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2009-10-29T13:22:00.002-07:00

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Buzzsaw 2009.1 brings new features

2009-06-16T13:59:00.004-07:00

With the recently released Buzzsaw 2009.1 comes a host of new features. A few however, hit home for us at Orange Blade Consultants.

Mathematical calculations in custom forms authored in Microsoft Infopath. Until now, we've been using a cumbersome workaround.
A feature that we haven't seen in the release notes........conditional formatting in custom forms from Infopath. We've incorporated a few color-based conditional formatting options in some of our test forms for Buzzsaw, and they work! Not sure why we don't see it in the release notes. Perhaps the ability is there, but not supported? Time will tell.
Internet Explorer 8 and Buzzsaw 2009.1 now play well together.



Get Buzzsaw 2009.1 Here

Release Notes Here

Using Buzzsaw with a virtual machine

2009-01-06T11:27:00.006-07:00

The lines between Buzzsaw usage on a MAC and a PC are becoming more and more skewed. I've found a pretty neat capability when using Buzzsaw on a MAC with a virtual PC running.

In my case, I use VMWare Fusion. But I'm almost certain that you can do the same things with Parallels. In a nutshell, I've found that I can drag and drop data from my MAC right into Buzzsaw (and from Buzzsaw to MAC).

On the left side of the image below you'll see the MAC Finder window, on the right side.....the PC with Buzzsaw running. Just drag and drop.........

We are my Buzzsaw Users Logging in From?

2008-10-09T10:27:00.002-07:00

Buzzsaw Site Administrators have the ability identifying where their users are logging in from. When a user logs in to Buzzsaw, their IP address is noted in the Site Administrator Activity Log.

Go to the Site Adminstrator button on the Buzzsaw Bar
Click the Activity Log Tab
Select your date range
Click the List Option Button
In the Center Window titled "Actions", deselect all by clicking "clear", then select the action titled "login succeeded"
Hit the "Refresh List"
This will show you all logins and ip addresses from users logging in to Buzzsaw
If you want to take it a step further, select "Save Log" at the bottom of the window. You can now export the list to Notepad, Excel, or Word.
Site Admins also have the capability of limiting Buzzsaw access from certain ip address in the security tab of the Site Administration area of Buzzsaw.

The ability to see ip addresses comes in handy when you've allowed anonymous public access to your Buzzsaw Site. When these "public" users login, there is no user name........but there IS an ip address.

The anonymous public user is disabled by default. When enabled, the public user's access is guided by the permission that you've given them. Useful for when a particular document needs to be available to the general public. This "Public" user could have view access to the document......and nothing else (if that's what you are trying to accomplish). Tread lightly when using anonymous public access, and be diligent with the permissions you given them so that you aren't opening access to private documents.

Buzzsaw Member Troubleshooting Tip

2008-09-22T11:46:00.003-07:00

This post is geared for Buzzsaw Administrators.

One of the best ways of putting yourself in the shoes of your users is to create a copy of them, and then log in as them (without having to ask them for their password). Sometimes it's easier to "see what they see" than it is to have the member explain what they are seeing.

John Doe emails you to tell you that he can't see the "Highway 101" project on Buzzsaw.
As administrator, you can login and check his permissions. And when you do, it shows that he should definitely see the "Highway 101" project. So what gives?
Find John Doe in the Members Tab, right-click on the member and select "Copy". The new member will be named "Copy of John Doe". Give this new member your email address, then send the welcome email.
The Welcome email will come to you. When you log in, you will see everything that John Doe does.
In this case, while logged in as "Copy of John Doe" you see the Highway project. So why doesn't John Doe see it? In this case we find that John Doe has logged in to Buzzsaw as one of his office mates accidentally. We tell John to log in as himself in the future, case closed.

Is there also a member lesson here? Yes, don't share your password or allow others to log in as you.

Gone baby Gone?

2008-06-19T12:37:00.013-07:00

Restoring files that have been deleted from your Buzzsaw site

Remember that important drawing or document you deleted from Buzzsaw a few weeks ago? Well sure enough, you need it back........it seems that it was your only copy. That would never happen, right? Unfortunately it does.

So how do you get the file back? Just go to the recycle bin, find the file, right click on it, and select "Restore". It goes back into production.............it's been restored to active status on your Buzzsaw site. Easy enough.

