this, de-select the check box "Attach original document...". This will show 2 upload buttons. Using the lower one will only upload the file as a source, and no PDF conversion will occur.

This is useful if you are working on a project where various user types have access, and you want to control who sees the file. All user types can see a PDF, but not everyone can see the Source. So by only uploading the source, you have more control over who sees what.

For more information on what users have access to what, refer to the Permissions Matrix on Bluetracker.com, located here: http://bluetracker.com/Home/Permissions.html

Fresh (Public) Face of Bluetracker

2008-03-28T19:41:00Z

The .COM has a fresh new look. We updated and redesigned a lot of the Bluetracker web pages, including:

-Product page
-Demo page
-Support & Help page
-Pricing page

These new pages are now live on the .COM web site.

We also added a new "File Types" page, to highlight the various files we automatically convert to PDF. Take a look at: bluetracker.com/Home/Filetypes.html

And we redesigned the Bluetracker Info Sheet (Sell sheet). It's available as a PDF download. Go to: http://bluetracker.com/Home/PDF/Bluetracker_InfoGuide.pdf

Finally, we improved the workflow to speed up the process of creating New Projects. Now when you are at the Project Grid page, if you hit the Enter key, you go to the Create New Project page. Hitting the Enter key again, takes you through all the pages for adding info.

For example, if all you want to do is give the project a name and use the defaults for everything else, hit the Enter key 3 times. You will go right to the Upload file page. This is a lot faster than clicking the mouse.

Falling back on old familiar ways...

2008-03-26T20:05:00Z

I was recently asked to put together a Powerpoint presentation for a AGM, and figured Bluetracker would be the perfect tool to use. There was only one other person providing input, so how tough could it be?

I did the first revision, and met with the other individual to review. We did the usual: marked up each slide with different color pens, tweaking the titles and bullet points. When we were finished, I went back to the office and revised the presentation. Since my colleague was going out of town, I posted the document on Bluetracker and added my comments. Bluetracker handled everything great, and automatically created a PDF version of the Powerpoint. My plan was for him to download the PDF, take a look and send more changes via Bluetracker.

My colleague then emailed me back, asking me to send him a copy of the Powerpoint file, so he could make further revisions- on the ORIGINAL. I told him to grab the Source file off Bluetracker, which he did and then, to my surprise, he emailed me back his updated version. No Bluetracker, just a plain old email with an attachment.

What a mess. There were formatting problems, spelling mistakes, and slides that did not fit. I had to go through the entire presentation and figure out what he has added, and what was to be left alone. After a couple of hours, I realized all this could have been avoided if he had simply added his notes as a comment in Bluetracker. I wrote him back and asked him why he did not do this right from the start. "I was pressed for time and fell back on my old familiar ways" was his answer.

Since I was the author, it was my problem to figure out what had changed. But I can tell you, it would have saved me a few hours if he had helped me out and used the tool. In the end, the presentation went great, and everyone was happy.

Sometimes, it's a challenge getting around old familiar ways. But it's sure nice to have some help.

'Splain to me this PDF conversion

2008-03-19T21:26:00Z

We get a lot of questions on this feature of Bluetracker, so for the record, here is our take on the PDF conversion.

Any collaboration software can upload a file and allow others to download it. There are tons of them out there. Some of them are nothing more than a fancy coat of paint on a FTP site. But if you are just uploading, and letting others download, you still have the version control problem: if an other person downloads the file and makes changes, they better upload it asap, or the process is toast. And forget about using Track Changes in Word. Just take a look at any Word doc where there has been more than 2 authors and more than 2 revisions. It's a mess. And let's face it, no one wants to worry about checking-in and checking-out a file. Collaboration shouldn't be like going to a hotel.

What makes Bluetracker different, is we automatically convert the file to a PDF. This has several advantages:
i) you don't need the original software program to view the file.
ii) because it's a PDF, users can't change the document, so the editing process is much more controlled. (We suggest stakeholders to add a comment to the project window with their ideas and changes).
iii), since it's a PDF viewers can print a high resolution copy, complete with graphics, and text.
iv) PDF is perfect for multi-page documents. It's compact and keeps download time to a minimum.

That's the beauty of PDF.

And that's why we decided long ago to use PDF as the container for documents. Of course Bluetracker can also upload the file and keep it as a Source. Then if others need to make changes to the original, it's available for download.

This strategy allows for the best of both worlds. If the file you are working on is not supported for PDF conversion, just keep it as a Source. FYI, we currently convert the following files: DOC, RTF, DOCX, DOCM, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, PUB, VSD, TXT, JPG, JPEG, BMP, TIF, PNG, MHT.

So, with the exception of .EXE and .BAT files, you can upload virtually any type of file to Bluetracker. And we think that beats worring about checking-in, or out, any day.

Progress Bar

2008-03-19T20:20:00Z

The foundation of Bluetracker is the sharing of files, and for that you need to upload them. And depending on the type of file you want to share, the upload times can vary a lot. Also things like network speed, and the speed of computer can influence this process.

We kept this in mind when we designed the new Progress Bar. We wanted to provide useful feedback to users, so they know how long it will take when uploading. The new design does all this. It shows the file size, the percent completed, the upload speed and, most importantly, the time remaining. We hope you like it.

March Break Update

2008-03-19T18:34:00Z

We have completed another update to Bluetracker, mostly focused on L&F (look and feel) of the site and interface. We have harmonized many of the pages so they look the same on Macs and PCs. And we also found time to make some productivity enhancements and fix some minor bugs. Here is a summary of tasks completed:

-"Due Date" field in the Create New Project is automatically set to 30 days from today's date. No need to enter anything. User can still change if they want.

-Updated Text Search to look in Project Name and Comments. Results are now high-lighted.

-Fixed bug "Show/Hide Revisions" bug on Mac.

-Fixed Project menu bug; now retains search from 1st page.

-Fixed Reports; now show correctly on Mac.

-Fixed SSL login on Mac.

-Updated the graphics on the Add Comment page.

-Fixed the Project Summary Page to correctly display data and in proper order

-Fixed the fonts for better display on the Mac.

You can check them all out on www.bluetracker.com!

Welcome

2008-03-19T14:20:00Z

Greetings, and welcome to Show Me My Stuff, the Bluetracker blog. We hope you will find the posts here useful and offer insight into the world of document collaboration. We will use this space to discuss issues related to Bluetracker, and collaboration in general, and give tips and tricks on how to become a power-user with the Bluetracker software.

We will also keep you updated as we add new features and functions to Bluetracker, and share user comments and feedback.

And, we look forward to hearing from others too. Our goal is to make Bluetracker the best collaboration app out there, and give our users the productivity tools they need to make their job a whole lot easier.

peter