History


Office Messenger 4 is a major update to Office Messenger and provides a number of important new features, as well as significant enhancements in the basic functionality of Office Inside.

Think something is missing from Office Messenger? Can't live without a feature? Need to report a bug?

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Office Messenger 4.07 (26 September 2008)

New in this release

  • New: The notification methods for new messages has changed. A small popup window is now displays in the bottom right hand corner of the primary monitor (above the taskbar if there is a taskbar on the bottom of the primary monitor). This notification window is always displayed on top of other windows and does not grab focus or otherwise interfer with the whatever application currently has focus. When the window is clicked on it displays the main window.
  • New: Office Messenger is now available as both Standard and Professional editions. For information on the differences between Standard and Professional editions, and the upgrade options click here.
  • New: The Note field for each Contact can now contain up to four time more data than previous releases.
  • New: New backend and automated upgrader for version 3 data. The new backend provides a large number of additional fields for the Address Book as well as support for new features, integration with CapeSoft FeMail, Address Book import from Outlook (Professional Edition only) and more.
  • Newa Mess4Upgrade application that the installer calls during the upgrade process to handle intermediate file upgrades that must be done seperately:
    • Rename Groups to ToGroups
    • Groups.tps becomes ToGroups.tps (prefix stays as GRO)
    • All code that references the Groups tables changes to reference the ToGroup table
    • The installer runs the upgrader if the old version is a version prior to 4.00
  • New: Auto upgrades the data and adds the required new tables and structures:
    •  Address table becomes Contact
    • Address Prefix changes from ADD to Contact
    •  Address.tps becomes Contact.tps
    • Completely new contact table that contains all the old fields and a number of new ones, as well as name field changes: TelHome -> HomePhone, Tel -> BusinessPhone, Cell -> Mobile, Fax -> BusinessFax, Email -> EmailAddress and Web -> WebPage.
    • This provides compatibility with FeMail as well as Outlook (to provide import and export of Contacts to and from Microsoft Outlook).
  •  New: Groups table (group.tps) provides Groups in the Address book, allowing contacts to be sorted into groups for easy management. A contact can be in multiple groups.
    • New ContactGroup table provides group functionality for contacts.
    • New ContactImage table provides images for contacts.
    • New ContactAddress table allows any number of addresses to be specified for each contact.
  • New: Office Messenger and FeMail now share the same data structures.
  • New: "Remember this" option for all message and alert windows.
  • New: Auto close for all warning and message windows.
  • New: Groups for contacts, to allow contacts to belong to one or more groups. By default all contacts are added to an 'All Contacts' group. As many groups as desired can be added and contacts can be dragged and dropped between groups, or Contol-dragged and then dropped to copy the contact into a new group (the contact is then a member of both groups). This allows a contact  to be a member of any number of groups, even though there is only one actual contact record. Contacts are always a member of the 'All Contacts' group, and can optionally also be a member of as many other groups as desired.
  • New: Automatic upgrading for the Contacts, all contacts are automatically added to the All Contacts group.
  • New: New Address Book window and Contact update window
  • New: Group Update window.
  • New: Address Import from Microsoft Outlook (Professional Edition Only).
  • New: Themes, which allow the look of the application to be changed on the fly by selecting the desired theme from the Themes tab on the Tools->Options window.
  • New: Options window adds Themes support, and cleans up the window into specific sections
  • New: Code signing certificate for the application, installer and automatic update process.
  • New: New installer.
  • New: New fields to the Contact update window, the ability to set a picture for contacts, and split the fields into two sections (Details)
  • New: New Tools Options window, now split into seperate sections.
  • New: New "Obsidian" theme.
  • New: Automatic Contact Sharing (Professional Edition Only). When a contact is edited that has the Shared This Contact option enabled (tick) then if the changes are saved, the new details are automatically sent to all other instances Office Messenger running on the local network. Only instances running Professional edition support automatic contact sharing, this feature is not available in Standard edition. For information on the differences between Standard and Professional editions, and the upgrade options click here.
  • New Options window provides seperate sections for each set of options, as well as providing new options for Contact Sharing (Professional Edition Only), user details, themes, and more.

