Cerberus Helpdesk

Cerberus Helpdesk or Cerb is a web-based commercial, platform-independent and open source email response system that is easy to integrate, customize and extend. It was created to decrease the need for time-consuming and redundant human interaction with customers.

Originally written as a trouble ticket system, Cerberus Helpdesk helps your sales, billing or support departments to be able to easily and quickly interact with inbound customer email inquiries. With more 12 years of continuous innovation, Cerb has been successfully deployed on over 18,000 organizations.

Features at a glance

Key features include email fetch and retrieve support, adaptive anti-spam engine, web-based support portal, service level agreements, due date management and schedules, email templates, as well as a comprehensive knowledge base.

When using Cerb, your employees will be able to work efficiently, capture feedback and collaborate with customers better, from anywhere in the world, automate workflow, flag opportunities, share expert knowledge, stay informed, build shared workspaces, manage tasks, reply to huge number of emails, as well as to remember anything about anyone.

Pricing and availability

While you will be able to download a free trial of Cerb, or grab the latest source code from GitHub and compile it yourself, pricing starts from 252 USD (202 EUR) per seat if you install the software on your hardware, as well as 25 USD (20 EUR) per month per seat if you host Cerberus Helpdesk in the cloud.

Supported operating systems and requirements

At the moment, Cerberus Helpdesk has been successfully tested with numerous GNU/Linux distributions, as well as with the BSD, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It supports the Apache, Nginx or IIS web servers, the MySQL 5.0 or newer database server, and PHP 5.3 or newer, which should have the gd, mysql, mailparse, imap, dom, json, spl and mbstring extensions installed. The xcache and memcache PHP extensions are recommended.

What is new in this release:

• We design major functionality updates with backwards compatibility in mind -- both technically and conceptually. This means that when you update between two versions in the same "generation" (e.g. 6.8 to 6.9), you can expect your environment to still meet the same system requirements, and your workers should still feel completely familiar with how the interface and common functionality works.
• Every two years or so, we plan and release a "generational" update. Those are the milestone where we allow ourselves to break backwards compatibility. We remove features and concepts that have been deprecated by new improvements along the way, and we introduce new features and concepts based on thousands of ongoing discussions with the community and several more years of accumulated experience. Generational updates may be a bit more disruptive than typical updates, but they are where Cerb takes big leaps forward.
• Each generation of Cerb has had a central theme:
• In 4.x, the theme was a clean slate. We completely rewrote Cerb from scratch to use modern design principles, to be highly stable and secure, to enable a much faster pace of development, and to be extensible through plugins with our Devblocks framework.
• In 5.x, the theme was automation. We introduced Virtual Attendants for automating common workflows in a very flexible way. That evolved into one of the main reasons people use Cerb at all, and it expanded the kind of problems Cerb is suited to solve.
• In 6.x, the theme was productivity. We introduced fully customizable, shared workspaces and dashboards for delivering the perfect interface to each worker based on their needs. We refined how common actions were performed in the interface, and incrementally reorganized to reduce clicks and keystrokes.
• For 7.x, the theme is personalization and machine learning. As Cerb has matured, we've seen a sharp increase in the seat count of enterprise deployments. While shared workspaces are great for keeping large teams on the same page, the common issue that nearly all of those busy environments run into is that workers end up looking at the same exact lists and tripping over each other while trying to find work. With judicious filtering and dispatching, those issues can be minimized -- but the next issue becomes ensuring that workers are handling work in the appropriate order. Oftentimes, especially if a backlog forms, only the most recent records receive attention because workers approach their worklists like a traditional email client, which displays new messages at the top of the list. The older records become even later.

What is new in version 6.8.3:

• [Popups/Usability] Updated the jQuery UI library from 1.10.3 to 1.10.4 to fix issues with popups scrolling unexpectedly when clicking on form elements. This was first introduced in Cerb 6.6.
• [Popups/Usability] Removed the jQuery UI floating tooltips introduced in 6.8.0 for popup forms. These could cause a scrolling popup to constantly scroll back to the top of the window when a form element was clicked.
• [Virtual Attendants/Dates] Fixed an issue with date-based behavior variables and custom fields in the 'Create task' and 'Create ticket' actions of Virtual Attendants. It was possible in some situations for strange dates to be generated, like "monday +2 weeks" resulting in a date 90 years in the future.
• [CHD-3850] [Mail/Virtual Attendants] Improved the 'Ticket conversation viewed by worker' event so it runs before the record is loaded on a ticket profile. As a consequence, any changes to the ticket by that behavior will now be properly reflected on the profile when it loads (previously, this required a page refresh).
• [Setup/Translations] Fixed some PHP notices in the Translation Editor when using the 'Synchronize languages' feature.

