5pm Help

You can delete projects/tasks/actions using the "DELETE" key. Just select the object you want to delete and hit "Delete".
Tip: If you don't want to see the confirmation dialogue, hold CTRL key while hitting the "DELETE".
You can navigate through your projects, tasks and activities lists using the UP and DOWN keys. Also, in the left panel, you can use LEFT and RIGHT keys to fold/unfold projects.

Using 5pm

5pm Basics

5pm is a tool that lets you manage your projects and tasks online and to coordinate your team's efforts.

5pm Data Structure

	Group	You can add Groups to better organize your Projects and Tasks. For example, you can group projects by departments inside your company.
	Project	Projects are a way to organize your work. Projects may contain multiple tasks that need to be accomplished in order to finish the project. A project can have one of these statuses: "open", "on hold" and "done". Each project can have a client attached to it and a Project Team.
	Task	Tasks can be added inside projects, but you can also create tasks outside them (single tasks). This can be used when you just have one separate task (for example, "Pay the taxes") and you don't want to create a whole project for it. A task can have one of these statuses: "open", "on hold" and "done". Each task can have a Task Team attached to it that can be different from the parent Project Team. It allows you to dynamically add people to the project just when they are needed and create cross-project teams. For example, you started a "Website redesign" project and you want your logo redesigned, so you decided to use John for that. You create a task "Logo redesign" inside this project and add John to the Task Team, but you don't want to add him to the whole project, since he is not involved in the rest of it. It will also prevent him from getting email notifications related to the whole project or to other tasks (Task Teams and Project Teams can be notified separately).
	Message	Messages are an universal tool for exchanging ideas, comments and notes. You can add them to a Project or a Task. You can also attach files to a Message.
	Progress Note	Progress Notes is a way of reporting your work. Users add them to the tasks to report their progress. Each Progress Note may contain the description, the % of task completion (the only mandatory field) and the hours invested into it.
	File (attachment)	You can add files to a Project or a Task as a way to share your documents with other users. Files can be also attached to Messages.
	Profile (user)	There are four different user profiles: administrators, users, external users and clients. The first three categories can be added to a Project Team or a Task Team and they have different security levels. Clients are a separate type of users - they can be directly attached to a project.

User Profiles and Security Levels

5pm is a tool that lets you manage your projects and tasks online and to coordinate your team's efforts.

User Profiles

	Administrator	Administrators are users with unlimited rights - they can see and edit any information in your 5pm account. They can also access the 5pm subscription details. One Administrator profile is created when you register your 5pm account and can not be deleted. This main Administrator is used by us to contact you about important information related to your account, so make sure you use a valid email and you add support@5pmweb.com to your trusted email addresses.
	User	This is a regular user. It is the recommended profile type for all your team members. This user can see any projects or tasks, even if he/she is not part of their teams, unless those are hidden. Just the team members and the Administrators can see a hidden task or project. Users can add other users or external users, but can not modify any existing user profiles, besides their own one. They can not modify the messages/progress notes/files they didn't create.
	External User	External Users are very similar to Users but are more limited in access rights: can NOT see a task or a project unless they are part of its team can NOT edit tasks or projects can NOT add other user profiles or edit existing ones (besides their own) can NOT create new projects External Users still can work on tasks by adding Progress Notes, Messages and Files and even add new tasks within their projects. External Users are best used for contact workers that are not part of your main team.
	Client	A client is a separate type of user profiles. Clients are directly attached to projects and can see just those projects and participate in discussions inside them. Clients rights: can see just the projects they are assigned to can NOT add or edit projects, tasks or progress notes can NOT add other user profiles or edit existing ones (besides their own) can NOT see other Clients profiles Clients still can participate in discussions and add Messages and Files.

Working with Projects

Adding a Project

You have to be in the main view ("Projects") and the "Projects" tab has to be selected in the left panel. There are two ways to add a project:

Click "Add" button on the top of the left panel, then select "Add Project" from the dropdown.
RIGHT click on the Group in the left panel, then select "Add Project" from the dropdown..

