Outlook Email Issue Workaround

Hotmail/Outlook/Windows Live Email Issues

Microsoft has always recommended that email users use the smtp server smtp.live.com to send out emails. A day ago this server stopped allowing connections. It is unclear, at this time, why the server is not responding to connections or if the issue will be resolved.

To work around this issue please update your email accounts in StudioCloud to use the following smtp server settings:

SMTP server: pod51000.outlook.com
SMTP Port: Port 587
Type of Encryption: TLS
Username: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live

You can update your email account by doing the following steps:

1. Click the Settings component
2. Click on the Settings tab
3. Click on the Manage Email Accounts button
4. Edit the desired email account and enter the settings above

Revamped Referral Tracking System

Revamped Referral Tracking System

StudioCloud has updated the referral tracking system to be faster and more intuitive. In addition, a new referral report has been added and the existing referral report has been updated to include additional features.

Click Here to Read the Tutorial on How to Use The New Referral Tracking System

Coupon Codes, Discount Codes, and Promo Codes

 

New Coupon Codes

StudioCloud now supports coupon codes, discount codes, and promo codes in both the StudioCloud desktop program and in the CloudForms.

Click Here to Read the Tutorial on How to Use Coupon Codes

Below are a few examples of the various ways coupon codes can be used:

• Give clients that use a coupon code a dollar or percentage off their purchase
• Make the coupon code only available for a limited time to encourage clients to purchase now
• Make the coupon code a limited use to encourage clients to be one of a limited number to get the special
• Make the coupon code a one time use code that is unique to each client where they would need to purchase to get their session fee waived

Server Updates

We just want to let everyone know there was a server update that occurred tonight (April 1st, 2020).

To avoid any issues with syncing, please make sure you are on version 3.1.522 or higher. If you haven't updated in the last three or four months you will need to update. You can go under the Help section in the program to update.

Also, for free accounts, if you haven't updated to the latest version with changes to the free account, you will have until Friday, April 3rd, 2020, to do so. If you need to get your data on to other computers, etc. please do this before then.

If you already updated but need to sync your data, you can open the program and click on Help, find version 524 and click the install release button next to it. This will downgrade you to the previous version and will allow you to sync just fine. This will work until Friday, April 3rd, 2020, if you need to get your data onto other computers.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you all for your patience and understanding. We hope you are all safe and well.

Covid-19 Update

We hope you are all staying healthy and well with all that is going on. The StudioCloud team recognizes that this is a very stressful time for families and the small business owners who we serve. Our team has been discussing ways that we can help ease the burden through these coming months.

Please know that we are here to support your business in any way we can. We greatly appreciate our loyal customers; many of you have been with us since 2007. We feel that this can be a great time to organize and strengthen your business with the downtime you may experience and we want to help you do that.

Click here to book a free one-on-one

Starting today, all EmployeeBoost and PartnerBoost accounts can schedule a complimentary, one hour, one-on-one screen share meeting with a StudioCloud rep. During this meeting we will be on the phone with you while sharing your screen. This is the time to set up those features that you have not had time to fully utilize. Have you been wanting to set up automatic marketing campaigns, surveys to see how you can better serve your customers, automatic appointment reminders, birthday greetings, or thank yous? Have you been wanting to set up a workflow with pipelines to keep everything organized? Let us help you come out of this downtime stronger than before. We will also begin doing some online training to set up more general processes for all accounts. The first one will show you how to connect a rescheduling form to the automatic appointment reminders you already have set up.

Changes To Free Accounts

During this time we also need to make some changes to StudioCloud’s free product. Since 2009 we have offered a free account to small businesses that are just getting started. We are dedicated to continuing to offer these accounts but there will now be some limitations associated with them. We feel this is the best way to be able to support all levels of StudioCloud customers for years to come.

Free accounts will now be limited to 300 clients, 300 sessions, and 300 invoices. Cloud syncing will also not be available to free accounts. Please be aware that you will be able to access all of your data. This limit only applies when you create a new client, session, or invoice. Any data you have already entered into StudioCloud, will still be available to you. Our goal is to not disrupt anyone’s business as we make these changes. If you have exceeded this limit, or need cloud syncing, please subscribe to one of our add-on’s which cost $10 per month to not have limitations and to access cloud syncing. Otherwise, we recommend using group operations to delete any clients, sessions or invoices that you are not currently using.

Click here to view $10 per month add-ons

The point of this is to be able to serve all of our clients well, not to harm anyone’s business. Please email me directly at cori.rae@studiocloud.com if this change will harm your business. We are happy to postpone this for you and not have your account impacted during Covid 19 shutdowns.

