I was noticing delays in retrieving emails, even when my email app on my Android phone was set to grab them every 15 minutes.  Turns out there is a feature in newer versions of Android that will "optimize" your battery by restricting programs' ability to use the data connection in the background.  Basically, despite telling your email app to fetch new messages every X minutes, the device is not allowing it to do just that.

There are 2 settings of interest around this, the Battery Saver mode and the Battery Optimization settings.

Battery Saver is something that the user can activate manually to reduce battery consumption when needed, and also automatically activates when the battery is at a critical level, perhaps 10%, 5%, or another preset level.  Battery Saver, among other things, will turn off the background data of most apps.

Battery Optimization is a separate setting that the device automatically turns on for some (most?) apps.  It applies the same background data restrictions as Battery Saver mode, but is active all the time, regardless of how much battery is available!  To review the list of apps that are being "optimize", and to disable this feature for your email app, click on the Battery Optimization selection in the Battery Saver menu.

The Home page of MRSware has a panel labeled "News".  By default it shows our 3 MRSware blogs with the latest information and updates about what is going on in the MRSware world.  However, this panel is actually a full RSS Reader and can be used to keep track of your favorite news feeds from around the web.

Here is how:
​1. Click the word "News" in the panel header and you will get the configuration screen, where you can add new feeds and change existing ones.

A while back we posted an article on integrating MRSware File Share with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and others.  In that article, we talked about setting up the sync app for those various file sharing services to use a folder within the My MRSware Files folder on your computer, and this anything placed in that folder in MRSware would be synchronized with your online service account, and from there with your various devices that are also connected to that service.

Today, I just want to point out another way to sync the entire My MRSware File folder structure and files with Google Drive specifically, and point out one of the great reasons to do this: use Google Docs, Google Sheets, and other Google Apps directly with your company files stored in MRSware.

Move the My MRSware Files folder to Google Drive

In the Preferences section of MRSware, Users can move the My MRSware Files folder to anywhere they like.  The My MRSware Files folder is where MRSware places copies of the File Share files you are working on your computer's hard drive.  Moving the entire folder to your Google Drive folder will put all future contents you are working on directly into Google Drive.
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MRSware email can be set to automatically check the spelling in a message before sending it.  To enable this option, select the Tools menu and Always Check Spelling before Sending when creating a new email.  The option will remain enabled until unchecked by the User.

Access the Demo Installation with Sample Data

MRSware Desktop

In order to install MRSware click on the Try It link here or at the top of the MRSware.com menu bar and fill out the form.  The page you are brought to has the 1-2-3 Steps download links to install the Microsoft .Net Framework and the MRSware Desktop software.  At the same time you will be mailed the Demo Installation Keys to use -- be sure to keep an eye on the email address you entered in the form; if you don't see the email, be sure to check your Spam folder as well.

MRSweb (in the browser)

​To access the web browser version, MRSweb, from desktop, phone or tablet, go to https://web.MRSware.net/ and click Login and then Sign-Up Now.  Please use your work email address to sign-up.  You will be sent an email to confirm your accounts, after clicking that you will have access to the Demo Installation and sample data.

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New MRSware Users with Company's Installation

To install the MRSware Desktop software on a new computer, follow the MRSware Desktop instructions above.  In step 3, instead of entering the Demo Installation keys, enter your company-specific keys that were emailed to you and can also be found in the Welcome to MRSware letter.  If you access to a computer with MRSware already installed, and are installing on a new computer, you can find your keys under the "Help" menu's "Installation Settings".

To access your company's data via MRSweb, either follow-up the steps above to create your MRSweb account, or simply login if you have already done so.  Once you are signed-up with your own MRSware installation, and use your work email to login to MRSweb, you will automatically be directed to your company's data.

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If you need technical assistance please contact support@mrsware.com.

There are 3 main navigation elements in MRSweb:

​Users can set up companies' categories from the Customers table. (Steps 1 - 5)

You can take this one step further and set up contacts' categories from the results of the companies' category.  (Steps 6 - 10)

One of the more common usages for this two step process is for setting up contacts to sync with mobile devices using MRSware Sync*.  

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The Student Number is a field available on the Student record (Add/Edit Student dialog).  The field is free-form in that any characters (letters, numbers, combinations of those) can be used, following any format that is desired and useful to your company.


The Student Number appears in a couple of places in MRSware for easy reference:

• The Add/Edit Student dialog is where the Student Number is entered and updated.
• The Student tab on an individual Class shows the Number and Name of the Students.

Q & A:
2. In Student Class Record there is a field for student number.  Where does that number come from?

This field isn't used for anything in MRSware itself, it is just a field that is there for your internal use.  For example, you could enter something like "Non-Member" or "Member" to be able to quickly see in the Edit Class dialog which of the Students were which...  In other words, feel free to use the Student Number field for anything that you like to immediately see next to the Students' Names in a Class and Student Listing.


3. Does mrsware generate a unique customer number for each contact record?  Is it currently hidden? Could it be visible?  Could it then be applied to their"student number" for any class and follow them through their life with MRERF?

MRSware does not auto-generate a Student Number.  You would enter the desired designator (doesn't have to be just a number) when creating the Student's entry in the system.

We will use the student number as a study group number.

We have 2 Tuition fields available in MRSware.  The first is on the Class, and the second is on the Course Term.  These 2 fields can be used in various ways, and, as always, should be discussed to make sure they are used consistently.
In MRERF's usage, we have 2 different Tuition amounts that apply to students.  The first is a "Member" Tuition, the second is a "Non-Member" Tuition.  A Student Category has been created to designate a particular student as Member or Non-Member by checking the appropriate box.
The decided on usage in order to get the proper Student Tuition amount for the Class Master List report, is to use the Class Tuition as the Member tuition amount; and the Course Term Tuition for the Non-Member tuition amount.
I.e. when "Member" is the checked student category, the report will show that the student is liable for the Class' listed Tuition amount; when the "Non-Member category is checked, the report will show the Course Term's listed Tuition amount.
In the absence of a checked category, which will be the case for all existing entries prior to this usage being decided on, the Student will be considered a "Member".