After taking our fill of turkey over Christmas, we got busy coding and have a nice round of updates to your favorite project management app this month. Drum roll please... the full list of features and fixes include:

New Feature: Teamwork Mobile Released!

We have some great news this month with the release of the Teamwork Mobile - a nicer way to access your data on modern phones and devices that have browsers.

See the full blog post – Teamwork Mobile Released

New Feature: Comments can now have files attached!

This has been one of our most requested features for a long time now. You can finally attach files to comments in TeamworkPM.

See the full blog post – New in TeamworkPM: Comment file attachments!

New Feature: All Comments

You can now see all comments across all your projects in one place. Sort it, filter it, love it.

See the full blog post – Find and view comments across all projects in one handy place

Comment email notifications now include file attachments

You can now just reply to a comment email notification and include a file attachment and the file will automatically be sucked into Teamwork.

Calendar now has a PDF Agenda report

When you need to go to one of those pesky meetings, bring a print out of your company calendar which will include all Events, Tasks and Milestones! We added various time ranges so you can get the report you need quickly.

Our API now supports XLS (excel format)

This is pretty cool: you can now browse to /projects.xls and we will serve you the list of projects in excel format!

We basically modified the API so that any request ending with ".xls" in served as an excel file. All standard API calls are supported so have a look at http://developer.teamworkpm.net/ for some inspiration.

Small Ticket Items

• Administrators can impersonate a user - to ensure everything is set-up ok.
• Project Chart: Added option to sort by "End Date".
• 'Tasks by Email/Quick Add': Added support for @me.
• Everything page: Remember the last section accessed so clicking "Everything" jumps to the last accessed section.
• "Mentions" in 'User Status/Task By Email/QuickAdd' now matches against user login name also.
• Subscriptions: Added ability to send payment receipts to an alternative email address.
• All Time: Log Time: Support for cyrillic descriptions.
• Project View: Tab added for Starred projects.
• Android: Added icon for Android bookmarks.
• Daily Report: Added ability for a user to request we send them a copy on demand.
• Recurring Tasks: Create estimated time on next in series.
• Passwords: Always send temp password in lower-case for consistency (Doesn't impact authentication if lower or upper case).
• View File: Added 'Delete' button to this page.
• Opimization: RSS feeds and iCal feeds now served off slaves databases.
• Core: We now push out task start dates when parent dependency is moved.
• UI: Minor fixes on comment bubbles after count is updated.
• UI: Milestones: Improved wording on Add/Edit form to make options clearer.
• UI: Tasks: Multiple People - create task for each person - newly uploaded files are now attached to ALL created tasks (instead of just the first).
• UI: Thumbnail icon for xslm file type.
• UI: Project Name hover tooltip menu added to new All Tasks page.
• UI: Fixed white-on-white links on Markdown more information.
• UI: "Next Monday" quick date option added - shows on Fridays only.
• UI: Completed Tasks: Hover title should show the date completed and the person who completed it.
• UI: Projects List Page - Added ability to Star/Unstar projects from this page.
• Markdown: Threw out the old code and rewrote the parser for speed and stability
• Lots of nerd work on getting the app faster. More hardware, more caching, more sweat and tears...
• Calendar: 24hr time picker added
• Reassign items: We now update all previous activity logs
• Copy Project: If no activity is picked, a blank slate is now not shown 
• API: Time Entries: Try and handle times entered in incorrect format (e.g: 0454 p.m.).
• API: Added support for search.
• API: Added 'userIsMemberOfOwnerCompany' to /authenticate.xml.

Bug Fixes

• Markdown: Multiple referenced links in a paragraph block.
• Recurring Tasks: Weekly on dates in February ending in December giving issues.
• Fix event editor people picker - shouldn't have horizontal scrollbar ever.
• New User - "Add Company" callback system was broken - fixed now.
• Calendar: 24hr Date Format: 12pm going in as 12am if date format is military.
• API: Messages: GET /messages/[id].xml request fails if attached files have the same file size.
• API: Tasks: GET /tasks/[id].xml request fails if attached files have the same file size.
• Milestones: Edit: If user assigned to a milestone is no longer on the project, set the milestone assigned to the first available person on the project.
• Dropbox: Safari: "Select All/Select None" not firing.
• Dropbox: Fix for folders with "+" in the names. Passing by Ajax URL was breaking this
• vCard: Import: Fix for Outlook 2010 format.
• Settings: Show a message when a user tries to associate a company with the project and they already have a project named the same associated with the same company.
• Project Chart: Reposition "Today" line on chart when screens are small.
• Logo in PDF reports sometimes was broken

We hope you love these changes!

