BuildBook Product Updates

New‍ 

• Added the ability to completely delete a project. You can archive projects so that you could reference them later if need be, but there wasn’t previously an option to delete a project.

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• Created new unique default avatars. If a user hadn’t uploaded a profile pic, there was a blank portrait image. We created unique avatars with the first and last letter of the user’s name so you can see more clearly who is on each project! (the new avatars won’t appear until the user has logged into their account)
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Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed a bug in Selections that was causing a date to populate even if the date field was left blank. Now new Selection categories can be created without a date.
• Added hover tooltips to explain the icons in Tasks.

• There was a bug throughout the app where certain areas weren’t refreshing on their own when changes were made. We noticed this specifically where a refresh was required in the Up Next list when an item was deleted directly from that section, and on mobile in the Budget tab where a deleted Budget item didn’t immediately disappear. This is now fixed.
• Increased the resolution of our thumbnail images so they don’t appear as grainy.
• On Android there was a bug in Comments causing the keyboard to overlap with the message box - this is fixed in version 1.3.2.
• The User Settings option was missing for clients - now when a client is logged in and clicks their avatar there is a “Settings” link for them to add a profile pic, change their name or email, or reset their password
  

New‍ 

• Notification preferences now include the option to control which email digests you receive.
  

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Fixes and Improvements

• Fixed an issue where occasionally the mobile app would not fully load and leave a blank screen, which required the app to be restarted.
• Fixed an issue with Android in Chat where there were several bugs related to the chat box and the keyboard conflicting - making it so you either couldn’t see the message or couldn’t see what you were typing. Yuck. Now the text box is anchored to the top of the keyboard, and the message thread is scrollable. Whew!
• Files that were moved to the trash still appeared in the project activity feed until they were permanently deleted. We changed this so that moving a file to the trash removes it from the activity feed and restoring the file will also restore it in the feed.
• Chat notifications for clients were sending them to the Updates tab. This bug has been fixed so that clicking or tapping the notification sends them to the Chat.
• Fixed a bug on mobile where downloading attachments caused the navigation to disappear
  

New‍ 

• All new native photo picker and uploader - we built a new native photo picker and uploader for a more fluid upload experience on iOS and Android to enable users to:
  - Select multiple photos at once
  - Show upload progress, so you know that the photo is uploading
  - Grab photos from your photo album

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• Now it’s easier to send Chat messages on mobile - previously, tapping the Return key on your mobile keyboard would send the message. We changed this to function like texting, where tapping the Return key enters a new line, and tapping the blue Send icon will send your message.
• Add a new Task directly from the Schedule - now project setup is even more efficient with the ability to create a Task the same way you create a Phase, right from the Schedule.
  

• Daily Logs now show up in notifications - if your notification settings are notifying you of Important Events or All Events, you’ll now get a notification when a new daily log has been created. 
  

Fixes and Improvements

• You can now delete uploaded videos. The ••• menu wasn’t appearing when hovering on the thumbnail of videos. We improved the look of the ••• menu on both videos and images and includes the option to delete a video.
  

• When editing an existing Daily Log and adding a photo, the photo didn’t appear in the index without refreshing the page. Log index now shows newly added photos without refresh.
• Comment meta-information lines weren’t wrapping consistently on mobile, causing the commenter’s name and date stamp to wrap on individual lines. We adjusted comment meta wrapping on mobile to wrap together on a single line globally.
• Fixed a bug where clients couldn’t be @mentioned in the comments of a Daily Log.
• When editing a log that has no attachments, the UI didn’t show the “Add Photo or Doc” link without clicking the attachment icon. Now “Add Photo or Doc” link is visible.
• Fixed an issue where the Chat box to type a message was covering up the Chat thread as it auto-expanded, so users couldn’t scroll to read previous messages in Chat.
• On Android, Task editing had a limited editable view. We changed this so that when the keyboard is visible, the viewable area is larger
  

New

• Mobile push notifications and notification preferences - with the latest version (v1.2.2) of the BuildBook iOS or Android app installed, push notifications on phones and tablets are live.
  
  Now you can choose what events you want to be notified about (@mentions in chat or comments, when you’re assigned a task, when a Daily Log is posted, or when you’re added to a project) along with specific client activities (when a client sends a chat message or leaves comments).
  
  You can also decide how you want to receive notifications (email and/or mobile)
  

• More content in notification badges - you have more insight into what’s going on throughout all projects - including the avatar of the person who created the notification, project name, time, task names, and more chat details.

