Monthly Archives: January 2015

New Feature - Dropbox Integration

Posted on January 23, 2015
RentHQ now has a new feature which links your RentHQ account to your own Dropbox account. Dropbox is an online file storage system.  It enables you to get a very large amount of disk space online for free, and even more for low costs.  You can visit Dropbox.com to set up your own Dropbox account if you dont already have one. The way this RentHQ integration works is any time you add an attachment, it is automatically uploaded to your own Dropbox account.  Dropbox then syncs it back down to your computer again as per normal Dropbox operations, so you always have a copy of those files.  You can add, open or delete files through RentHQ just the same as before. With Dropbox enabled, database backups are a lot easier with only a single button click, and are also automatically added to your Dropbox account. To enable Dropbox, go to Functions/Setup/options and then to the new Dropbox tab.  First you need to enable Dropbox by giving RentHQ permission to access your Dropbox account.  This gives RentHQ access to a new Dropbox folder called RentHQ Files.  RentHQ cant access anything outside of that new folder.  RentHQ then uploads all existing attachment files to Dropbox (we also keep a temporary copy on our server) and then all new attachments go to Dropbox after that. There are just a few things to be aware of.
  • You can not change Dropbox accounts later, so you might want to consider creating one specifically for the business rather than a personal one, especially for businesses which might have staff changes later.
  • You should not try to add/delete files directly through the RentHQ Files folder in Dropbox, as RentHQ will not be aware of those changes and will go out of sync.

New Contractors Login - currently in trial.

Posted on January 2, 2015

Currently there are logins into RentHQ for property managers, tenants and property owners.  A new login has recently also been created for contractors.

The purpose of the contractors login is for trades people to log in and view work orders assigned to them.  They can see the properties address and contact details, and a description of the job, as well as the notes and attachments.  Contractors can then add their own notes if they wish.

Property managers can also log in using their standard login user name and password.  Managers can see all work order jobs for all contractors.  They can also see the quotes and payment details - something contractors themselves can not see.

This is currently only in trial.  I encourage you to try it out and offer feedback.  Property managers log in using their standard login and password.  For contractors, their login name is the contractors code and their initial password is also their contractors code.  As this is only currently in trial, you can not yet access it directly from the web site.  You need to access it from this web site URL

https://www.renthq.net/contractors

This login uses different technology, so it can be used on a mobile phone or tablet including ipads and android, without the need to install silverlight.

New Security Options

Posted on January 2, 2015

Additional RentHQ security options have been added.  This is useful for large organisations with multiple logins, where some people should not be able to perform certain operations.

You can now restrict which logins have the ability to create tenants, properties or owners.  By default, all logins can create all 3.

To set up these restrictions, go to the Functions/Setup/Security Logins menu option, and edit the login which should be restricted.  Then on the options tab, choose which items to restrict.