Holiday Letting System - Release History.

This document describes the new features and changes that have been implemented in each new release. It sometimes refers to Help File topics where more information is available. To see these Help topics you must install the program, and then invoke Help in the usual way; once you have done so you can also see the release history in the Help file, under topic What's New. You can also download a copy of the help file by clicking here. (You may have to unblock this file to view it).

V4.2.0.2 released on 15th August 2018. This minor upgrade to release 4.2.0.1 offers a few improvements as follows.

• Improvements to the Mailshot tool: You can now generate a list of client emails and export them to a CSV file in a format suitable for Mailchimp (see https://mailchimp.com/) or any tool that accepts CSV input. More details are in Help topic Using LetSys for mailshots
  The routine to generate a mailshot list has been improved so it runs much faster when you have a large number of properties.
  Some additional duplicates are removed (for example the detection code is now case insensitive.
• Accounting - monthly reports. It is now possible to run the management summary report for the current month (ie before that month has completely passed). This makes it posisble to make a judgement on your financial position before the current month has ended.
• 404 error messages: The help topic Downloading a Web Booking Form has been improved to cover problems with "404 page not found messages when trying to download a web booking form, and in addition LetSys now searches for the text "page not found" in the 404 error page as well as the other strings listed in the topic.

V4.2 first released on 16th May 2018:  This release offers a number of enhancements especially ones aimed at improving the ease of configuring and using the web site integration features. There is some assistance also to help comply with GDPR and improvements to the diagnostic features. Highlights include:

• Expense categories: This release supports up to 10 expense categories, increased from 6.
• Changes to support GDPR. In particular the "Omit from Mailshots" checkbox can now be automatically set when booking data is downloaded into LetSys from a web form. The sample web form and processor are updated to show how to handle this improvement. Note that there is also a discussion about GDPR and LetSys in the our newsletter here.
• Rent calculation for short lets. A new option enables a more reasonable rent to be calculated for a short let which straddles two weekly rates. The fixed charge is now based on a weighted average rate, based on the number of days at each rate. Existing users will see no change, but can change to the new calculation formula by checking the option "Use weighted average when short let straddles two rates" on the rent tab of the configuration program. See topic Minimum Charge for short let for more details. Note that existing users will see no change in the way the rent is calculated, unless they check the box. As this gives a more reasonable result, new users will find this is the default.
• Website integration options. These have become more powerful, and there are more options. Therefore they have been split into two tabs in the configuration program. “web-down” and “web-up” to cover download functions and upload functions respectively. More details are in the help file which you can view once you have upgraded.
• Diagnostic log This is no longer pruned periodically as it was found that it was not possible to go far enough back on a couple of occasions. More details are in the help file in topic “What’s new”.
• Minor additions There have been some additions and improvements to the help file; also some messages are improved and clarified.
• If you download a Web Booking Form you need to process all incoming bookings before changing the order of your properties or the booking form won't be found. This possibility is now detected in more cases, especially for some Wordpress built sites. There's an improved error message for this problem.
• Fixes. This release also fixes a few issues. In particular (a) with Web / Synch Database which occurred when there was a property without a rates file and (b) when publishing the availability status in the first few days of a new year.

V4.1 first released on 22nd September 2016: This new version focuses on data security and integrity, and also provides improved data recovery. There are also a few improvements and fixes. This version has been upgraded twice, most recently on 22nd March 2017 to V4.1.0.7 with a few minor fixes and improvements, including making the sample data work for 2017.

• Data Integrity: The booking data base file read and write routines have been rewritten to be more robust and to improve performance. If booking data is corrupted by a hardware or system failure this is detected more quickly than previously.
• Data Recovery Improvements: If an error causes loss of bookings data, you have always been able to recover it from the change log, but this involved much manual work. The "Extract data from Change log" tool which processes the change log (file changed.hls) for a property is substantially improved to automate the process better. Deleted records are now placed into the change log in addition to the deleted bookings log and this enables the tool to detect these and hence avoid recovering these. The tool also now allows you to merge new and changed bookings from the change log into your last backup file for the property. Once installed, read the Help Topic Recovering lost data.
• Better options to locate bookings in the logs and other files. When recovering data you open the change log by double clicking it. You can now view all the records in this log (or indeed any file containing bookings) once open by selecting View / View bookings as list. or clicking the toolbar icon . The bookings are all shown in a list and can be searched, sorted, copied etc. The last updated date is shown so you can quickly view what happened and when.
• Secure Email. If you use the built in SMTP client, this now supports a secure (encrypted) connection to your email server. This does involve additional configuration settings. Once installed, read the Help Topic Configuring LetSys as an email client. Note that the previous special setting for Gmail is removed, but Gmail can still be used as described in the referenced topic.
• Viewing HTML Email: If you use HTML Email, then the draft can be seen in a small "web browser" window. In previous versions, when you clicked a link in your draft you were taken to the web page for that link, but you couldn't get back to your email. With this release then if you click a link, that link will open in your default web browser, not in LetSys (the email is still shown). Thus you can check that any links work, but not have the problem mentioned above.
• Comments in rates files have leading and trailing blanks removed. This was affecting the publish to web feature. When rates were published to the web it caused comments to be lost when the rate did not change, but the comment did.
• Larger comments: In the booking form, the freeform comment can now contain up to 500 characters.
• Proforma messages improved: If you have a missing proforma you now get a clearer message which tells you the type of the missing proforma.
• One or two minor changes have been made and the help file has been improved and updated.

Much more detail is given in the Help Documentation once you have installed the software. See the topic What's new?
This version is now the only supported version. Download from here.

V4.0.0.6 released on 26th January 2016: There are no changes in this release other than the sample data being updated (slipped) one year later, so potential customers will have some current data to use to test the system. Existing uses should upgrade if they are on an earlier version, except that there is no need for existing users to upgrade from V4.0.0.5 if this is working well.

V4.0.0.5 released on 28th October 2015: This is a minor upgrade, which gives slightly better help in some situations and has a couple of useability improvements. In addition it has been tested on Windows 10. Please see this article about upgrading to Windows 10 on our support forum by clicking http://support.erwwen.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=48
- If you accidentally select an existing (but incorrect) folder as your root folder (using the configuration program) it is now possible to revert to the default C:\LetSys folder, and then start again!
- If you use HTML email then the HTML proformas are now used in preference to the old text proformas. The system also identifies the existence of the old text files and gives better advice.

V4.0.0.1 released on 8th May 2015: This is a very minor upgrade. The sample data has been brought up to date. One minor fix is included which corrects a problem in Multiuser mode where the date would fail to line up with the weeks when the right border was dragged. There is no need for existing users to upgrade unless they are experiencing this problem.

