Here are some of the Fresh Proposals Software Update – July + Mid August 2021

Fresh Proposals Software Update –  August 2021

Copy page to another section in current proposal/template

Some of you wanted to copy a page from one section to another. Now you can use this feature to copy a page and all of its content to another section in the same proposal or template.

As you click on the icon showed above, you will be prompted to select desired section from the dropdown list.

Once a target section in a current proposal/template is selected, you can click Copy Page to proceed. This action will copy all content on the current page and the same will be recreated/added as a new page in the desired/target section.

Indirectly this will enable you to move a page from one section to another by following same steps above, just that you will need to delete the current page in an existing section.

HubSpot Integration: Add Signed PDF File to the Deal Page

Some of you have requested this enhancement and it make sense to upload the signed proposal PDF document to the HubSpot deals page. Remember, the proposal PDF will be automatically uploaded to the deal page after all designated signatories have signed the document. .

Proposal Listing with Active Proposals as a Default Tab

Previously you needed to apply filter to enlist active proposals. Many of you have requested an enhancement to set the default proposals  list as active proposals.

So here you go. You have a default tab in proposals listing that shows active proposals. You can also see the current count of active proposals. That doesn’t mean you will lose access to all proposals, No! You can still access all proposals (in draft, sent, signed, accepted, etc statuses) in All Tab.

Remember, you can also use search filter on the right side to further refine your listing based on client name, status, year, proposal name, etc. The proposal count seen along the Tab title displays filtered proposals which meet search-filter criteria.

Vertical Menu for Drag-Drop blocks in the editor

You can see same set of components/blocks are available in this vertical menu bar, instead of three horizontal rows in the right side properties panel. This new tool bar is closer to proposal pages making it easier to drag-drop or click to add a new content blocks to your proposal document. This bar is also setting a stage for upcoming, new components to be added in the toolbar in proposal/template editor.

Just in case if you have missed it, Snippet has got a new icon.

We also realized the Proposal Details or Template Details tab in the editor was accessible only when clicking the Info/Arrow icon in the top. Now you will see Proposal Details tab, Template Details tab always accessible in the top of the right side properties panel.

Self-Sign Status in Proposal Details Page

It is interesting to see that many users are using self-sign option regularly. By and large, it is a good practice to include sender’s signature in the proposal and have it signed before sending the proposal to client/prospect. While viewing/previewing the proposal document, system would show who all are signatories and their respective statuses (signed or pending). However the internal proposal summary page, the system wasn’t indicating status of signature for the proposing side. This enhancement clears such doubts.

You can track the status displayed as Signed when designated signatory from sending side signs the proposal.

There can be multiple signatory from sending as well s receiving side. You can track it all

Remember, if there is anyone without signature assigned to him/her, the signature-status will not be displayed for him/her.

Hebrew, Arabic, Greek Language Translation (+ RTL)

With this update, we have introduced three new client-view language translation

1. Arabic
2. Hebrew
3. Greek

As you set the Right To Left (RTL) settings for languages like Arabic or Hebrew, and also set client-view language preference to Hebrew/Arabic, it will look like this

Let us know in the chat, if you find any of the translated text that needs improvement.

Proposal Listing Displaying Proposal Statuses

In order to bring further clarity to identify proposals based on the status while scanning the list of proposals, we have added icons to the card for proposals that are Sent or still in Draft status.

Stripe Integration: Option to enable/disable payment available in proposal summary

With Stripe payment integration, you can set percentage of a proposal value to be collected as advance payment while creating a proposal. Now you can override this percentage later and also enable/disable Stripe payment for a given proposal while/after editing the proposal. This option was already available in proposal editor > Client View option.

Now this option is available in Proposal Details page. You don’t need to open proposal editor after client has viewed your proposal (i.e. no need to unlock it).

Back Button in Proposal Preview

Many users (including us), keep editing proposal and move to preview it. While previewing the proposal, we may realize that client/contact details should be updated and I need to go to clients page/ or if certain settings in the account setting page need to be changed. The only you were able to go back to main navigation, was going back to the editor and then to main page.

