Ride the ProfitTrain!

Mailplane email support update

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 11:30:57 -0500

With the newest version of Mailplane the ProfitTrain AppleScript to send email seems to have broke. If you install a custom AppleScript and use the code from the following gist it should work again. Will have this fix as part of an upcoming release.

Sorry for the trouble.

http://help.clickablebliss.com/profittrain/custom_email_applescript.html

https://gist.github.com/1468633

Australia GST Support

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:42:25 -0400

We are in the process of trying to implement support for Australia GST taxes and would appreciate some support from the community on how it works and how it should appear on invoices. If you have any feedback or sample invoices to share please send them to . Thanks.

Help Wanted with Microsoft Outlook AppleScript

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:13:33 -0500

ProfitTrain uses AppleScript to make new emails with recipients pre-filed and PDFs pre-attached.

With the new release of Microsoft Office for Mac they have dropped Entourage and are now using Outlook. Apparently the AppleScript dictionary has changed as well. Working with a user I had them change the app name in the script from “Entourage” to “Microsoft Office” but this change alone doesn’t seem to make a working script. I’d do the testing myself but I don’t have a copy of the new Office yet, nor is there a demo available for me to try.

If anyone has the new Office and wants to help, please download ProfitTrain and use the custom script hook so that you can use a custom AppleScript in place of the built-in one. If you get something that works please share and I’ll pass on to the users who are asking for it. Thanks again.

Mail.app black background issue

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:22:00 -0400

I’ve gotten a few emails from ProfitTrain / Billable users complaining about black email screens while trying to email invoices. This seems to be a Safari 5 issue as described by this Apple Support article.

They don’t have a fix but suggest toggling the plain/rich text to clear the formatting using the command shortcut Command-Shift-T.

Wish I could help but this bug seems to be on Apple’s end. :(

Thanks to @apricotstudios for the help article link.

UPDATE: This seems to be fixed with Safari 5.0.1. Use system preferences to update.

How-to store the ProfitTrain data folder in Dropbox.

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:06:05 -0400

How-to store the ProfitTrain data folder in Dropbox.:

New help article walks you through setting up symlinks to store the ProfitTrain data folder on Dropbox.

Using the Web Inspector in ProfitTrain (or any WebKit-based application)

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:31:03 -0400

This is a little technical, but for those extreme CSS crafters potentially useful.

ProfitTrain like many apps on Mac OS X utilizes the WebKit framework to render web pages. This is the same engine that powers Safari.

WebKit has a thing called the Web Inspector:

The Web Inspector is useful to debug CSS code and figure out which elements are getting which styles.

If you are a ProfitTrain invoice template designer and would like access to the Web Inspector while editing a template design follow these steps:

Make sure ProfitTrain is not running, and then via terminal execute the command:

defaults write com.clickablebliss.ProfitTrain WebKitDeveloperExtras -bool true
Launch ProfitTrain and highlight an invoice. Traditionally you’ll be viewing the PDF representation in the view pane. Use the menu bar to switch this view to use the WebView.
Right click inside of the WebView and choose the Inspect Element menu. This will open the Web Inspector inside of the WebView. To detach the inspector click on the little button in the bottom left.

And now you can use the inspector to debug the CSS as well as other things.

Thanks to forum user fabiopigi for bringing up this need and getting me to figure out how to turn it on.

Using JavaScript to customize currency in invoice templates.

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:11:59 -0400

Using JavaScript to customize currency in invoice templates.:

Forum user fabiopigi wanted more control over the currency formats in his invoice and is using some custom javascript to make it happen.

MacNN Review of ProfitTrain

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:29:30 -0500

MacNN Review of ProfitTrain:

Thanks to the fine folks over at MaNN for their positive review of ProfitTrain.

ProfitTrain does what it says it will do and it does it very well. I have already transitioned my small business over from Billable and I’m very happy. I’ve searched for years for a simple Mac application for small businesses and this is the best one I’ve found.

The review does point out the inelegance of the New Client experience and I agree that the current workflow is a bit clunky and hope to improve it over time.

Email Customization

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:12:18 -0500

There is no way to compose an email that includes an attachment using the mailto: protocol. Therefore in ProfitTrain when we want to send an email with the PDF invoice attached we use a series of AppleScripts to support Mail.app, Entourage, Mailsmith, Eudora and Mailplane (Gmail front end).

If you want to run your own AppleScript when ProfitTrain wants to send an email you can do that as well. As we say in the help book article:

Under the application menu “ProfitTrain”, in the main menu, you’ll find a command labeled “Install Custom Email AppleScript…”. Using this you can copy a customizable AppleScript into place at:

[HardDisk]/Users/[you]/Library/Application Support/ProfitTrain/email_invoice_using_user_script.scpt

When ProfitTrain sees an AppleScript at this location, with this filename, it will use it when you use the Email publish action instead of the default built-in script.

ProfitTrain user Jankees van Woezik is using this feature to customize the subject line as well as archive the PDF invoices as he mails them. Cool stuff.

Double Click Love

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:42:52 -0500

Did you know you could double click on a client in the source list to open the Client Inspector? Or how about double clicking a report in the source list to run it? You can also double click an invoice row to open the edit invoice sheet.

We are striving to make sure little things like this work well in ProfitTrain. If you have any suggestions for a user interaction that you’d like to see, please let us know.

ProfitTrain, I choose you! Some like to think ProfitTrain was...

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:25:00 -0500

ProfitTrain, I choose you!

Some like to think ProfitTrain was the result of a lot of hard work, good code and great customers. The real truth is that one day I was walking along on Route 215 outside Veilstone City when this happened.

Video on YouTube

Tip: Red clients owe you money.

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:23:46 -0500

If you are just getting started with ProfitTrain you may wonder why some clients show up as red in the source list.

To help you get a quick sense of which clients owe you money and have outstanding invoices (invoices that are due on receipt or are past their due date) we will display that client name as red in the source list.

Additionally we will display the outstanding invoice row in the main invoice table as red to distinguish it from the other paid or open invoices.

We hope this cue helps. As always, if you have any feedback, let us know.

Submit your business profile

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:19:00 -0500

One of the things I want to do on this blog is to profile ProfitTrain users and their businesses. (Inspiration via The Setup.) I’ve experienced a lot of this via personal emails but I think it might be fun to share all the various types of people who are using ProfitTrain. I’ve seen professions from lawyers, therapists, web designers, authors and even dog walkers to name a few.

How to submit your business.

If you would like to participate in a ProfitTrain Business Profile please answer the following questions in a short essay (~200-400 words). Submit the essay as plain text and include a high resolution photo that represents your business (one that I would have permission to publish) to mike@clickablebliss.com with the subject line “ProfitTrain Business Profile Submission”.

The questions your essay should address:

Who are you and what does your business do you do?
Why do this and not a work for someone else?
How did you come to use ProfitTrain and what is your favorite feature?
If you could give past self some advice about running a business what would it be?

Please be understanding that every submission won’t get published.

ProfitTrain Help: Creating an Invoice Template

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:06:00 -0500

ProfitTrain Help: Creating an Invoice Template:

I rewrote the help article on creating a custom template yesterday. Previously it assumed you were starting from scratch but now offers a template bundle to start with (a variant of the default Plain Jane). Let me know if you have any questions or feedback.

"Reporting in ProfitTrain is the best I have ever seen. Everyone should be getting excited about the..."

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:54:11 -0500

“Reporting in ProfitTrain is the best I have ever seen. Everyone should be getting excited about the final release for this.”

- Wesley Phoenix

A short getting started tutorial for ProfitTrain.

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:19:37 -0500

A short getting started tutorial for ProfitTrain.