This upgrade includes several bug fixes, as well as several enhancements that have been asked by our customers frequently. This upgrade is a good balance of new features and user experience improvement.

• Save clicks when un-assigning users from projects and tasks
  • When un-assigning a user from a project, he/she will be automatically un-assigned from all tasks (both incomplete and completed) in that project, both assigned and to review.
  • Users can now be un-assigned from completed tasks under "Multiple task assignment", in the "Edit User Information" page.

• Email notifications at the project level introduced - We are glad to introduce the first two email notifications at the project level. Basically, one notifies specific project assigned users when a "Project Document" is added while the second one notifies users when a reply is posted to a topic, in the discussion forum.
• The 75 Mb file size limit has been removed for "Project Documents" and "File Attachments" - We have removed this limit for allowing users to upload larger files. From now on, users can upload files of any size, as long as your account's storage space limit is not exceeded.
• A faster rich text editor - We have released a new version for the rich text editor. It is loading faster than the previous version, when a task is open for example. Moreover, the paste as well as the hyperlink windows pop up more quickly. For those who didn't know already, the paste popup avoids text to be formatted in a strange way, when it comes from the Web, for instance. Thus, users can now start from plain text and format it using the rich text editor.
• Pure Excel export - The export feature now exports users, projects, tasks and time sheets in pure Excel format (.xls). Spreadsheets are no longer in HTML format. This improves compatibility with other applications and facilitates data management.
• Export displayed columns only - When exporting user, project and task lists, the columns that are exported are now the ones displayed on-screen by default, as defined with the "Show/Hide Columns" feature. This lets users work on their spreadsheets with the columns they need only.
• Enhanced formatting for email notifications- The design and the content of all email notifications have been improved. The information is now displayed in a clearer way and hopefully, spam filters should be less likely to block them.

• Other changes:
  • Full compatibility with IE 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari 2+ and Opera 9+.
  • Completed tasks can now be deleted in the "Completed Tasks" page. Besides, the status of completed tasks can be changed without having to reopen the task. A completed task's status can also be changed for another completed status.
  • Several users can now be assigned to a project simultaneously, with the same access rights.
  • New view for the "User Workload Report": the "Daily View by Project".
  • The information displayed in the "Project Statistics" page has been improved substantially.
  • Task statuses are now separated by "type", in all corresponding drop-down lists.

A new design, improved usability and many requested features are included in this upgrade. This is a major upgrade that will pave the way for many other long-awaited enhancements to be implemented in future versions.

• A New Design - A new designer within the company has brought a new design to AceProject's interface. The tabs and the left panel have been revamped, along with a few other graphical elements have been improved in order to make your AceProject experience the best possible.
• Project Statuses - We are proud to introduce a new configuration element on the project level: the project statuses. This brings new reporting capabilities and ensures better collaboration and communication within teams.
• Show/Hide Columns for Project Lists and Gantt Charts- Version 4.2 brought the "Show/Hide Columns" feature for tasks. This unexpectedly popular feature pushed us to offer the same capability for project lists and Gantt charts. Therefore, it is now possible to decide which fields will be displayed and which filters will be applied in all project lists and all Gantt charts. Moreover, the changes are applied and remembered in all project lists and Gantt charts each user is allowed to view.
• Customize Branding - It is now possible for all Hosted Pro and Hosted Gold account administrators to upload their corporate logo, along with their header background. We used to offer the logo substitution option upon request only. Now, we offer even more and no need to contact us anymore to apply such a change. This option lets you bring your corporate image within AceProject, making it look more as if it was an in-house application.
• New Documentation Formats - In addition to the contextual help and other html help topics, we have added new documentation formats. From now on, video tutorials, PDF's and PowerPoint presentations will provide even more support and alternatives to html pages, letting you decide among several formats.
• Delete Comments in the Comment Thread - The comments in each task's comment thread can now be deleted by Project Managers and by Administrators. This ensures enhanced control over content management, in addition to providing an accurate thread and a clean task history.
• md5 Encrypted Passwords - Passwords are now encrypted with the "md5" crytographic algorhitm. Thus, passwords are now case sensitive and are visible neither by us nor by your account's administrators. This puts the level of security of your data at a very high level.
• Password Recovery - A "Forgot Password?" link has been added on the login page. This will let you enter a new password in case you forgot it.