Please let us know how else we can support you at this time. Please also let us know what other online class topics you would like to see. Stay healthy and safe everyone! The StudioCloud Team

Rescheduling CloudBooking Forms

New Rescheduling CloudBooking Forms

StudioCloud now supports rescheduling cloudbooking forms.

These forms can be used in two different manners. They can be used by clients to reschedule their own personal sessions and they can be used by employees to reschedule clients' sessions.

Clients Rescheduling Sessions

These forms can be either emailed or text messaged directly to a client. A good method is to include a rescheduling link in the confirmation email that is sent to a client so that they can reschedule the session if they need to do that.

The rescheduling forms are personalized forms and, as such, they will automatically pre-populate the clients information into the form.

Employees Rescheduling Sessions

Employees would use the rescheduling forms in order to quickly identify open slots on the calendar and avoid any mistakes in the booking. Employees can access the rescheduling forms in any of the following locations:

• From the clients history tab when editing a client
• Click on the "Select Action" option for the session being rescheduled and click the "Open Rescheduling Form" option
• From the agenda view
• Click on the "Select Action" option for the session being rescheduled and click the "Open Rescheduling Form in Browser" option
• When editing a session
• Click the "Open" menu option followed by the "Open Rescheduling Form In Browser" menu item.

Deadlines On The Calendar

View Deadlines On The Calendar

StudioCloud now supports viewing deadlines on the graphical calendar. You can access this new feature by doing the following steps:

• Click on the Calendar
• Click on the Calendar tab
• Click on the Deadlines tab above the date picker

Deadline Tab

Breakdown of Available Deadlines

• Lead Deadlines
• This deadline is for lead pipelines
• Session Deadlines
• This deadline is for event/session/appointment pipelines
• Invoice Deadlines
• This deadline is for invoice/order deadlines
• Project Deadlines
• This deadline is for project due dates
• Task Deadlines
• This deadline is for task due dates

Invoice Balance Due

New Invoice Balance Due Field

StudioCloud now lets you add a balance due date to an invoice to indicate when the invoice balance is due. This option is available under the 'Settings' tab when creating or editing an invoice.

Including the Date on Printed and Emailed Invoices

You can add the balance due date to any html5 invoice template. This option let the customer see when the balance is due in any printed or emailed invoice.

Click here for a tutorial on how to create or edit an html5 invoice template

Pay Now Button

You can also have the html5 invoice show a 'Pay Now' button when the invoice is emailed to a client.

Automatically Email the Client when the Balance is Due

StudioCloud's CloudAlerts have also been updated so that you can automatically email an invoice to a client a few days before, on, or after the balance is due. The invoice in the email can also have the "Pay Now" button included in it.

Click here for a tutorial on how to setup automatic emails

New Workflow Manager With Video Tutorial

StudioCloud has released a new workflow manager that is used to setup your entire workflow from one central location.

Refer to the video below for instructions on how to use it. Click here for the written tutorial





Below is the video tutorial on how to setup lead pipelines. Click here for the written tutorial




Below is the video tutorial on how to setup session pipelines. Click here for the written tutorial


 Below is the video tutorial on how to setup order pipelines. Click here for the written tutorial

New HTML5 Responsive Invoice Templates

StudioCloud has released new functionality that allows you to create email and print templates for invoices, estimates, and quotes using responsive HTML5 technology. The new HTML5 templates are designd to replacing emailing or printing pdf invoices. The HTML5 templates also include many new features that are listed below.

HTML5 Invoice Setup

New HTML5 Invoice Template Features

The new HTML5 invoice, estimate, and quote template system contains all of the following features:

• Auto Adjusting Features
• Automatically adjusts based on the screen size of the device so that the invoice looks great on a computer, smartphone, or tablet. 
• Branding Features
• Unlimited Branding if you have a PartnerBoost or EmployeeBoost subscription
• The new HTML5 invoice templates support having different logos and business information for each template.
• PDF invoices only supported 1 type of invoice with 3 different logos
• Printing Features
• Supports printing the invoice using a default invoice template 
• Emailing Features
• Supports emailing the invoice using a default email template
• Supports having the invoice link inserted directly into the email
• PDF invoices required being attached to the email
• New easily customized sample email templates are available which include the link to the HTML invoice in them.
• Auto Updating Features
• The invoice automatically updates so that when the client views the invoice in their browser they will see the latest information for their invoice. 
• PDF required sending a new invoice to see the updated information 
• Payment Features
• Supports having a client pay their outstanding balance directly from the invoice 
• Supports having a client pay for a payment plan directly from the invoice 
• New Email Templates
• New sample email templates have been added to StudioCloud to speed up creating email templates that have the new HTML5 Invoice templates built into them.
• Supports having a link added to email templates that the client can click to view their invoice 
• Cloudform Integration
• Supports having the invoice automatically emailed to a client when an invoice is created from a CloudForm
• Supports having the invoice automatically emailed to the client when they make a payment from a Cloudform

Does the HTML5 Invoice Template Require a Subscription?

