Get CloudBooking For Free!

If you purchase a CloudBoost or EmployeeBoost add-on before February 1, 2012 then you will get the new CloudBooking by StudioCloud for FREE*! That is a free gift valued at $120 per year.

CloudBooking allows your clients to quickly and easily book appointments from your website. CloudBooking is seamlessly integrated with the StudioCloud software which means that you do not need any additional software to get started and any appointments that are scheduled will be downloaded straight into your StudioCloud software. Below is a list of some of the CloudBooking features:

1. Seamlessly integrated with StudioCloud desktop software
2. Client's can access the CloudBooking system from your website or from your CloudBooking site
3. Allow new clients to signup and login, returning clients to login, or even allow both options
4. Have your clients answer customized questions before they can book an appointment with you
5. Multiple methods of determining the availability from your calendar **
6. Multiple methods of determining the length of the proposed appointment
7. Automatically confirm the new appointments that come in from CloudBooking or manually login to StudioCloud and confirm the appointment after verifying your availability
8. Have your client make a payment before the can book the time slot ***

CloudBooking is only $9.95 per month or if you purchase the CloudBoost or EmployeeBoost add-on before February 1, 2012 you can get the CloudBooking for free. CloudBooking and EmployeeBoost allow you to sync all of your data to StudioCloud servers. This protects you from data loss if your computer crashes and allows you to access your information from any Internet-enabled mobile device.

Learn more about CloudBooking By StudioCloud by going to CloudBooking.net

*Please note it can take 2-3 business days for the CloudBooking to be added to your account. If you are still unable to use the CloudBooking after 2-3 days then please contact support@studiocloud.com with your StudioCloud Business ID. Please note that the free CloudBooking is only valid as long as you don't change your subscription. If you decided that you want to cancel your CloudBoost or EmployeeBoost account but keep CloudBooking your subscription will be updated to reflect the current CloudBooking pricing.

**Some of the availability methods do require an EmployeeBoost subscription

***Requires a Merchant Warehouse account

StudioCloud Wins Hot One Award

StudioCloud is pleased to announce that the PPA's Professional Photographer magazine has selected StudioCloud as the winner of its coveted 2012 Hot One Award for Best Studio Management Software.

CloudBooking Now In Beta

With the latest release of StudioCloud we have made CloudBooking available as an open beta for all CloudBoost and EmployeeBoost subscribers. CloudBooking allows you to book appointments from your website.

Here is a sample of some of the features available in CloudBooking:

• CloudBooking uses the information that is already saved in StudioCloud. You don't need to re-enter anything. As such, you can have your CloudBooking fully customized and operational in less than 1 minute.
• StudioCloud designed CloudBooking to be very customizable. You can customize most things including the wording and the scheduling options that are displayed to your customers.
  
• CloudBooking supports both new customers as well as current customers. You can decide which ones you want to allow.
  
• CloudBooking also supports scheduling based on employees, equipment, and locations just like with the EmployeeBoost in the StudioCloud Desktop program.
  
• In addition, CloudBooking lets you set a predetermined duration for each appointment or, if you want, you can let your customers choose their desired appointment or package.
  
• Because everything is integrated, the new clients go directly into your StudioCloud account and any booked appointments show up on your StudioCloud calendar.

For information regarding how to use CloudBooking please refer to the documentation which can be found at http://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-01022/166/

For information regarding known issues as well as functionality that still needs to be added to CloudBooking please refer to the following link at http://labs.studiocloud.com/cloudbooking-releases

Adobe Awards StudioCloud Honorable Mention

The StudioCloud team is proud to announce that the StudioCloud software was selected as an Honorable Mention for the upcoming Adobe MAX awards in the Digital Enterprise: Empowering Employees category.

Adobe MAX is Adobe's largest conference attended by designers, software developers, and business decision makers. It is also where many of the latest and greatest Adobe technologies are displayed and announced. We are proud of the StudioCloud development team that has put together such an incredible suite of business management tools and we are excited to see what they will come up with next.

