Hellmansoft Blog

Planbook 4.2 (for Mac) is now available!

Planbook 4.2 fixes a few bugs, adds a couple of new features and (most notably) adds a new icon for the application and documents.

• New Features

  1. Finally, a new modern icon (retina-ready).
  2. You can now restart a rotating schedule at any point in the year. After a long break, you can force Planbook to restart your schedule on a particular day of your rotation upon returning to school.
  3. Keyboard shortcuts for http://www.planbookconnect.com syncing.
  4. When adding a new assignment, it's selected for quick editing.
  5. Documents should open much more quickly.

• Bug Fixes

  1. Resolves issue attaching files from Dropbox on a different computer.
  2. Resolves issue publishing to HTML when files attached to the document include special characters.
  3. Resolves issue where copied/pasted lessons might require re-authorizing access to the file (10.7+).
  4. Resolves issue using library lessons with attachments.

• Availability

Planbook 4.2 for Mac is available now for all customers who purchased Planbook directly from http://www.hellmansoft.com. You can get the update through the use of the auto-updater (found in the Planbook menu) or by downloading a fesh copy from my website. If you download the application manually, please be sure to replace your existing copy of the program (which should reside in the Applications folder of your computer).

Mac App Store customers will need to wait a few days for Apple to approve this update. Once approved, the update will be available in the “Updates” tab of the Mac App Store App on your computer.

PlanbookConnect has been upgraded!

Late last night, I processed some significant upgrades to PlanbookConnect. There were 4 main reasons for the upgrade.

• Speed

The new version of PlanbookConnect is much, much faster. Page load times have decreased throughout the entire site, sometimes decreasing to as little as 5% of the old speed (this is especially noticeable when loading a month of lessons or an entire course of assignments/handouts). Improving the responsiveness of the site was the main reason for the update. If still you notice a page loading slowly, please get in touch with me.

• Design Improvements

PlanbookConnect’s design was, well, a bit dated. The new version is more modern and, more importantly, should be easier for you and your students to use.

• New Features

I also added a couple of the more popular feature requests, including the ability to lock all of your lesson plans behind an access code (of your choice). You can provide the access code to those who need it. This kind of security will prevent casual visitors from seeing your plans, and will also block search engines from indexing your work. It should not be considered strong enough to prevent a truly dedicated individual from accessing your plans. Please continue to post material on the site that you are legally allowed to post.

The second new feature allows PlanbookConnect to work properly with plans that include multiple class meetings of the same course in a single day. These extra meetings should be visible on the main page, in the month view and when viewing a day of lessons. Additionally, moving through your lessons using the navigation arrows will traverse multiple lessons on the same day properly (in time-order).

• Security

A number of security holes in the server software I run were noted in the past month or so. I’ve updated all the server software to the new, patched versions.

• Archived Planbooks

The only feature I removed during this process is the ability to view an archived Planbook online. You can still archive your Planbook if you’d like to keep it around, but you can’t direct people to visit the archived file anymore.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions about the redesign, or you notice something that’s not working right. A side-benefit of this work is that the site should be far easier to update in the future!

Thanks for your patience with the downtime last night!

Yesterday, Apple approved a minor update to Planbook for Mac (4.1.1)

Planbook for Mac 4.1.1 includes a number of bug fixes related to bumping/pulling lessons with assignments as well as adding lessons to the lesson library.

If you’re a direct customer who did not purchase from the Mac App Store, you can grab the update from the Planbook –> Check for Updates menu item.

If you purchased from the Mac App Store, the update is currently avaiable in the Updates tab of the Mac App Store App.

Yesterday, Apple approved a minor update to Planbook (2.5.1)

Planbook Touch 2.5.1 includes a number of bug fixes:

1. Fixes an issue that could cause a crash when adding a file from Dropbox.
2. Fixes an issue that could cause a Dropbox file to overwrite an existing document inappropriately.
3. Fixes an issue editing a table of attachments.

Planbook Touch 2.5.2 is currently pending review and fixes few more bugs that popped up in the 2.5 release. With luck, it’ll be available to you at the end of this week or early next.

You can grab the update from the App Store app on your iPad or from the iTunes Store

Today, major updates for Planbook on Mac, Windows and iPad are being released.

For the past many months, I’ve been working hard on releasing major updates for all three of the Planbook platforms, with the goal of making Planbook documents created on the Mac/iPad readable on Windows. These releases are finally ready for you to use. There are more substantial posts detailing the changes on each platform linked below:

• Windows
• Mac
• iPad

Please note that if you use both Planbook for Mac and iPad, you must update both systems in order to continue sharing a data file.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve also taken this opportunity to update Hellmansoft.com. Please take a look around for new screenshots, videos and descriptions of the software. As always, please get in touch if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Thanks!