V4.0 Released on 24th December 2014. "Multi-User version". This new version includes some major changes. The most significant is that it allows several users to be working with the booking system concurrently, when the data is shared on a LAN (local area network). You can also share data with additional users on "Cloud Storage" (for example, DropBox) although this option is less flexible. Full details on the Multi-user feature can be read (once installed) in Help Topic Running LetSys with Multiple Users.

For the majority of our users, running on just a single machine, there are many other useful features as listed below.

• Windows 8 support: This version has been tested on Windows 8 and the help file has been updated to cover how to run under Windows 8. As Windows 8 removed the start menu, a shortcut for the Configuration program is added to the user's desktop. If you don't need it, just delete it.
• Multi-user support: The system protects user data when multiple users are using LetSys from more than one computer at the same time. With a suitable additional "multi-user" license two or more users can work at the same time when connected on a local area network. However, only one user at a time can update a specific property. The system also provides a warning when two PCs are sharing the same data through "the cloud", and the second user can open the application, but will be placed in read-only mode to protect your data. Please contact us if you need a suitable license.
• Status Colour change: If a booking is complete it now shows in a paler shade of red on the status display, to allow you to distinguish it from one still needing action.
• Settings now kept in the root folder: Settings are now kept in the root folder, as a file LetSys.ini" This means that if one user changes settings in a multi-user system, other users easily pick up the changes. Settings are still backed up by the backup tool, but now there is no need to restore settings after recovering the root folder from a backup. The Restore settings button has been removed from the configuration program.
• Alternative Root Folder: It is now possible to start LetSys and to specify an alternative root folder, with a command line parameter. This means you can restore a backup into a different folder from the current root, and then inspect old data - for example for a property long since deleted. Once you've done this, start LetSys without the override and you are back to your current data. (Once installed read Help Topic Running with an alternative set of data for more information).
• Activity Log: A new activity log has been added, primarily to help diagnose problems. However this should be of use for all users; for example you can see exactly when a booking was updated and who made the change, all in a single log. You can view who started and shut down LetSys and when. The log can be viewed from the status window using tools / Open diagnostic log.
• Redundant features removed: The menu items and buttons (on the Status Window) for save and save/exit have been redundant for some time, and have been removed. There is now a new Exit button and menu item which simply close LetSys.
  Also option Tools / View local Website has been removed from both the Status and the Booking windows, as it was a duplicate of Web / View Local Website which should be used instead.
• Check on close: If you try to close LetSys with one of the editing windows open, then it is possible you are editing data. You are given the option now to cancel the closure (or continue, discarding any changes.)
• Files are locked to prevent errors: You have always been able to open any bookings file by double clicking it in Windows Explorer and the file is then opened showing the first record in the booking window. When you do this the file is now locked to prevent other applications (including LetSys) writing to it.
• New Web Site options are provided on the Web Tab of the Configuration Program. Most users operate just a single web site, and this allows you to specify the Local Website Folder and the Local home page just once, rather than separately for each property. If you specify these options then LetSys will automatically remove duplicate entries under each property when you save the new configuration.
• Relative paths for local web folders: Options to specify the location of your local web site (needed if you integrated LetSys with a Web Site) now allow you to specify the path of the local web folder relative to the root folder. You should use this if you are running a multi-user system, to avoid the problem of an incorrect path on the second and subsequent machines. The local web index page can now also be specified relative to the local web folder, as required.
• Backup files are moved: LetSys has previously taken backups of files each time a data file is changed. This resulted in numerous files with the .bak file extensions appearing in the root folder and subfolders. All file backups are now saved in the current user's Windows Temporary folder and not in the LetSys folder. Backup files had rarely, if ever, proved of much use and these files increase the amount of data stored. You can recover the last version of the data from this directory if needed, and can quickly open the windows temporary folder from the status window by selecting Tools / Open Windows Temporary Folder. Bookings files have the property number pre-pended thus: Pnn-filename. More details can be seen (once installed) in Help Topic Data Structure - folders and files.
• Data Cleanup: The data cleanup tool (run from the special tab of the configuration program) now removes old backup files from the root folder and subfolders. It is recommended that users run this tool once LetSys 4.0 has been installed and tested.
• A new tool, Synchronise Folders ("Incremental Backup") is now provided. This allows an "incremental backup" of the root folder to be made to a copy of the root folder. It is particularly useful if you need to run LetSys from a Laptop when away from the office, as it allows you to synchronise the data on the laptop very quickly, and later to restore any changes to the main machine.
• Network checks: The LetSys Root folder can be inaccessible if located on a network and the network is down. An additional check and a more helpful message is now written should this be the case.
• Search Window: When searching for bookings, the Search Window now displays the surname and first names as separate fields, to make it possible to locate updated bookings (where a second user has changed a booking.)
• Rates updates - The rates window now shows the "last updated" date and time at the bottom left.
• "Right-click" context menu on the status window has been removed. We think few, if any, users actually used this pop-up menu. It allowed bookings to be created or edited, which can more easily be done with a simple left-click. The menu also allowed bookings to be deleted. Deletions should instead be handled by first opening the booking and then clicking delete. This is safer as it ensures that the booking is properly inspected prior to deletion. Removing this little used function also prevents a possible "lockout" in a multi-user environment.
• Startup checks: If two users on different machines are sharing the same data and also use the same registration code then the second instance of LetSys will not start until the first user shuts down.
  Also when you run the Configuration Program from LetSys (by clicking Tools / Configure LetSys) LetSys is closed (with a warning) to prevent problems when users forget to restart LetSys.
  Also, if you have a multiuser license, then the configuration program checks that a second user is not active when configuration changes are made.
• Booking Cancellation change: When cancelling a booking, the default option is now "Retain all funds paid, defer repayment". This is the most frequently selected option as most users need to establish whether they can re-let before making a refund.
• Payments Report. This has a new checkbox: Omit payments for completed bookings. This is useful for agencies who wish to see the payments they hold on behalf of their clients for bookings that are still outstanding and was added at the request of one of our customers accountants.
• A number of minor problems were fixed. As always, LetSys 4.0, as the current version, is now the only officially supported release.

V3.7 Released on 27th September 2012 The main focus of the new release is better integration with a Web Site. In particular there are many new functions to help Letting Agencies manage their business, including handling management fees, accounting functions and additional reporting.  There are also improvements for the owner manager, better recovery, the improved web site integration and other useability improvements.

