Settings
Article sections
Company
Use this area to enter your company details including, phone number, address, VAT and company number etc.
Logo URL – specify the location of your logo. The logo will is used in anything you print or email if this is specified. The URL can be your website logo address or a physical location on your hard disk or a shared folder on your network.
Tax – Click the Manage Taxes button to set up your tax rates and select the default one from the drop-down.
Prices Include Tax – If you want to include tax in all prices you see in CRS then tick this. Otherwise, leaving it unticked will assume tax is not included.
Currency Symbol – Specify your currency symbol here i.e. £ $ etc
Database
Click the button to open the Database setup dialog. Please be careful when in this area as it is possible to wipe or damage your database.
SMS / Email
SMS
This are is where you specify the SMS and email account settings that are to be used when sending your customer both automated and manual messages via CRS.
SMS Username and SMS Password will be required when our in-built SMS feature is implemented shortly.
Email Server settings exmaple below shows typical values for a gmail account: SMTP Host – i.e. smtp.gmail.com
SMTP User – i.e. yourname@gmail.com
SMTP Password – i.e. your email password
SMTP Port – i.e. 587
Enable SSL – i.e. Ticked for gmail.
Default Credentials – this can be left un-ticked in most cases.
From Name – This is set to your company name as per your license
From Email – specify the email you want to send messages from (the reply to address)
Email CC – enter an email address if you want to send a copy to another email address otherwise leave blank
Email BCC – enter an email address if you want to send a copy to another email address otherwise leave blank
Email Subject – All emails will have this subject line added.
Admin Name – Currently not in use but you can specify your admin name for automated stats to be sent to (planned feature)
Admin Email – Currently not in use but you can specify your admin email for automated stats to be sent to (planned feature)
Email to Ticket
Email to Ticket allows you to send an email that CRS checks and will update a ticket with the notes you write in your email.
(it is recommended you create a brand new email for this i.e. crs@yourdomain.com to avoid spam and unwanted emails).
POP3 Host / User / Password / Port – Specify a POP email account (IMAP not currently supported). Gmail offers POP – you need to turn it on in settings. Once you have specified the settings click the Install Service button. Note: You need to ensure CRS is run as admin.
Note: Since May 30th 2022 Google disabled their Less Secure Apps access which means CRS will no longer be able to access your Gmail POP3 to convert emails into tickets. However, there is a simple solution to overcome this which is not advertised by Google.
1. Turn on 2-Step Verification in your Gmail account Security settings
2. Go to https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and generate an App Password.
3. Use the new App password instead of your POP3 password in CRS settings.
More Info: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/185833?hl=en-GB
Service Running / is NOT Running – This indicates if the EMAIL to CRS service is running.
Authorised Emails – Email addresses entered here will ONLY be allowed to update CRS tickets.
Mail Delimiter – Specify your delimiter to ensure content below this line of text is not added to ticket notes. i.e. your signature etc
How To Use
A background service will check your pop3 email periodically for emails and update tickets. The service will check the address specified above. It is best to use a dedicated email address i.e. crs@YourDomain.com
To Update internal ticket notes (Comms Tab – i.e. private technician notes):
Email Subject – must be the Ticket ID – do not have anything else other than ticket ID in the subject. i.e. if your ticket ID is 0600-12345 then you can simply use 12345 as the subject.
Email Body – This is internal comms
To Update public Ticket Notes (Ticket Notes Tab – i.e. what is printed on invoices and sent by emails):
Email Subject – TN, ##Ticket ID## – i.e. if your ticket ID is 0600-12345 then you can simply use TN,12345 as the subject.
Email Body – This is ticket notes
Other commands you can use in Email Subject:
EOD or eod – this will email you an End Of Day report for your sales – ensure you have configured admin email to receive this report by email. This is also a scheduled Task you can set up.
To Create a NEW ticket:
Email Subject – NEW, Customer Name
Email Body – This is the job description
example:
Subject: NEW, John Smith
Body: John requires repair on PC back in our workshop.
Note: Settings are stored in the registry and the service should only be run only on a single machine.
Attached Devices
Any attached device (currently Dymo label printer) can be configured here. Other devices to be implemented shortly (such as POS cash register, barcode scanner etc). Line 1 (Barcode) – When printing a label this will be set at the item that you have checked in unique asset ID
Line 2 – Specify if you want to display Asset ID, Ticket ID, Computer Make and Model or Customer Name
Line 3 – Specify if you want to display Asset ID, Ticket ID, Computer Make and Model or Customer Name
General
Application Name – This is the name of the CRS software that appears in the main window title bar and does not affect the function but great if you want to personalise the software title.
Notes Locked – check this if you only want admin users to be able to change notes that have already been submitted and saved inside the ticket area
Ticket
Ticket Statuses – This area allows you to add a new status and specify the default status when a new ticket is created
Ticket Priority – This area allows you to add a new priority and specify the default priority when a new ticket is created. You can also change the colour for the built in priorities (Normal, Low, High, Immediate)
New Ticket should start as – When you create a new ticket this will allow you to specify if the new ticket is always a quote or always an invoice ticket type. These can be changed at any time when you open the ticket.