In order to fit the project management software market and, at the same time, our customers' needs, we have revamped our package list.

We have decided to provide Hosted Basic and Hosted Advanced packages with higher privileges, without changing the monthly pricing. Moreover, we would like to introduce a new package, the Hosted Standard. After many requests, we finally offer an affordable alternative to the Hosted Advanced package.

Click here to find all details about our packages.

Every time we release a new version, it is based upon our customers' comments and suggestions. Once again, we have added the features you need because you are the users. We believe in the efficiency and power of our software, but we do not want to impose our ideas on you.

• We finally release our Task Reminder feature officially. This feature used to be available upon request only. This feature, which is set by Administrators, allows users to receive an email notification that reminds them when tasks they are assigned to are "soon due" or "overdue".
• In addition to the current "Move a Task" feature, it is now possible to copy a task into another project or within the same project. This feature is useful if you wish to re-use a task's parameters in another project or within the same project.
• The "Show/Hide Columns" feature provides users the exact display they wish to get. In fact, you can now decide which columns will be displayed and which columns will be used to sort the "My Tasks", "Incomplete Tasks" and Completed Tasks" lists.
• Fields and filters can now be remembered, for each user, in the "My Tasks", "Incomplete Tasks" and "Completed Tasks" pages.
• Export has been enhanced. In addition to the current Microsoft Excel format, it is now possible to export data in CSV format. This makes CSV import easier and gives users more flexibility, by providing them another alternative. Moreover, some field names have changed for importation and exportation. We suggest you keep an eye on that if you use these features.
• The "Calendar" has been enhanced. In addition to the "Monthly View", the "Weekly View" is now available. This way, tasks are listed on a per-day basis for a particular week. Moreover, in the "Monthly View", the task summary is now displayed instead of the task number only. This ensures a clearer display and gives a better overview of deadlines.
• Foreign characters are now supported in Hosted Pro, Hosted Gold and Source Code packages. From now on, AceProject supports characters from more than 30 languages; among them are featured: Chinese (simplified and traditional), Arabic, Greek, Japanese, Vietnamese, Polish, Thai, and more.
• A rich text editor is now available in the "Message Center" and in "My Notepad". Thus, it is now possible to add hyperlinks, bold, underline text and more.
• A new date format has been added; yyyy/mm/dd ; 12:00:00 AM (0,0).
• We have standardized the access to project tasks and to project parameters. From now on, wherever you are in AceProject, clicking the project number will bring you to the project parameters while clicking the project name will bring you to the project tasks. This will avoid confusion and save unnecessary clicks.
• The Administration-Limited mode access right has slightly changed. It now provides more rights than before over projects and tasks. We suggest you read the corresponding help topics if you use this access right.

One of our most important updates, this one includes lots of requested features to help you manage your projects with more efficiency.

• After many requests, we finally release a user and tasks import module. This module uses CSV format and is useful if you want to recover previously Excel-exported data. Moreover, this feature allows you to import users and tasks from another project management software into AceProject.
• The Custom Task Report allows you to generate task reports in accordance with your specific needs. You can select which fields you want to display and which filters to use.
• It is now possible to search through all help pages quickly and efficiently with our new search tool.
• A new field has been added on the task level: The Actual % Done. It is useful to provide a better overview of the tasks progress.
• Users can now be exported in Excel format.
• You can now personalize AceProject with the new Custom Application Name field. Instead of displaying the default "AceProject" value, you can now adapt the browser title and email notifications to your company's needs, for example "My Intranet", "Project Tool", etc.
• The Multiple Document Upload feature allows you to upload up to 15 files on one project or task at a time. This save a lot of time.
• Gantt Charts are now available in a printer-friendly format. The printer version cuts the Gantt charts in several pages for easier printing.
• The Divide Between Assigned Users checkbox in the User Workload Report  allows you to split estimated hours between assigned users equally, for better management.