Today we are happy to announce the launch of Teamwork Mobile. This optimized version of TeamworkPM will work on most modern smart phones and tablets directly within the devices web browser. There are no prerequisites; no apps are required and nothing needs to be installed.

What is Teamwork Mobile?

Teamwork Mobile is a touch-optimised web app which utilises the latest in web technologies (HTML5, CSS3 & JS). These allow for smooth transitions, quicker page loads, data caching and much more. These technologies allowed us to make one app that works on most modern phones and devices.

For all of you that have been asking us for a BlackBerry app, this version will work very well on the latest BlackBerry phones.

The app features a responsive layout which allows it to adapt to screens of different sizes. So whether you are using it on a tablet, in your PCs web browser or on a touch device, the interface will automatically change to allow for optimal use (so it works great on an iPad for example).

(download)

Click here to download:

introducing-teamwork-mobile-hBncnxCmxHbChboGDDkv.zip (914 KB)

This version of Teamwork will work across a wide range of devices. Though we do not have the means to test TWM on every platform, we expect that it will work so long as your device fits any of the specifications listed below.

So what can Teamwork Mobile do?

If you are familliar with either of our current native apps (Android & iOS) you will be happy to see that we have used a very similar layout and the feature set is much the same; so getting to know the new app should be a piece of cake.

Some of the features included in this version are as follows:

• All Tasks Page
• All Milestones Page
• Search
• Statuses - View / Add
• Activity Views
• Notebooks - View
• Messaging - New / Reply
• Tasks - View / Add / Edi t/ Complete
• Task Lists - View / Add / Edit
• Milestones - View / Add / Edit / Complete
• Contacts

We also have a few updates planned already so make sure you keep an eye on the blog to remain updated on what we are working on.

How do I access the mobile version?

TeamworkPM should detect that you are accessing your account from a mobile device and should change across to the mobile version automatically. If it doesn't just put /m after your TeamworkPM url to access the mobile site. eg. http://yourcompanyname.teamworkpm.net/m

I'll leave you with a fun video showing Teamwork Mobile running on different devices.

The ability to see comments across all your projects in one place was a feature we had been discussing at TeamworkPM HQ for a while, but as you can all see from our roadmap, there is always a lot on, so this feature kept getting pushed out.

Last week, after Dan had a long conversations with a customer, he decided to dedicate a few days to finally get the All Comments feature built and out the door.

For people who have lots of projects on the go, and who receive a lot of emails a day. You guys are really going to love this update to the Everything section. We have added a new tab within the Everything link called, All Comments. This new section allows you to view all comments across all projects to which you have access to, in one place.

(download)

Click here to download:

find-and-view-comments-across-all-projects-in-one-handy-place-slGvspopgIouvCuBxDAu.zip (498 KB)

You also have the option to jump directly into any project by clicking on the project name. You can link directly to the task or file the comment was placed on as well using the first link. We have also built in tool tips as well on the first link. Placing your mouse over this link will display more information about the task, file etc. without having the leave the page.

As always we hope you find this new feature really helpful and if you have any feedback on this or any other areas please let us know.

One of the parts I love about my job is getting the chance to talk to all the different types of companies and organizations that use TeamworkPM. It gives us a great insight into how people use our system and it gives us the chance to hear both the bad and the good points about the software.

When we started out we never really gave much thought to users outside of company settings using TeamworkPM. As time goes on it's great to hear stories from people who have used TeamworkPM to arrange their weddings, parties, moving homes and even students using us to help organize their study groups. If only I had been that organized when I was in school ;-)

Recently we have started to get a lot of sporting organizations using TeamworkPM to help them run and keep on top of all the administration that goes into running a club.

I recently had the chance to talk to Dan Griffin who is president of the Yamba football club in Australia, about how they use TeamworkPM.

This is what Dan had to say, "The Yamba Football Club has used the teamwork for over two years. The club was in need of a management resource that could improve communication and management of our club and Teamwork provided.

Any small organization is time poor, this is amplified when volunteers run the organization.

For this reason TeamworkPM become central to the functioning of our club. Communication is no longer a two way process, it is now a recorded discussion. Club documents are uploaded to the site, ensuring that that all members can access the central storage space. The notebooks are used for the development of the club. Milestones have been established to enable yearly reminders for committee members taking up new roles.