It involved unnecessary going back to editor (one more click + page loading time). We listened to you and improved the navigation options. If you are in the proposal preview, you will be able to jump back to proposal listing or proposal summary page or dashboard. One click and you are back to the main page.

Back Button in Emailer

Proposal emailer was the similar story. If someone has moved to the proposal emailer page via proposal editor and if s/he wanted to jump to the proposal summary page, s/he had to go through proposal editor page before navigating to Proposal Summary page. But NO MORE hassle.

You have options to jump to proposal listing or proposal summary page or account dashboard in a single click.

Emailer : Reminder Shows if Email is Getting Scheduled Over the Weekend

While scheduling a reminder email, one may not realize that it would get scheduled over the weekends (Saturday, Sunday). Now system will display a warning (not error) that the reminder email will be scheduled over the weekend.

While most users may not want to schedule/send reminder emails to their client over the weekend, there are use-cases wherein some users do want to send reminder email specifically on weekends. Though it may sound counter-intuitive but they would like to schedule reminder email only if they see such warning while sending the proposal email.

Disable alignment assist

Though we didn’t declare it before, you may have noticed that the editor shows dotted lines of alignment assist as you drag a content blocks on the page. It also enables snap-to-grid. While it works well in normal situations, if content blocks on a give page get smaller and/or crowded, snap-to-grid feature may not function effectively.

To avoid challenges in aligning content blocks in these situation, we have enabled a temporary option in the editor. This option named “Assist Alignment” is enabled by default. If you want to manually align the blocks/move to desired place, you can turn off this option.

Remember, this option is not preserved or saved as preference; for the next document editing, it will be reset to Enabled for the next document editing page. Going forward, we would like to make the alignment assist/snap-to-grid functionality smoother that you don’t have to turn-off this option or even use this option.

Hide Sub-total Column

This enhancement was requested by few users. They don’t want to use/view sub-total column in the fees table. It can be useful if all your fees included in the table are either fixed or ‘content-type’; since sub-total column does not make much sense in this case.

Following screenshot shows the way fees table appear if this option is turned off. Similarly, you need to decide whether you want to turn-On or Off this option for the fees you want to present to your client.

Account Activity to Display When Stripe is Connected

As you connect Stripe payment gateway/ integration, it will be displayed in the activities card of the main dashboard. It is useful when there are multiple admin users and one of them connects or disconnects such integration, it will be logged in activities.

Unticking reminder email in emailer to remove scheduled email

If you are scheduling reminder email and for whatever reasons you want NOT to send the reminder email, now you can uncheck the box for reminder email in the proposal emailer. Unticking the checkbox will warn you and ask for your confirmation. Once confirmed, the email will be removed from scheduled queue.

It should be noted that if reminder email is already sent or client has viewed, this option can not be used.

Bug Fixes

We fixed quite a few bugs, enlisting few of those especially if you have reported those to us.

Happy New Year everyone. We have set of new features, enhancements and bug fixes to share.

announcement  Stripe Payment Integration

You can set up Fresh Proposals + Stripe integration and start accepting payment right through Fresh Proposals as clients signs your proposal. You can set % of amount to be collected for a given proposal.

You can find more information about this feature here.

announcement  Client-View Languages Translation

Beside 25 languages we've added, we started receiving feedback about additional language support as well as improvement to existing languages available for client-view.

• [NEW] Mandarin (Traditional Chinese) language interface is now available
• Japanese language translation improved

We will continue to improve existing languages translation based on the feedback received.

announcement  Snippets

Users were unable to move items from one page to another. We heard you. We have added Snippet feature. This is clipboard kind of a feature that allows you to save content block(s) that you'd like to reuse. It is mini-version of page copy or section copy. The best part is, once a content block (shape, image, fees table, text box) is added to snippet it can be used in the same proposal, or different proposal or same template or different templates; even by other team members.

Find more info about how to add to snippet, use it, manage elements in snippet here.