Our second major update this year is filled with new functions that will make your project management experience even more effective:

• User groups can be configured to re-create teams or departments.
• A new user workload report contains each user's assigned work hours. This way, it's easy for managers to know if someone has too much or too little work.
• Yes, AceProject now supports task dependencies. With AceProject, you can specify that a task can only start once one or several other tasks are completed, and the system will automatically adjust the dependent task's dates. Moreover, you can set a lag time between these dependent tasks.
• Users with the proper access rights can modify the hours entered by another user in his/her time sheet.

With the new year, AceProject brings a brand new document management module, new Gantt charts and increased flexibility across the system:

• AceProject now offers a document management system that permits associating files to each project. Moreover, users can lock project documents, thus protecting them from deletion or modification by other users. A comprehensive range of new functions has been added, including versioning and a folder tree-view.
• Two new Gantt charts have been created for projects. They display the advancement of all projects in the same window.
• A new filter has been added to project search bars: you can now filter projects by client.
• Creating a new project by copying a template is even more flexible, allowing the adjustment of task dates to respect their delay or offset from the start date of the project. This helps you keep your schedule and/or time structure.
• Users can now choose in which language they will receive email notifications from AceProject.

AceProject 3.8  offers a new function and two improvements that will make your experience more effective:

• You can now create a client list and associate them to your projects. A client can be associated with several projects. A project can be linked to one client.
• Time reports have been modified to display comments about your time as well as data from the IN/OUT module.
• AceProject's new menus are not only more ergonomic but also compatible with a wider range of Internet browsers.

With AceProject 3.7, following-up on changes to tasks is now much easier:

• A task history can be activated on a project basis. This permits knowing the date and author of all changes made to a task since its creation, putting an end to confusion.
• All comments entered by assigned users and reviewers are now saved in the comment thread of each task. This permits keeping exchanges between all persons working on the same task.
• AceProject's contextual help is now available in French. French-speaking users now have access to the same help resources as English-speaking users.

AceProject 3.6 introduces a wide range of clever new functions and improvements:

• Three new access right items have been added:
  • The new limited administrator mode gives project managers an overview of all their projects without having access to account configuration.
  • Timesheets can be completely disabled, keeping a user from logging time.
  • Access to the User Directory can be limited or disabled. Hence, a user can only see users who are members of his or her projects or not see the directory at all.

• Project configuration contains three new default values fields: task start date, end date and estimated hours.
• Each project now has a contact section that displays the contact person for this specific project.
• When copying a project, it is possible to also copy the tasks' file attachments.
• Users can copy their timesheets from week to week, which speeds up their creation.
• The discussion forum has been improved to add text search.
• When updating a task, it is possible to cancel email notification through a simple checkbox.
• Gantt charts can be configured to display a specific number of months or weeks per page.
• Each user can decide the number of projects displayed per page, as well as how they are sorted.
• Deleting data associated with a user has been made faster and easier.
• A condensed printer version for tasks helps reduce paper consumption.
• Multiple assignments are possible both from tasks and projects.
• An administrator can send a user his or her login information straight from that user's configuration window.
• Task types and groups have been added to search criteria for time reports.
• A new report on un-assigned tasks is now available.

This new version brings far-reaching improvements to the AceProject system:

• You can now assign several users or reviewers to a task.
• In the message center, recipient options have been improved to permit multiple user selection, regardless of project.
• The printer-friendly version of a task has been optimized for readability.
• Statistics offer supplemental information regarding worked hours.
• Access rights have been modified: it is impossible to un-assign a user from a project if he or she is a creator, assigned user or reviewer on tasks.

2004's first update offers many new functions and improvements:

• You can move a task to another project. Moving a task is a useful feature that lets you take a task from one project and transfer it to another project without loosing parameters, file attachments or comments.
• You can receive an email notification when a new file is attached to a task or when a file attachment is deleted.
• There is a color code in the calendar: tasks in green start on that day, tasks in red end on that day and tasks in black start and end on thesame day.
• Time report filters have been improved.
• A new project type filter is available in the Administration section for task reports, Gantt charts and time approval.
• It is now impossible to have 2 projects with the same name and/or number.
• You can automatically generate a time report for a task by clicking on its actual hours.
• You can now delete a completed task that has attached files.