New

• ‍Sample Project for new users - see what a fully-finished project looks like and copy it as your own with a Sample Project.‍
• Inline video playback - watch uploaded videos inline with a video player instead of having to download the video.

Improvements and fixes

• Lots of bug fixes in the Budget where adding and editing certain items wasn’t autosaving
• Selection items that are deleted weren’t updating - this has been fixed
• Base Costs description in Budget now auto-expands to fit text
• Resolved error on Android when downloading a PDF or image
• Resolved an issue in Chat where typing @ and then hitting enter would send the message instead of inserting the person’s name. This has been fixed so that if the @mention menu is open, pressing enter will select the person, not send the message.

Improvements and fixes

• Project Activity Feed - the auto-generated Project Activity Feed now shows all activity in the project back to day one. ‍
• Chat - BuildBook chat now allows you to delete messages. Just click the three dots next to the time on any message and click Delete.‍‍ After sending a message, the keyboard now stays up so that another message can be sent right away. Also, the bottom project nav now reappears after sending a message.‍
• Page titles - Added page titles for the main pages within a project so you can easily see and bookmark pages.‍
• Improved Photos Only view in Logs - Photos view in your Daily Logs got a big upgrade with two columns and a cleaner look. 

• ‍Improved Project List Sorting - sort your project list in alphabetical ascending or descending order by Name, Type, and Last Updated.‍
• Default Sorting - the default sort has been updated to alphanumeric for everything except Tasks, which still sort by date created.
• ‍File names on mobile - fixed an issue where long file names weren't wrapping properly on mobile
• Bug fix - edited names of certain selection items weren't saving
• Mobile PDF multi page preview - updated file previewer on mobile to allow multi-page view of files with more than one page.
  

New

• ‍Project Templates! This has been by far the number one feature request and we are so thrilled to get it into your hands. Now you can create new projects from templates, saving hours and ensuring consistency from project to project. Even better - any existing project can serve as the basis for a template, so the work you’ve already put in will be well worth it.

Improvements and fixes‍

• Chat - chat box wasn't auto-expanding with longer text. This is now fixed
• Chat - keyboard stays visible after sending messages on mobile
• Bug fix - selection Item and Selection Category names weren't saving in some instances
• Comments - text box now auto-expands with longer text. Added a dedicated "send" button that appears when the field is focused. Hitting enter will insert a line break.
• Image thumbnails - created compressed image variants to optimize download time

New

• ‍New user interface - BuildBook now has a much cleaner look and feel to be consistent with the new projects interface.‍
• "Send" icon in chat - added a “send” icon in the chat on mobile and web that functions just like when you’re texting. ‍
• Multiple image and document uploads - you can now attach multiple images or documents at once - both on the web and on the mobile app. Plus, we implemented a series of performance optimizations to make images load faster within the app after they’ve been added.

Improvements and fixes

• ‍Schedule - improvements to how the schedule is displayed when it is loaded and also cleaned up some small bugs when making drag/drop edits to schedule items.‍
• Login updates for mobile - for some users, there was a small bug that was forcing them to login every time they opened the app. This has been fixed in the latest version of our mobile app for iOS and Android (v1.2).

New

Newly released features for budget tracking and selections management are now live!

The Budget has 5 key sections:

• Base Costs: Fixed costs associated with the job that you can set up based on how you prefer to structure your client-facing budget
• Selection Categories: Within the budget, you can track both the original allowance as well as the actual amounts once selections have been made
• Change Orders: Change orders can be created as "draft" and then marked as "approved" once the client agrees - only approved change orders have an impact on the budget
• Credits: Document any discounts, write-offs, or any other items that you need to reverse out of your budget
• Payments: Log any payments that the client has made, or will be making, so that the client always sees an accurate view of their projected outstanding balance

Selections are made up of Categories and Items

• Categories are containers to organize related items (e.g. - Cabinets, Paint, Tile, etc). You set allowances here.
• Items belong to a category and are a place to capture the details of each individual decision (e.g. - Kitchen cabinets, master bath shower tile, etc). You track actual costs here.

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‍Improvements and fixes

• Tuneups on the Schedule UI and functions
• Menu interface optimized for compact displays
• Text colors improved for better visibility
• Optimizations for Task & Phases
• Updated Client layout for better usability
• Chat updates for increased usability and @mentions