What is new in version 6.6.0:

• Core:
• Platform/Custom Fields] Implemented configurable parameters for custom fields. The various custom fields types can now provide additional options to modify how they work. Picklist and multi-checkbox fields had a hardcoded parameter for their option list which has been converted to the new format.
• [CHD-3582] [Custom Fields/Owners] Added a 'Send worker notifications' option to worker-based custom fields. This makes it easy to add an 'owner' field to any kind of record. More advanced workflows are also possible; for example, having two owner fields for a 'salesperson' and 'sales support'. Owners receive watcher notifications about record activity for the duration of their assignment. They don't need to explicitly watch or unwatch records.
• Custom Fields/Links] Implemented a new 'Record Link' custom field type. This is similar to how the Links tab works, except the custom field is formalized and the fields of the linked record will be shown in Virtual Attendant behaviors, snippets, etc. For instance, a time tracking entry could have a custom fieldset with fields for an organization and a domain. Time tracking records could then be filtered based on those links, and the related record information could be used in Virtual Attendants, worklists, and the API.
• [Setup/Storage/Attachments] Fixed an issue where an attachment worklist with multiple links pointing to the same file resulted in missing rows.
• [Setup/Attachments/Worklists] Attachment worklists now display the storage profile column as a name rather than an ID.
• [CHD-3377] [Setup/Attachments/Worklists] Attachment worklists once again provide links to the records containing the files (i.e. the 'Context' column). Previously, a link was provided to the ticket but workers had to dig for the message containing the file. Now, when clicking on the permalink for an email message attachment that specific message will be expanded and focused.
• [CHD-2971] [Mail/Reply/Usability/Keyboard] When using the keyboard to navigate the ticket reply form, using the attachments upload popup previously broke the TAB flow through the form. Now the focus is returned to the attachments (+) button after files have been uploaded.
• [Storage/Platform/Optimization/Performance] Cerb now automatically detects when a new storage object duplicates an existing one, and an additional link will be created to the same underlying file. A file is only removed when there are zero links pointing at it (e.g. message or comment attachments). Duplicate attachment detection is implemented for incoming mail, worker replies through the UI, the worker proxy, messages imported from an ImpEx export, and files uploaded through the API. This should save a considerable amount of storage space in environments where the same attachments (e.g. PDFs, forms, ebooks) are sent by workers on a regular basis. Similarly, when the same senders include logos and other content in their signature these can be condensed into a single storage object. Currently, existing storage objects are not hashed since would be very intensive on busy systems. New duplicates will be prevented from version 6.6 onward. However, we'll be providing instructions on how to retroactively hash existing storage objects and remove redundancy (technical note: this involves providing SHA1 hashes in the attachment.storage_sha1hash database column, and redirecting attachment_link records based on that).
• [Mail/Parser/Performance] The original_message.html attachment is now created more efficiently for new incoming messages. Previously its contents were written to a temporary file that was then read into long-term storage. Now it is saved directly from memory into storage. This improvement also made it easier to modify the contents of the HTML message to improve usability (e.g. rewriting links for inline attachments to Cerb URLs).
• [Mail/Parser/Usability] When viewing an original_message.html attachment in the browser, inline images will now be properly displayed in the content. For instance, this is useful when customers send screenshots by embedding them in the middle of their reply. Previously, such images were included as attachments on the ticket but they weren't displayed in the HTML contents (technical note: The IMG tags still referenced the MIME content-id header). These IMG links are now rewritten to use Cerb file paths. This process works for all new messages that are received in version 6.6 or later, but it will not fix existing original_message.html attachments.
• [Devblocks/Platform/Markdown] Added the Parsedown library http://parsedown.org/ to Devblocks. This is a faster, leaner, and more modern replacement for the existing PHP Markdown Extra library we've been using up to this point.
• [Setup/Storage/S3/Usability] When testing a new S3 storage engine profile, a temporary object will be saved, read, and deleted to verify that the credentials work for all actions. Previously the contents of the bucket were listed, but this didn't verify that content could actually be stored and retrieved.
• [Setup/Storage/S3/Usability] The S3 storage engine now supports a 'Path prefix' configuration option. Previously all content was saved starting at the top-level of a bucket. Now a single bucket can be shared between multiple instances of Cerb.
• [Setup/Storage/S3/Security] When configuring the S3 storage engine, the secret key parameter is no longer displayed in the profile popup form. If left blank it will remain unchanged. This is far more secure than transmitting it.
