MessageSender Check Version 6.2.0 has just been released.

This version includes the following changes:

• ADDED: It checks the MessageSender Queue for messages that are waiting to be sent and gives you a breakdown of the number of messages.  If the Warning symbol appears next to any of these counts it means that you have messages waiting to be sent but there is something preventing that (whatever that is will be shown elsewhere in the checks it performs as an error or warning).
• ADDED: When it checks the latest MessageSender log file for errors, it grabs those error messages and displays them.  This means you don’t have to open Log Viewer and got look for them yourself.
• FIXED: Main window resizes correctly.

If you’re not sure what MessageSender Check is all about, please check out this previous article on it.

You can download MessageSender Check here.

One of the great things about PhonePad is that you don’t need to configure the workstation software to connect to the PhonePad Server.  It does it all automatically using Server Auto-Discovery.

When you start PhonePad, your PhonePad workstation software will send out a message asking if there are any PhonePad servers on the network.  The server will respond with its connection details, which the workstation will use to establish a connection.

Here’s an example of that happening.

If you find that PhonePad is unable to locate a server, or if you get an error message similar to this then something may be blocking the UDP protocol on your Server, workstation, or network.

If this happens to you, check your anti-virus software on your Server and Workstations.  Although PhonePad automatically creates the necessary firewall rules for the Windows Firewall, anti-virus software often ignores these settings.  You may need to allow the PhonePad Workstation and Server software to access UDP and/or port 15350.  Your router may also be blocking the UDP protocol or port 15350.

If you are unable to resolve this, there are a couple of other options you can use to connect.

Disable Auto-Discovery

Open Control Center on the Server or Host PC to check the Server IP Address.

Make a note of the IP Address.  Tip: If you double-click on the IP Address it will be copied to the Windows clipboard.

On your workstation, open Workstation Config.

Select Disable Auto-Discovery of Server and enter the IP Address under Server IP Address, and then click Save.

When you start PhonePad, it will show that the IP Address is overridden.

Server Access Key

Open Control Center on the Server or Host PC, select PhonePad Server, and click the Settings button.

When the Server Settings screen is displayed, you will need to create a Server Access Key.

Click the button with the green padlock to create the Server Access Key.

Copy the Server Access Key by clicking the Copy button (next to the button with the green padlock).

The Server Access Key needs to be registered.  Click the Register button.

On your workstation, open Workstation Config.  Select Use Server Access Key and enter the Server Access Key that you created, then click Save.

When you start PhonePad, it will retrieve the Server IP Address using the Server Access Key.

Please note: This method uses the Internet to retrieve the IP Address from our web server.  The Server Access Key will only work on your network and is useless outside of your network, which means it can’t be used to access PhonePad from a workstation outside of your network (unless you are using a VPN).

We are pleased to announce the release of PhonePad Version 5.56.7.  This version ended up being released a few days later than originally planned.

Changes in This Release

• FIXED – Address Book importing was not working correctly.
• Minor fixes and improvements.

Installation Information

Please note: Server Updates must be installed on your Server or Host PC, not your workstation (unless your workstation is also the Host PC) – they cannot be installed directly on your workstations.  Make sure all users are logged out of PhonePad as the PhonePad Server will be stopped during the update and then restarted once it has completed.  Workstations will be automatically updated when PhonePad 5 Workstation is started on each workstation. Important: When downloading and installing an update from your My PhonePad account, make sure it’s actually the update and not the server setup program.

How Updates Work

You do not need to install every update between this one and the last update you installed.  PhonePad uses a smart update system that compares your current PhonePad system with what’s in the update, and then works out what changes are required, then makes those changes.

Updates and Anti-Virus Software

Depending on the anti-virus software you use, when you install a Server Update your AV software may class the updated software as a different program due to the change in binary signature.  If you experience speed or freezing issues after an update, you may need to reconfigure your AV software to stop real-time scanning of PhonePad.  This may need to be done on the both your Server or Host PC, and your workstations.