(download)

Click here to download:

using-teamworkpm-within-a-sporting-organization-xdCfCijABofArgejvAEh.zip (692 KB)

A central portal for all club information is essential for the organizations succession planning. More generally the introduction of TeamworkPM has helped the club to run smoother and more professionally. This is in evidence recent recognition throughout our association."

Keep up the good work!

Dan Griffin

President 
Yamba F.C.

This one's been a long time coming. You can now attach files to comments in TeamworkPM.

We spent a lot of time making this feature easy to use and it works just like it does when attaching files to messages and tasks. You can even attach files directly from your company Dropbox account! We are happy with the interface and we hope you are going to love it too.

The new comment attachments look like this:

Posting comments via email will support file attachments in the coming days (Dan is locked in his office with the music turned up beavering away on this).

We hope you are all going to love this feature and that it will help you stay productive.

Thanks again for using TeamworkPM!

UPDATE

As promised above, when posting comments via email, email attachments are now attached to the comment.

December is always a short month but that hasn't stopped us ploughing through the feedback and suggestions. Here is what we got done this month.

Quick Add: Tasks, Milestones and Projects

One of the areas we really wanted to improve on this month was making it easier and faster to add tasks to your Teamwork account. Not just from within a project, but from any part of the app.

You'll notice a new feature in the top right called "Quick Add" Read More

Move or Copy a task list to another project

Before today, moving tasks between projects was a painful process. One by one...move...move...move...repeat until you die of boredom.

This month we added the ability to move entire task lists between projects. All tasks, comments, time logs get moved with one swift action. Read More

Move Milestones between projects

Since we added the ability to move Task Lists between projects, we decided to go one step further and also add the ability to move Milestones from one project to another. 

Sorting added to the Project Chart

Last month we released a new version of the Project Chart. The feedback on this has been excellent but it was missing a sort option. This month we added in the ability to sort by Start Date, Project Name and Company Name.

Blinksale now added as an export option for billing

A few months ago we integrated Freshbooks and Harvest with the Billing section of your projects. This month it was time for Blinksale to get some love. From today you can export your time and expenses to Blinksale! Just in time for the New Year invoicing :-)

Notebooks get a word count and resizable editor

Many people use Notebooks to draft letters, blog posts or PR releases. Sometimes it's handy to know how many words you have written. We also added the ability to resize the Notebook editor vertically! Spot on for long content...

Preview of new Everything->All Active Tasks page

The Everything->All Active Tasks page is by far the most used page in the app. It also needs to be the fastest and most customizable page in the app so this month we worked on improving this. Our aim was to reduce the clutter in the filtering bar, make the results faster loading and add in paging. Mission accomplished. We put an option for you all to try it before we roll it out next month.

Updates to the Workload Report

The Workload report is a great way to see how busy people are. This month we extended the report so Administrators in the Owner Company can now see all estimated tasks across all projects even if they are not explicitly on a project. Small but extremely useful addition.

New 24 hour Calendar time picker

When we launched the Calendar on Teamwork we thought we localized absolutely everything. We were wrong. People who use military time formats still had to use the am/pm type time picker. Not anymore!

Small Ticket Items

• Projects: When a project is renamed, it now creates a new Activity Log item
• File Thumbnails: We finally tracked down and killed a slight bug of incorrect thumbnails for files named the same.
• Time: When logging time and choosing a task, we shaved 1 mouse click off by not being dumb asking the user to click a button to finish
• Time: When logging time and choosing a task, we now show the people the task is assigned to
• Reply By Email: We improved this so Archived projects do not get new messages and comments added to it. We send an email back to the sender.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: We added a few more and fixed an issue on Mac Firefox when quick-switching tabs using CMD+number
• API: Various updates and documentation additions

So that wraps up 2011. We have some great plans for 2012 so keep an eye on our Roadmap!

We would like to thank everyone who took part in last months newsletter competition to win an iPad 2.

The draw took place on the the 7th of December using Random.org to make sure it was fair. The winner, drawn out of the virtual hat, was Nick van Silfhout, from Textcetera in the Netherlands.

I also asked Nick for a few words as well on what they do at Texcetera.

