HomeGauge Home Inspection Software 4.3 Update

Note: 4.3 is now available — Download Now!

NEW!! Spreadsheet component
HomeGauge software just became more powerful! See the new "Spreadsheet" tab beside the Overview tab when editing report sections. You can enter data, calculate values via spreadsheet formulas, and merge that data into your report automatically with auto-comments or Styles and Materials.

NEW!! Home Energy Survey Templates! Energy templates with preconfigured spreadsheets for Raters, Building Analysts, auditors and energy performance contractors.

See Our New Home Energy Survey Template Tutorial!

See Our New BPI CAS Template Tutorial!

HomeGauge enters the Energy profession with Home Energy Survey templates! HomeGauge 4.3 includes two powerful templates — one for Home Energy Surveys, and one for Combustion Appliance Safety (CAS testing, also called CAZ). Simply enter in the measurements and data into the spreadsheet, and then run through the report items, clicking the auto-comments to pull data from the spreadsheet directly into the report. It's a Process... and it's duplicable! Standardize all your Home Energy Surveys and CAZ testing to make more money with faster reports! We've also enhanced the sketch tool to work faster and better! See Our Sketch Tutorial! Another cool feature that eliminates the headache of drawing the home's orientation, and laboriously entering in the window and door locations, is a spreadsheet insertion tool at the Edit Picture window. Now, simply take the N, S, E and West pictures, click the tool, and all the window and door measurements you put in the spreadsheet will drop onto the picture. Save 20 minutes or more with this one feature and throw away the pencil and antiquated graph paper (I mean really)!! See Our New Auto Drop Dimensions Tool Tutorial! Note: Also included free, as a form, is the Energy Star Qualified Homes "Thermal Bypass Inspection Checklist" for HERS raters. See some sample Home Energy Surveys here!

NEW!! Two new free PDF forms
HomeGauge 4.3 includes a radon PDF form for use with any number of test devices. For those using continuous monitors and not test kits, you can now use the free form to easily attach the results to the report. The other free form is the Energy Star Qualified Homes "Thermal Bypass Inspection Checklist" mentioned above.

NEW!! Spell check replacements
Always typing "hte" when you meant "the"? You can now set up specific replacement text and have HomeGauge replace the "problem word" with the "replacement word" automatically. You can set this up in the Spell Check Options window in the Options menu.

Other updates included in 4.3

Arrows in the Edit Picture window can now be rotated. Drop your arrow and rotate your arrow by entering in a number, or hold the turn arrow icon until the arrow has turned to your satisfaction. See the tutorial on how this works!

Added option to allow editing report while Print Preview window is open: Simply minimize the preview and type directly in the report (while preview window remains open).

Styles & Materials sections can now have a specific title: Tired of calling the Styles and Materials, well, Styles and Materials? It's not apparent, but go to the S&M of a section and click on the word "Styles and Materials", and a text box appears. Type in whatever you want as a title, and it changes! See the Tutorial on how this works!

Added a floating window for CYA information (under Help / CYA Library).

CYA information added for Styles & Materials: Now you can add CYA notes to an item or at each Style and Material.

Supplemental CYA information is now available; not tied to Inspection Items or Styles & Materials. Store as much info as you want...and it doesn't have to be associated with an inspection item.

HomeGauge now checks Pocket HG version when transferring templates and reports: Sometimes when an inspector updates he forgets to update the Pocket HG too. HG will now display a message so you can update the Pocket HG well before the inspection occurs.

Added option to ignore checked columns when double-clicking a column header : Did you know that if all items in the section were "good" you can double click the Column header and it will check all in the section as Good? A real time saver, and now it will skip any items that were checked by a different column header!

HG Services upload file size is now checked before upload begins You will know right away if your file is larger than 10 megabytes.

City, State, etc., dropdowns can now have more than 30 items...For those of you that serve many areas!