Our new Hosted GOLD package offers remote connection options:

• Your hosted account has its own independent SQL Server 2000 database. You can connect remotely with Enterprise Manager or Query Analyser to query your data in real time.
• You get an FTP account from which you can download your file attachments and *.bak files.

This version features a brand new functionality:

• A new module is now available: the IN/OUT module. This module permits starting and stopping an automatic time clock for a task. Once stopped, the time clock will automatically create a timesheet entry. This offers better control to the administrators, as well as simplifies the life of the users, who don't need to manually fill in their timesheet.
• The new IN/OUT module also gave us the idea to create a new access right. Administrators can choose how each user enters his/her time: manually, automatically using the IN/OUT module or both.
• AceProject's pages have been reorganised to make them more ergonomic. The information on the forms and tables has been regrouped by subject so they are easier to find. Moreover, AceProject's new colors have been implements in all system pages.

For this version, we improved AceProject's flexibility:

• Tasks can be numbered with decimal numbers, which permits simulating task dependencies and regrouping sequentially linked tasks together.
• Each user can set his/her default sort parameters for task reports. This saves time when producing the reports themselves.
• A new access right now limits user access to a project: they can see their tasks without seeing the project's other parameters, such as time sheets or calendars. By forbidding opening the project, the user only sees his/her tasks in the My Office tab, which is useful with clients and sub-contractors.
• Users with normal access rights may receive the right to create a blank project or to copy it from a template. (Certain conditions apply).

A few improvements were implemented:

• New date formats and time zone selection enhance user experience. Each user can now choose his/her own date format and time zone, or keep the account's default settings.
• Opening a project is now easier, thanks to the drop-down list located to the right of the main navigation tabs.

For the official launch of AceProject's latest version, our team worked very hard to implement both a esthetic and functional improvements:

• AceProject now sports its brand new colors and convenient animated menus.

• The Administration section includes two new reports and 2 new tools:
  • Task reports by date and by user are now available in the Administration tab, which permits producing these reports for all projects at once.
  • Your account data is exportable in Microsoft Excel format. This is useful for backups and importing the data into another software.
  • A project deletion interface lets your erase a whole project or only parts of it.

• The email notification functionality has been expanded to include the message centre and time approval:
  • When you send a message through the message centre, you can ask the system to send an email to the recipient.
  • When you approve a user's time, you can send him a time approval notification email with a custom message.

• A tasks' actual hours now only includes time that is either approved or waiting to be approved. Time that has been rejected is not computed into the actual hours figure.

Several functions have been added or redesigned:

• A task calendar is now available under the Administration tab. Moreover, bothcalendars can display their task list right in the window, which saves you many clicks!
• Our Gantt charts have been completely redesigned. The charts are available on ayearly or quarterly basis, which is better suited to the nature of these tools.
• Wherever tasks are displayed, you will find a link to a printer-friendly version of the task list. On top of printing all tasks at once, this page lets you decide how many tasks to print on each page.
• A new task report has been added to enable searches on the date fields of a task : creation, last update, start, and due dates.

3 new features are now available to better your AceProject experience:

• You can now create several task statuses corresponding to "completed," such as closed, cancelled, history, etc.
• Time approval has been redefined to make a distinction between a time sheet that has not been submitted for approval and one for which an approval request has been sent.
• A completed task now opens in read-only mode. If you have the required access rights, you can reopen it by changing its status on the completed task page.

3 new features are now available to better your AceProject experience:

• The new report on time sheets helps you get an overview of the human resources required for one or all projects. Produce a weekly or monthly report, choose users, dates, and time sheet status. This convenient report pops up in a new window and is ready to be printed.
• Administrators now have their own Gantt chart, where they can see all projects at once, or one project at a time.
• In the My Tasks page under the My Office tab, we have added the Quick Task Creation Box: simply choose your assigned project and click a button to create a new task without having to open a project.