Yes. A StudioCloud subscription is required to use the new HTML5 invoice templates. PartnerBoost and EmployeeBoost subscriptions get unlimited templates. Add-on subscribers get 3 HTML5 templates.

Can I continue using the PDF Invoices?

Yes. You do not have to use the new HTML5 invoice, estimate, and quote templates.

Can I use the PDF Invoices in StudioCloud but have the CloudForms use the HTML5 invoices?

Yes. You can add the html5 invoices to email templates but still use the pdf invoices in StudioCloud.

How do I turn on HTML5 Invoice Templates in StudioCloud?

• Click on the Settings component
• Click on the Manage StudioCloud Settings button under the Settings tab
• Click the Print Using HTML Invoice Template radio button

Can I try out the HTML invoices and then switch back to the PDF invoices if I don't like them?

Yes. Do the following steps to switch back to the PDF Invoices.

• Click on the Settings component
• Click on the Manage StudioCloud Settings under the Settings tab
• Click the Print Using PDF Invoice radio button

How do I setup HTML5 Invoice Templates

Click here for a tutorial on how to setup HTML5 invoice templates

New Scheduled Messages System

Scheduled messages allow you to schedule emails and text messages to be sent on specific dates and times. The power behind scheduled messages is that they can be used in connection with pipelines. When a specific pipeline stage has been activated there can be unlimited personalized emails and text messages scheduled and, if desired, all of the unsent emails and text messages can be automatically cancelled when the pipeline stage is marked completed.

Lead Pipeline Example

Previously if a business wanted to send 10 emails to a client on specific dates and times to convert them to a paying client they would need to setup 10 different pipeline stages where each pipeline stage would create the email based on the email template. In addition, the business would have to click the "pipeline stage completed" button before the emails were sent.

Now, with scheduled messages, only 1 pipeline stage is necessary and all of the emails will be automatically scheduled for the client. Each personalized email will be sent at the desired time and, if desired, you can have all of the unsent scheduled emails automatically cancelled if the client books a session.

Employee Lead Pipeline Example

Scheduled messages also support sending messages (email or text) to employees. Using the new system, messages can be scheduled and sent to employees on a specific date and time. Many businesses do direct phone calls with potential customers and this is a great way to remind an employee that it is time to do that call. In addition, the message can contain all of the client's contact information.

Client Pickup Example

Remind clients to come and pick up their order with an automatically scheduled personalized email or text message that is created using an order pipeline.

Does this replace CloudAlerts?

No, Cloudalerts are still the ideal way to send email and text message reminders and thank you's for a session, appointment, or event. CloudAlerts are designed to automatically adjust when they are sent based on the session, appointment, or events scheduled time slot. On the contrary, scheduled messages have a specific date and time based on when the pipeline stage is activated when they are scheduled to be sent.

How to use it

Click here to view the tutorial for scheduled messages

New CloudForms/CloudBooking Look and Feel

StudioCloud has released a new responsive look and feel for the CloudForms and CloudBooking. The new look and feel auto adjusts based on the size of the clients screen. To use the new look and feel update to the latest version of StudioCloud.

Click here to view samples of the new look and feel

All new Cloudforms will automatically use the new look and feel by default. Existing CloudForms will only use the new default if they are updated to use it. To update to use the new look and feel do the following steps:

• Click on CloudServices
• Click on the CloudForms & CloudBooking tab
• Click on the Manage Forms button
• Edit the desired CloudForm
• Click on the Style tab
• Click the Modern Theme radio button

CloudForms & CloudBooking also include the following new changes that have been introduced over the last few updates:

• When creating a new CloudForm a popup window will appear showing a lot of pre-built cloudform options that can be used to speed up Cloudform creation.
• A new tab called "Form Settings" has been added to the top when you create or edit a cloudform which includes all of the form settings.
• CloudForms now support being adjusted how they match new clients with existing clients. You can have strict matching, loose matching, or no matching.
• The popup message when a client submits a form can now be customized under the form settings
• The forms now support having you add third party tracking code to the forms, such as google analytics, under the form settings
• CloudForms can be included in the client portal
• A CloudForm can be set as the default "Update Client Info" for the client portal. If a cloudform is set then an "Update Info" button will appear when the client logs into the client portal which redirects to the CloudForm.