The new features available with this release are:

• New format availability calendars. LetSys can now upload your availability data so that your web specialist can write a script to display your availability in a calendar form. This is particularly useful for properties where a lot of short lets are taken, when the old week by week table was not very easy to understand. You can see an example of the sort of calendar that can now be created at http://erwwen.com/holletsys/Support/samples/calendar.htm or a live example on one of our customer’s sites: http://www.dunskiag.co.uk/availability.htm
• Availability searches: The new uploaded availability status can be used for other purposes. Larger agencies can now implement search facilities on their web sites to allow a potential customer to search for properties that are available for a specified week. You can see an example of a search application on another of our customer’s sites: http://www.causewaycoastrentals.co.uk/
• New web page containing samples: To give you more idea of the various ways your rates and availability can be displayed on a web site, we have set up a new section on our web site showing a variety of samples. See http://erwwen.com/holletsys/Support/samples/
  Please be aware that you will need web specialist skill to write the web scripts. If you don’t have the skill, please contact us.
• Configuration Program Changes:
  There are additional buttons on the Web Tab. Both relate to publishing rates and availability to a web site.
  - Check files. This button is for users with a large number of properties and web availability files. It is easy to get them mixed up, especially if you have been copying options from a different property. Click this and you will see a report on the availability file names for each property, including whether the file exists, is a duplicate, or is not specified.
  - Renew Availability / Rates Files. This new feature automates the production or renewal of your web availability files from a template. It is very useful where there are more than one or two properties and therefore files to update.
  There is also a new button, using the rather cryptic symbol “>>” with hint “Create Availability file from Template” on the “Edit Options for Property” window. This allows the template mentioned above to be used when you create or modify a specific property and you need a new web availability file.
• Formatted (HTML) EMail: If you use this facility, there is now a blank CC: field shown on the "Send HTML EMail" window to allow you to copy additional recipients. Multiple recipients can be copied, separated by a semi-colon. We are still trying to produce a good WYSIWYG editor for HTML emails, so we suspect not many people will want to use HTML email.
• Data recovery: The change log file is improved to log copies of all changes to your booking records, including the most recent. This makes it possible to recover a complete set of bookings from this file as well as view all previous versions of a particular booking. A new tool allows you to extract the most recent version of each booking from the change log. Please read Help topic “How to recover lost data” in the Help, once Letsys is installed.
• Web Options when configuring a new property: When you copy options from another property, the availability file name is no longer copied. This file is used when you "Publish to Web. This forces the user to specify a file name instead of using the wrong file (leaving this unchanged caused a number of problems). A new button on the web options panel (of the property edit page) now makes it easy to add a new availability file from a template. Read Help topic “Create web publishing file from template” once installed.
• Automated Letters to Owners: For letting agencies, you can now send automated letters to the property owner as well as to the tenant. Additional “Mail merge" strings are now available.
• Useability improvements:
  • When viewing in Multi-property mode with more properties that will fit on the screen, you can now rapidly page up and down using the Page Up and Page Down keys
  • When a letter is created successfully (for both email and printed letters) the letter form now closes automatically. There's no need to close it.
  • In the configuration program, you can now double click the property name to edit property settings. Before you needed to first select the property and then click the Edit button.
  • When viewing statistics a new button allows you to view a list of bookings with no source. This makes it much quicker to resolve which bookings don't have this useful information.
• Other improvements: A few minor usability improvements are also made and also a few bugs are fixed.

V3.6 Released on 16th September 2011 This release contains many functions to help Letting Agencies manage their business, including handling management fees, accounting functions and reports. There are also many improvements for the owner manager. (The latest version is 3.6.0.8 dated 7/10/11 which distributes improved web scripts and fixes two minor problems.)

• Cancelling a booking: This has been reworked to be much more intuitive, and also so that all the payments and refunds are now recorded on the actual days they occur to make more accurate accounting possible. A new dialogue during cancellation makes the options available much clearer. You can now more easily defer setting a cancellation charge where that charge will depend, for example, on whether you succeed in re-letting.
• Mailshots: Recipients for emails are now blind copied by default as most people will not want their email to be shown to others, although this can be overridden if required. You can set a subject to avoid having to retype it for each batch (emails have to be batched when sent to more than about 80 addresses).
• Formatted EMails: Automated letters can now be formatted (using HTML email): Automated email letters are, by default, sent by your mail client as plain text. You can now use bold, colour and specified fonts by switching to using HTML formatted email. The system continues to work as before if you don't choose to use HTML formatted email. You will need HTML skill to use this feature. Once installed, read Help Topic "Formatting automated letters using HTML".
• Export Bookings: This function, which outputs data in a format readable by spreadsheets, has been extended. Additional data can now be exported, including booking status, refunds (cancellation charges or returnable deposits repaid) and refund date. You need to recreate your templates from the default template if you wish to export these items.
• Improved integration with your web site. Almost all our users now have their own web site, and we have continued to make it possible to better integrate the data held on LetSys with a web site. A new data upload function improves the ability to support dynamic sites; for example your scripts can now be written to be quickly adapted when new properties are added or names change. (See below for more information).

Features primarily for Letting Agencies:

• Booking Fees: You can now set one of the extra charges to be a Management, or Booking fee. The system can automatically calculate the fee, based on information you configure. This new feature is designed for letting agencies who can now account separately for this. This fee would be paid by the customer to the agent rather than a fee charged to the owner.
• Management Fees: For agents who charge owners a management fee based on rent (or total income) this can now be automatically calculated, and accounted for in the new Monthly accounts. The management fee is configured separately for each property.
• Monthly Accounts (for owners): This new report is provided primarily for Letting Agencies. It creates a record of the income and expenditure for a specified month, ready to be sent to the owner. Reports can be printed or sent by email. The expenditure part is optional, but if you want this, you need to configure and record your expenses. A summary report for the agent gives full details of fees and management fees received by month
• Expenses recording: LetSys now has the ability to record (and categorise) outgoings associated with each property, in an "Expenses File" by month. These expenses, together with income can now be reported on a monthly basis by the new Monthly Accounts Reports. Be aware that this does not handle detailed (item by item) record keeping within a month, you simply enter the total amount spent by category in each month, ready for inclusion in the reports.
• New "Accounts" menu item: This is on the Status Window and groups together the payments report, the monthly accounts and the expense reporting functions. View Payments: This report, which lists past and predicted payments has been improved. It is now run from the new Accounts menu item on the Status Window (moved out of Tools). The comments are now clearer, and cancellations are handled more precisely.