Customers and REPs can now have up to three email addresses...Edit one of your REPS and see three email entry fields. Send your uploaded report to all three email addresses of that agent (if desired). This will eliminate the agent thinking she didn't get the report because she is checking the wrong email. Now even better service for your agents!

Moved the Clear Comment Text button in the comment editor further from the Auto Comment insert buttons: Some of you wanted the eraser icon moved away from the add auto comment icon to prevent accidentally deleting the comment you wanted to add to your library. Making HG more efficient!

Added option for replacing Smart Text into auto-included comments after selecting a template. Now you can have all your comments drop in to the report automatically at report start up (like it always did), but this time the smart sentences won't kick in prematurely. Simply select the lightning button above the comment box when ready!

The category for the selected comment is now displayed in the Select Comments window. Looking in ALL Comments trying to find an auto comment? Now at the auto comment window you can highlight the comment and at the bottom see where the comment is stored in ALL Comments.

Images attached to comments can now sometimes be found even if the disc path changes. Sometimes, if you attach a picture to an auto comment to be automatically included, but then later you change the location of the picture, HG does a better job of searching your computer for the new location and can re-establish the link automatically.

Completion Stamp now saved per template: Depending upon which template you open, during reinspections you can now use different comments for your completion stamp!

Added button to copy address from Customer to Report Info and vice-versa: Ever type in the inspection address in the wrong place (Customer's current address)? Now, you can quickly move it with a copy paste feature.

Intro page HTML file can now be specified in the Print Document settings: We did this for Energy Surveys in order to remove the reference to an agent, as many Home Energy Surveys will not involve an agent, but you may find other uses for different Report Intro Pages.

Images and objects in the sketch tool can now be rotated. Try the Polygon, Poly line tool, as well as the dimension line tool, add color, etc. The Sketch tool is greatly improved for speed!

Smart Text comments that do not have all Smart Text replaced are now caught when checking for report completion.

Smart Text connectors now do not add a trailing space if they are only one character ("." "," ";", etc).

Smart Text replacement window now remembers last size used.

Default attachments can now be re-ordered and multiple selections can be made.

Attachments page no longer prints or uploads when it is empty.

Fix for Attachments list layout in PDF format.

Fix for picture comments not showing up in All Comments window.

Fix for potential problems when comment editor was very small.

Fix for copying/pasting report sections.

Fixed some issues with editing CYA information.

Updated some report docs (cover page, etc.) for better HTML compatibility.

Some printing fixes for Internet Explorer 8 compatibility.

Fix for invalid Print Document names that could cause HG Services upload issues.

Fixes for problems with some PDF forms image orientations.

PDF forms that have the same image or signature in multiple places now merge correctly.

Fix for images and signatures in PDF forms sometimes not merging before print or upload.

Inserting multiple comments into a PDF form field now follows Comment Options Add Paragraph... setting.

Text boxes in the Edit Picture window can now be set to have no border.

Inspector Comments field on Inspector Info window is now not limited to a certain number of lines.

Selecting a referral on Inspector Info window no longer erases mileage data already entered.

Auto Comments can now be used when editing a previously placed text box in the Edit Picture window.

Contacts list now updated more often.

Fix for importing contacts from Windows Address Book in 64-bit Windows.

Added document merge fields for customer or REP username.

Using Next and Previous buttons to move to Customer or Report Info screen now gives a text area focus.

Fix for problems encountered when reports database rebuilding is interrupted (i.e. by a corrupted file).

Fix for invalid dates in report list windows (Open Report, etc).

Report and template version is checked when opening.

Pocket HG 4.3

Completion Stamp functionality now available in Pocket HG.

Client name now displayed in menu bar on Pocket HG.

Fixes for column header double-clicking in Inspection Items grid.

Plus many of the same updates in the desktop version of HomeGauge 4.3.

See what was new in HG version 4.2

More about the current software:

• See HomeGauge 4 home inspection software screenshots
• See Pocket HG 4 screenshots
• Download a trial for your PC and Pocket PC
• View sample reports