• [Storage/Performance] The storage service now has the ability to queue multiple delete operations to perform them in a single transaction. This is useful for storage engines where incremental deletes would be very expensive. For instance, S3 would generate an HTTP request per file being deleted, which could potentially be hundreds or thousands. Waiting for that many HTTP requests during cron.maint is undesirable. It is now possible for hundreds of objects to be deleted in a single request.
• [Setup/Storage/S3/Usability] Implemented batch delete functionality in the S3 storage engine. Up to 500 objects can be deleted from S3 in a single HTTP request.
• [CHD-2711] [Mail/Relay/Comments] When a worker is replying to a relayed message from an external email account, the #comment tag will now allow comments to span multiple lines. The comment will be terminated when it encounters a blank line or a line starting with another #tag. This was necessary because some email applications, like Gmail, force text/plain content to hard wrap on spaces before 76 characters, and quoted-printable encoding isn't used to preserve the original wrapping. The comment will still appear as a single paragraph in Cerb.
• [CHD-2711] [Mail/Relay/Comments] A new #start comment tag is available to workers that respond to relayed messages through an external email account. This allows multiple line comments where linefeeds will be preserved. This is especially useful for chunks of formatted text like code fragments and patches. A multiple line comment is terminated with an #end tag on its own line. If a worker's mail application adds hard linefeeds to their comment content, those will be preserved in the comment created by Cerb.
• [Mail/Parser/Localization] Cerb will now use the iconv PHP extension if it is loaded. This is capable of converting a wider range of encodings than mbstring. For instance, TIS-620 (Thai) and WIN-1258 (Vietnamese) were not properly converted to Unicode by Cerb when only using mbstring.
• [Mail/Relay] Workers can now manually relay specific messages to external email accounts without having to set up a Virtual Attendant behavior first. The reply menu on each message contains a new 'Relay to worker email' option. Selecting the relay option displays a popup where worker email accounts can be filtered and selected. This feature is particularly useful for situations where workers may need to reply while offline, such as during transoceanic flights or cruises. A worker can relay messages from Cerb to their mobile email application, reply at their leisure, and their messages will be delivered when network access is restored. The feature is also useful when certain workers handle requests through email without logging into the Cerb interface (e.g. temps, interns, consultants). A human dispatcher can route messages to these workers on an as-needed basis.
• [Mail/Relay/Activity Log] An Activity Log entry is now created when messages are relayed to an email account by a worker or Virtual Attendant. This notifies other workers that work may be taking place on the ticket from outside of Cerb, and it also serves to keep a better history of the actions of Virtual Attendants. Previously, there was no record on a ticket that it had been relayed unless a comment was explicitly created to say so.
• [Mail/Activity Log/Preferences] Workers can now enable the display of Activity Log entries on the ticket timeline. This displays a mix of messages, comments, and activity log data in a single place without having to click into the 'Activity Log' tab. The option is located on the Settings page that is accessed from the menu displayed when a worker clicks on their name in the top right of the UI. Consecutive log entries will be combined in a single block, and those that take place with a similar timestamp are grouped together for readability. This option is also compatible with the 'Read all' option where the timeline is displayed expanded in 'oldest first' order rather than 'newest first'.
• [Devblocks/Platform/jQuery] Updated jQuery dependency from 1.7.2 to 1.10.2
• [Devblocks/Platform/jQuery] Updated jQuery UI dependency from 1.9.1 to 1.10.3
• [Devblocks/Platform/Dependencies] Added the jQuery Caret plugin for getting and setting the cursor position in textareas.
• [Devblocks/Platform/jqPlot] Updated jqplot dependency from 1.0.0b2 to 1.0.8
• [Devblocks/Platform/qTip] Updated qTip dependency from 1.0.0rc3 to 2.2.0
• [Tour/Usability] Updated and expanded the tour so it provides tips and callouts about the main functionality within Cerb. This should help onboard new workers faster.
• [Tour/Usability] When clicking on a new 'Point of Interest' callout in tour mode, the previously viewed callout will now be closed automatically.
• [CHD-786] [Mail/HTML] Workers can now send HTML formatted email replies from Cerb. This feature was a long time coming, as we wanted to implement it in a way that was consistent with Cerb's spirit of productivity and automation, which are heavily based on the efficient processing of large amounts of text. To facilitate this, the feature is divided into two parts: HTML templates and Markdown syntax. Multiple HTML templates (e.g. letterhead and stylesheets) can be created from the Setup->Mail->HTML page. Each group and bucket can be configured to use a specific template by default, which determines the style of their HTML replies. Templates can contain any valid HTML, although most mail apps will sanitize the messages (e.g. removing Javascript). Rather than introducing a visual HTML editor which obscures the underlying text, workers can reply with Markdown syntax to bold, italicize, link, embed images, quote, and to add headings, code blocks, and lists. Markdown is a markup language that was designed for use in email to preserve human readability. This "progressive enhancement" approach provides workers with greater flexibility in their replies without compromising efficiency. Outgoing messages in the Cerb history are still displayed as plaintext. Additionally, Virtual Attendant behaviors are capable of working with Markdown syntax much easier than with HTML directly.