But what happens when you delete a file from Buzzsaw, and someone empties the Buzzsaw recycle bin? It's not there to restore. Gone forever right? Not necessarily. Your Buzzsaw Site Administrator may be able to get the file back for you. The rule of thumb is, you have 30 days or so to get files back after they have been emptied from the recycle bin. And with a phone call to Autodesk, you may be able to get files back that were deleted several months ago.

Instructions for Site Administrators:

Click the Site Adminstration button on the Buzzsaw Bar

Select the Activity Log tab

There is probably going to be a lot of activities logged here. We'll apply a filter by pressing the List Options button. There are 3 windows showing, you want the Actions window. Select the Clear button below the Actions window. Then scroll down the listed action and check the delete box. We are now looking at only the actions of items being deleted (Folders, Projects, Files, Business Processes, etc).

Find the item that you want recovered, then select the Recover Selected Item button in the lower left part of you window.

If you are restoring a project or folder, you can restore all of the files within it, or have Buzzsaw ask you which files to restore.

Buzzsaw will also recognize duplicates. If you are recovering a file that currently exists on your Buzzsaw Site, you can choose to:

Skip the recovery for that file
Replace the existing file with this file that you are recovering
Add this recovered file as another version of the file that exists on the site

Buzzsaw will also allow you to restore all versions of the file you are recovering, or only restore the most recent version of it.

And lastly, you can choose to restore comment tied to the file that you're recovering..........and/or markups associated with the file. Now that's a great tool when you need it.

Recovering items that have been emptied from the recycle bin isn't something that we do everyday. It's that one time though.......that we REALLY need something back that this feature comes to save the day.

Creating and Managing Buzzsaw Notifications

2008-05-09T11:21:00.010-07:00

Notifications in Buzzsaw are a fantastic way of watching a project, folder, or file. And it’s also a way of putting Buzzsaw to work for you by monitoring changes and sending you an email when they occur. Notifications work even when you don’t have Buzzsaw open. So why open Buzzsaw to look for changes? Let Buzzsaw do it for you.

Although there a few different ways to set notifications in Buzzsaw, the easiest way may be to identify what you need to “watch”. Is it an entire project? A folder, and it’s contents? Or is it a single file that you want to watch? After you’ve identified what you’d like to watch, navigate to it, right click on it and choose “New Notification”. Then select one of two notification types, Instant or Daily Summary. That’s it!

By following some simple rules, you’ll stay well informed by the Buzzsaw Notification engine.

1) Understand what triggers a notification. Changes to projects, folder and files. If a file is added or changed a notification is triggered. If a file is deleted, the notification to that file is also deleted. If no changes have been made, there will be no notification.

2) Know when to set an instant notification vs. a daily summary.

These are the 2 types of notifications available (Instant and Daily Summary). Use instant notifications to trigger an email that tells you almost instantly when a change has occurred. There is a catch though. If you set an instant notification to a project, this project could potentially have hundred of files within files within files. And any change, anywhere in the entire project will trigger an instant notification. An active project could spew notification after notification after notification, and before long you’re trying to stop the flood of emails. Instant notifications, however, are great for watching individual files, or smaller projects.

The Daily summary is a “once a day notification detailing all changes”. And the nice thing is, you can choose the time that the daily summary notification comes in to your email. And yes, in a busy project, this daily notification can be a very long email…….but it’s better than getting several individual emails throughout the day. Is there such thing as “too much information”? Good question. I’d rather get 20 notifications that I didn’t need than miss 1 that I REALLY needed.

3) Know how to manage your notifications. This is all performed in the notification manager. It’s there that you’ll change notifications from daily summary to instant (and vice versa), temporarily disable notifications, permanently delete notifications, change the daily summary time, even create new notifications.

Embedding Multiple Scales in a PDF

2008-04-07T14:13:00.003-07:00

Here's the situation:

You have a PDF showing several details.
The details are all at different scales.
You may already know that you can calibrate scale of a PDF using Bluebeam PDF REVU.