Manage Snippets Library

You can manage items in snippet library similar to Image/ Video Library (Content Library > Snippet)

There are couple of minor issues about text formatting with text type Snippets which are being fixed.

improvement  Supporting HTML

• Email Template

improvement Decimal Places

You can set decimal places to show in the fees table. This option is available in Client-View tab as shown below

improvement Active Proposal count updated if validity has expired

If you have a proposal sent to client but its validity date has passed. Now it will not be counted as active proposal and client will not be able to access the proposal.

View Active Proposals

fix  Issues

• Proposal Comments Replies, Resolutions were saved but not displayed immediately - Fixed
• Options for selected row of a Fees table are not displayed in the right side panel - panel got pushed below - Fixed
• Proposal PDF generation issue - gray boxes at the bottom for Legal & Letter size proposals PDF - Fixed
• Cursor jumps-off as you type - (third party editor tool issue) Fixed
• Special Chars in email name (reported by German & Japanese users) - Fixed 

• Special Chars in e-Signature, name - Fixed
• Change of section name saved instantly clicking save tick - Improved
• Currency in fees table - should be showing symbol e.g. for Malaysian Ringgit should display RM instead of Code+Symbol e.g MYRM - Fixed.

• Resend email invitation to team member, change roles - Added/ Fixed
• Fees table row - row height (temporary solution) - Added

We continue to focus more on editor improvements as well as UI performance activities.

improvement Variables values in editor:

No more guessing like many other proposal tools do - you don't know what values your proposal is going to display to your clients. With Fresh Proposals, you see the value, right in the editor, not just {MyCompanyName}.

How to use it?

Same old way - Keep the cursor where you want to add variable, just type hash (#) variables + values are displayed in the pop-up box, side bar too; click on it place the variable value in your template, proposal.

fix Fixed Link Issue

Fixed issue related to links (wasn't clickable in content table)

fix UI Fixes: 

• Alignment on proposal summary page, 
• custom variable pop-up box has close button and fixed header w/ scrollable list of variables, 
• Hand-grab icon seen in preview (removed)
• Proposal fees options, discount, tax tab to show % value even when its selector tab closed

Looking at the items listed here, it may look like a minor version or work. However the reality is different. Certain enhancements which may appear not-so-huge for user, in reality consumes lot of energy (mental, time). 

We believe the changes we have been doing since last month or so, have brought immense improvement to user experience, performance. 

Here we go.

fix Fixed Top Text Toolbar 

The top toolbar in text editor is now fixed. Earlier we would show textoolbar only when textbox is clicked. But the way toolbar appear/disappear wasn't noticed by users. Now it has a fixed position at the top of the editor and always remain visible; hence it shouldn't make users 'think' what/where should I check next.

improvement Combined Undo-Redo, Zoom Bar with Texttool bar

As a related change, we have merged existing undo-redo, zoom level, fullscreen toolbar with texttool bar. Undo-redo function is not only about text, it is also about adding/deleting/updating images, shapes, etc and their properties; undo-redo menu will keep showing for all content blocks, so will zoom level and fullscreen icons.

However the texttool bar, which is used to change paragraph style, font-size, font-color, line-height, etc, will be active only when textbox is clicked (selected). In other situations, it will be visible but remain disabled.

fix improvement Editing inside textbox, handle to move textbox

We have researched and experimented significantly with textbox in the past. There are two essential actions user would like to take while using a textbox

• To edit/format the text inside
• To move the whole textbox from one place to another on the same page 

[Strike-through content reflects foregone changes]

We got feedback from couple of the users:: to get in & exit active textbox by using double click (like it is done in Figma). So the expectations were,

• To edit inside a textbox, user will double click on it. 
• Then to move away from the active textbox, s/he can again double click on it. 
• But again if s/he would like to select a word s/he can double click on a given word (MS Word behaviour). 

The problem was with the way this request was implemented, double click events would conflict. Software wouldn't know what is user's exact expectation - whether to go out of the textbox or select underlying word. 

Until recently, one of the users complained about his struggled to move the textbox (in its case double click turned out to be a conflicting event), hence we decided to revert the double click related changes. 

