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11.0A Release

If you're part of the Preferred Client Program, you can download the latest desktop version in the Client Portal.

We recommend upgrading to PDS Facility Scheduler 11.0A, released for desktop 11-17-22 and OnDemand 11-18-22, which offers the following enhancements.

New and Improved Features

Jump to Most Recent Events
  • Now, the Event window and Event listing screen always start on the most recent date. You can still scroll to past events, but this is a convenient way to get to the events you're more likely to be working with.

  • Remember, you can also click Move to Today to jump to today's date from anywhere in the list.

Schedule Recurring Events Overnight and Over Multiple Days
  • Now, you can schedule a recurring event that runs after midnight into the next day or a recurring event that spans multiple days. Use the Schedule Recurring Events wizard, and enter the time range. You can adjust the number of hours and minutes to span more than one day. Click Add a Day to increase the time by 24 hours. Separate events are scheduled for each day.

    The Scheduling window showing the new "Add a Day" option, and the Event Dates list showing multiple days selected

Track Mass Intentions for Events
  • Previously, mass intention information was stored in event remarks. Now, there is a special window in the Events section where you can track mass intentions for an event. Go to Events > Mass Intentions, and locate the mass you want. You can enter the intention, who it's given by, their email address, the presider, their stipend amount, and whether the stipend has been paid.

    The Events sections showing the Mass Intentions window that contains the Mass Intentions grid with the following columns: Intention, Given By, Email, Presider, Stipend Amount, Paid, and Purpose

  • The new fields for email and presider were also added to the grid under Mass Schedule > Mass Intentions.

Filter Mass Intentions
  • Now you can filter mass intentions by "Given By", "Purpose", "Presider", "Stipend Amt", and whether the stipend has been paid.

  • We added information about stipends below the grid. You can see the total number and the amount as well as the total number that have been paid and that amount. These are recalculated when you save or cancel, apply or clear the filter, or assign an intention to the list.

    The Mass Intentions filter showing "Given By" equal to "Robbie Jones" with four results displayed in the grid

Upload Edited Events to Google Calendar
  • When you edit an event, you're now prompted to upload the changes to Google Calendar if the event has been uploaded before.

    Prompt asking if you want to upload the edited event to your Google Calendar with options Yes or No

  • If you've previously uploaded to Google Calendar, you'll notice the button, Upload to Google, in several additional locations. It's available at the end of the Scheduling wizards, on the Events window, and in the Load Event dialog box.

    The Upload to Google button showing on the organization's record and in the Load Event window
    Note:

    If you haven't previously uploaded events to Google Calendar and you would like to start, select We Upload Events to Google Calendar in the Initial Setup window, and allow PDS access to the Google Calendar(s) you want to upload events to. Then, you're ready to upload!

Print or Email Invoices after Scheduling
  • At the end of any scheduling wizard, you can now print or email an invoice for any charges related to the event you scheduled.

    The final window of a scheduling wizard showing the new "Email Letter/Invoice" option and the new "Print Invoice" button

Export Lists from Reports and Listing Screens
  • We added the ability to export listing reports as well as the items from listing screens. Click Export List at the bottom of any listing screen or the bottom of any listing report overview window, and you can save the file in a simple column format. The default file type is .csv, but you can export to .xml, .txt, .xls, or .ods, depending on how you want to use the file.

  • Note that advanced reports cannot be exported due to their complexity, so you won’t see the button on every report. However, you can save advanced reports directly to a file, where you have options for .xls and .txt. You may have to work with the alignment in the file to get the results you want.

Sort and Filter the Listing Screens
  • On all listing screens, you can now select a sort order and filter based on the column headers. Click the icon filter next to stacked up and down arrows beside the column header you want to sort by or filter.

    • To sort the list with this column in ascending or descending order, select an Order by option.
    • To filter the entire list and only show certain records, click the add icon green plus sign to enter one or more conditions. If you enter multiple conditions, it works like an OR statement. For example, the filter below would show all records with a city equal to Phoenix OR a city equal to Florence.

    Options window for the "City" column showing "Order by: Ascending" and filters for city "Equal to Phoenix, AZ" and city "Equal to Florence, SC"

  • When you order a column, the ascending icon up arrow or descending icon down arrow displays beside the column header. When you filter, the filter icon displays. If a column is both ordered and filtered, both icons display; for example, filter next to down arrow.

  • You can sort and filter multiple columns at the same time. But be aware that the options you select apply to columns from left to right. So, if the list is not sorting the way you expect, check the order of your columns.

  • Your sort and filter options are saved when you navigate away from the listing screen. When you come back, the list is still sorted/filtered the way you left it.

  • To clear the order or filter on a single column, click the column header and click Clear. To clear the options on all columns, click Clear Order/Filter at the top-left of the listing screen.

  • The ability to order and filter is enabled by default. If you decide you don't want to use this feature, you can disable it using the gear icon at the top-right of the listing screen.

Plus Sign for Calculator
  • In any calculation field, you can click the plus sign (+) on your keyboard to quickly display the calculator. View more keyboard shortcuts.

    An example amount field with the Calculator displayed after clicking the plus sign on the keyboard

Increased Performance
  • We updated some back-end database settings to increase your program's performance. If you've experienced memory errors with previous versions, this should help!

Settings Based on Users
  • After hearing your feedback, we changed the way some settings are saved on the backend. Some settings were being saved based on the computer you were using, but now, they're saved based on your PDS user login.

PDS Videos
  • Want to see how things are done in PDS? Now, you can learn how to do certain tasks with reports, records, files, and eGiving. Click the video player icon play button inside film strip at the top of your program for quick access to the PDS Video Library. We plan to provide more videos over time.

New Report Fields and Features

Favorite Reports
  • Now there's an easy way to find all of your favorite reports... with the Favorite Reports feature! Right-click a report in the list, and click Add to Favorite Reports. This adds an asterisk (*) beside the report so it stands out in the list.

  • To quickly view all of your favorites, click Show Only * Favorite Reports at the top.

    The Reports list showing the option for "Show Only Favorite Reports" selected and only the favorite reports displayed in the list

Include Plain Text in PDF Emails
  • When you send an email as a PDF document attachment, you can include a plain text version of the letter in the email body. This allows recipients to view the email without having to open attachments.

    The Email Message window showing the option selected for "Include a Plain Text version of the letter in the Email Body" and an example of the email with the PDF attached

Selection for Event End Day
  • We added the following fields that you can use in reports and selections: Evt End Day of Week, Evt Long End Day of Week, and Pkg Evt End Day of Week. The "Long" field displays the full name of the day (like "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday"), and the other fields display the shortened name (like "Sun", "Mon", "Tue").

Corrections

We fixed issues that were reported to our team, as well as the following issue that affected some of our customers:
  • In the Mass Schedule area, an error was displaying after entering Mass intentions, and the information was not refreshing until you exited the window.