General

Fixed In date fields, the "next month" arrows on the pop-up calendar did not advance by month properly when a non-U.S. date format was in effect.

Enhanced The dialog boxes used to locate a folder now show all available network locations.

Added, Changed: Some reports from earlier versions of FF&EZ do not appear in the reports list, because they have been replaced by improved versions that had enough differences to be added as separate reports. You can still access these reports with the "Include legacy reports" option on the Print Setup screen. This option will not appear unless a legacy report exists for the particular data screen on which you are working.

Important: Legacy reports are not guaranteed to function in future versions; these are still available so that you can maintain continuity of appearance in your current project reports. We recommend that you move to the newer versions in future projects or contact us to arrange to maintain them as a custom report.

In the current version, this change applies to the "Object Illustration Sheet" formats, which have been replaced by the "Illustration Sheet" formats.

Note: If you have created custom versions of any legacy reports by saving options for them, they will continue to be available in the report list without needing to display legacy reports.

Fixed The user's setting for the "Tips on" feature was not being saved or used. The last setting will now be properly saved on exit and changes made while working will be reflected on all the major screens.

Utilities

Enhanced The Backup Database utility now includes an option to automatically name the backup file with the version number of the software when you select the existing "Include support files" option. This makes it easier to create a disaster recovery backup labeled with the version.

Vendors

New In conjunction with the new "ISO Code" field used for each country, addresses that use the "main" address for a vendor will be formatted according to the addressing standard for that country or to the EU default if a specific format has not been set up for that ISO code. (The "alternate" addresses that use four separate lines are not affected by this and will continue to be printed as you have entered them.)

Note: For addresses within your own country, you can leave the "Country" field blank if you wish to not have the country added to the last line of a formatted main address. Simply use only the ISO code. Blank ISO codes will default to the United States standard format.

Note: If you have been using address fields for information that isn't part of an address, you may want to review your entries to avoid creating a confusing address. You may also want to review international addressing standards to avoid creating addresses that may cause shipping delays.

Clients

New Client "main" addresses are now formatted according to the ISO code (see entry above for "Vendors").

Projects

When no project is "open," the Project List will now reposition to show the project for the current order when you move to the Project screen from the Order or Expediting screen.

FF&E Worksheet

Enhanced The Utilities> Export command can now export unlimited-length descriptions for the tab-delimited and comma-delimited formats, depending on other formatting choices. In order to export text that may contain embedded carriage returns (which would be interpreted as a new data record by an importer), the exporter automatically substitutes the HTML "break" code of "<BR>". You can change this to any code you want. Note, however, that some programs can automatically convert these back to embedded returns during import or paste operations.

Also note that the Excel export format is still limited to 254 character descriptions because of a limitation in the direct-to-XLS export engine. However, you can easily export data for use in Excel by either 1) using the tab-delimited format to create a text file (this can then be opened by Excel) or 2) by using the "Export to Windows clipboard" option, which stores the exported data in the paste buffer so that it can be pasted directly into an Excel worksheet with either Ctrl-V or Edit> Paste.

The xBase (DBF) format continues to support unlimited length description fields without any need for changes.

New Command: The Utilities> Import List command allows you to import FF&E from external systems (that is, non-FF&EZ systems) that are formatted to a specific layout and format. This is a major subsystem that requires some preparation to use correctly, however it can be used to initialize a project with specs (only), specs and objects and/or specs, objects, rooms and areas. It can also be used to update the quantities of existing items in the FF&E Worksheeet. There is a new Help section titled "Importing Data from External Sources" that covers how to use this command.

Enhanced The "Object Index" reports now include an option to include a thumbnail image from the primary specification.

Fixed On the newer "Illustration Sheet" reports, some longer object tags were wrapping to another line, but the line did not automatically expand, making it appear the tag was missing on the report. These fields have been widened, but will also wrap if needed.

Fixed When adding or editing object occurrences and a new room was created with the Create New Room command, the room contents list on the right continued to display the contents of the room highlighted on the main Worksheet List until another screen update was triggered.

Specification List

New Command: The Save as Revised command inserts the current date into the "Revision Date" field in the Spec Status section. and then saves your changes in the same way as the regular Save command.  It has no effect on the "Last save" date since the latter is for internal information only. This command appears if you Edit an existing specification (that is, when not using the Add comment to create a new spec).