And the way textbox click actions stands now:

• Single click over the textbox, you will see a cursor and you can edit any word/text by pointing a cursor on it.
• You click in the area, outside the textbox, and hover a mouse over the textbox, you will get a hand-grab icon. Use the hand-grab icon to move the textbox on the page wherever you wish
• Double click inside the textbox, and it will select underlying word. If you double click again, it will select the paragraph. It is exactly like you would do it Google Doc or MS Word.
• We have also added drag/move icon on top of all the content blocks (including textbox). You can click on the textbox, you will see move icon on the top, use the it to move the textbox on the page.

Now we think, this is much cleaner, easier way to use textbox. But do let us your feedback.

fix Responsive Proposal Preview Page for Various Devices

Before sending a proposal, you can preview it on smartphone and tablet. Such preview is more like a simulated smartphone/tablet device view (but not a real one). The left panel displaying sections list would render in bit non-responsive fashion.  Unlike desktop/laptop, user can not use mouse/click in smartphone and tablet. We have removed the section's panel in smartphone and tablet.

improvement Placeholder Variable Popup

We noticed that new users tend to get confused with yellow text i.e. placeholder variable :-)  

• To make it easier for new users to understand variables, we have added label to the pop-up
• Added short note about variables
•  Added close button
• Fixed the top part of the pop-up when users scroll through the list of variables

improvement Image in Email Signature

Now you can upload image in your email signature. You can reuse image from your image library or upload new one to it. This is especially helpful if you want to add company logo, social media images in your email signature.

improvement  Performance Improvement

Got significant performance improvement when proposals, templates, sections list is rendered

fix Removed Bookmark Feature

This was part of work-in-progress activity that got pushed to LIVE. Since Add to favorite allows users to quickly access their preferred templates, bookmark feature was causing a bit confusion (and couldn't identify a reason to have a Bookmark as  distinct feature when Favorite is already available).

So for now we have decided to remove the bookmark template feature. You can always add a template to your Favorite list (and there is a separate tab for you to see your favorite templates).

That's all for now, FPians. Have a good one.

Fresh Proposals Software

Send beautiful proposals, add interactive pricing and eSignature to it. Get proposal insights to better understand your prospect's actions and intention and close more deals. Know more about Fresh Proposals software here: https://www.freshproposals.com

Email From Your Domain

Finally we give you the feature many of you have been asking for. It gives you the ability to send proposal from your own domain (like john@mycompany.com instead of proposals@freshproposals.com)

It involves two steps and both steps will require you to add DNS records to your DNS registrar.

• Verify Domain 

• Verify DKIM Settings

Once you enter these details, it will take about 72 hours to verify these records. Once verified, your clients will start receiving your proposals from your own domain.

Replace Existing Image in Proposal/ Template

We realized the difficulty or extra work needed to replace an existing image. We have fixed it for you. 

Simply open the image gallery and on your proposal page click on the image you want to replace and then hover a mouse over the image you want to add instead. You will see replace icon over it. Simply clicking on the icon will replace current image with new one.

The best part is - the added image has exactly same properties as of the original one including size, shadow, corner, border, etc.

Here is one more screenshot to show how it can be replaced.

More Font Sizes Option in Editor

You will have more font sizes to choose from, especially for the 8-20px range. You can also set it in the style settings.

Update to Background Color of Placeholder Variables

[Making it viewable irrespective of its own font color or background color, well in most cases]

This is something we knew we had to fix it today or tomorrow. But there were couple of users reporting the same issue in one day and we decided to fix it. Now you will be able to read the placeholder/variable used irrespective of the background color used. Be mindful of the font color applied to the placeholder/variable.

Assign Signatory - Signature Block Gets Highlighted

While sending proposals, users do not assign client contact - who will be signing the proposal. And we realized it is not obvious for many users, what to do next, when  to the would see error like 'Your proposal has signature(s) with no signee assigned'. We have improved warning. reporting such that users will know what needs to be done now.

The video explains how warning is helping user to take next step.

Right Click Available on Proposal, Template Listing

If you want to preview multiple templates at a go instead of going in each one of them and clicking on back, you can right click on desired proposal/ template in the list and preview it in a new tab.