Other improvements and changes

• VAT or sales tax: This is now configured on the General Tab of the configuration program, for consistency.
• List Overdue Items: The messages have been changed to be more explicit.
• View statistics: Report 1 (letting status by year) now allows you to override the year start day. The default remains the tax year start, but you can now change to any 12 month period you want (for example, to view performance by calendar year, change the day to 01/01.
• Security enhancement: The program now contains additional checks for data integrity - for example, the program now picks up the case where a user accidentally moved or deleted a specific property folder and writes helpful error messages.
• Improved messages: If you have not checked the balance Ack checkbox (in the Booking Window) the message written is now "Balance not acknowledged, send joining details?"
• New "Mail merge" strings: There are several additional strings, for example <!DepDue> This inserts the date the deposit is due into letters.
• Sending an automated letter by email: If using the old method of sending emails, then the text passed to the email client is shown as a confirmation just after the email was sent. This isn't really necessary as this text can be viewed from the Letters Window if needed. You can now configure your letters to bypass this step. Check Don't show text passed to email client. .
• Comment length: The length of the comment possible in the booking window has been increased to a maximum of 400 characters, and the comment box is slightly larger.
• The Overdue List now shows the first names (and title) as well as the surname. In addition, if you have not checked the balance Ack checkbox (in the Booking Window) the message written is now "Balance not acknowledged, send joining details?"
• Letter Type deletion: (in the Configuration Program): You can now only delete the final letter type, so you need to first drag and drop a letter type to the end of the list. This ensures all proformas and letters are correctly renamed prior to deletion.
• Data base improvements: The system now keeps a more comprehensive list of payments and dates to make possible the improved accounting functions.
• There are substantial additions and improvements to the Help file. A few bugs have been fixed and additional checks are now made.

Note: Versions 3.4 and 3.5 were beta versions that were not released as production versions.

V3.3 Released on 13th February 2010. This new version focuses on improving integration with a web site, and adds several other new functions. Much more detail is given in the Help Documentation once you have installed the software. See the topic What's new?
This version is now the only supported version. Download from here.

• Web Site Integration: There are substantial improvements to help integrate LetSys with a Web Site. Nowadays most holiday cottages have a web site, and we now handle the following additional functions:
• On-line booking forms: Support is now provided for downloading a booking form completed by a customer using on your web site. Full details of what you must do are given in the Help topic Downloading a Web Booking Form.  A sample HTML booking form and a PHP form processor are now provided.
• List and maintain web booking forms: You can launch a web application to enable you to list, view and delete booking forms submitted via your web site, providing they comply with the naming conventions defined in the Help files in topic View and maintain Web Booking Forms. A sample application written in PHP is provided.
• View Remote Site: A new toolbar button is provided on both the status window and bookings window for you to quickly open your web browser and view your site via your internet connection. The ability to view a local copy of your site is retained.
• New "Web" menu: On both the status and booking windows, actions that allow web site interaction are now grouped together in a top level menu called Web. The icons on the toolbar that allow web interaction are also grouped together.
• Minimum charge for a short let: You can now set a minimum charge for a short let in the Rates Window. If specified, then this charge is used for the cost of all short lets unless you have (a) configured the short let charge calculation and (b) this calculation results in a higher charge. See Help topic Rent Calculation for more details.
• Easier creation of rates files for a new year: A new Copy Rates from Template button on the Rates Window makes it much quicker to set up a set of rates files for several properties. You set up the first "template" file, with weeks and comments etc worked out, and then quickly copy this across to other properties (adjusting the rates if necessary with the Global Change button.
• "Softcopy" Booking forms: This feature has been substantially improved, in part to support the improved web integration. The forms can now be saved in pretty much any format you like, including HTML, word documents, PDFs and other graphics formats. One consequence of the change is that graphics files now open in the default Windows Picture or Photo viewer and we have dropped our own picture viewer from the distribution.
• Web Availability: When publishing your availability to the web you can now specify that a booking in held status should cause the period to show as LET.
• More space for the address panel when printing envelopes or labels: The panel showing the address to be printed is now slightly larger, to allow for the use of larger fonts.
• Booking Status: bookings held pending receipt of deposit now simply show "Hold". The previous description "Holding - 1 week" was misleading, as the time allowed for the deposit to arrive can be altered from the default of 1 week. The date the deposit is due is shown in the status bar.
• There are a number of improvements to the Help file and a few problems are fixed.

V3.2 Released on September 1st 2009. This is a major new version offering many improvements requested by users. While some of these are particularly relevant for larger agencies (for example the new owner data base) many of the new features will be great interest to all users. More details are given in the Help Documentation once you have installed the software. See the topic What's new?

• Improved search function: From the status window you can now search the entire bookings data base for a specified text string, using Search / Find Text. Every booking record containing the specified string is listed and you can jump straight to the booking in most cases (the exception is that in classic mode you can only edit bookings for the current property).
• Owner Data Base (optional): If you are managing properties on behalf of their owner, you can now create an owner database, and save information about the property owners. See Help topic Owner Data Base for more details.
• VAT receipts: If you are VAT registered, is it now possible to create a VAT (or other tax) receipt using the system. Two new special strings allow you to include the appropriate amounts on one of the automated letters. You can set the tax as a percentage on the rent tab of the configuration program.
• Overdue Items: Overdue payments and acknowledgements are now listed in a better way. You can sort or print the list. If you click one of the lines, you can jump straight to the booking record and work with it in most cases. The overdue list now correctly identifies late bookings where the entire balance is immediately due. It also lists bookings where payments have been made but you haven't checked the Ack boxes to show you've acknowledged the payments.
• The Overdue List Window can be left open while you work with a booking, and will be updated if you change a booking such that it is no longer overdue.
• Export bookings to CSV file: This function is substantially improved. By default the same fields are exported as for V3.1, but you can now select up to 17 additional items of data to export (including a VAT or Sales Tax calculation). You can choose exactly which data is exported and the order of the fields, and you can change the content of the column headers (by changing the item name). You can configure and save your own export templates. This improvement was made especially to assist users running letting agencies who needed to produce more comprehensive reports for their clients. In addition, once the export is complete, the CSV file is immediately opened in the registered application (eg Excel). See Help topic Export Bookings to CSV file once installed.
• View Payments: A new tool allows you to see your cash flow - both actual and forecast - for all or selected properties. This is done by listing all payments received or projected within a specified range of dates (by default set to the current year). You can omit forecast payments if required. You can export the payments list to a spreadsheet.
  