Keyboard shortcuts - to close a popup quickly, without making changes, just use the ESC button.

Text fields formatting:

use *bold text* - for adding bold text
__italic text__ - for italics
--crossed text-- for ~~crossed text~~
+underlined text+ for underlined text
website URLs and email addresses will be automatically converted into links

Calendar text shortcuts

You can type in special shortcuts in Start Date and Deadline fields to select specific dates quickly.

Text	Result
"tomorrow" or "tom"	selects the current day (today)
yesterday/yes	selects the current day (today)
"+x days", "+x day", "+x d" or just "+x"	selects a day that is x (can be any number) days from the current day for the Start Date, and x days from Start Date for Deadline field. A "-" sign instead of "+" will select prior dates. "+" is optional. Spaces between x and the letters are optional.
"+x weeks", "+x week" or "+x w"	same as with days, but applied to weeks.

When you click "Add Project", a "Add New Project" window will open, where you can define all the project's properties:

Name - project name. This is the only one field you have to enter in order to be able to create a new project.
Group - the project can be attached to a group. The current group is pre-selected
Client - the project can be assigned to a client.
Description - short project description. Check formatting text fields for information on text formatting.
Priority - select: "Low", "Normal", "High" or "Urgent".
Status - select: "Open" (normal default status), "On Hold" (temporary stopped) or "Closed" (finished).
Start Date - is set to "today" by default. Check Calendar text shortcuts for information on a quick way to select dates.
Deadline - scheduled end date (can be empty)
Profiles/Project Team - to add users to the project team, select them in the Profiles list and click the "Add" button. To remove users from the team, select them in the Project Team list and click the "Del" button.
Hide this project from non-team members - select this checkbox to hide this project from users that are not in the project's team. Note that users with Admin security level can see all the projects, including the hidden ones. The project creator can see all the projects he created, even hidden ones.
Notify Project Team - sends an email notification to the Project Team members.

Note: The mandatory fields are marked in bold.

Editing a Project

There are three ways to edit a project (first two are very similar to Adding a Project):

Select a project by clicking on it in the left panel, the click "Edit" button on the top of the left panel.
RIGHT click on the project in the left panel, then select "Edit" from the dropdown.
When a project is selected in the left panel, and the right panel is on Info tab, click the "Edit" button on the top of the right panel.

Deleting a Project

Same as "Editing a Project", except use "Delete" option/button.

Keyboard shortcuts - you can also use your keyboard to quickly delete a project. Just select the project and hit "Delete" button. If you want to skip the confirmation window ("Do you really want to delete..."), hold the CTRL key pressed while you hit Delete.

Working with Tasks

Adding a Task

You have to be in the main view ("Projects") and the "Projects" tab has to be selected in the left panel. There are two ways to add a task:

Click "Add" button on the top of the left panel, then select "Add Task " from the dropdown. If "My Stuff" tab is selected in the left panel, just click the "Add" button.
RIGHT click on the Project in the left panel, then select "Add Task" from the dropdown.

Keyboard shortcuts - to close a popup quickly, without making changes, just use the ESC button.

When you click "Add Task ", a "Add New Task" window will open, where you can define all the task's properties:

Name - task name. This is the only one field you have to enter in order to be able to create a new task.
Group - a Single Task can be attached to a group. The current group is pre-selected.
Project - the task's parent project. Note that the task may be created outside a project (Single Task)

Single Task - is a task created outside a project. It can be used for small independent tasks, so you don't have to create a whole new project for them. (Example: "Pay the taxes")