• [CHD-786] [Mail/Reply/HTML] When workers are replying to mail, an editor is now provided to assist with using Markdown formatting. By default the editor starts in plaintext mode, which behaves the same as Cerb always has (i.e. only sending text responses). In this case the toolbar only displays a single button that toggles rich text functionality. Once that button is clicked, the toolbar expands to provide: bold, italics, unordered and ordered lists, embedded images, external images, links, quotes, code blocks, and a preview option. The preview option displays the HTML version of the current reply in a popup window. It will also use the HTML template of the current group and bucket, if available. The preview window can be left open while responding, and it will update its contents every time the RETURN key is pressed.
• [Storage/Files] Attachments can now be requested by their SHA-1 hash in a URL, in addition to the globally unique ID of any of their links. This makes it possible to refer to attachments that have been uploaded but not linked to anything yet. For instance, this is useful for implementing embedded images in mail and knowledgebase articles; those images would need to be previewed before the record (and link) is created.
• [Platform/Usability] Popups will now open in the middle of the browser window by default. They previously opened in the top center, which made smaller popups less noticeable.
• [Plugins/Platform] When a file is uploaded using the file chooser popup, it now provides the caller with a SHA-1 hash and internal URL, as well as the entire response object (name, size, mime type, etc). This should make the file chooser reusable in more situations; for instance, in providing embedded image functionality.
• [Mail/Reply/HTML] Workers can now send inline images in their replies. A new 'Upload an Image' button is available in the toolbar when replying to mail with HTML formatting. This button displays the file chooser popup, which automatically generates the syntax for an embedded image once saved. The image is visible in the preview popup, and once the message is sent Cerb will automatically convert it to an embedded image for the recipient (i.e. replacing the link to Cerb with a self-contained MIME part).
• [Mail/Search/Usability] When using Search->Ticket, the results will no longer be restricted to only a worker's own groups. The group filter is now added by default but it can be removed from the editable filters. Previously it was a required filter that couldn't be removed. This has been requested several times by organizations that want workers to see the "Access denied" listing for a ticket when searching by mask or participant, instead of having zero results shown (which leads people to believe they're doing the search wrong).
• [Platform/Popups/Usability] Popups will now float over the same position in the browser even when the rest of the page scrolls. Previously, popups could be scrolled off the page and become lost.
• [Mail/Peek/Usability] When viewing the peek popup for a ticket, its group and bucket are now shown as two linked dropdowns. Changing the group in the first dropdown will change the list of available buckets in the second one. Previously, the group and bucket were only visible by clicking the dropdown and looking for the (*) marker, which was cumbersome. Additionally, the previous dropdown also combined groups and buckets into a single long list which was difficult to use.
• [Mail/Compose/Usability] When composing mail, the 'From:' option now displays the group and bucket in two linked dropdowns instead of one big list.
• [Mail/Compose/HTML] Added HTML message support to the compose popup. The preview feature will display the template for the currently selected group and bucket.
• [Storage/Files] The '/files' page now provides cache control headers for the content it serves. This allows a worker's browser to cache certain resources (like images) after their first retrieval so they aren't requested from the server again. This is useful now that content like embedded images in HTML messages are displayed through this page.
• [Platform/Dependencies] Updated HTMLPurifier library from 4.5 to 4.6.
• [Platform/Devblocks/Dependencies] Added the 'CSS to Inline Styles' library by Tijs Verkoyen. This provides an easy to way to convert CSS STYLE blocks to inline styles when sending HTML email, as many email readers filter out HEAD, BODY, and STYLE.
• [Mail/Reply/HTML/Preferences] Added a worker preference for "Always switch to HTML mode" while replying to mail.
• [Platform/Plugins/Popups] Plugins that use genericAjaxPopup() can now specify the 'target' option using a jQuery Position object; e.g. { my: 'top left', at: 'bottom right', of: 'selector' }.
• [CHD-3622] [Explore/Usability] Improved the way the last accessed time is recorded for explorer sets. Previously the access timestamp only updated 20% of the time in order to reduce extraneous UPDATE database queries when someone quickly paged through the list. Now, instead, the access time is updated any time at least 30 seconds has elapsed since the last recorded access time. Additionally, the access time is now always recorded when the set is created. The prior inefficiency rarely caused problems, but it would manifest if an explorer set was created shortly before the maintenance scheduled job ran, or if the maintenance job was set to run very often instead of nightly. This could result in explorer sets being purged while they were still in use.