New Command: The Utilities> Import List command allows you to import FF&E from external systems (that is, non-FF&EZ systems) that are formatted to a specific layout and format. This is a major subsystem that requires some preparation to use correctly, however it can be used to initialize a project with specs (only), specs and objects and/or specs, objects, rooms and areas. It can also be used to update the quantities of existing items in the FF&E Worksheeet. There is a new Help section titled "Importing Data from External Sources" that covers how to use this command.

Fixed The system now converts all BMP, TIFF and PNG files to standard JPEG format when adding images to the image library. This means that 1) PNG files can now be attached to specifications (as the equivalent JPEG) without any external conversion and 2) the space requirements of formats like BMP and TIFF are reduced. Original JPEG and GIF files are copied into the library without changes. This applies to both the manual process of attaching an image and to the Utilities> Auto-add command. (Note: see "Version 4.1.006" for an additional change that avoids the need to convert PNG files.)

Enhanced In the past, you could use the key word "CUSTOM" for  specifications that did not have a meaningful "Catalog/Model #" entry, and the image attachment process would generate a unique image file name that still fit the general pattern of creating the image library as a manufacturer-oriented set of files. New key words and phrases have been added, so that you can now use these (without the double-quotes) in the "Catalog/Model #" field:

• "CUSTOM"  (anywhere in the field)
• "N/A"  (must match exactly)
• "NOT APPLICABLE"  (must match exactly)
• "TBD"  (must match exactly)
• "TO BE DETERMINED"  (must match exactly)

• "SHOP DRAWING"  (must match exactly)

"Must match exactly" means that the "Catalog/Model #" field cannot have anything else in it, otherwise the system will interpret it as an actual model number.

Enhanced In addition to the changes noted above, the Auto-Image utility now only requires that you select the folder that contains the source images. The selection box now gives you access to all network resources without need to have a mapped drive. There are other general improvements to the interface's feedback to the user.

Orders

New There is now a "Revised" date field on the order screen. This date indicates a revision date, typically for issued orders. It is updated automatically if you make changes to an item on an issued order. It also does this if you use the new Save as Revised version of the Save command (see below) when editing the order itself. You can also change the date manually to allow for changes that are not caught by the automatic revision tracking system.  This date appears as the "Revised" date at the top of the standard purchase order format.

Note: The system has already been tracking revision dates for issued orders for some time and you will see this date already filled for any issued orders where items were changed.

New Command: The Save as Revised command appears when you Edit an existing, issued order. This enters the current date into the order's "Revised" date field (see above) and then saves the record. The revision date will appear near the top of the order if it is reprinted and normally represents the latest date vendor-related information (including items) was changed.

Note: If you Edit an item on an issued order, the system also updates the revision date. You can override this if needed by setting the date on the order manually.

Fixed If you changed the tax rate % shown on the Order screen, the change was not applied to existing items on that order (changing the tax rate % on the Project screen did work correctly).

New Two new reports, the "Vendor List (vendors used in orders)" and the "Vendor Detail Report (vendors used in orders)" have been added to the Orders screen reports list. Like the similar reports on the FF&E Worksheet, these produce a list of all vendors used in the scope of the report (typically, you would print these with the "Current project" filter to produce a list of all vendors used in the current project's orders).

Unlike the Worksheet versions, these reports only include the vendors to which orders are sent and vendors to which orders are shipped. They will not list "manufacturers" unless the latter also received orders or shipments.

Enhanced The default purchase order format now prints the quoted and/or actual freight and tax at the end of the order, along with a grand total. When reprinting orders, it prints the order's "Revised" date at the top, if applicable.

This does not affect any custom order formats.

Enhanced The automatic revision note for some critical items (such as quantity or cost) now includes the previous value along with the new one.

Expediting

Enhanced The Update Order Status command now includes a new option:

Reset vendor invoice entries and amounts for this order.

This clears all vendor invoice entries from the currently highlighted order and adjusts the associated "Deposit Applied" amount as needed. This can be useful if an incorrect vendor invoice was applied to an order, if it was applied prior to entering deposits paid to vendors or if the order needed further revisions prior to appying an invoice.

Note: This clears all vendor invoice entries for the order. If multiple invoices were applied to the order you will need to re-enter all the invoices that apply to it.

Also, you cannot use this option if any Balance Check Requests have been issued against the order's items (the command checks for this when you run it). Since the balance check amounts depend directly on the vendor invoice entries, clearing those entries requires that you first void any associated balance requests (using the Void command on the Requests List screen). After entering new vendor invoice information, you can issue a new balance request as needed. Note: Deposit check requests are not affected by this command and do not need to be voided.