December Newsletter

In this edition…

• New features available in 4.8.10. You can read the full release notes on our blog.
• Breslau Insurance Benefits Case Study
• Nomadesk get’s it’s ‘stache on

We are very excited to announce the following new functions for Nomadesk: – Online Activity Log – Notifications – Online Trashcan – File Details Page

At Nomadesk, we constantly better our product to meet your needs. In this release, we have modified the following: – Mac client now grabs focus when using Filelinks and Folderlinks – Mac client performance has improved – Enhanced myNomadesk functionality

This is a story of a boy and his mustache. Well, several boys and various versions of mustaches. If you haven’t yet discovered the awesomeness that is Movember, you’re in for a real treat. Read all about it here.

These are pretty sobering statistics. They are also not well-known statistics– but this is the whole premise behind Movember. It is a unique campaign for male cancer awareness carried out each November by men all over the world. How do they build this awareness and spread the desire for a more health-conscious lifestyle? By growing a mustache.

This year, the guys in our Austin office started clean-shaven on November 1st, then proudly donned their best facial hair over the next 30 days. While there may have been a joke or two thrown around, the concept behind Movember was well worth it (and successful).

“I’ve actually been a little surprised that the intended affect has worked so well,” commented John Filut, SVP of Product Development. “Everyone I know asks me immediately, ‘So, what’s with the mustache?’, and it’s a great segue into the whole conversation about men’s health and Movember.”

Having raised a cumulative count of over $174 million, the Movember mustache is a growing movement around the globe with over a million registrants online. To learn how you can get involved (if you want to do more than just skip the razor each November), visit their site at www.us.movember.com.

Let’s close with one last factoid from the American Cancer Society… if detected and treated in early stages, 90% of prostate cancer is curable. So be a man. Get your regular check-ups done.

Release 4.8.10 is a short-cycle release focused primarily on some immediate improvements to the user experience for MyNomadesk and introducing the new Nomadesk brand.

Notable Changes

New Features

• Online Activity Log.  An online activity log that allows users to view all file creates, updates, and deletions within their fileservers.
• Notifications.  This feature provides the ability for users to receive e-mail alerts on files or folders when they are created, updated, or deleted within their shared fileservers.
• Online Trashcan.  This feature saves all files deleted from your shared fileservers to an online trashcan.  After some time has passed, deleted files will be purged from the online trashcan automatically.
• File Details Page.  Now when a file is clicked in MyNomadesk, rather than an auto-download upon click, a file details page is displayed with the option to download the file.

Improvements

• MyNomadesk UX improvements:
  • Improved display of available file and folder actions (no longer need to right click items).
  • Mouse-over tooltips to clarify the purpose of the many icon buttons currently available.
  • Action buttons and header changed to match new Nomadesk branding style.
  • No longer graying out negative-action buttons like cancel.
  • Client improvements:
    • Icons now match new Nomadesk Branding Style.

Notable Bug fixes

• Mac client (on Leopard and Snow Leopard) now properly grabbing focus when creating file links and folder links.
• Mac client performance has been improved.

 New feature:

• myNomadesk Folder Restore:
  In addition to restoring individual files, this new feature allows you to restore a complete folder and all its contents to a previous date (up to 14 days back in time).Access this feature via myNomadesk.com > Revision view > Right-click a folder and select Restore.
  Note: by default, your files will be restored to a folder “Restore” at the top level of your Fileserver

Mobile platforms:

• Since the release of our iPhone and iPad Apps, we have been busy making Nomadesk available on Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.
  Downloads: iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry , Windows Phone

Enhancements:

• myNomadesk.com now uses the best available technology from your browser to upload (multiple) files. The file up-loader will use Flash, Silverlight or html file uploads based upon what technology is supported in your browser
• Added Swedish and Japanese language support (Client and myNomadesk)
• Mac OS X 64 bit support
• Possibility to “suspend” a Fileserver in the Mac Client

Other improvements:

• Fixed some issues with the automatic Mac update notification system
• Fixed issues with notifications not correctly displaying on certain systems
• Fixed an issue preventing Nomadesk to automatically launch after installation
• Improvements when resolving conflicts with the synchronization problem solver
• System performance has been improved at end of syncing
• Fixed Fileserver not arriving on Dashboard after accepting invite
• Fixed issues when upgrading from older clients (3.3.2)

Streaming of media files

Streaming of media files is supported via our online Nomadesk dashboard (http://myNomadesk.com). This exciting new feature has been introduced by popular demand.