Changes

  • Changed: The security file is now stored in the application data directory rather than with the application.
  • Changed: Auto updated no longer use the Program Files directory, allows for fully Vista and Windows Server 2008 compatibility.

Fixes

  • Fixed: Office Messenger window not popping to the front when a new message was received, and the main window was open, but not topmost.
  • Fixed: Auto update code crashing the application on a small number of systems.
  • Fixed: A focus bug that could cause the focus the get "stuck" on the application until any control other than the Recipients dropdown was selected.
  • Fixed: New Automatic Update code to allow updates to be checked online and automatically downloaded and installed if available. The previous version was causing the application to crash on a small number of systems.
  • Fixed: "Application still active" message on Windows shutdown/restart.
  • Fixed: New version of the security library, resolves problems and errors with activation and licensing.

 

 




Office Messenger 3.02 (19 September 2005)

  • After completing an automated update the program could display an erroneous error message.
  • Fixed an incorrect "Error 47" message when upgrading from an older version of Messenger.



    Office Messenger 3.01 (12 September 2005)

  • Automatic updating - Office Messenger will now automatically check for a new update when requested to do so. Office Messenger can then automatically download and install the new version. Downloads are cryptographically signed, and the update check also ensures that a valid signature is present when checking for a new version. This ensures that a legitimate file is downloaded and run, and that the file is valid and correct.
  • Added CHM file download link to the documentation. PDF coming soon!
  • Minor corrections to documentation (primarily typographic).
  • When selecting a message that was sent in the History window, the "reactivate" button is now disabled. Only received messages can be reactivated.
  • Added new icons to the main window menu.
  • Updated header sorting for the Address Book (click the heading for each column to sort using that field. Click again to reverse the sort order).



    Office Messenger 3.00 (11 August 2005)

Messenger General

  • Fixed the program causing an error when exiting.
  • Add all commands to menu( public/private/new etc.)
  • Numerous fixes an improvements to ensure that messenger comes to be front without grabbing focus
  • The messenger window now appears "out of focus" when it is (rather than appearing in focus, even though it never received focus).
  • The new version of Messenger has a large amount of new "internal" functionality, in order to make sure that It Just Works. If you never notive this then we will consider it a job well done!
  • Data is stored in the Documents and Settings folder for newer versions of Window (Windows 2000 and later), and copies the old data across if it exists. This allows each user to have their own data. Upgrading to the new file format and storage location is fully automatic.
  • Support for multiple users on a single machine, note that you can't use multiple copies at the same time (for example with fast user switching), other than that you can have any number of people on the same computer who use Office Messenger, each will have their own data storage.
  • Fixed blank message arriving (no sender, no body content etc.).
  • Fixed a GPF when the Windows firewall was and there was no license. If searching for a license was cancelled the registration windows would open and the application would cause a GPF when the window was closed.
  • Fixed the message not always sent to the correct recipient (the entry in recipient drop down was not correctly reflecting the selected recipient).
  • Added code to save the column width on list boxes.
  • Fixed problem with the recipient drop down opening when the down arrow key was used after the window was closed by pressing the Esc key rather than using the close button.
  • Added styles to all the list boxes (alternate rows are colored differently, text is styled to indicate it's type etc.)

Register Window

  • Fixed colors and links
  • Fixed incorrect capitalisation
  • Fixed wrong cursor when moving the mouse over links
  • Cleaned up position of information on the window

Documentation

  • Fully updated docs, with more information and new screen shots of the 3.0 interface. More changes to come.