• Cancelling a booking is improved substantially. It is now easier to update the data for an existing cancelled booking. To support the payments history, improvements are made to the cancellation process, for example the total the customer paid and the amount you refunded together with dates are now recorded and displayed.
• Status Display This is changed to make it easier to see changeover days when a week is only partly let.
• Special Strings: Several new special strings are introduced for use in letter proformas. You can now include the rent the extra charges and tax (VAT) amounts if applicable. A full list of the available strings is in Help topic Mail merge or "special" strings. Those special strings which represent payments will now (by default) be substituted by the amount preceded by the appropriate currency symbol as configured for a property. For example <!Total> might now be substituted by $250. This avoids having to hand code the currency symbol into each letter proforma and allows a shared proforma to be used for properties in several currency zones. If you want the old behaviour (no currency symbol inserted) then you can check Omit Currency Symbol in the configuration program (on the letters Tab), and this behaviour will be set for those users upgrading from a version prior to V3.2
• Statistics: Two new functions are provided to answer the question "How are my booking going this year?". First the statistics tool (see topic View statistics) is improved to show how many days you had booked on the first of each month, looking back for several years. Second a new View Booking History tool shows you the booking status for the selected year compared to previous years, including the date the booking came in.
• Surcharge: A new function makes it easy to add a surcharge (for example for payment by credit card). The surcharge becomes one of the extra charges. The surcharge may be applied as a percentage of the deposit, the balance or the total. This new function is described in more detail in Help topic Calculate Surcharge and must be configured (by property) before it can be used.
• The discount calculator now has additional discount options running from 5 to 30% (including 7.5% and 12.5% options).
• Calculator The old rather basic calculator has been replaced by the windows calculator. This now opens when you hit the calculate button in either the Status or Bookings window.
• Booking Status: For a Paid-up booking the status (in the booking window) now shows Paid, send joining instructions only when the Ack box for the payment is checked. Otherwise it just shows "PAID"
• Envelope printing: Two additional envelope types (C4 and C5) can now be handled in the Address Window.
• Publish to web: It is now possible to include more than one property in a single Availability and Rates web page. You now use an HTML comment to indicate where the table lines for a specific property starts. See Help topic Overview and Row proforma for more details.
• The Archive function now archives old letters, scanned bookings forms and rates files in addition to old booking records.
• Deletions: When you delete a booking the file is now saved to disk immediately (when you create or edit a booking the file was already saved as soon as the booking record was saved).
• A few bug fixes and code improvements are incorporated. The Help file has been updated.

V3.1. Released on June 28th 2008. This was the first version to support more than than four properties. The following enhancements are implemented in LetSys 3.1

• Multiple Property View: This allows you to view all properties in a single Status Window. This viewing mode is referred to as MultiMode in the documentation. Properties are listed on the left, with weeks across the page. You can see up to about 15 properties on a single page and scroll to see more. This improvement makes it possible to easily manage many more properties and opens up LetSys to many more businesses. For example it is now much easier to see if you have vacancies for a particular week across a large number of properties. The previous viewing mode is still available, and is referred to as Classic Mode.
• Multimode operation is set by a check box on the General Tabsheet in the configuration program.
• In the Status Window for Multimode you can right click on a property name to see a context menu which allows you to perform property specific functions (eg edit the rates files or proformas for that property).
• In general LetSys works as before; you still click on a week to select a booking. You can only edit one booking at a time. Classic mode users should see little difference.
• In the previous version, a number of functions (especially reports) could only be run for the single property being viewed in Classic Mode. You can now run reports and other functions for any of the properties from either mode of status window. This is, of course, essential in MultiMode but is also more convenient in Classic Mode.
• New licensing structure: Existing licensees can use this new version, but only for a maximum of four properties. Users wishing to support more than four properties must purchase an additional license.
• Evaluation version: This supports the new Multimode operation, but only for a maximum of four properties, which is sufficient for evaluation.
• Backup Tool: This enables you to quickly backup all your data and configuration settings into a single Zip file in a specified location.
• Restore Tool: This complements the Backup Tool by allowing you easily to restore your data and settings from this single file.
• It is now possible to rearrange the order of the properties. Previously they were listed in the order in which they were created. This is done on the properties tabsheet of the configuration program.
• The cursor keys now cause the Status window to scroll up or down in Classic mode and both directions in MultiMode.
• The top level menu item Navigate is renamed to View. (In both Status and Booking Windows). This is the more conventional name.
• Changes to the Proforma Window:
  - Property Specific proformas are now listed above shared proformas (where found) as these take precedence.
  - The last modified date for each proforma is now listed.
  - In Multimode you can now only see Shared proformas if you open this Window from the Status Window. You must open the Proforma Window from a booking window (for a specific property) in order to work with Property Specific Proformas for that property. You are recommended always to use Shared Proformas when possible.
• In V2.5 we introduced the ability to re-order the letter types (from the Configuration Program) by dragging letter types into the desired order. All the letter proformas were renumbered when this was done, but existing letters were not renamed. This new version now renames all existing letters to agree with the new convention when you re-order letter types.
• The Letters Window now shows the date a letter was last modified. When this window is opened the next letter to send is already selected (this will be the letter following the last letter that already exists).
• Three new special strings are introduced for Automated letters. Two are useful when creating letters regarding returnable deposits; for example, the amount of the deposit can now be included in a letter. Another, <!Special> enables the "Special" field to be included in an automated letter.
• Reports: All reports (for any property) can now be printed from any Status Window. There is now a Reports Window with a consistent format used for creating several reports, from which the properties to be processed and the week range to be handled may be adjusted.
• Publish To Web: It is now possible to omit rates from the web availability page when a week is fully let. The rate is inserted (if specified) if the week is either fully or partly available.
• Zero Rent: It has always been possible to set the rent for a week to zero when setting up the rates files. However this facility is now more powerful. A zero rent is now deemed to mean the property is not available to let and it shows as reserved. Thus (for example) if you always live in a property at a certain time, then you can configure the rates files so the rent for this period is 0. Insert an appropriate comment eg "Not Available" and this comment is now used in the status window or when publishing to the web without the addition of the word 'LET'.
• Global Rates Change: You can now increase or decrease all rates (for a particular property and year) by a specified percentage. This makes it easy to set up next year's rates with a specified increase in charges.
• The Export function now (optionally) allows you to export comments.
• Cancellation charge. Once set, this can now be changed (this was not possible before). On occasions you may need to change the amount charged, for example if a different charge was negotiated.
• Settings (saved by the configuration program) are no longer stored in the Registry but instead in a settings file that is easily saved and restored. This improves behaviour under Vista and makes it easier to backup and restore the configuration.
• Quite a few bugs have been fixed and the Help files have been partly rewritten.
  
  

V2.6. This version was released on September 3rd 2007. This version was the first to support Windows Vista.

• This release has been tested on Windows Vista; we now have customers running successfully on Windows Vista.
• It fixes a problem in Vista when sending letters by email using Windows Mail. The user saw return code=2.
• The letter processing icon in the Bookings Window now has a different (cyan) background. This helps a user pick out this icon, especially in relation to the proforma icon.
• Labels and envelopes are now printed with the line spacing appropriate to the font selected; this means you can now use larger fonts without text being obscured.
• Some HTML Help windows insisted on being "always on top". This has been fixed.
• A few bugs are fixed (including one that prevented printing to Adobe Acrobat) and Label template documentation is improved.

More details are in the Help file.