If a project is selected in the left panel, then the Project dropdown will have that project pre-selected.
Note: When you select a parent Project, the Group dropdown disappears, since the parent project will define what group it will belong to.
Description - short task description. Check formatting text fields for information on text formatting.
Priority - select: "Low", "Normal", "High" or "Urgent".
Status - select: "Open" (normal default status), "On Hold" (temporary stopped) or "Closed" (finished).
Start Date - is set to "today" by default. Check Calendar text shortcuts for information on a quick way to select dates.
Deadline - scheduled end date (can be empty)
Profiles/Task Team - to add users to the task team, select them in the Profiles list and click the "Add" button. To remove users from the team, select them in the Task Team list and click the "Del" button. If the task has a parent project, you can also use the "copy Project Team" link to add the parent project team members to the task team.
Hide this task from non-team members - select this checkbox to hide this task from users that are not in the task's team. Note that users with Admin security level can see all the tasks, including the hidden ones. The task creator can see all the tasks he created, even hidden ones.
Notify Project Team - sends an email notification to the Project Team members.
Notify Task Team - sends an email notification to the Task Team members.

Note: The mandatory fields are marked in bold.

Editing a Task

There are three ways to edit a Task (first two are very similar to Adding a Task ) :

Select a task by clicking on it in the left panel, the click "Edit" button on the top of the left panel.
RIGHT click on the task in the left panel, then select "Edit" from the dropdown.
When a task is selected in the left panel, and the right panel is on Info tab, click the "Edit" button on the top of the right panel.

Deleting a Task

Same as "Editing a Task", except use "Delete" option/button.

Keyboard shortcuts - you can also use your keyboard to quickly delete a task. Just select the project and hit "Delete" button. If you want to skip the confirmation window ("Do you really want to delete..."), hold the CTRL key pressed while you hit Delete.

Working with Messages/Files/Progress Notes

Adding Messages/Files/Progress Notes

You have to be in the main view ("Projects") and the "Activity" tab has to be selected in the right panel (or the "Files" tab can be also selected for the Files).

The right panel is where you can see all the Activity related to the projects and tasks selected in the left panel:

Messages - simple text notes you can add to a Project or Task to exchange ideas with your team.
Files - you can also attach files to Projects and Tasks. Since you can add notes to attached files, and attach files to messages, Files are very similar to Messages.
Progress Notes - small notes that are used to report time spent on tasks and the progress achieved. Progress Notes can be added to Tasks only.

To add a Message/File:

A Project or a Task has to be selected in the left panel. Click "Add" button on the top of the right panel, then select "Message/File" from the dropdown.
In order to add a Progress Note, a Task must be selected in the left panel. You can add it the same way you add a Message/File, plus there are two additional ways to do it through the Task's contextual menu:
RIGHT click on the Task in the left panel, then select "Add Progress Note " from the dropdown.
RIGHT click on the Task in the left panel, then select "Mark as Done/Unmark as Done" from the dropdown. If a Task is not closed yet, you can quickly close it by selecting "Mask as Done" - it will add a 100% Progress Note to the Task and will change its state to "Closed". This action can be reversed with "Unmark as Done" - it will delete the last 100% Progress Note that closed the Task.

"Add Message" window fields:

Task - the task to which the Message will belong (the Task selected in the left panel will be pre-selected in this dropdown). You can also select "" to add the Message to the entire parent Project.
Content - the message body. Check formatting text fields for information on text formatting.
Notify Project Team - sends an email notification to the Project Team members.
Add Files - opens additional fields for attaching files to the Message.

Note: The mandatory fields are marked in bold.

"Add Files" works very similar to "Add Message", except:

The section for attaching files is on the top of the window.
Description field is non-mandatory, but you have to upload at least one file.

File size limitation - you can upload files up to 20Mb each. The maximum total size of all the uploaded files is defined by your Plan - to check it, use "my account" link on the top.

Notice, that besides the Activity tab in the right panel, there is a tab called "Files". This is where you can see all the files in a separate view. This extra view is designed to present the files in a compressed list. It's a "Files Repository" view for Projects, Tasks and Groups.

You can operate with Files in this view the same you operate with them in the Activity tab.

Keyboard shortcuts - to close a popup quickly, without making changes, just use the ESC button.