Main Window

  • New icons
  • New look and feel, the list box now displays groups and special entries in different colors, adding colors to alternate rows and offline users are now grayed out.
  • If the program exits incorrectly or an error causes it to close nd error report is created and the program will restart itself.
  • The groups and multiple recipient buttons have been merged to a single "Recipients" button and the interface for managing recipients and groups cleaned up
  • Added a print preview and a Printer Setup option.
  • Fixed a problem with users sometimes disappearing or going offline, fixed a number of issue with the automatic detection of users.
  • Menu items now have icons

Multiple Recipient Selection

  • Added coloring and styles to the list boxes (alternate rows colored differently, groups and special entries highlighted etc.).
  • Fixed typographics errors

History Window

  • Bulk delete, added instructions to make the date format etc. clearer
  • New styling for list box and window
  • New style header bar sort added, sort is now faster.
  • Added the ability to reactivate a message without opening it
  • Change the code so that it selects the first item in the browse when changing keys if the current record will be filtered out with the new key.
  • Added a locator for the list box (allows the first few letters of an entry to be typed in to select that entry, works for all sort orders)
  • Don't allow the message to be re-activated if it was sent (only received messages).
  • Added SendTo, which allows the list to be exported in a number of formats including HTML, Excel, PDF, Word and CSV. In addition you can send the entire list to a printer or email. (Exporting to Word and Excel formats require Microsoft Office 2000 or later)

Group Editor

  • One global selection color (same style settings for all windows).
  • Deleting a group could cause the application to close, this has been fixed.
  • Creating a new group now selects the newly created group after creation.
  • The "Deselect All" button on the Group Editor did not work, this is now fixed

Remote Shutdown

  • New layout, fixed a few missing hot keys

Options window

  • Removed the Maximum Instances section as this is not used.
  • New layout, larger buttons, divided settings into appropriate section.
  • Fixed coloring, spacing, icons etc.
  • Some options were saved even if the cancel button was pressed this has been corrected.

Address book

  • Added SendTo, which allows the address list to be exported in a number of formats including HTML, Excel, PDF, Word and CSV. In addition you can send the entire list to a printer or email. (Exporting to Word and Excel formats require Microsoft Office 2000 or later)
  • Added buttons to go to a contact's web site, send an email to the select contact etc.
  • All new layout, new options, with the selected recipient's details show below the address list allowing quick access to notes etc,
  • The address book now has a print button to print the current selected entry.

Previous Version of Office Messenger

Version 2.22 (12 October 2004)

  • Adjusted date display format to use Windows short date format in the View History Details.
  • Slight cosmetic adjustments.
  • Added source code version checking for the our third party accessories.

Version 2.21 (1 October 2004)

  • Fix for the Notification Tray Icon, which sometimes did not appear.

Version 2.20 (30 June 2004)

  • Changed the Hyper-Threading functions, so that the Office Messenger can still run on Windows 95.

Version 2.14 (19 May 2004)

  • Fixed the "Window is Always On Top" option, so that the Window stays on top, when a new message arrives.

Version 2.13 (18 May 2004)

  • Tools-Options now allows you to choose your own sound file, which  is played when a new message arrives.
  • Works with Hyper-Threaded machines.
  • Slight modification. When you click on the icon in the task bar notification area, and there are no messages to read, the focus now goes to the recipient list.

Version 2.12 (8 September 2003)

  • URL fixed in registration screen.
  • New CHM Help File.

Version 2.11 (2 September 2003)

  • File-Print minor improvements
  • View History - when you double click (or View) an old message, you can now Re-Activate it back into your current list of un-done items.
  • You can also print a message from the View History window
  • Improved look-and-feel of the View-History window.
  • Added a Bulk Delete option on the View-History window that allows you to delete messages older than a certain date.
  • Fixed a bug where To List would gain focus while you were typing a message
  • The whole application shuts down now when you choose File-Exit and not just the main window.
  • Fixed "Sending setup file to ..." which was reporting the local machine and not the destination machine.

Version 2.10 (28 August 2003)

  • Fixed bug, where sometimes you would have a message from John, but it would say Paul in the To: list.
  • Cosmetic improvements, included groovy progress bar
  • Groups have been fixed, and work much better and also automatically update if people change their display names
  • Improved speed when saving To List
  • Adding Printing functionality (see the File  - Print menu)

Version 2.08 (20 May 2003)

  • Stopped Office Messenger from grabbing the focus when a new message arrives while you are typing something else.

Version 2.07 (14 May 2003)

  • Fixed licensing bug, where a machine could ask for a new license every time the application loaded.