AceProject is constantly evolving. Once again, several improvements and details have appeared in the system:

• On the Edit Task page, a Properties icon takes you directly to the project configuration page.
• The system now checks that simultaneous changes do not cause data loss: when two users are making changes to a task simultaneously, AceProject will stop the second user's update from overwriting the first user's modifications.
• Daily and weekly totals are now displayed in the time approval page.
• A drop-down list is available to choose the month and year in the project calendar.
• Ergonomics has been improved in the Add a Week page: you can browse one or four weeks in time.
• AceProject now validates your projects and tasks' dates. Hence, if you set a task's dates outside the project's scope, you will get an error message. Likewise, if you set the project's end date before a task's end date, you will get an error message.

Once again, our user's comments have led to several ergonomic enhancements:

• Project configuration is now tab-based to make navigation easier.
• User configuration is easier to use: you can now assign a project to a user directly from the edit user window - no need to click through to another page.
• Time approval has been added to the Administration tab: it is now possible to approve time sheets for all projects at the same time.
• Weekly time sheets now display daily totals for easier referencing.
• Supplemental information has been added to the discussion forum: you can now see the number of messages in a topic, as well as the date and author of the last post.

Time approval ergonomics have been enhanced to make them easier to use. You can now approve a whole week in one click, or browse through a user's work items to approve them individually. This added flexibility lets you approve globally or in detail: it's all up to you.

AceProject has come up with yet another way to improve communications: the Message Center. Send messages to a specific user or a whole project team, know when you have new messages waiting, know when others read your messages. It's like having a private mailbox just for AceProject!

You don't need to open each project to see your tasks anymore: the My Tasks page under the My Office tab shows all your tasks for all assigned projects. Of course, we have a search bar to help you sort the tasks by project, status or type of action required (assigned user or reviewer).

You can now create and manage a discussion forum in each one of your projects. AceProject permits creating as many topics as you need in a project. This helps teams improve communications while leaving a record of those conversations.

Keeping in mind our users' comments and our commitment to constant improvement, AceProject now has a brand new, flexible access right structure. While administrator access rights have been slightly modified, normal user access rights have been expanded to permit tailoring each user's access to their actual needs and permissions. Read our page about access rights.

In the last year, FreeTaskManager has grown beyond simple task management to a more comprehensive project management system. Hence, FreeTaskManager was no longer a suitable name for it. Starting March 1st, you will find all the user-friendly features you used to know as FreeTaskManager under a new name: AceProject.

Don't worry about your account and login information: they will remain unaffected by the name change.

• AceProject will let you log in to your account with your FreeTaskManager login name and password.
• Free access will remain available as the Hosted BASIC package.

The web site is now sporting the FreeTaskManager's new colors, and has more ergonomic browsing. We also took the opportunity to launch brand new packages. Our new Hosted ADVANCED package offers a solution that is midway between the limited free account and the powerful PRO package. Our Source Code package now comes with both Access 2000 and SQL Server 2000 database formats.

Finally, FreeTaskManager now supports recurring monthly payments with the Hosted ADVANCED and Hosted PRO packages, with our new credit card provider, Paypal.

In the project tab you will notice a new item: the Project Calendar. It displays each task's start and end dates in a practical monthly format. Within a click, browse back and forward in time to see tasks begin and end. You can even apply filters to display only tasks that matter to you.

You can now see your project's completion levels at a glance using the popular Gantt chart model. This chart shows a monthly progress bar for each task.

Gantt charts are a project planning tool used to represent the timing of tasks required to complete a project. Because Gantt charts are simple to understand, they are used by most project managers to illustrate completion or progress.

Three new features are now available on the FreeTaskManager: tab-based task editing, a complete statistics page for projects and new statistics and reports sections for administrators.

The Edit Task Information page is now divided in tabs to make browsing easier. With more and more information now available for each task, using tabs to go from basic information to file attachments is simpler. 