So you set the scale for this first detail (in this case it's 1/4" = 1'), you do some measurements, make some notations, etc. Now, it's on to the next detail on the same PDF. This second detail has a different scale (1/8" = 1'). You set the scale for this second detail and the scale of the first detail gets blown away, right? Wrong. We can now embed multiple scales into a single PDF and these multiple scales are stored in the PDF!. Really......really cool tool.

Couple this capability with the ability to snap to geometry in the PDF and your accuracy has increased tremendously.

More information on Measuring and embedding scales in PDF using Bluebeam here.

Call today for a live demonstration of the power of Bluebeam.
480-445-9828

Buzzsaw Baby Picture (circa May 2000)

2008-03-27T10:15:00.003-07:00

From May 0f 2000. Buzzsaw was still a dot com, not under Autodesk at the time.
http://web.archive.org/web/20000511105836/http://www.buzzsaw.com/

Some interesting bits:

Carl Bass was the CEO of Buzzsaw at the time.
Many of us were using dialup internet access, so uploading/downloading to/from Buzzsaw wasn't a lot of fun.
There were tons of "Collaboration" tools/companies bursting onto the scene (many of them are now gone). You couldn't throw a rock at a trade show without hitting a collaboration booth.
There was free training on Thursdays at 1pm (this still occurs each and every Thursday)
You'll see the link showing the second round of Venture Funding of $75M.....this funding link also reveals the Buzzsaw Launch date of November 1, 1999.
There was a free "Basic Plan" for Buzzsaw......I think it was for 25 or 50 members with 500MB storage (don't quote me on those numbers)
The idea of a site webcam was promoted on the homepage

The links are slow......but many of them still work.

Controlling Emails generated by Buzzsaw

2008-03-11T14:07:00.009-07:00

Buzzsaw gives administrators the ability to disable most email notifications. Have you made a change to a group in Buzzsaw and want to permanently disable the email that goes out to the newly added group member? Do you really need that email telling you that you just added a new member to your Buzzsaw site?

So you've added a member to a group.......and send the email out letting the member know that they've been added to this group. The reality is, most of the time the member doesn't need to know that they've been added to a group. Then the email or phone call comes in, "I got this email telling me that I've been added to a group named group name here, what does this mean?" And the answer is usually, "Nothing to worry about, just disregard that email" It's one thing for Buzzsaw asked if you want to these notifications to go out. (see below).

Note the "In the future, do not show options when changing member properties". Checking this box can stop the dialog from appearing.

Alternatively, you can turn some notifications off and leave others on

Do this:

Tools
Preferences
Email Tab
Deselect the emails that you don't want going out

Bluebeam PDF Revu 6.0, released on February 19, 2008……..and it rocks.

2008-02-21T11:49:00.007-07:00

Talk about making your PDF files jump........wow.

See the new features here

Measurement

Volume measurements and counts items on a PDF. Store the drawing scale in the PDF, set multiple scales on a single PDF drawing with Viewports. New snapping features ensure the most accurate measurement. Yes, we now snap to geometry in the PDF………accuracy in measurements has been greatly enhanced

Digital Signatures

Electronically sign PDF documents to support an electronic workflow and protect your intellectual property. Create customized signatures, sign documents, validate signatures

WebTab™

WebTab integrates a full web browser giving you direct access to the web within Revu. Search online for PDF brochures, online PDF catalogs and other documents and view them in Revu. Copy, paste and assemble the PDF documents to produce a new PDF file, ready for distribution.

Advanced Editing

New advanced features make it easy to fill out PDF forms, link and attach related content to your PDF. New typewriter tool makes it easy to add text to a PDF, just click and type. Embed any kind of file in a PDF to send as one information rich, PDF document. Add, edit and reorder bookmarks with simple drag and drop functionality. Your editing options are endless.

Batch Compare Documents

Compare documents automatically compares two PDF files and highlights the differences. Now in 6.0, batches of PDF files can be compared to an original document for even more time savings We’ve found that this feature works great on site plans. Quickly identify changes between different versions of a PDF.

PDF File Attachments

Embed any kind of file in a PDF to send as one information rich, PDF document. File attachments in the PDF are designated with an icon that can be double clicked to open in the appropriate local application.

PDF Bookmark Enhancements

Rearranging and editing PDF bookmarks just got easier. Revu utilizes drag and drop functionality to reorder bookmarks in a PDF and allows users to multi-select bookmarks to change the properties or actions associated with bookmarks.