V2.5. This version was released on June 9th 2007.

The following major enhancements are available in this release. More details are in the Help file.

• Enhancements to the Automated Letters Function
  • You can now have as many automated customer letters as you want; the old limit of three letters is removed.
  • You can configure letter descriptions{linkID=710} to anything you wish, and also alter the order of your letters with simple drag and drop.
  • Letter processing{linkID=350} is enhanced so you can see at a glance all the letters you've created for a particular booking, and can quickly create (or recreate) letters with much more flexibility than before, from a new Letters Window
  • A new Proforma management window allows you to see, at a glance, all the proformas that exist
  • From this new window you can also edit proformas and delete, rename and copy proformas
• Data recovery is now easier.
  • A new function Copy an entire booking to another file makes it easier to recover accidentally deleted booking data. Details of how to recover data is in the Help files.
• Special Instructions field expanded
  • Two lines of information may now be entered (up to 100 characters). This is printed in the report "Booking List for Local Rep" spread over two lines when necessary.
    Improvements to the Help System
• LetSys has been converted to use the Microsoft HTML Help.
  • This makes navigating around the help system much easier due to the additional navigation pane, and positions LetSys for easy use on Windows Vista, as well as having a more modern look.
  • All of the images in the help system have been updated to use the Windows XP theme instead of Windows Classic Theme, to avoid confusion for new users
  • The Help system has been overhauled and improved in a number of other ways.
• New topic How to recover lost data: This has been included in this Help file to assist a user recover an accidentally deleted booking.
• New Availability Report: This new report is a list, by property, showing the dates that are available in a specified period. This report is produced as a file that can either be printed or alternatively can be "copied and pasted" into an email to tell potential customers what periods are available.
• Reports sub-menu: The File menu (in the Status window) has been rationalised as it was starting to become too long. All the reports are now grouped into a reports sub-menu. There is also a new Import/export sub menu.
• New "Clean-up function". You can now prune old history data (older than a specified date) from The Archive / Clean Up Window which will reduce the total data stored and speed up processing a little. You are recommended to run this every few months.
• Mailshots: Mailshots by email are now batched. If you are sending a mail shot to a large number of email addresses, the emails are now batched so they are sent to a maximum of about 80 people at a time. This addresses a Windows restriction and it may also help if your ISP restricts the number of recipients on a single email. See topic The Mailshot Window in the Help file.
• If you export a property's accounts as a CSV file, LetSys will try to open this file in whatever is the default application for CSV files. (often this is Excel).
• The status window cannot now be oversized (which only showed unused space). When the width is reduced the scrollbar is now shown, to make it possible to work with a smaller window, and still see the status.
• The status shown when the balance is paid is now "Paid, sent instructions". The previous message was confusing.
• A number of problems are fixed
• Migration When your settings are saved to a file the date is added to the file name

V2.4 Released on 14th August 2006.

This release includes the following enhancements and fixes. More details are in the help file.

• Export bookings to .CSV file: Now includes email address in an additional column at the end beyond the phone number.
• Font selection is now possible when printing Envelopes or Labels. You can now override the default font (which was 12 pt Times New Roman). Your selected font is saved for use next time the program runs. Just click the new font selection button. You can also set the printer up from menu item File / Printer Setup in the Status Window.
• Mousewheel scrolling: Some mouse drivers did not work; the program now handles scrolling itself.
• Function " File Bookings for local rep": This function now not only creates a text file that you can subsequently use to copy the data into another application (eg into an email) but the file created is now immediately opened in your default text editor. Cancelled bookings are no longer listed.
• Fixed some minor errors with rent calculation for short term lets: (less than a week). One user has commented that the pricing algorithm for short term lets produce some anomolous results when you price weekends at a fixed price and weekdays by the day, and then enter a let that includes both types of day. However the algorithm is already quite complex, and users are expected to override amounts as appropriate; most situations are covered reasonably well.
• Added comment to shortcuts Shortcuts created by the program will show a tooltip saying "Holiday Letting System - propertyname
• Updated the data for the Demonstration property to cover the current year, rather than previous years.
• Fixed a few minor problems, and made some minor improvements to the Help Files

V2.3 Released on 11th August 2005.

This release implemented the following enhancements:

• A new Help Topic is provided to assist users who are upgrading their computer to install LetSys and migrate their data onto the new machine. In addition the Configuration Program now has additional functions to assist transfer settings when migrating to a new Computer. See Help Topic Migrating to a new machine. These functions also help if transferring LetSys to a Laptop on a temporary basis.
• The three letter proformas distributed with the system have been enhanced with changes designed to assist a new user.
• A Clean Up Data Button is added to the Configuration Program to remove unnecessary files from your system. See Help topic "Data cleanup" for more information.
• When copying a returning customer's details into a new booking, the Omit from mailshot flag is set on for the old booking. This helps you avoid sending mailshots to customers who have changed either their postal or email addresses.
• The Help is improved in a few areas
• There are several bugs fixed; in particular if you change the date of a booking any letters are now renamed correctly so they can easily be located.
• Note: You need the free utility eFTP if you want to automatically upload the web availability file, more information / download.

V2.2 Released on 7th February 2005.

This release implements improvements for those users that use LetSys to help maintain a web site. It also improves editing to catch some potential errors when data is entered.

The following changes have been made. More details are in the help file.

• Users now have complete control over the colours and text attributes of the Availability/Rates table produced for a web site, through the use of style sheets. This means you can ensure the style of the availability tables more closely matches the style of your web site.
• Users now have much improved control over the table row format, as a row proforma is now used. This enables you to set the table content to whatever you want - availability start date, end date, comments, heating charge etc can all be included or excluded as you wish. Once installed, read Help topic Overview and Row proforma. Existing users must also modify the name of their Availability file as described in Help topic Upgrading - notes for existing users.
• The option to specify a web browser to use when configuring the system is removed. Instead the default web browser that you have chosen is always used to view web pages. This simplifies set up.
• The "Publish to web" form behaviour is now more flexible. There are now three distinct stages, allowing you, for example, to look at an updated page prior to uploading to the web.
• When entering data into numeric fields in the booking window, only the number keys, backspace and (when appropriate) a decimal point now work. This helps ensure your data is correct.
• A few bugs are fixed, one of which allowed a "zero days" booking to be entered. The data is now checked for any bookings of zero days, and the user alterted.
• The help file is improved in a number of ways, incuding covering the above enhancements.
• Note: You need the free utility eFTP if you want to automatically upload the web availability file, more information / download.

V2.1 Released 1st December 2004. This is a major release, containing many new features based on user requirements.

The following enhancements are implemented in this new version. ( More details are in the help file). These enhancements derive from user requirements.