"Add Progress Note " works very similar to "Add Message", since a Progress Note is like a Message that also contains some information about the work done on a Task. The two additional fields containing this information are:

% complete - shows the percentage of the Task completed. Note that the Progress Notes percentages are not cumulative, and just the last one defines the current percentage (for example: if you add two Progress Notes, one with 10% and another with 30%, the Task completion progress become 30%, and not 40%). This way just the last Progress Note presents your approximation of how much of the Task is completed.
Time spent - you can also report the time spent on a Task. Note that this field is not mandatory. In order to see all the time spent on a Task, check the Reports.

Check formatting text fields for information on text formatting.

Editing a Message/File/Progress Note

There are two ways to edit a Message/File/Progress Note :

Using the menu on the top of the panel - just select a Message/File/Progress Note in the right panel, and then click the "Edit" button on the top of it.
Using the contextual menu - just RIGHT click on the Message/File/Progress Note in the right panel, then select "Edit" from the dropdown.

Deleting a Message/File/Progress Note

Same as "Editing a Message/File/Progress Note", except use "Delete"..

Keyboard shortcuts - you can also use your keyboard to quickly delete a Message/File/Progress Note. Just select the Message/File/Progress Note and hit "Delete" button. If you want to skip the confirmation window ("Do you really want to delete..."), hold the CTRL key pressed while you hit Delete.

Email integration

Besides the Email Notifications sent from 5pm to user's email accounts, an email-to-5pm communication is also possible. Tasks, Messages and Progress Notes can be created and updated directly from emails.

Creating Tasks from Emails

To create a Task from Email, you have to include in the To (or Cc, or Fwd) field this email:

task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com

(Replace "yourdomain" with the name of your domain: youdomain.5pmweb.com).

Note: When you select a parent Project, the Group dropdown disappears, since the parent project will define what group it will belong to.

The new Task will appear in your 5pm account within minutes (maximum delay - 10 mins).

Notice: If you just created your 5pm account, it may take up to 10 mins for the Email Integration feature to get activated.

Most of the time the delays will be smaller.

The following rules will apply:

Sender's emailTask creator
The sender's email has to be associated with an existing user profile. This user will become the Task's creator.
Recipient(s)' email(s)Task Team
You can also include other emails to the recipients list, besides task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com. You can include them into To, Cc and Fwd fields. The recipient(s) email(s) have to be associated with existing users profiles.These user(s) will be added to the Task Team.
SubjectTask Name
The email's Subject will become Task Name. You can also include additional parameters in the Subject line to define the Task's parent project, deadline, and so on (read more about additional Subject line parameters).
Note: The Subject line is the unique line that identifies the Task. If you send another email with the same subject line, that email will be added to the existing task as a Message or Progress Note (read more in Creating Messages and Progress Notes from emails).
Attachment(s)Files
Any files attached to your email will also be added to the newly created Task. Besides your email box file size limitations, the same 5pm files size limitations apply here as in the main 5pm interface.

File size limitation - you can upload files up to 20Mb each. The maximum total size of all the uploaded files is defined by your Plan - to check it, use "my account" link on the top.
Email BodyTask Description
The email body text will become Task Description.

Additional Subject line parameters:

The Subject line can also include additional parameters in square brackets. Here is the syntax for a Subject line that includes all those parameters:

Email subject: Task Name [Project Name][start:25/05/07][deadline: 28/12/07][high][hide][on hold]

All the parameters are optional and can be included in any order, except the first one( [ProjectName]). Here is the full description of each:

Creating Tasks from Emails. Subject line parameters.

