Hellmansoft/Blog

I have finally made a beta release of Planbook 2.5 available for download. You can access the Beta by downloading it here.  Planbook 2.5 will open files created by earlier versions of Planbook, but once saved in the new version they cannot be reopened in the old version.

The beta release includes a number of new features, including:

• Sync to PlanbookConnect and make plans available online for your use as well as others (free account required).
• Track standards using the full screen editing mode
• Assign times to your lessons
• Create custom days
• Greatly improved saving
• Tagging lessons
• Lots of bug fixes

There are still a couple of features left to implement in 2.5 (including a standards report, the ability to quickly change the times for the lessons on a single day and some beautification), but for the most part, the 2.5 release is ready to go.

That said, Planbook 2.5 for Windows is currently Beta.  Please backup all data files appropriately.

Please send any and all feedback directly to jeff@hellmansoft.com

When I first wrote Planbook for Windows, there was a complicated system for using nested keywords to keep track of anything you wanted in regards to your lessons. This never worked as well as I’d like, and certainly wasn’t particularly useful when tracking standards. The small space available simply wasn’t up to the challenge.

In Planbook 2.5, I’ve added a dedicated standards tracking mode which is accessible by double clicking any lesson. You can manage your available standards, and apply them to your lessons from one easy to use screen. You can, if you’d like, even discuss how the lesson met the standard you applied. Lessons can, of course, have as many standards as you’d like applied. Standards can be nested to create a smooth organizational system.

Planbook 2.5 also has a new report focused solely on standards. You choose a class and a standard (or folder of standards) and Planbook will show you a printable report with all the lessons with that standard applied.

That said, I think there’s still a reason to have a simpler tagging system to keep organized. Planbook 2.5 will also give you the ability to “tag” lessons with any word or phrase you like. Tags can be applied to any lesson and you can, of course, print out all the lessons with a tag in a few mouse clicks.

All in all, these two improvements (and many others) should really help Planbook for Windows become an even more effective planning tool.

Keep your eyes out for a beta later this month- if you’d like to be notified when the beta testing period opens, please join the Planbook for Windows Google Group