• [Mail/HTML/Broadcast] Implemented HTML message support in ticket worklist broadcasts from bulk update.
• [Mail/HTML/Broadcast] Implemented HTML message support in address worklist broadcasts from bulk update.
• [Mail/HTML/Broadcast] Implemented HTML message support in opportunity worklist broadcasts from bulk update.
• [Mail/Usability/HTML] When generating a plaintext part from an HTML-only message, Cerb now attempts to preserve whitespace in pre-formatted (PRE) and CODE blocks.
• [Mail/Usability/HTML] When generating a plaintext part from an HTML-only message, Cerb now attempts to prefix nested BLOCKQUOTE content with '>'.
• [Mail/HTML/Usability] When sending HTML mail, Cerb will generate a new plaintext part that cleans up Markdown formatting. This plaintext part is sent along with the HTML message (e.g. for mobile and automated mail readers), and it's also what's stored in the conversation history.
• [REVERT] [Platform/Popups/Usability] Popups no longer open up in the center of the browser window by default. This was causing problems on popups that grow, since they could expand beyond the bottom of the window and constantly require being dragged into place. Popups now display at the top so they have the full browser height to grow before they show a scrollbar. When a popup is opened a position can be defined now, so popups that don't grow (like the file chooser) may still elect to show up in the center of the page.
• [Setup/Mail/Reply-To/HTML] Reply-to addresses can now specify a default HTML template for outgoing mail. The template set on the default reply-to address is the global default. When a group doesn't have its own HTML template it will default to the one on its reply-to address.
• [Mail/HTML/Usability] The upgrade script for 6.6 now automatically creates a default HTML template and associates it with the default reply-to address. This allows HTML replies to "just work" without any manual configuration.
• [Virtual Attendants/Mail/HTML] The 'Send mail' action in Virtual Attendant behaviors now supports sending messages using Markdown and HTML templates.
• [Virtual Attendants/Mail/HTML] The 'Send mail to recipients' action in Virtual Attendant behaviors now supports sending messages using Markdown and HTML templates.
• [Mail/HTML/Reply] Workers can now optionally choose a specific HTML template when replying. If nothing is selected, the current group/bucket's default is used.
• [Mail/HTML/Compose] Workers can now optionally choose a specific HTML template when composing a new message. If nothing is selected, the given group/bucket's default is used.
• [Mail/HTML/Broadcast/Tickets] Workers can now optionally choose a specific HTML template when broadcasting from ticket worklists. If nothing is selected, the default for the group/bucket is used instead.
• [Mail/HTML/Broadcast/Addresses] Workers can now optionally choose a specific HTML template when broadcasting from email address worklists. If nothing is selected, the default for the given group/bucket is used instead.
• [Mail/HTML/Broadcast/CRM/Opps] Workers can now optionally choose a specific HTML template when broadcasting from opportunity worklists. If nothing is selected, the default for the group/bucket is used instead.
• [Mail/Reply/Usability] When replying to a message, the "Would you like to move this conversation?" option now shows the groups and buckets in two linked dropdowns. Changing the group in the first list automatically displays the available buckets in the second list. Previously, the current group and bucket was displayed as a default "No, leave it in the [name] bucket of [group]" option, and moving the conversation required using a long combined list of all the buckets which was difficult to navigate. The new way is also more efficient when using keyboard shortcuts.
• [Performance/Worklists/Tickets] When using the "Is in groups of [worker]" filter on ticket worklists, the database query is now optimized if the worker is a member of every group. Previously, this inefficiently checked the group_id on every result anyway.
• [Support Center/Contact/Usability] The ability to upload multiple files in the Support Center now uses a browser's HTML5 support.
• [Support Center/Contact/Usability] The file type is now set properly on attachments uploaded through the Support Center. Previously, all uploaded files were being saved as 'application/octet-stream', which forced attachments to download even if they could be displayed in the browser (e.g. images, text files).
• [Web-API/Contexts] Implemented 'GET /rest/contexts/list.json' in the Web-API for retrieving a list of context IDs and names. The context IDs are used for making various kinds of requests (e.g. attachment links, comments, record links) and there wasn't a comprehensive list available anywhere. This API request will also include any contexts that were added through plugins, which the standard documentation wouldn't include.
• [CHD-3562] [Web-API/Contexts/Links] Implemented 'POST /rest/contexts/link.json' in the Web-API for adding any number of links to a record. See: http://cerbweb.com/book/latest/developerguide/restapi/contexts.html
• [CHD-3562] [Web-API/Contexts/Links] Implemented 'POST /rest/contexts/unlink.json' in the Web-API for removing any number of links from a record. See: http://cerbweb.com/book/latest/developerguide/restapi/contexts.html
• [Setup/Groups] Fixed an issue when deleting a group where group-owned Virtual Attendants and custom fieldsets may not be cleaned up properly.