File Recovery

Don’t worry about losing PDF edits if your computer crashes or the power goes off. Bluebeam’s new file recovery will allow you to recover the document with all your work intact.

Call or email for pricing and volume discounts

480-445-9828

Buzzsaw on a MAC

2008-01-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

With MAC becoming more and more popular, even in A/E/C markets, how do MAC users (I'm one of them) work in a largely PC dominated workplace? We'll be keying on Buzzsaw usage with a MAC in this post.

Here's how we manage to use Buzzsaw on a MAC. First things first, Orange Blade Consultants' main activities involves Autodesk Buzzsaw training and consulting (Site Setup, administrator training, member training, trade partner training, custom business processes, etc). Our most important applications - Buzzsaw, Autodesk Design Review (the free viewer for doing takeoffs and printing plans from buzzsaw), and Microsoft Infopath (Microsoft App for designing custom Business Processes) are made for the PC.

There is a "web version" of Buzzsaw (pictured below). The web version is made available for those using web browsers other than Internet Explorer. My browser is Safari, and sometimes Firefox. You can use Buzzsaw on a MAC within these browsers. When using this web version, you are visiting a web page with an assortment of links. You can upload/download files (if you have the proper permissions to do so), Size information about a files, see the size of the file.

However, I'll tell you that we prefer the client version of Buzzsaw better (pictured below). The client version just feels right. It has all the familiar tools and everything has it's place........feels like I'm using Microsoft Outlook. It's easy, and that's what I'm after. With the client version, I can drag-and-drop files to/from Buzzsaw. I can view files within the Buzzsaw view window. I can email from within buzzsaw. I have the Find function available to me.....etc,etc.

So how do we manage to use this client version on MACs? There is more than one answer. Our answer has been a product from VMWare, named VMWare Fusion(http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/). In essence, I run Windows (XP, but other Windows versions will run with Fusion) simultaneously with Leopard (the latest MAC OS). And it runs flawlessly. Truly the best of both worlds. All of the features of the MAC that I love with all the benefits of Windows that I need. We paid $79 for Fusion back in November 2007. Well worth the price. Note: You must also have a version of Windows available to run windows on your MAC.

There is also "Boot Camp" (http://www.apple.com/getamac/windows.html). Boot Camp comes with the latest MAC OS. Bootcamp will run Windows on a MAC. The downside is that you are booting to MAC, or you are booting to Windows. Fusion lets both MAC and Windows run simultaneously. You can bounce from MAC apps to Windows Apps, share drives, printers, external peripherals, etc.

There is also another product by the name Parallels (http://www.parallels.com/). I've heard good things about Parallels, and it will run Buzzsaw in a Windows environment. We've chosen VMware Fusion, and we're sticking with it. But for those considering one of these Windows virtual machines on their MAC, check both of them out. 30-trial versions available form their respective websites.

Regardless of how you run Windows and Buzzsaw on your MAC, just do it. The price is well worth it. It's great having the best of both operating systems.

Free custom toolsets available from Bluebeam

2008-01-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

For use with Bluebeam PDF Revu. Bluebeam has made available free custom toolsets at http://www.bluebeam.com/web07/us/resources/. 30-Day trial of Bluebeam PDF Revu available here

Most toolsets are discipline specific and include:

Proofreading Symbols
Plumbing / Fixture Symbols
Plumbing / Drains
Plumbing / Pipe Fittings
HVAC / Heat and Power Devices
HVAC / Heating and Ventilation
HVAC / Refrigeration
HVAC / Valves
Electrical / Telecom
Wingdings
ASME Y14.5
Basic

These symbols are drag-n-drop, able to be enlarged or reduced, sharable on a network, rotatable, and many can accept text such as a detail number or section number.

Do you have an existing symbol library or Autocad Block Library? You can make a Bluebeam toolset from them. Stayed tuned for a post showing how this is done!

Call us for volume discounts and more information on Bluebeam PDF Revu.

Orange Blade Consultants
15279 W Post Drive
Surprise, AZ 85374
480-445-9828
info@orangeblade.com

Making a case for Buzzsaw in a slowing housing market

2008-01-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

In 2004/2005 when homebuilders couldn't build fast enough in some parts of the US. Plans were distributed faster, changes were relayed faster, we got away from doing takeoffs from paper plans and elevations (by learning to use Autodesk Design Review). Using Buzzsaw made so much sense.