Version 2.06 (28 March 2003)

  • Bug fix with respect to the "Send to All" option - stops error message from popping up
  • Bug fix: sometimes the "To" entry box contained a different name than what was highlighted in the drop down list

Version 2.05 (18 March 2003)

  • Increased dramatically the speed at which information is updated when your "To:" list has changed
  • Some bug fixes with regards to groups

Version 2.04 (13 February 2003)

  • Removed some options as they were only making life complicated

Version 2.03 (11 February 2003)

  • Fixed bug that gave a file access error on startup

Version 2.02 (7 February 2003)

  • Some minor adjustments in the Multiple Send window
  • Option to leave out wallpaper on main window (especially for Windows 9x users)
  • Option to reduce the size of the toolbar and main window ("Compact View")
  • Updated documentation shipped with product
  • Bug fixes in the group editor window and "Sent to" field in a received message
  • Bug fixes on the Back/Forward buttons

Version 2.01 (22 January 2003)

  • The check box on the tip appearing when the first message arrives is no longer blacked out
  • Some minor fixes in the about screen

Version 2.0 (7 January 2003)

  • Supports user-defined groups and sending a message to multiple users and/or groups
  • Allows a user to send a "private" message - upon receipt the recipient will be notified but the actual message contents is hidden from view. The message is then displayed by clicking a button that appears with the message.
  • Allows a user to specify that all messages are received as though they were sent as "private".

Version 1.7 (2 August 2002)

  • Supports Windows XP buttons
  • Updated web links in application

Version 1.6b (12 July 2002)

Version 1.6 (2 May 2002)

  • New look & feel.

Version 1.5 (18 April 2002)

  • Fixed a bug where sometimes the list of recipients was not auto-detected the first time Office Messenger was run.
  • Added links on Help menu to this documentation, www.capesoft.com and the download area.

Version 1.4f (14 March 2002)

  • Optimised the amount of memory that is used by Office Messenger

Version 1.4e (3 January 2002)

  • Options allows for sending messages using encryption.

Version 1.4d (28 December 2001)

  • Remembers Address Book width & height, and grid widths.
  • Minor tweaks and adjustments
  • Taskbar icon refreshes itself if lost.

Version 1.4c (18 December 2001)

  • Remove duplicates from the recipients list
  • Prompts you before you clear the text

Version 1.4b (27 September 2001)

  • Minor tweaks and improvements.
  • Improvements to the installation file.
  • Source code now available for sale.

Version 1.4a (26 June 2001)

  • Minor tweaks and improvements.
  • When you edit the To List it also has a status of either "yes" or "no".

Version 1.4 (19 June 2001)

  • We've added a Restore Button. When a message arrives while you are typing in a message to send, your message is saved and the New button turns into a Restore button. You can restore the contents of your original message by pressing the Restore button, or by pressing the Done button (which marks the message that arrived as Done). 

Version 1.3a (14 June 2001)

  • To List has Online status as either "yes" or "no" (not "1" or "0" anymore)
  • Few internal changes.
  • Improved Remote closing on Win2K machines.

Version 1.3 (7 June 2001)

  • View History now sorted by date. 
  • Improved program stability.
  • See who's online in your To List.
  • Small cosmetic changes
  • Some underlying changes to the auto-updating mechanism. See how to install this application.

Version 1.2c (18 Jan 2001)

  • Fixed bug where if a duplicate message arrives, the tune plays, Office Messenger leaps to the front, but no message is visible. The action has been corrected to do nothing when a duplicate message arrives. A duplicate message is a message that has the same message ID and has been received before, but was not acknowledged properly. 
  • Added the override Address Book feature (see Feature List)
  • Various other minor bugs fixed.

Version 1.1 (23 Nov 2000)

  • Fixed some bugs that prevented Office Messenger from running and closing down on Windows NT and Win2K machines.
  • Worked on removing duplicate entries in the Recipients list.
  • Changed the error messages you get if you run more than one copy on one machine.
  • Various other minor bugs fixed.

Version 1.0 (9 Nov 2000)

  • First release.



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