[Project Name]	This parameter should always follow first, right after the main subject (Task name). It should contain the full name or just the first letters/words of an existing project. When this parameter is present, the following will happen: A project with that name is being searched for. If it's located - the Task is added to that project. If the project with this full name is not located, a project that starts with those words is being searched for. The task is then added to the first located project that starts with those words (Example: You can enter "Email integration" to point to "Email integration testing" project). This way you don't have to remember the whole project name. If no project is found at the previous step, a Single Task is created. Examples of usage: Subject: Update the logo [Website redesign] creates "Update the logo" Task in the "Website redesign" project (assuming that a project with such name already exists).
[start: date] or [startdate: date]	This parameter is used to define the Task's Start Date. The date following the "start:" (or, the alternative spelling "startdate:") keyword should follow these formatting rules: Date format (in email subjects). Dates should be in the mm/dd/yy or dd/mm/yy format, depending on the settings in the sender's 5pm account (you can switch between US and EU formats through the "settings" link on the top of 5pm window). Alternative date formats are also accepted: mm-dd-yyyy and mm.dd.yyyy. You can also use 2 or 4-digits for the year - both will work. Examples of valid dates: 01/01/08, 01/02/2008, 01.01.2008, 01-01-2008, 01-01-08... If Start Date parameter is not passed, the Task is set to start on the day the email was sent. Examples of usage: Subject: Update the logo [start: 01/25/08] creates a Single Task called "Update the logo" with Start Date: Jan 25, 2008 (assuming you are working with US date format).
[end: date] or [deadline: date] or [enddate: date]	This parameter is used to define the Task's Deadline ( "end:", "deadline:" and "enddate" are alternative formats). The same rules apply as with "Start Date" parameter. If the Deadline is not defined, it will be left empty in the newly created Task.
[hide] or [hidden]	This keyword, when included in the subject line between square brackets, will hide the newly created Task from non-team members.
[notify task team], [notify task] or [NotifyTaskTeam]	This keyword, when included in the subject line between square brackets, will send an email notification to the Task Team.
[notify project team] ,[notify project] or [NotifyProjectTeam]	Same as "notify task team", but sends an email notification to parent Project Team.
[group: groupName]	Indicates what group the task should belong to. If a group with such name is not found, the Task is not added to any groups.
[Open] [On Hold] [Done]	These keywords (one of them at a time) when included in the subject line between square brackets, will set the Task's Status as "Open", "On Hold" or "Done" respectively.
[Low] [Normal] [High] [Urgent]	These keyword (one of them at a time) when included in the subject line between square brackets, will set the Task's Priority as "Low", "Normal", "High" or "Done" respectively.

Creating Messages and Progress Notes from Emails

If you send other emails to task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com with the same subject, which you used to create a Task from email, instead of creating a new Task with the same name, the new emails will be added as Messages or Progress Notes to the existing Task. You can reply to the original email that created the Task, forward it and so on, but as long as you keep task.yourdomain@5pmweb.com in the receiver's list, those emails will also be adding Messages/Progress Notes to the original Task is 5pm.

The format for creating a Message is exactly the same as when creating a Task. To create a Progress Note, all you have to do is just add a new parameter ([progress:]) at the end of the subject line (without modifying the rest of it) to indicate the completion % of the Task. You can also add another parameter - [time:] - to report the time spent on the Task. Here is the full syntax for creating a Progress Note:

Subject: Original subject line [progress: 50%][time:4]

Creating Messages and Progress Notes from Emails

[progress: 50%] or [percent: 50%]	This parameter is mandatory if you want to add a Progress Note to an existing Task. If you skip it - a simple Message will be created. Examples of usage: Subject: Re: Test email integration [progress: 95%] adds a Progress Note to an existing task, called "Test email integration" with 95% completion.
[time: 50%], [HoursDone: 50%] or [hours: 5]	You can also report the amount of hours with the Progress Note. Examples of usage: Subject: Re: Test email integration [progress: 95%][hours: 10] adds a Progress Note to an existing task, called "Test email integration" with 95% completion, and 10 hours spent on it.

Any attachments from those emails will be added as Files to the Task.

iCalendar integration

5pm tasks can be viewed in different calendar applications by subscribing to its iCalendar feeds. You can use Apple iCal, Mozilla Sunbird and any other calendars that support iCalendar format. Tasks can be imported to your calendar software as tasks or events. The difference between those two options is that tasks are usually not displayed in the calendar view, but in a separate panel. If you want to see your tasks in the calendar view, use events.