Fast forward to 2008. It's no secret that the market has turned. Some saw it coming, some hoped it wouldn't. It's a reality now.

So where does the value lie in Buzzsaw now? We've all heard the saying, "Things change, but nothing changes". It holds true in this case.

By using Buzzsaw now.........homebuilders can keep a very tight hold on their bid process. Having instant access to bid numbers.......perhaps being more selective in the trade partner selection because the numbers are at their fingertips. We aren't chasing the paper any more.

Maybe the person who served as your "Document control" is no longer in that position. Or maybe there never was a person who was "officially" in charge of distributing and accounting for paper-based plans, and all of the changes that occur during the life of a project. Or the people who managed bid collection with paper are now performing other duties, or no longer with the company.

We're still realizing tremendous gains by leveraging the functions of Buzzsaw. Only now they're even more valuable than they were a few years ago:

Business processes - What's the value of RFIs running their course, and closing out an average 2 or 3 days earlier than they used to? No longer paying couriers and losing the day or two for the recipient to respond. The more savvy Buzzsaw users have even had other paper-based processes turned into "Buzzsaw Business Processes". You know, those forms we fill out, send through inter-office mail.........never knowing where they are, who has seen it, when should you expect to get a response from it? We have these capabilities with Buzzsaw.

Groups - For whatever reason, ABC Framing (fictional framing company in Anytown, USA) is no longer doing your framing. Now......we remove them from a group in Buzzsaw and plug in the new Framing Company, and they're off an running. They have access to all the plans that ABC Framing did. They have a bid deposit folder, just like ABC did. And the best part, 3 or 4 clicks of the mouse did it!

Cloning - No, not livestock. Projects. You just closed out a community. You were pleased with all (or most) of your trade partners. Want to use them for your next community? We'll clone the community that just closed, thus creating your new community. All of the players from the closed community are now here in the new one........all folders, files, permissions, business processes, ready for use. No reinventing the wheel here.

Corporate Offices and the Satellite Office - The standard requirements: An internet connection and a PC. Now, everyone is one the same page. With Buzzsaw as the centralized location for all project activity, Corporate Offices, Satellite Offices, Field Crews, and all other project members to have access to the latest electronic documents regardless of their geographic location.

Electronic Review - Trade partners have questions about plans, or find discrepancies in the field. They no longer markup paper and figure out a way to get it into your hands. They make notes and markup using Autodesk Design Review (Free for everyone), and relay the markups to you via Buzzsaw. They don't wait for hours or days to get a response, and work doesn't stop while waiting for the paper to reach you so that you can reply.

We're just scratching the surface here. By using the basic Buzzsaw tools and following a "Best Practices" protocol, Buzzsaw stands tall even when the housing market has weakened.

Linking to files from within a business process (aka "form") in Buzzsaw

2008-01-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

A new feature has been added to the latest version of Buzzsaw (version 2008.1) released on January 12, 2008.

We can now link to files on the Buzzsaw site directly from a Buzzsaw form.

Notes:

You are linked to a specific version of the file. If the file changes, and you are accessing the file by the link embedded within the form, you we be viewing the original version.....not the updated version. This would be an instance when you would want to lock all files that are linked in forms to prevent changes to this linked file.

You can also download the file right from the form to your local PC or network drive. You will be downloading the version that was linked to the form (not any updated versions of this file)

Permission persist. If you link to a file that someone doesn't have permission to view.......they still cannot view the file. Be sure when linking to files from within forms that the members involved with this form have access to the files you are linking to. If the file is moved from one location on Buzzsaw to another location, the members involved with this form can still access it, if they have permissions to view the file in it's new location.

Electronic Review with Bluebeam

2008-01-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the scenario. You have 10 associates reviewing 1 PDF document. You'd like to preserve all markups/comments from every reviewer. In other words.......nobody should be able to delete the comments of another reviewer.