• Rates window improved: This is completely rewritten, and now shows one line for each week, making editing the rates files easier and more intuitive. Edit menu items provide duplication of lines and fields, and copying and pasting lines. The cursor up and down keys allow you to move beween lines quickly. You can now import data from another property.
• Rates bands: The number of rates bands is increased from 4 to 6. This gives additional flexibility and granularity when setting charges.
• Rates files: A new format is used for the rates files to support these additional functions. The new files have the extension ".hlc" for Holiday Letting Charges. Existing users have their data automatically converted to the new format.
• Cancelled Bookings: The system now allows you to cancel a booking and retain a cancellation charge, by clicking a new "Cancel Booking" button on the Booking Form. (Only deletions were possible before.) A cancelled booking is retained in the database. Details of the customer and the cancellation can still be located in the Search Window (useful if they book again). If you make a charge, this is reported in the accounts. Once installed, read the full details in the Help file.
• Booking archival. This is substantially improved (before you just deleted old records, one by one.) You can now archive all bookings older than a specified date with a single click.
• Rent calculation. This is improved to cover short lets and bookings that are not whole numbers of weeks. For bookings that are one week or more, the rent is now calculated at 1/7th of the appropriate weekly tariff per day. This produces the same result as before for standard bookings (of an integral number of weeks) but also means that the program will now give you a "pro-rata" rent for bookings that are not integral numbers of weeks. Rents for short lets may also now be calculated, allowing you a wide range of options. Once you have installed this new release, read Help Topic Rent Calculation. As before, you can always override the rent if you wish.
• Overdue Payments: The user is now alerted if there are any overdue payments when the program starts up. This check is only done once each day. It is also possible to perform this check from the main menu, using Tools / List Overdue Payments.
• Fly-by hints These are introduced on the Status Window. When the mouse hovers over the Free? column, and the date is taken, information about the booking is displayed, including states and name of person booking. This particularly helps a user see the status for Part-let weeks.
• "Waitlisted" customer bookings: You can now waitlist a booking for a customer a long time in advance, by checking the Reserved Bookings Box and entering customer details, including noting a deposit if you take one. You are then warned a specified time before the let starts (default is 8 months) that the waitlist is over and the deposit is now due.
• Property Selection: This release standardises the method used when selecting properties to process. All property selection is now done using List Boxes (previously check boxes were sometimes used - eg by the mailshot application).
• Improved the "Publish to Web" behaviour. You can now publish several properties at once, not just the current property.
  In addition, an automated way is provided to upload your web availability status, using a free File Transfer Program available from http://erwwen.com/holletsys/eftp.htm. This should work for most web sites.
• Date Format Changed: The Status Window is changed to show dates with the month in letters (eg "23 Aug 2004"). User comments have indicated this is easier to work with.
• Booking Status Report: Background status colours are changed for overdue bookings to bring it into line with the status window. This means that overdue bookings now show with a light blue background in this printed report.
• Viewing the History files: When you view history files (ie copies of Archived, Deleted or Changed records) by double clicking the file in a Windows Explorer window, these files are now always shown in Booking Date order. This makes it much easier to locate a particular record. One benefit is that all the changes you made to a particular booking now show in adjacent records in the changed file.
• Export Bookings to CSV file: It is now posible to export data from the booking data base as a CSV file (ie a file you can read in applications such as Excel.) This allows you to process the customer details in other programs, or send the details to booking agencies that request this.
• Import Bookings from CSV file: It is now possible to import bookings from a CSV file, so that if you previously used an alternative system you can get your data into this program, providing you use a program like Excel to create a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file in the correct format. Help topic Import Bookings from CSV file will give more details.
• Deleted Records saved in new file. Archived bookings are now stored in the file \property\Archive\Archive.hls Previously the way to archive old records was just to delete them, and they were then saved in the Archive file. Deleted records are now saved in a new file, \property\Archive\Deleted.hls Your existing Archive file is automatically renamed to "Deleted.hls" when you install this upgrade.
• The "minimise" behaviour is changed so that you can no longer minimise an open booking window. You can still minimise the whole application but when this is restored, then the booking window becomes the active window. This makes the behaviour on minimise and restore more intuitive.
• Help in the Bookings Window: You will now see the conventional Windows question mark at the top right of the Bookings Window. If you click this and then click on an edit box (or date field) you will see the Help Panel that describes what the field is intended for. This Help feature is also implemented in a few other places; eg in the Configuration Program.
• Undo / Redo: In the Bookings window, the Undo / Redo shortcut key combination is changed to Control+Z, thus adopting the standard used by many other applications. In fact this already worked, but was not documented.
• Easier selection of a nil extra charge: In the LetSys Configuration program, you now select (none) when configuring a property against any of the optional extra charges that you don't need to use. This makes the settings clearer compared with the old standard where an unused charge was just cleared.
• Other improvements: There are some help file improvements, and a few problems are fixed.

V2.0 September 2004: Never formally released, this was given to some users for testing. If you were one of those, you should upgrade now to V2.1.

V1.8 6 February 2004 This is a major new release. The improvements with this release were mostly suggested by users.

This is a full list of the improvements:

• The maximum no of properties the system can handle is now increased to 4. However, if you want 4 properties, you have to delete or rename the Demo Property - you now can't have this property co-existing alongside your 4 properties.
• Better information is provided to enable users to identify Overdue payments, and to know when deposits and balances are due.
  (a) In the Booking Window, due dates for deposits and balances are now shown in the 3rd panel of the statusbar when appropriate. If overdue, this is noted.
  (b) In the Status Window, bookings with overdue payments are highlighted. A light blue background now shows in the -Free?- box and the status box.
• Statistics are significantly improved:
  a) You can now analyse your booking statistics for all properties, just one property, or any number of selected properties (previously just one property at a time was analysed.)
  b) You can now see where your bookings came from. Provided you completed the Source field for each booking, then you are told how many bookings came from each source. The booking form is enhanced so there is a drop-down box to allow you to select from your preferred list of Source fields. With the addition of this facility the booking source is no longer included in the Spreadsheet bookings list (available from File/Export accounts data.)
  c) For income, amounts are no longer rounded but are displayed exactly.
  d) There is a new Prepayment column, showing advance payments received for the next tax year.
  e) The output is now displayed in a memo, so the data can be copied into other documents.
• Processing of letters has been improved in several respects:
  a) Owners with several properties can now use a set of common letter proformas (held in the root folder) for some or all properties, significantly reducing the work of editing proformas. Property specific proformas are still allowed; if present they are used rather than the common proformas.
  b) Users now have the ability for the letter "Salutation" field to be the first names only. This means you can address customers you are on good terms with
  appropriately, without editing. (There is also a new Special String <!Salutation> and a new checkbox on the booking form).
  c) New special strings (mail merge fields) are provided for Property Name (<!PropName>), Total payable (<!Total>), Booking start date (<!StartDate>), booking end date (<!EndDate>) as well as the salutation field. Full details are in the help files in the topic "About Letter Proformas".
• The Discount Calculator has been improved:
  (1) You can now specify whether the discount should be rounded or not.
  (2) There is now a Special field. This enables you to specify and then select your own special discount, which shows as one of the lines on the discount listbox.
  (3) Both the Rounding preference and the value in the Special field are stored between runs.
  (4) When a discount is given, a comment is inserted. This comment is now dated. In addition this comment is preserved if you subsequently use the search facility to copy an existing customers details into the booking form.
• Added a third (optional) letter, "Letter C", as requested by several users. Examples of where you might want a 3rd letter are: Acknowledging a booking and requesting the deposit; Sending back a returnable deposit.
• Search Window Improvements:
  - If you have more than one property, you can now (optionally) search the bookings data base {linkID=300} for all properties and copy the appropriate data from any previous booking into a new booking. Just check the Search All Properties box.
  - If you call the search window from the status window you can't copy data into a new booking - there isn't one open. However, you can now select a previous booking from the current property, and edit it.
  - It is now possible to sort the search results in reverse order - just click the appropriate column header a second time.
• When you enter or change a booking, and save it from the Bookings Window, the file is now immediately saved to disk. This change was made to give better data protection from a system crash, although you can't now back out a change to a booking by selecting "Quit - don't save" from the Status Window. On balance this was felt to be the best approach. Deletions don't cause the file to be saved - so you have a chance to change your mind, if you deleted the wrong record.
• UK Data Protection Act: This is not a problem for owner managers, but has caused some questions. We have therefore added a clause to the conditions in the sample Booking Form (which comes with the demonstration system) and added an item to the Q&A section of the Web Site, to assist owners comply with this act. See the FAQ page.
• The background colour in the cost column is now a different shade of yellow depending on the rate. This is to help distinguish between different rates. (Applies both to the Status window and the printed Status Report.)
• Improved the handling of Rich Text letters - to give a better chance that photos and logos can be included in the letters. Users who tested this new code have reported that it has allowed them to include logos and photos in letter proformas produced by Microsoft Word.
• Mailshots: Changes have been made to make running mailshots more intuitive:
  a. The name rather than the email address now appears in the first column
  b. New columns are added to show the booking start date and the property number.
  c. Improved logic to eliminate duplicates
  d. Spooled labels are now printed when the Mailshot Window closes.
• A new option is now available, when entering or modifying booking data, so that the system will calculate a percentage deposit based on rent alone rather than the total payable. See topic Calculate Deposit on Rent only.
• Changed colour and orientation of the Next/Previous booking icons on the Booking Window to avoid confusion with the next/previous year icons on the status window.
• Fixed a couple of minor problems, and updated and improved the Help files.

030926 V1.7 Major new release. The improvements are:

• Support for mailshots to previous tenants, either by post or email.
• A "Discount Calculator" to automate giving rent discounts. Invoked by a new "calculate discount" button on the Booking Window.
• A new "Bookings Status Report" lists the bookings for one or more properties in the same format as the status window. It is designed to sit by the phone in case customers call. It can replace the printed copy of the status window - and is especially useful if you have several properties.
• A new feature enables you to launch views of all your properties from a single shortcut - helpful if you manage several properties. (From the configuration program, select the "special" tab. Just click a button and the shortcut is created on your desktop.)
• You can now set a switch when configuring LetSys to cause the status window size and position to be saved, and hence you can organise your desktop so it looks the way you want. The switch is set on the General Tab.
• The ability to sort the lists of customers in the Search windows.
• The system now calculates the due date for payment of balances, and this date can be inserted into letters - you need to specify how many weeks ahead of the start of the holiday balances are due when you configure the system (the default is 6).
• The sample deposit acknowledgement letter now includes a "tear-off" slip to help when returning the balance, including the date due.
• A new field has been added to the booking records to hold special information relating to lets (eg - "put high chair out"). A new switch is associated with this field to enable you to flag lets with special information on the status window (a small yellow circle will show).
• This special field is now printed in the report for local representatives rather than the first line of the comments (the previous option).
• There are now two additional acknowledgement checkboxes shown on the bookings window. These are to enable you to record you have sent payment acknowledgements in addition to having received the payments.
• All amounts (not just the deposit and balance) can be specified in pence/cents - not just as integers as before.
• The database format has changed to support the new functions. Due to new string compression code the data size has been halved. Existing users will have their data converted automatically at installation time to the new format.
• The tax year end date can now be changed from the default of 5th April, hence the product can now be used (for example) to produce reports for the US tax year.
• Letter processing (for both hardcopy and email) has been improved.
  - You can now directly edit the letter proformas from the program.
  - Separate "text file" proformas are now provided for email letters, as the content is often quite different.
  - You can more easily recreate a letter if a change is needed.
  - There is better support for the use of Microsoft Word as the editor, and some graphics can now be successfully included in letters, although users must find what works by trial and error.
  - Letter proformas no longer have a "dash" in the name. This is to fix a problem in Lotus WordPro. Existing proformas must be renamed.
  eg Proforma C:\LetSys\Demo Cottage\Data\Proforma-AckDep.rtf should be renamed to ProformaAckDep.rtf.
• More intuitive editing of numeric values (rent etc), error messages are now written only when the user exits the field.
• The rates window now contains a prompt area for the week lines, to make it easier to understand the range of dates that the line specifies.
• Help file improvements
• A few minor bug fixes.

030523 V1.6 Improvements to printing (now adds date printed to all reports and improves the look and readability of some reports.)
Improved colour coding of the availability box so the colour indicates whether the deposit and balance have been paid. This is especially useful where there are two lets in the same week. You can now tell which has a payment outstanding.
The status window display code has been completely rewritten to improve performance and code maintainability.
The help files have been improved, and a few bugs fixed.
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030429 V1.5 Added ability to have a configurable returnable deposit, the return of which is recorded.
Introduced new Database structure to handle the extra functions.
Added the ability to make the normal deposit a fixed amount.
Simplified the editing of the rates files to make this easier for a new user.
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030326 V1.4 Improved the ability to support multiple users on one computer.
Two or 3 people can all use the system from their own user IDs.
Registered users can now switch off the initial "splash screen".
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030315 V1.3 Added the ability to directly send letters by email from the default email client.
Also fixed some bugs and made some performance improvements.
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030304 V1.2 First evaluation release. Now uses Inno Setup as the installation tool.

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Holiday Letting System (LetSys) © Brendan Blake.
See HELP / CONTENTS for full documentation.

Last updated 15 Aug 2018