Downloading the Update

You can download the update from your My PhonePad account or by selecting Server Updates from the System Admin menu and clicking Check for Update (you will need to log in as an administrator). If you are a trial user you can also download the update by selecting Server Updates from the System Admin menu and clicking Check for Update (you will need to log in as an administrator). Please contact Support if you have any problems or questions.

If you’ve downloaded and installed MessageSender but it’s not working, chances are you may have missed a setting or two.

There is a page on our website which takes you step-by-step through setting up MessageSender correctly.  If you’ve followed these instructions and MessageSender still isn’t working then we have something to help with that.

MessageSender Check is a program that will go through all of your MessageSender settings and identify any incorrect or missing settings.  This makes it easy to find out what is stopping your MessageSender from working correctly.

Download MessageSender Check to your Server or Host PC (there is no installation process).

MessageSender Check needs to run with “elevated access”, so you will need to right-click on it and then select Run as Administrator from the popup menu.

If you don’t do this, you will get this message when MessageSender Check starts:

So what do you do if you get this message?  Well the answer is in the message, so reading the message might be a good start. 🙂

Then all you need to do is click the Check button.  MessageSender Check will go through and check all of the settings.

In addition to all of the MessageSender settings, MessageSender Check will check the latest MessageSender log file for any errors.

Once the checks have been completed, it any issues were found they will be displayed as warnings or errors.  Scroll through the list to find out what problems MessageSender Check found and correct them.

Once you have corrected all of the problems, run MessageSender Check again to make sure everything has been sorted out.

So what are Errors and Warnings?

Errors are issues that need to be corrected.

Warnings are not necessarily bad – they could be options that you don’t need or want.  For example, you may get warnings about Pushover settings not being set, but if you aren’t using Pushover then those warnings don’t really matter.  Warnings indicate that something may be a problem.

If you have any problems working out what you need to do to correct any problems found, click the Copy button to copy the results to the Windows Clipboard, and then paste it into an email to Support.

Hopefully this will help you get your MessageSender up and running, but we’re always here to help if it doesn’t.

We are pleased to announce the release of PhonePad Version 5.56.6.  This is a maintenance release.

Changes in This Release

• NEW – Added a new option for automatically retrieving Server IP Address, via the Internet. This will help you if you have security software or network hardware that are blocking the PhonePad 5 Server Auto-Discovery system.
• Minor fixes and improvements.

Installation Information

Please note: Server Updates must be installed on your Server or Host PC, not your workstation (unless your workstation is also the Host PC) – they cannot be installed directly on your workstations.  Make sure all users are logged out of PhonePad as the PhonePad Server will be stopped during the update and then restarted once it has completed.  Workstations will be automatically updated when PhonePad 5 Workstation is started on each workstation. Important: When downloading and installing an update from your My PhonePad account, make sure it’s actually the update and not the server setup program.

How Updates Work

You do not need to install every update between this one and the last update you installed.  PhonePad uses a smart update system that compares your current PhonePad system with what’s in the update, and then works out what changes are required, then makes those changes.

Updates and Anti-Virus Software

Depending on the anti-virus software you use, when you install a Server Update your AV software may class the updated software as a different program due to the change in binary signature.  If you experience speed or freezing issues after an update, you may need to reconfigure your AV software to stop real-time scanning of PhonePad.  This may need to be done on the both your Server or Host PC, and your workstations.

Downloading the Update

You can download the update from your My PhonePad account or by selecting Server Updates from the System Admin menu and clicking Check for Update (you will need to log in as an administrator). If you are a trial user you can also download the update by selecting Server Updates from the System Admin menu and clicking Check for Update (you will need to log in as an administrator). Please contact Support if you have any problems or questions.

We are pleased to announce the release of PhonePad Version 5.56.5.  This is a maintenance release.

A lot of work was put into this release. Like with many businesses, COVID-19 has had an impact on the amount of time it has taken to produce these changes. If you experience any issues please let us know as soon as possible.

Notification Service

One of the most important changes in this release is the removal of the Notification Service from the Server or Host PC.

Through a number of support requests we have received over the last few months, we have encountered situations where security software installed on clients’ computers and various network configurations have been blocking notifications (using the UDP protocol) from the server.  The result of this was that PhonePad was not receiving notifications of new messages, message list refreshing, and other types of updating.

