[click for full screenshot]

The final Jello 4 release will take a lot of time to be released. There are many bugs, code which needs to be rewritten and many feature requests from you.

So I’ve decided to make available a first preview release for testing.

Please note, that this version is for experienced users only. There is no installer and there are many things which are not working right now, so do not mail me about old bugs remaining unfixed.

New things added here:

• Icon toolbars
• Widgets displaying Outlook folder views
• Management of not started tasks
• Bulk tasks addition

Download the alpha 1 preview here.

I’m expecting your feedback (in comments or email)!

One major drawback of the current version is the definition of the Outlook folders accessed by Jello.Dashboard.

Until now, when the user set the use of all folders (of all open PST files) for contexts and projects, Jello looked for tasks and other types of items in every open folder except of the excluded folders by the user. That caused Jello more slow and users with inaccessible folders unable to manage their folder list.

After taking feedback from many users I’ve decided to invert the way folders are handled. By default, Jello will use only the default Outlook folders (tasks, calendar, contacts etc) and the user can add/remove any folder making his/her own list.

I also added a notification (seen in red text header) for folders assigned by default for contexts and projects which are not watched by Jello. Because sometimes its no use to automatically move items of a context to a specific folder and Jello cannot list it.

Here’s a screenshot (beta version with the new accessible folders will e available soon)

Awaiting on your feedback!

The new homepage is completely different.
The sidebar is going through some changes, some new common contexts are there for easy access, there is a new header menu and the widgets are making their first appearance.
[click image for full view]

The number of widgets are limited only by the machine’s performance and they are positioned according to the user’s customization screen.
But…there is no widget drag and drop support, and unfortunately still no <iframe> webpage or external widgets support.

The first beta of Jello 4 will be available in a few weeks time (for the bravest of them).
Until then I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Many times due to bugs or incompatible imports the user gets a runtime error when loading the dashboard.
I got many emails from users who had this happened to them (that’s why it’s still in beta) and I got very worried about my code!

The main reason for this errors is the use of forbidden characters into the names of projects and contexts. Most of the time this can be caused by importing some existing Outlook tasks with their categories. There may be other reasons too and I cannot remember every single case.

Resetting settings from Outlook

If you don’t care if you loose your settings its easier. You just have to delete the settings journal entry.

Switch to Entry list to easily find it. Just select the <Jello.Dash Settings> and press the delete button on your keyboard.
If you reload your dashboard the settings will be created again with their default values.

Changing a setting’s invalid character

To change a setting when Jello Dashboard produces errors but continues follow these steps:

1. Go to your Settings
2. Click the Manage button and you will get this window
3. Select your current settings set (the red entry)
4. Find the problematic setting by scrolling down and delete the problematic character (: / \ ; etc), or make the desirable change.
   
5. Scroll down until you find the Save button and click on it.
6. Reload the dashboard.
7. If you changed a context or project name you have to manually edit the category field of all its connected tasks.

The Jello start page is the most vital place for all.
Till now, we got a standard page (which can be really slow with counters enabled) and a more lighter version of it, but I think something need to change for the start page to be a one stop GTD home.

So I need your suggestions.
What exactly can we put on the homepage to have an uncluttered and useful environment for are daily actions?

Please keep in mind of the restrictions of the Outlook object model. It would be great to have google widgets on the homepage, but we are forbidden to have frames inside a web page.

…and please fill up the new poll displayed at the sidebar on the right about your Outlook version. Can we use all the new Outlook functions (mainly search folders) by default for the new version of Jello?