Ticket Numbering Format – Specify your own prefix to the ticket numbering. Ticket numbers start from 0001 and increment by one for each new ticket that is generate.
Username / Password Missing Text – This area allows you to specify the message that will appear on the customer receipt when they check in a new repair but don’t specify a password. This is automatically added to their receipt.
Data Backup Note Selected text – This area allows you to specify the message that will appear on the customer receipt when they check in a new repair but don’t specify if they want their data backed up. This is automatically added to their receipt.
Customer
Customer Default Country – Select your customer’s default country
Custom Label 1 & 2 – In the customer tab there are two custom fields that you can use to store any specify data you require. You can change the description you see in the customer tab here so that it says something else other than Custom1 or Custom2
Asset
Asset Location – Add, edit or delete the location your customers computer is stored in.
Default Asset Location – Specify the default location when a new ticket is created.
Asset Type – Add, edit or change the type of asset you repair (i.e. you could add Smart Phone, Storage Device, Printer etc to this)
Templates
CRS allows you to manually edit any of the templates and reports you print / email to your customers. All templates are in HTML and you can use any HTML editor to change the invoice / check-in receipt etc to your own needs. See Templates here for more info:https://computerrepairshopsoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Templates
Copies to Print – This allows you to specify the default number of receipts to print.
Default Templates Directory – Click the Open button to open the default folder used by CRS to store your template files (this is C:\Users\[username]\Documents\CRS\Templates (vista or Win 7)
Customer Template Directory – If you want to make changes to the default templates then we advise you to create a new folder and copy the templates you want to change to the new folder you created. Make the changes and save the templates in the new folder. CRS first checks for the modified template and uses that if it is found, otherwise uses the default one. Please note, that updating CRS may overwrite the default templates so always create your own folder!
Payment Instructions – This text is automatically added to the invoice. Here you can specify how your customers can pay you.
Report Customisation
This area allows you to add, change, or delete itms in the HW Tests and SW Tests tabs in the ticket. These items are used as part of the service report.
Calendar
When you create a new appointment (tick the home-call button in the ticket->job tab) if you specify your google calender account details then the appointment is also added automatically to your google calendar allowing you to conveniently see your appointments via your web browser or mobile device. Please note: this is a one way sync only. Changes need to be made manually to your google calendar if you make changes or delete the event.
User – Specify your google account username (this is your gmail email address)
Pass – Specify your google account password
Google API – To link your personal google calendar you need to create an app via the google developer console. Create a project for your calendar and you will be generated a Client ID and Client Secret.
Client ID – Copy this value from your API console
Client Secret – Copy this value from your API console
Google Multiple Calendar – In order to show multiple calendars into a single calendar when you click on the Google Calendar link you need to modify your feed via google calendar website. Once you have the calendar configured you can copy and paste the iFrame output directly into the box provided here.
User
Auto Logout Time – Specify the time in minute of when you want a user to automatically log out. This is useful for multi-user environments because if the user doesnt log out and another user starts usign CRS then you will not be able to see what CRS user update what tickets. SMS for example automatically says int he message its from the logged in user.
Inventory
Next Available EAN – This is unique to each product specified CRS and gets incremented automatically for each new product you add.
Retail Markup – Specify your default mark-up percentage for sales to your customers
Trade Markup – Specify your default mark-up percentage for sales to the trade
Api
Livedrive reseller accounts allows you to create online storage accounts for your customers for free (you just pay a single monthly fee). This area allows you to specify your livedrive reseller details so that you can then easily create free Livedrive accounts (and also paid-for addons) for your customers with just a few clicks.
API – This is generated by Livedrive and you need to log into your Livedrive reseller control panel to find out you own personal Api id.
Card Verification – This is your credit card verification number and us used if you purchase Livedrive Briefcase addon.
Allow Non-Admins to create paid-for addons – Tick this is you allow your staff (or non-admin users) to be able to purchase livedrive paid for addons.
Online Web Status Check
Enabling Online Web Status Check allows your customers to check the status of their repair via your website. An xml file is generated every XXX hours and uploaded to your webserver.
[1] Enable and Schedule Upload Task here
[2] Upload PHP script to your website
[3] Add website widget to your site
[4] You can also provide a URL link to your customers online status check i.e. http://yourwebsite.com/checkstatus.php?name=Smith&ticketid=12345
Note: Web Status Check if enable will also automatically send an email to your customer when booking in with the unique URL link to their repair.
End Of Day Email Report
Enabling End Of Day (EOD) report will send an email to the admin email (specified in Email section) of the daily sales.
[1] Enable End Of Day Report Email – tick the box.
[2] Specify the time of day you want to send the report i.e. 15 mins after you close your shop.
[3] Click Schedule End Of Date Task button to create task.
Tip: You can customise the times and days you send the report by editing the task in Task Scheduler and change the triggers. The task is named “CRSEndOfDayReport” .