UI Refactoring

1. UI Changes for Empty State Screens

For those who are already using Fresh Proposals, this may not make much difference but for new users, they will see informative screens in case of there is no content in say Proposals, Section Library, Images, etc

2. UI Effect on left menu, logo separation

Updated the left and top panel in the application to separate menu, branding/logo and also added bit of animation effect in the left side panel to indicate the menu selected.

Also fixed a minor bug related to how values of variables are being displayed in the PDF

That's all for now.

Fresh Proposals Software

Send beautiful proposals, add interactive pricing and eSignature to it. Get proposal insights to better understand your prospect's actions and intention and close more deals. Know more about Fresh Proposals software here: https://www.freshproposals.com

Custom Domain Feature

We are really happy to announce that the custom domain feature is fully automated from our side. Meaning, you do not need to contact us to configure your custom domain, if you are able to save DNS entries correctly.

For non-starters, refer this guide to know more about custom domain feature.

Simplified - Adding Content Blocks to Proposal

Previously, to add a content block to proposal pages, the only option users had was to drag-drop the content block from right side panel as shown below. 

Existing Way - Drag-Drop to add Block (will continue to work)

We realized, not everyone can understand the drag-drop mechanism and hence improved it to Click-To-Add. Now simply click on the icon of the desired content block on the right and the content block will be added to a default position on the active page and you can move it wherever you want to.

New Way - Simple Click to Add Block

Note: for those who want to position content block to a specific position, they can continue to use drag-drop functionality. It is not going away, since it gives you better control.

UI Change (Before x After)

We have done considerable user interface refactoring (UI refactoring) to menus and certain pages. We will continue to refine and make it a smooth &  consistent experience for the users.

• Left Side Menu Bar

For those who have keen eye on UI-UX improvements, we have started using SVG icons instead of PNG images.

• Settings Page (Before x After)

When you look at settings pages, merely a glance at the screenshot you may feel boxes were fine, however when you will use it as a user, in terms of interactions, access to information, the latest UI refactoring changes provide better navigation, better ability to view-act on options available on the page.

• UI Changed for Custom Domain (Before x After)

Setting up a custom domain is not easy and we have first hand experienced when we used other products. We decided to change it. The flow of adding a custom domain to your account has been simplified and literally hand-hold users through the process, step by step.

Note: Those who have already set up a custom domain, need use this feature.

Enable/ Disable Proposal Tracking

Users from IT Managed Services, IT Security services companies have raised feature requests to make proposal tracking optional per proposal, with solid justification to do so. Hence we have decided to implement this feature.

Now you can see a proposal tracking option even at account level, you can set it enabled or disabled. Accordingly, all new proposals will follow this direction.

If you have enabled tracking at your account level, you have the option to turn off tracking even at individual proposal level, as you can see below.

Refer user guide for this feature.

That's all for now.

Fresh Proposals Software

Send beautiful proposals, add interactive pricing and eSignature to it. Get proposal insights to better understand your prospect's actions and intention and close more deals. Know more about Fresh Proposals software here: https://www.freshproposals.com

New Templates

We have included new templates for event management proposal, SaaS software proposal, UX Design Proposal, etc.

Alignment Assist

Honestly, this has been our own itch. We were unable to align blocks in the middle of the page or textbox with references to other blocks.

We have moved the alignment assist work bit further. If you have content blocks (e.g. textbox, image, shape, signature, etc) in a proposal/editor page and when you try to move (drag-drop) them, you will notice dotted lines gets highlighted over the mid point of the content block. It is to help you align the component/block to the center of the page. We will continue to work on it to simplify alignment of blocks for you.

It looks something like this

Zapier

We have implemented Zapier integration. Currently we are waiting for Fresh Proposals app listing to get published on Zapier marketplace. If you have zapier account you can use triggers and actions to add contacts from CRM tools to Fresh Proposals and when proposals are created/sent/accepted, you can create/update deals in CRM. There are many uses cases that one can apply. We will soon create Zapier templates for Fresh Proposals and make it available to our uses.

Note: Zapier integration is not applicable/available to all plans. WE CAN FLY /TEAM plan will have this feature enabled in next few days.