Mac PDF Issues

Some Mac users are experiencing an issue where StudioCloud will crash if a pdf is opened. This is an issue with Adobe Air which we have reported to Adobe and are waiting for a fix. Here is the temporary workaround until Adobe fixes this issue.

Step 1: Update to the latest minor update to receive the new pdf viewing options

Refer to the section "Enabling Updates For Minor Release Updates" in the following tutorial. If you have StudioCloud version 3.1.465 or later you can skip step 1.

Click here for instructions on how to update to the latest minor update.

Step 2: Change the settings to open the pdf using your local pdf viewer

Refer to the section "How to Open the PDF File in the Computer's Default Viewer Program" in the following tutorial.

Click here for instructions on how to change how StudioCloud handles pdfs.

European Union GDPR

What is the GDPR?

If you are located in the European Union then the GDPR applies to you. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of new rules for handling client information.

How can your client's view their information stored in StudioCloud?

Your clients can view their information stored in StudioCloud by logging into the new Client Portal. The client portal includes their client details, sessions/appointments/events, invoices, and payments as well as many other features.

Click here for information on how to use the client portal.

How can my client's access the client portal?

You can add the Client Portal to your website or email a link to the client portal directly to a client if they ask for their information.

Click here for how to add the client portal to your website or email it to a client.

What do I do if a client requests to have their information deleted?

If a client  requests to have their information deleted and they do not have an invoice then you would delete their client information.

If a client requests to have their information deleted and they do have an invoice then you will need to refer to legal advice regarding how long a client's invoices need to be saved before they can deleted. Please note that deleting an invoice will change the reports located under point of sale.

Does StudioCloud share any of my clients information with any third party companies?

No! Per our terms of agreement StudioCloud does not share your client information with any third party.

Are StudioCloud's facilities secure?

Yes. You can read more about our physical online solutions in the links below.

Click here for information on how StudioCloud stores information online.

StudioCloud stores information using Amazon AWS services. Click here to view Amazon's AWS personal data certifications.

New Mobile Friendly Client Portal

StudioCloud is excited to release its new mobile friendly HTML5 client portal.

Click here to view screen shots of the client portal as well as setup instructions

The new client portal supports the following new features:

• A client can view their contact info.
• A client can update their contact info, if you so desire, using a Cloudform of your choosing.
• You can add additional CloudForms to the Client Portal so that clients can have options to book all sorts of different types of sessions/events/appointments
• Clients can view and esign contracts or view previously esigned contracts
• Clients can view and pay their invoice balances if you have a merchant account.
• Clients can also pay outstanding payment dues

The new client portal supports the following ways of letting customers access it:

• The client portal can be embedded in your website.
• The client portal can be emailed to your clients directly from StudioCloud
• The client portal can be added as a link in your email templates

The new client portal does require a paid subscription. Any subscription will give you access to the client portal.

Resolve Email Issues

Over the the latest few days we have been noticing some minor issues with different email providers such as gmail and yahoo not working with some StudioCloud accounts that are sending emails using SSL encryption. If you experiencing the error message "Can not authenticate" or another error message that you haven't seen before and you have not changed your password recently it might be related to this problem.

Here are the steps to resolve this issue.

• Click on Settings
• Click on Manage Email Accounts
• Edit the email account that is having issues
• Click on the Outgoing Mail tab
• Change the SMTP Port to be 587
• Change the Type of Encryption to be TLS
• Click the save button

If the above steps do not resolve your issue please refer to the tutorial in the following link for other reasons why this issue may be happening.

https://app1.studiocloud.com/support/index.php?/article/AA-00823/63/

Updated Event & Session Window

With the latest minor release of StudioCloud the event/session/appointment window has been updated to streamline workflow. The changes are listed below.

How To Update To The Latest Minor Update

• This update is a minor update. You can update to it by clicking on Help and selecting the "Show Major and Minor Updates" followed by the "Check for Updates" button

Changes For Everyone

• Event Number, Jobs, Assigned Employees, and various other features have been moved to the settings tab
• The clients table dynamically adjusts based on the number of clients to provide more space for the event notes when only a limited number of clients are scheduled.
• The event location is minimized by default to provide maximum space for the event details.