What does this mean?

You no longer have to wait before you can watch or listen to your favorite music or video. No need to download or save, just click and play.

How?

That’s easy, log on to http://myNomadesk.com , browse to your video or music, right-click your file and choose “Preview”. A small media player window now appears and starts playing your media.

What’s supported?

Currently, we support the following audio and video formats: .flv, .mov, .wmv, .mp4, .mp3.

How does it work?

Nomadesk transcodes your music and video files on demand in real time and automatically adjusts video quality for optimal results.

Additional language support

In addition to English, Dutch and French, we now have comprehensive support for other international languages such as German, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

Download as Zip

Requested by many “I would like to download a complete folder instead of individual files”.

Now you can download a complete folder from myNomadesk.com as a Zip. Just right-click a folder, choose “Download as Zip” and your Zip file will start downloading.

Fileserver size on import

When importing a fileserver, you might want to check if you have enough disk space available to synchronize all the files.

Suspend a Fileserver

This is a handy feature to quickly hide and show a fileserver from the Dashboard without actually removing the Nomadesk cache.

Other enhancements

• Rename a fileserver – this feature allows you to rename a fileserver while keeping it in the Dashboard. The name change is automatically propagated to Guests that have the Fileservers in their Dashboard.
• Edit File, Folder and WidgetLink properties – allows modifying the properties of shared files, folders or widgets. You can now edit all links through the Link History.
  You might for example want to give collaborators permission to upload files or change the description on the download page. You can also extend the expiry date of a shared link and change the password.
• Forgot password - the improved password procedure will make it easier and more secure to reset your password.
• UI improvements – on myNomadesk to better handle revisions.
• Proxy detection – improvements and support for Mac proxies.
• Stability and performance improvements
• Improvements when purchasing in multiple languages
• Performance improvements when moving or copying files onto a Fileserver
• Performance improvements – a complete Fileserver re-synchronization can be up to 10 times faster
• Sync Now in the fileserver menu will start immediate synchronization of File changes
• Additional improvements:
  - fixed some issues with files reoccurring after deletion
  - usability improvements when working behind a proxy server

What’s next?

This release also includes some important architectural changes allowing us to gradually roll out some neat features in the short term.

One of the important features requested by many is being able to restore deleted files and keeping previous versions whenever there has been a file change.

What do I have to do?

We will be gradually upgrading customers to provide this new functionality. So stay tuned, we will send out a quick notice when we upgrade your account.

With this release, we also remove the beta label from the Nomadesk for Mac OS X release.

myNomadesk.com

File Revisions

This highly demanded feature allows team members to view and restore previous (backup) versions of files up to 14 days back. In addition to the automatic daily versions, customers can also create an unlimited number of manual versions or “snapshots”.

Search

The search feature allows you to search through your Fileserver and retrieve files or folder names in seconds.

Link Management

Ever wanted to disable that FileLink you just sent? Want to know how many times your file has been downloaded? Now you can do all this with Link Management. Link Management allows you to view, track and manage all FileLinks, FolderLinks* and Widgets* that you have sent.

Guest Permissions

Control and define guest permissions when inviting someone to your team Fileserver.  Define who can share Files with Widgets and FolderLinks or who can invite other team members.