Textcetera is a graphic design studio that creates publications in all forms: from regular printed books to the newest standard of eBooks.
We also design ads, book covers and other graphic illustrations.Since we have an average of 100+ active projects, it’s essential to have a decent project management system to efficiently streamline the workload.
We use TeamworkPM to keep track of the project status and it helps us to unite all the information about a project in one place.
The basic functions of TeamWorkPM give us great peace of mind in a chaotic branch!
To read more: www.textcetera.nl (Dutch only, unfortunately)

Thanks again to everyone who entered the competition.  Make sure you keep an eye out each month for the newsletter which will have all the latest news from TeamworkPM, as well a chance to win a few goodies from time to time.

Moving task lists from one project to another is one of them. Yesterday we added this feature to Teamwork.

No sooner was it released and the feedback started to pour in asking if it was possible to "Copy" the list instead of "Moving" it.

No problem. Today we rolled that feature out.

This also has a hidden benefit that may not be apparent right away. In Teamwork you can save any task list as a template. This only saves the names of the tasks, the estimated time, the descriptions and the privacy. There are good technical reasons for this.

Now, as you can copy any task list to any project, you can have a project set up to act as a "Template" which you can use if you need to create a new list with all the people assigned, due dates assigned etc

Hope this small but useful feature helps everyone! Send us a tweet and let us know what you think :-)

Once you are in a project on Teamwork it's really easy to add tasks to the project. Sometimes though a phone call comes in from a client or you think of a task that needs to be added before you forget. This means browsing to the Project you want, clicking the tasks tab and finding the task list you want to add the task to.

By the time you've done that you may have forgotten what the task was!

One of the areas we really wanted to improve on this month was making it easier and faster to add tasks to your Teamwork account. Not just from within a project, but from any part of the app.

From today, you'll notice a new feature in the top right called Quick Add

The most useful is the Quick add tasks. Over the last few months we've received countless emails and feedback messages from people who want a faster way of getting tasks in to Teamwork. The majority of people wanted to dump tasks in and deal with them later when they get time.

Our second idea was to simply allow tasks to be entered one by one. As you add a task, the box clears and you can add another one. It worked but it was still not 100% of what we were trying to achieve.

Then we got it right. We thought of how easy it is to create multiple tasks by email. It's simple. Each task you want to create just goes on a new line in the email. We also had added the ability to assign the tasks to people, set a due date, set the priority and of course the privacy and notification options. This is what we wanted from the Quick Add feature.

When you open the Quick Add Tasks feature, there is a box where you type your tasks and a select tool to pick your project.

(download)

Click here to download:

quickly-add-tasks-milestones-projects-from-anywhere-in-your-teamwork-project-manager-account-JGxtuznHEHzcpzJGyBjv.zip (273 KB)

You can create 1 task or you can create 100 tasks. Each task just goes on a new line of the text box.

You can assign people to each task, set a due date and a priority - We added a quick help tooltip so you'll never forget how to do it.

Lets look at some examples:

• @dan [today] Write a blog post on the new Quick Add Feature
  • This will create a task called "Write a blog post on the new Quick Add Feature"
  • It will be due today
  • It will be assigned to Dan
• [tomorrow] @sam @peter @dan Add an FAQ on the website about quick add items !!!
  • This will create a task called "Add an FAQ on the website about quick add items"
  • It will be due tomorrow
  • It will be assigned to Peter, Sam and Dan
  • It will be of High Priority
• [25/12/2011] Answer any Christmas Day feedback
  • This will create a task called "Answer any Christmas Day feedback"
  • It will be assigned to "anyone"
  • It will be due on the 25th December 2011

The order of the items doesn't matter. We'll figure out the people, dates and priority no matter where in the task it appears

The @person is worked out by joining the firstname and the lastname of the user together and figuring it out

For example, my name in Teamwork is Daniel Mackey so any of the following would pick me out:

• @dan
• @daniel
• @danielmac
• @danielmackey

The dates just need to be in square brackets and you can use a real date such as [25/12/2011] (or [12/25/2011] if your date format is set to that) or you can use Today, Tomorrow, Next Week, Next Monday etc

So that's it. It's live now and we're really happy with it. Let us know what you think!

We added the Project Chart feature over a year ago and since then it hasn't receive any love. This month we decided to revisit this feature, gut what we did before and start again.
The result is a more useful, better looking and printable chart.
We took all feedback in to consideration and we love how it turned out.

(download)

Click here to download:

new-project-chart-released-with-ios-and-print-support-ptzGjHsjtCdHIeileDpn.zip (982 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

new-project-chart-released-with-ios-and-print-support-hJwqHhoJuGkkhjaGcytG.zip (169 KB)