Although we are not responsible for anything on client systems that prevent PhonePad working correctly, we have done our best to try to assist these clients.  This has resulted in an enormous support workload for us and delays in responding to other client’s support needs.

In this release a new Workstation Notification Service is installed on each workstation.  This new service connects directly to the server and doesn’t use UDP broadcasts.

Changes in This Release

• FIXED – Forward by Email in popup menu doesn’t work.
• FIXED – Marking messages as read or unread stopped working.
• FIXED – Error message when moving messages to Group folders.
• FIXED – Follow up completion wasn’t working correctly.
• FIXED – Error when importing.
• CHANGED – The Server Notification Service has been deprecated. On some computers and networks, the UDP protocol was being blocked by routers, firewalls, security software, etc., preventing message lists and lookup lists from being updated. This caused us support nightmares trying to work out what on our clients’ networks were causing these problems. In this release, each workstation now has a Workstation Notification Service. This is to ensure delivery of server notification messages that are responsible for updating message lists and lookup lists in PhonePad.
• Minor fixes and improvements.

Installation Information

Please note: Server Updates must be installed on your Server or Host PC, not your workstation (unless your workstation is also the Host PC) – they cannot be installed directly on your workstations.  Make sure all users are logged out of PhonePad as the PhonePad Server will be stopped during the update and then restarted once it has completed.  Workstations will be automatically updated when PhonePad 5 Workstation is started on each workstation. Important: When downloading and installing an update from your My PhonePad account, make sure it’s actually the update and not the server setup program.

How Updates Work

You do not need to install every update between this one and the last update you installed.  PhonePad uses a smart update system that compares your current PhonePad system with what’s in the update, and then works out what changes are required, then makes those changes.

Updates and Anti-Virus Software

Depending on the anti-virus software you use, when you install a Server Update your AV software may class the updated software as a different program due to the change in binary signature.  If you experience speed or freezing issues after an update, you may need to reconfigure your AV software to stop real-time scanning of PhonePad.  This may need to be done on the both your Server or Host PC, and your workstations.

Downloading the Update

You can download the update from your My PhonePad account or by selecting Server Updates from the System Admin menu and clicking Check for Update (you will need to log in as an administrator). If you are a trial user you can also download the update by selecting Server Updates from the System Admin menu and clicking Check for Update (you will need to log in as an administrator). Please contact Support if you have any problems or questions.

In a COVID-19 lockdown?  Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you can’t stay connected and continue to use PhonePad.

In case you don’t know this, I wanted to let you know that your PhonePad installation includes PhonePad Remote.

PhonePad Remote is an application that enables you to connect remotely to your PhonePad Server in the office over the Internet.

With PhonePad Remote you can continue to use PhonePad remotely from home, just as if you were in the office.

The best news is it’s included with PhonePad so you already have it, and there’s no additional cost to use it.

You can find information and full instructions on how to set up PhonePad Remote here.  Please note: you may need your IT guy to help you set it up.

Stay safe.

Despite the spread of the COVID-19 virus it’s business as usual and we are still here to assist you.  We work remotely so social distancing is not really a problem.

You may have heard about the craziness around toilet paper hoarding here in Australia, as people unnecessarily panic. Goodness knows why they need dozens and dozens of rolls of toilet paper so here’s our take on it (to lighten the mood).

We are pleased to announce the release of MessageSender Version 6.15.7.  This release includes the following changes:

• FIXED: When passing device names to Pushover, carriage return and linefeed characters were incidentally passed to terminate the data.  Pushover no longer strips these values and so it was not recognizing the device names (as they contained extra characters), causing messages to be sent to all Pushover devices in the account.  These additional characters are now being removed by MessageSender, and so messages should now only be sent to the specified devices.
• REMOVED: The <company> tag in email templates for text messages was not relevant.
• Minor fixes and improvements.

Important: this version requires PhonePad Version 5.56.0 or later.

Installation Information

Please note: You can download the update from your My PhonePad account.

Please contact Support if you have any problems or questions.