Other enhancements

• Transfer Fileserver ownership – hand over the ownership of a Fileserver (available in My Account)
• Change Account E-mail address (available in My Account)
• Auto thumbnail view – folders with many pictures will automatically switch to thumbnail view
• Image preview for Widgets – Widget supports previewing images and PDFs directly from the folder
• Client download – download and install Nomadesk directly from your online dashboard
• File and Folder properties
• Theftguard layout optimizations

Create your Nomadesk Account online:

Only have access to a browser but want to benefit from all the great online Nomadesk features? Go ahead, start working with your online Nomadesk and install the Desktop Client later. How? Go to https://mynomadesk.com/logon/signup and follow the online instructions.

Nomadesk Client

Nomadesk for Mac OS X

• With this release, Nomadesk for Mac OS X has gone out of beta.
• Support for Mac Services Menu

Nomadesk for Windows and Nomadesk for Mac OS X

On both platforms the following features have been introduced:

• Guest Access Settings – Control and define guest permissions when inviting someone to your team Fileserver.
• FolderLink* – Share a complete folder and its contents directly from your desktop.
• Widget* – Embed a folder in your website and publish the content automatically from your desktop.

Nomadesk for Windows

• FileLink for Microsoft Outlook® – This is an add-in that prompts users to convert files from attachments to FileLinks

Other enhancements

• Improved Proxy Support
• Fixed some stability issues when importing Fileservers
• Modification date issue when moving or copying Files
• Synchronization solver improvements (Mac OS X)
• Move data location to another partition
• Issue with installer (Mac OS X)
• Windows 7 CPU time issue on 64 bit machines

* Only available on Team Fileservers

Nomadesk Client

Synchronization solver – Exchange files with confidence between multiple platforms.

This is a new wizard which allows solving issues that might occur when synchronizing files between Mac, Windows and the online Nomadesk. Currently the following issues will be handled by the wizard: file/folder names that are too long for the destined platform, issues with duplicate filenames, invalid characters and more.

Enhancements

• Additional language support for help and Getting Started documentation.
• Improved Quick Ignore patterns.
• Conflict solving: in some cases, empty or invalid options were shown on file conflicts.
• Synchronization stability improvements.
• On Mac OS X, specific issues with the context menu have been resolved.
• On specific systems, Email2Folder attachments were renamed.
• Purchasing improvements.
• On Windows, specific conflicts with filenames containing Unicode characters could not be resolved.
• Fixed an issue where the language selection would revert to English after client restart (Windows)

mynomadesk.com

The Online Dashboard has undergone some significant changes and adds some exciting new features. Find out more below.

*New* Nomadesk Folder Widget (on Team Fileservers)

Take any folder on your Nomadesk Team Fileserver and publish its contents on your website or blog.  How? Just select the folder and choose the “Embed in your site” option from the right-click or drop down menu. Thanks to the Nomadesk File synchronization, your files can automatically be published or shared with anyone, anywhere.

By the way, this feature will also be made available in a future Nomadesk Client Update, so make sure to check our website regularly.

New FolderLink* features:

• Public file uploads - With the public file uploads function, you can allow anyone to upload and publish files directly to your Fileserver without using FTP, VPN and without requiring any programming skills.

New FolderLink* and FileLink improvements and features:

• Password protection - A File or FolderLink can be protected with a password so you can securely share files or folders for an unlimited period.
• Maximum number of downloads - Set the maximum number of allowed downloads to contain distribution of your files in the wild.

_{* Only available on Team Fileservers}

Create your Nomadesk Account online:

Only have access to a browser but want to benefit from all the great online Nomadesk features? Go ahead, start working with your online Nomadesk and install the Desktop Client later. How? Go to https://mynomadesk.com/logon/signup and follow the online instructions.