By using Bluebeam PDF Revu, you can. By leveraging the "Layers" and "Flatten" tool we can Markup the PDF
We'll put our markups on their own layer such as "Bob's Comments" or "Jane's Calcs"
We'll flatten the markups, making them a permanent part of the PDF
We can then show or hide certain layers
All 10 reviewers would have their own markup layer.........protected from deletion, a permament part of this PDF!

See it in action here

Call us for a free 30-day trial version

480-445-9828

Salvaging your assigned numbers in business processes

2008-01-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

Using Buzzsaw Professional?

Have you ever started a new Form (aka "Business Process") and then scrapped the idea after you already started filling in some of the fields?

Then you found out the hard way that the number assigned to that form, is now gone. It may have been assigned # 1000. But now that you deleted that instance of the form, the next time you press "Add" to start a new form........the number will be 1001.

Maybe this is a big deal, maybe not. If you want to maintain a continuous stream of numbers for your forms (like a checkbook), then it's a big deal.

Here is what you can do. As soon as you click "Add" to start a new business process, click "Save as Draft". You can then "Edit" this draft at an time to complete this particular form........and the kicker is.......the number is always going to be there for you. No more "lost" numbers!

Buzzsaw Snapshot 1.2 Released

2007-12-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

Now with the capability of scheduled exporting forms on your Buzzsaw site to your network or workstation.

Notes:

Runs manually or unmanned

Can programmed to run at any time

Call for more information

480-445-9828

So you'd like to suppress the welcome email......but

2007-06-18T22:37:00.001-07:00

.................you've already told Buzzsaw not to show you these options again, assuming you'll always be firing off the welcome email with all new invites to your Buzzsaw Site.

But now you're adding several new members in a single sessiob..........and you want to suppress the welcome email until your good and ready to send them, now what?

OK. Everyone knows the dangers of lurking around in your registry, but the answer we've found lives there............tread lightly

Start>Run
Type regedit
Goto HKEY_Current_User>Software>ProjectPoint-2007 (assuming you have the latest version of Buzzsaw installed)>Preferences.......
Then find the key named “ShowSendOptionsWelcomeEmail”
Double click on this key and change the 0 to a 1, Click OK…..then restart Buzzsaw

Buzzsaw in the Bed of a Truck

2007-05-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

Things are different now.

The foreman for an 8 person framing crew submits time sheets for his crew by using a Business Process in Buzzsaw, from the bed of his truck, armed only with a laptop and one of those DSL-speed wireless cards.

His Human Resources department gets notified instantly that he has submitted his "time cards"........ This foreman is one of 25 foreman managing various teams for his company.

This particular foreman didn't:

Leave the job site (and his crew) for 2 hours to make the 2 hours round trip in rush-hour traffic across town to hand deliver the time cards.
Burn 2 gallons of gas (about 6 bucks worth)
Worry about forgetting a paper time card at the job site, only to have another crew member make the same trip to the office to deliver it
Have to make a few phone calls to verify some one's shoddy handwriting on a paper time card "is this a 5 or a 3?"

This foreman did:

Stay with his crew for the entire duration of the shift
Take only 10 minutes of his time to submit all the time cards
Unknowingly create a permanent record of the transmitted time sheets

On this day alone, the company saved:

50 hours of foreman labor (25 foreman making the 2 hours round trip to hand deliver the time sheets) x $30/hour = $1500
50 gallons of gas = $150
The hassle of verifying dozens of handwritten time cards.

Oh....and let's not forget they are also viewing plans online.....even the most recent revisions that were made available 2 hours ago.

It's all happening.....right now. The power of Buzzsaw has been extending to reach a much broader user base.......no longer reserved for only for Architects, Developers, Homebulders, Engineers, and Retailers.

Buzzsaw Backup Beta

2007-04-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

Buzzsaw Backup, a tool for creating snapshots and generating incremental backups of a Buzzsaw site is now in Beta. We expect to have version 1 available for use within 30 days. Contact us at info@orangeblade.com to join the beta test team.

You do not have to be a Site administrator to use Buzzsaw Backup
Buzzsaw backup should be installed on a PC or server that has constant internet connectivity

“Very” Strong Passwords in Buzzsaw

2007-04-04T09:23:00.000-07:00

If you are a site administrator in Buzzsaw, the capability to incorporate some very tight password rules exist.