The project statistics page also displays more information, providing a more detailed summary of your project. You can even see the list of tasks assigned to a specific user or task status, for example.

In the administration section, you can now see statistics for all projects: get an overview of activity in your account, including file attachment sizes and total task numbers, so you can be up-to-date on how close to your limitations you are. Moreover, you can also produce a report on tasks assigned, created or reviewed by a specific user - regardless of project! Browse the list of all tasks assigned to a user in all projects, for example.

The 128-bit data encryption service ensures the complete confidentiality of your data. It keeps your data safe as it travels from your computer to our server. HTTPS is the same level of security your bank's Internet-access connection offers.  Click here for more information about HTTPS from our web host, Superb Internet.

This new feature shows you, in one convenient page, the advancement of your project. From worked hours to percentage of completion, total tasks and even user statistics, you will find it all in one page.

Completed tasks are now displayed in a separate page to make task management easier when working in big projects. Hence, you have now 2 task pages: Incomplete Tasks and Completed Tasks. The Incomplete tasks page contains all tasks that have a status other than completed, while the Completed tasks page has only those that are termed as completed. The search bar is available on both pages to help you find just the group of tasks you need to work on.

Behind the FreeTaskManager's professional new look, you will find improved features, a more powerful database system and an integrated user-friendly help section.

The FreeTaskManager now sports a tab-based navigation system: the My Office tab is each user's personal place. It is now easier to browse between an open project and your preferences, simply click on the tabs and you're there! Even better, the project tab displays your project's name, so you always know what you're working on. Project navigation has been greatly improved, letting you jump from page to page effortlessly. Moreover, an integrated contextual help system is now available: you have a question? Simply click on HELP and get your answers!

We did not forget about the administrators in this great makeover: the administration section contains all items pertaining to managing projects and your FreeTaskManager account. The tab structure also allows for hiding this administration section, should a user not have the proper access rights. This avoids creating useless needs. 

Technically speaking, we are switching our online database to SQL Server 2000. This will improve the FreeTaskManager twofold: the system's speed will be greatly increased, as well as its stability. SQL server will eliminate the page reload issue caused by user saturation with MS Access.

The free access is still there, granting 2 projects, 5 users, 50 tasks, 25 time sheets, and 2 Mb file attachment space, but now you are using a more powerful and user-friendly system than ever!

Are you tired of scrolling and searching for your task? Now you can reach it easily! We have added a new feature to reach your task by number: below the task list table is a Quick Task Open box: simply type your task number and bingo! No more scrolling or surfing pages and pages of tasks!

This particular change idea came from you, our valued users. There is now a printer-friendly format for printing tasks. When in the Edit Task Information, simply click on the printer icon at the top of the table, and you will reach a new printer-friendly page!

The FreeTaskManager is now even simpler to use when creating projects! When adding a new project to your company, you can now import existing settings from another project. No need to re-assign users or re-configure task groups, types, statuses, and priorities, simply import them all from a previously created project.

It is now possible to choose dates using a graphical pop-up calendar when editing tasks and projects. This makes finding a date easy and also eliminates typographical errors.

FreeTaskManager is proud to introduce its latest improvement: attaching files to tasks, such as screen captures, images or documents. Each company may attach up to 2 Mb of files to its projects' tasks.

Management becomes easier with our Time Sheet module : users enter their hours and request approval, while project managers effortlessly approve time sheets. Easy automatic email notification makes communication easier.

We have just added a new section to the FreeTaskManager, the Task Report section. It is accessible through the Task Reports button in the main menu. Please do not hesitate to comment on this new section as we are looking for your suggestions for new reports.

Thank you all for your comments on the FreeTaskManager, they helps us improve the system to make it even better. We took your comments into account, and made the following changes:

• You can now manually modify the number of any task in any of your projects. This eliminates an issue where two tasks added simultaneously in the same project would have the same task number.
• You can also set the number of tasks to appear on each task page. This permits you to adjust your FreeTaskManager display to fit your screen size and resolution.

We are proud to launch the FreeTaskManager System. We are waiting for your comments and your questions.