Other Improvements:

• Upgrade a Personal Fileserver to Team - No need to create a new Fileserver, just click the upgrade button and all the great features of a Team Fileserver will be instantly enabled. Your data will of course automatically be available.
• Unsubscribe from a Fileserver - If you no longer need access to a certain Fileserver, use the unsubscribe feature and we’ll automatically inform the Owner and remove the Fileserver from your account.
• Fileserver stats - Find out how much storage you are using, how many FileLinks have been created and much more.
• Change your email address when accepting an invitation - If you received a Fileserver invitation on the wrong email address, you can now correct it while completing your account information.
• Trials, registration and purchases from the online Dashboard -  Purchase additional Fileservers and instantly use them without leaving your browser.

Layout Improvements:

• Left navigation pane combines Fileserver and Theftguard view
• Theftguard is now accessible from the second tab instead of underneath the Fileserver list.
• Actions you can perform on Fileservers are now visible when you expand the Fileserver (click the green arrow in front of the Fileserver). This layout allows for a clearer view of your Nomadesk Online Dashboard.
• Some issues have been solved where an overlay might pop up when accessing the context menu.

I am really excited to announce that we have added file notifications in this release. Many of you have mentioned this would be a valuable added service, and our product team has been hard at work to develop this feature (kudos to John and his team for this accomplishment!) After this release, you will have the option to set email notifications when files are created, updated or deleted on your fileserver on a real-time, daily or weekly basis. Additional functionality in this release includes:

• Online Activity Log
• Online Trashcan
• File Details Page

The new release will also provide UX improvements to the product, including the unveiling of our updated branding for Nomadesk. This December, you can expect a change in our company logo and color scheme. Our new branding will be a fresh look, created to stand out from the crowd, highlight the professional and secure nature of our product, and compliment our vision of the future of Nomadesk.

Be on the lookout for release notes for version 4.8.10 if you interested in all the details of these features and how they will help make your life easier.

Our whole goal here at Nomadesk is to create a product that is smart, simple and secure to make day-to-day business a little less stressful. Before I sign off, I want to give you a small glimpse of our plans for the New Year. A few of our other high-level roadmap plans include:

• Optional encryption for users
• Ability to prioritize syncing
• Ability to download Nomadesk files to mobile device (iPad and iPhone are first launches)
• 2^nd generation improvements for file notifications
• Additional design and UX improvements for ease-of-use

As always, I ask that you share your thoughts with me on these new features, as well as recommendations for opportunities to improve.

Looking forward to hearing your feedback,

Darren

The decision to move our support capabilities internally was made with the understanding that our costs will increase, but we believe our overall service will improve and be of greater value to you. Our support personnel are now sitting in the same office as our developers and technical resources, which reduces the time needed to research and deploy fixes. Having local language capability also allows for better communication so we can provide more thorough assistance.

With the shift from an outsourced assistance program to internal support staff, we have changed our support hours from 24/7 to normal office hours in EMEA and Americas. We have not yet had any issue with this change in support coverage, since we do not receive many calls outside of these hours.

Please share your thoughts with me on these changes. I would like feedback on it, and am curious if you have experienced this improvement in our support.

I am planning on more blog updates on other key improvements over the next few weeks! Stay tuned…

Thanks,

Darren

First, on behalf of all of us at Nomadesk, I would like to say thank you for your dedication to our solution.  We are having an exciting year with phenomenal revenue and user growth.  Most important, Nomadesk is adding more value to our solution.  I’m optimistic that you will be pleased with our progress, as we have every intention of making your work easier by improving the speed and simplicity of sharing files.

Secondly, last month we completed a survey of our customers and many of you shared your thoughts.  I was thrilled to see so many happy customers.

I have been working with the management team to drive improvements in 5 primary areas:

1. Better customer support coverage
2. Improvement in our solution’s user experience and solution process to make file sharing easier
3. New and beneficial features that add value to the file sharing process
4. Major improvements in the speed of our solution
5. An updated look and feel to our website

We are making progress on all fronts. Over the next couple of weeks we will be making announcements about these improvements on our blog and Facebook page. So please check them out.

To close, I’m excited about where we are going with our product, and am asking you to freely share your thoughts and ideas when you can with our product team.

Thanks,

Darren Trumeter
CEO
Nomadesk