EmployeeBoost Specific Changes

• The event details, event location, and marketing campaigns have been moved to the Settings tab
• The "Show All Employees" checkbox has been moved to an employee options menu where you can select if you want to view all the employees or filter the employees by scheduling role.
• The "Show All Locations" checkbox has been moved to a location options menu located right below the locations table. This new menu lets you select if you want to view all the locations and also gives you the option to filter the locations by a location group.
• The "Show All Equipment" checkbox has been moved to a equipment options menu located right below the equipment table. This new menu lets you select if you want to view all the equipment and also gives you the option to filter the equipment by a equipment group.
• Each of the menus now support having a default set so it automatically selects your preferred options.

PartnerBoost Specific Changes

• The schedule employee section size has been adjusted to fit the space and the event details, event location, and marketing campaign have been added below the schedule employee section.
• The "Show All Employees" checkbox has been moved to an employee options menu where you can select if you want to view all the employees or filter the employees by scheduling role.
• The employee options menu supports having a default set so it automatically selects your preferred options.

Free and Add-On Only Specific Changes

• The scheduling options are not displayed at all for these types of subscriptions

Custom Phone Numbers Now Available

With the latest major update of StudioCloud you can now get a custom phone number for your business. 

Custom phone numbers let you receive text message responses from customers, respond to customers directly from StudioCloud, and forward text message responses to multiple email accounts.

Here is a complete list of the custom text message phone number features

• Select a custom phone number based on country, area code, and/or exact phone number
• All text messages sent from StudioCloud, including CloudAlerts, will be sent using your custom phone number
• Text message replies can be forwarded to as many email addresses as desired.
• Text message replies are automatically saved in StudioCloud and, if possible, automatically associated with a client that has a matching phone number
• The overview page offers a widget which shows all of the text messagses that haven't been replied to
• You can view attachments that customers text you in StudioCloud or download them directly to your computer.
• If desired you can manually match a text message with an existing client or create a new client, prospective client, or lead
• You can also view a history of all of the text messages that you have received.

Click here for an overview on how to use a custom phone number

Redesigned Overview Page

With the latest minor update StudioCloud has introduced a new overview page. The new overview page provides all of the same information as the old overview page but now includes many more features which are listed below.

New Overview Page Features

• Customizable
• New Widgets
• Uses Full Space
• Popup Windows
• Action Based

Customizable

• Customize the overview page to auto hide widgets if there isn't any information to display.
• Customize the overview page to only show the components you want to see.
• Customize the overview page to only show the time frames you want to see.
• Customize the overview page to only show resources assigned to the logged in user.

New Widgets

All of the widgets have been redesigned in order to maximize space and provide the most important information. Here is a list of the widgets.

• Recently modified clients
• Pending Contracts
• Recently Signed Contracts
• Payments Due In 30 Days
• Birthdays In 30 Days
• Anniversaries In 30 Days
• Agenda
• Pipeline Stages
• Tasks
• Projects
• Jobs

Uses Full Space

The new overview page is designed to adjust to maximize the space available based on your screen size.

Popup Windows

Some of the overview page widgets support opening popup windows with more information directly from the overview page.

Action Based

The new overview page widgets are focused on resources that have an upcoming deadline. This lets you keep on top of upcoming deadlines.

Click here for a tutorial on how to customize the overview page

Mobile App Updates

Our team has released StudioCloud mobile app version 0.8.018.  The updates to the mobile app that are listed below are based on user feedback. Thank you for all of the feedback you have provided.  We will be making future updates based on your feedback.

Changes to the Client page

• Some StudioCloud users have more than 20,000 clients in the system and displaying them all in one list would be very data intensive for most cell phone plans and it would really slow down the application.  As a result,  the client interface is a search only interface which resulted in quite a bit of confusion on how to find clients. In this update the interface is still a search based interface but our team has added instructions to the page to reduce the confusion.  In addition, they have updated the search to search based on first name, last name, and business.  If you search with two or more words then the search will try to separate those and search based on first and last name.

• Our team has removed the separate client, prospective client, and lead lists as all of them were the same interface and returning very similar information as the All Clients interface.  Instead they have replaced that with a list of clients that have been recently modified.  The system will display the 10 most  recently modified clients, prospective clients, and leads.  You will also see buttons to page through that list.

Changes to the Calendar 

• The previous version of the mobile device used a daily agenda for the calendar.  Based on user feedback this has been moved to separate Agenda component and our team has added a new calendar that includes month, week, and day views.

 

 

Miscellaneous Updates

• We updated the create/edit event interface to use the native date and time components. 
• We fixed various bugs with login and the create/edit event interface