Strong Passwords: You may already know that passwords must contain at least 8 characters, at least one uppercase character, and one number. But now, kick it up a notch with Buzzsaw’s “Enable Strong Passwords” option. What is a Strong Password? It must:

start with a letter
be at least 8 characters long
contain at least one capital letter
contain at least one number
be different from the previous ten passwords
be different from any password used in the previous six months.

Need more passwords security? How about requiring special characters (such as !@#$%^&*), or excluding words found in a standard dictionary, or exclude the user's name from the password.

We can then choose when these new password rules will go into effect. Should they pick a new password immediately? Or when the users are required to create a new password due to password expiration?

Here is the message alerting a member that they are required to choose a new password

Here is the message telling the user that they haven't complied with some of the new password rules

Does everyone need this level of security? No. But it's good to know that this enhanced level of security is available for those high-security projects.

Possibilities with Information Pages in Buzzsaw

2007-03-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

By using information pages in Buzzsaw, we can create a custom "Splash Page" for our Buzzsaw Site, or individual projects within the site.

Possibilities:

A Webcam posted to your Buzzsaw site showing live video feeds

Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA

A DWF, perhaps a site plan, floorplan, or progress file

Or link to Google Documents and Spreadsheets.

A Team Calendar

You can dictate who sees the information pages, allowing for some privacy if needed. The activity logs will detail which members have seen the information pages.

Just scratching the surface........get creative.

The (public) user in Buzzsaw

2007-03-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

The (public) user in Buzzsaw.

Facts:

Can login to Buzzsaw anonymously, without having to type a password
IP address of the anonymous user is shown in the activity log
Cannot be added to a group
Public users cannot view a list of project or site members.
Are disabled by default, must be enabled by a site admin to activate
Cannot be disabled by project admins, only site admins can enable/disable them
Can be treated like any other site member in regard to permissions
The easiest way to grant someone (public) access is the enable the (public) user, then send them a link similar to this http://projectpoint.Buzzsaw /client/your site name/folder name?public Replace "your site name" with your site name.

Comments:

Good for non-sensitive file viewing of users who aren't going to be permanent members of the site
Should not be used as a way to exceed your number of allowed member. We want to know exactly WHO is on our site, right? The power of Buzzsaw reveals who/what/when.......the (public) user removes the "who" factor
Be careful with permissions for the (public) user(s). We don't want some anonymous user uploading 5GB files when we aren't "looking"

Capturing Lists in Buzzsaw

2007-03-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Why would you need to capture a list from the buzzsaw window?

Maybe you're evaluating the folder structures of your site. Perhaps you need a list of files in a particular project, a sort of snapshot of the project.

Here are 2 ways to accomplish this.

1. Download and install SysExporter here (freeware) http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/sysexp.zip
SysExporter will give you the ability to cut/copy/paster/export all text from all open windows on your PC.

2. Use Snagit, by Techsmith. Set the capture method to Text Capture

The limitation here is, Snagit will only grab the text that is visible on the screen. If some text is below the scrolls......it will not be captured.

Our MAC friends join the DWF Party

2007-03-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

A new version of the Macdwf has been released. Thanks to the gang at Austin Silver Software.

Now MAC users can work with the DWF file. The latest version now opens local DWF files. This thing's just getting better and better.

Visit www.macdwf.com for more details and download it........

Recovering your Buzzsaw Susbscription Costs

2007-03-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Sepialine has a Buzzsaw Integration Tool that will capture Buzzsaw usage. With Buzzsaw integration from Sepialine, you can convert your Buzzsaw subscription into profit by tracking and charging your costs.

http://www.sepialine.com/buzzsaw/

Windows Mobile and Buzzsaw

2007-03-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

So the question comes up, "Can I use Buzzsaw on my Treo 700w (Or any other PDA running Windows Mobile 5)?"

Short answer: Yes, by going to https://projectpoint.buzzsaw.com/yoursitename
Long Answer: Yes, it will the the web version of Buzzsaw with some limitations.

You can:

Upload a file
Download a file and then view it (.doc, .xls, .pdf, .txt)
Receive notification in your mobile email

You can't:

View a DWF
Set notifications
Create folder
Add/delete/edit Users, permissions, folder, projects, links, notes

So, although it's a slimmed down version......you can use Buzzsaw on a Windows Mobile device.