You can subscribe to all the tasks, just the ones that you are part of (part of the Task Team) or tasks from a particular project. Here are where the links to those iCalendar feeds are located:

To find the iCalendar feed links for all the tasks ("All") or just the ones you are attached to as a team member ("My Stuff"), click "settings" on the top of the screen and open the "Edit settings" popup window. The tasks can be exported as tasks or as events (those have "(Events)" added to the link names).

To find the iCalendar feed links for the tasks inside a particular project, in the main view ("Projects"), select a project in the left panel, then switch to the "Info" tab in the right panel. The tasks can be exported as tasks or as events (those ones have "(Events)" added to the link names).

You can click on the respective iCalendar feed link and then subscribe to it using your calendar. You can also copy the link location (right-click on the link, then 'Copy Link Location" or "Copy Shortcut") and then paste this link into your calendar software subscribe dialog:

The iCalendar link doesn't require authentication when you import it into your calendar software. If you would like this link to be changed (for example after sharing it with someone else), you will have to change your 5pm login password - it will change all the iCalendar links.

Besides subscribing to an iCalendar feed, you can also simply import the iCalendar data into your calendar. In order to do that, you will save the 5pm iCalendar feed as an ICS file, then will import it through File/Import menu in your calendar application. Note that importing iCalendar data in this way is a one-time event and it will not automatically synchronize your calendar with 5pm in the future.

Importing a ICS calendar file or subscribing to an iCalendar feed is a pretty straightforward process. Here are the instruction on how to get your 5pm tasks into some popular calendar applications:

Subscribing with Apple iCal
Importing into Google Calendar
Subscribing with Mozilla Sunbird

Subscribing with Apple iCal

Press "Subscribe" when prompted by iCal
Or you can just open iCal, go to Calendar/Subscribe menu and paste the iCalendar link you copied from 5pm.
At this step you can give your new calendar a name, color, description and auto-refresh rate.
IMPORTANT: If you are importing your 5pm tasks as To Do items, make sure to unselect the "To Do items" checkbox (this one is a bit confusing, since on first glance it may look like selecting it will mark it for importing, but it actually does the opposite, since it's a "Remove" function) .
You are done. Here is how your iCal will look like (example):

5pm tasks imported into Apple iCal as Events:

5pm tasks imported into Apple iCal as To Do items:

Importing into Google Calendar

At this point Google Calendar doesn't support tasks, only events. Make sure you use the "events" links.

In Google Calendar, in the left column, click on the "Add" button and then select "Add by URL" from the dropdown menu. Paste there the link you copied from 5pm:
This is it. After the import is done you can rename your calendar..

Here is how your Google Calendar will look like (example):
5pm tasks imported as Events into Google Calendar:

Subscribing with Mozilla Sunbird

Use File/Subscribe to Remote Calendar (or File/Import if you are just importing an ICS file) in Sunbird.
Select "On the Network".
Paste (using CTRL+V or right click and Paste) in the Location field the URL copied from 5pm To copy the URL, use right click on the iCalendar link in 5pm, and then select "Copy Link Location" (Mozilla Firefox) or "Copy Shortcut" (Internet Explorer):
Choose a name and color:

You are done. Here is how your Mozilla Sunbird will look like (example):

5pm tasks imported into Mozilla Sunbird as Events:

5pm tasks imported into Mozilla Sunbird as Events:

FAQs

We are not receiving the email notifications from 5pm
This is most likely related to your SPAM filter. Contact your system administrators and ask them to add 5pmweb.com domain to their "white list".
How do I print the data?
Use the General Report (Reports tab) to filter the data by multiple parameters, then use the "Print view" button on the top to print it.
How do I export the data?
Use the General Report (Reports tab) to filter the data by multiple parameters, then use the "Export to CSV" button on the top to export it (CSV is supported by most of the applications, including MS Excel).

last updated: September 22, 2008

Got questions?
Email us at: support@5pmweb.com


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