Undo-Redo Operations in Editor

If you are editing a proposal/template and changed color, height/length, padding, etc of a textbox, image and any other block; you realize that you need to go back and set revert to the previous color of textbox/shape. Yes, it has indeed happened quite a few times when we ourselves have been creating templates; and we badly wanted to go back to the earlier state of the content block. This enhancement was definitely due for a while and we've also received feature requests last month. 

Note: Currently we are allowing undo-redo of properties on right side panel only, soon it will cover other aspects of undo-redo in the editor. There will be certain actions wherein system asks for explicit consent/confirmation from the user such as - deleting/ adding sections in the sections list, we will not allow undo-redo operation in such cases.

New google fonts

New set of Google fonts are available now. We are moving in a direction wherein including new Google Fonts to the system should be possible without new release/deployment.

Redesigned Settings Page

Not a major change though, we have simplified the settings page by organzing various options into few logical groups. These sub-settings groups can be expanded and collapsed.

Content/ Fees Table Settings

There was enhancement as well as issue related to propagate changes done to style settings for table to fees table and content tables already present in proposal/templates. e.g. if font color for header of table is changed to red, it will apply only to new tables however it should not affect changes done to existing table(s).

Now the enhancement is, proposal creator/ editor can reset style of already created table to the style defined for proposal/template setting by clicking on Reset button.

UI Enhancement

The buttons and menu labels in settings were functional, working fine but wrongly placed. Updated placement of button and back button for a consistent and better experience.

Proposal/ Template Settings

Squashed a bug that duplicated listing of paragraph styles (h1, h2,h3) and fonts family.

What is next

Alignment Assist

We are working on alignment assist feature that will help users to align blocks in the canvas. This is not complete though, we are working on it.

Zapier Integration

Soon you will be able to integrate your favourite CRM, project management or accounting tool to Fresh Proposals using Zapier.

Editor Properties

As number of properties for text block, shapes, image blocks are increasing, the right side panel looks pretty much filled up with boxes, sliders, color pickers, etc. Reorganized the panel layout by grouping and turning properties as collapsable tabs.

Lazy Loading Effect

Smoothened lazy loading of proposal lists, editor by removing flashy effect, redesigned boxes that show up before actual data is rendered. There is still a scope for improvement & we will keep tweaking it further.

Default Block Border

Minor issue related to textbox, shapes border that would show border though border is not selected is squashed. Issue observed as old code rejigged for collapsable properties tab

One Click Apply - Colour Picker 

Color picker for textbox changed to apply color right after selecting color rather than clicking Apply button separately. Currently we've done for textbox block alone, we will change this color-picker behaviour at other places too.

Performance Improvement

Tweaked a few things both for client side browser and for sever side processing to improve UI/ rendering performance. You may notice relatively faster performance compared to last week.

Signature Validation

If a proposal contains any signature block which does not have signee assigned to it, proposer can not move forward to emailer wizard. User will be shown a pop-up a message that signature is not assigned. Clicking on the Ok message, user will be navigated to the page that has unassigned signature block.

Export to PDF of Landscape Layout of Proposal

You and you clients will be able to export the proposals that have landscape layout configured. We will continue to refine the PDF export file to include the signature audit trail, edges in a consistent manner.

Minor Update to Email Wizard

• You will see names of proposer and client rather than their emails. Of course email addresses are displayed once you click on its name.
• 'Email Preview' mode will show actual values of all placeholders used in a selected email template

Lazy Loading Effect

• If user has viewed entire proposal or template, he would not have faced any issue. Since each section is now loaded only if it is opened, this caused Repeater Mode, Style Setting mode to temporarily show blank pages. Repeater mode, Style Settings modes are now fixed to take into account lazy loading effect.

Fees Table Issue

Squashed issue related to displaying proposal value (in $ or other currency) when a proposal is generated from a template. The issue was also related to the lazy loading effect introduced in last version.

[Updated July 21, 2020]

Client Preview

Clients viewing proposals on smartphone/mobile, were unable to navigate using section list in the left side panel, though normal scrolling would work fine. When you tap a section listed on left panel, it'll navigate to desired section. It is now working fine.