CloudProofing In Beta

StudioCloud recently released its Online Proofing 3.0, now called CloudProofing, into open beta. The open beta means that all current Online Proofing subscribers can try out CloudProofing at their discretion. To try out the CloudProofing simply click on the CloudProofing button on the overview page and click the Try CloudProofing button. You will need to download the minor release before you can use the CloudProofing. It is available at the following link. http://labs.studiocloud.com/studiocloud-beta

 The new CloudProofing contains some important changes and updates which are listed below:

• The entire CloudProofing has been redesigned to be easier and faster to use.
• The 1000 images to an album limit has been removed and there is no limit to the number of images in an album. However, you are still limited by your available CloudStorage space.
• The CloudProofing Manager now resizes and uploads multiple files at once which can make the upload process almost 5 times faster.
• The image thumbnails have been increased in size giving a better view of the image from the thumbnail.
• The CloudProofing is now divided into 3 main sections or views
• Slideshow View
• Images and Thumbnails View
• Products and Checkout View
• Each of the CloudProofing views are optional and can be hidden if so desired.
• Favorites can be saved to a favorites list and shared with others.
• This feature is optional and can be hidden if so desired.
• The albums now have a thumbnail assigned to them which is viewable in both the CloudProofing manager and in your public list of albums.
• Each album now can have a unique tax rate
• Product, Services, and Packages now can have thumbnails

 The above feature list as well as a list of known CloudProofing issues is available at the following link. http://labs.studiocloud.com/cloudproofing

3.1.059 Release Notes

The latest major update contained quite a few new additions and changes. We thought we'd give you a quick overview of some of the most important updates below.

• Line Item Discounts
• StudioCloud's invoices now support line item discounts. This means that you can apply a discount directly to a product, service, or package.
• Read how to use line item discounts at http://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-00675/0/
• New Security Roles Interface
• The Security Roles section used by EmployeeBoost users has been redesigned to be much more powerful. Now you can setup StudioCloud to only let your employees create invoices and not allow them to edit or delete them. In addition, you can setup StudioCloud to only let your employees view the invoices that they created and not any other employees' invoices. That is just a small sample of what you can do.
• Dymo Label Writers
• StudioCloud now supports printing out labels from a Dymo Label Writer. This allows you to print labels for client information and appointment information.
• Read how to setup and use a Dymo Label Writer at http://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-00855/0/
• LogBook Tracking
• StudioCloud now supports historical tracking of information over time. Using the LogBook you can view what changes were made in StudioCloud, when they were made, and by whom. In addition, you can also view when emails were sent to a client from either StudioCloud or from the CloudAlert email system.
• Read how to use the LogBook at http://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-00850/0/
• Disable Auto Sync
• StudioCloud now allows you to disable the auto sync process. This is valuable if you are using an internet connection which charges you per mb.
• Read how to disable the auto sync at http://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-00852
• Track Canceled Appointments
• StudioCloud now allows you to cancel an appointment rather then deleting it. This allows you to maintain a history of clients that cancel over time. To view the canceled appointments go to the events section in the clients history and click the "View Cancellations" checkbox
• Print Calendar Filter Agendas
• StudioCloud now allows you to print agendas for a specific employee or calendar filter.
• Share CloudStorage File
• StudioCloud now provides the public link so that you can share your CloudStorage files with others. To access the link go to Manage Cloud Storage and click the Share button.
• New Internet Diagnostic Icons
• StudioCloud has added a new internet icon to provide additional information. Previously we only offered a blue icon which meant that you had internet and a red icon which meant that you didn't have an internet connection. We have introduced a new yellow icon which indicates that you have an internet connection but StudioCloud has detected some internet issues with it. If you click on the yellow icon it will provide additional information regarding those issues.
• New Service Health Dashboard
• The new Service Health Dashboard will be updated by StudioCloud if there are ever any issues in our data centers that might affect StudioCloud's syncing process.
• Real Time Scheduling Wizard
• StudioCloud added a real time scheduler to StudioCloud to assist in getting the most accurate schedule as possible. Please note that there are some limitations to the scheduler so make sure you click the "Real Time Scheduling Limitations" button to learn more about those.
• New Cloud Services Item
• To simplify the user interface all of StudioCloud's paid for add-on's have been moved to the Cloud Services section of StudioCloud.

As always the features above were available in our minor releases long before they were released in a major release. You can always get a minor release by going to the following link. http://labs.studiocloud.com/studiocloud-beta

New Client Portal

StudioCloud is excited to announce a new online client portal available for CloudBoost and EmployeeBoost users. The client portal provides the following functionality once a client has logged into the portal.

• View their contact information for accuracy
  
• View their scheduled appointments with you
• View their invoices and pay any outstanding balance*

The client portal is available for you right now. You can embed the client portal in your website so that clients that go to your website can login directly to it or you can send them a link in an email that they can use to login.

For setup instructions please refer to the following tutorial. http://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-00658

*A Merchant Warehouse account is required for customers to pay balances from the client portal.

-StudioCloud Team