What is new in version 6.5.4:

• [CHD-3569] [Virtual Attendants/Mail/Headers] In 'Before sending worker message' Virtual Attendant behaviors, the 'Set header' action is now capable of replacing existing headers like 'Subject:' and 'X-Mailer:'. Previously, duplicate headers were being added.
• [CHD-3519] [Virtual Attendants/Mail] In the 'Before sending worker message' Virtual Attendant behavior, the 'Bucket' condition is now available again.
• [CHD-3568] [Worklists/Usability] Fixed an issue when editing 'Owner' filters on worklists where the existing values weren't displayed as defaults. This meant if you were filtering by a list of 5 owners, you had to reselect them in addition to any other changes you were making.
• Virtual Attendants/Groups] Fixed an issue with bucket names always being 'Inbox' in some Virtual Attendant behaviors.
• [CHD-3508] [Virtual Attendants/Usability] When building Virtual Attendant outcomes and actions, the 'Insert placeholder' menu will now include the '|date' modifier on placeholders by default. Otherwise they are displayed as Unix timestamps (e.g. 1381874586). This used to happen in earlier versions, but the '|date' option was hardcoded for various fields; now it happens automatically based on the field type.
• [CHD-3470] [Mail/Reply/Usability] On ticket profiles, if the reply form is already open then clicking the 'Reply' button or pressing the 'r' shortcut will focus the existing form rather than discarding its contents and opening a new one.
• [CHD-3433] [Mail/Setup/Usability] Added a warning to POP3 setup that downloaded messages will be deleted from the mailbox. There have been a few instances where users included an IMAP mailbox with a long history where clearing the mailbox was not desirable.
• [CHD-3378] [Virtual Attendants/Worklists] 'While displaying a worklist' behaviors can now be created by role-owned Virtual Attendants.
• Setup/Custom Fields/Usability] In Setup, custom fields can now be quickly dragged into the desired order rather than having to manually number them.
• Setup/Custom Fields/Usability] When deleting custom fields in Setup, a confirmation step is now shown prior to deleting the fields and their data.
• [CHD-3372] [Setup/Custom Fields/Fieldsets] In Setup, global custom fields can now be easily migrated to fieldsets of the same type.
• [CHD-3341] [Mail/Reply/Usability] After clicking the 'Reply' button in a ticket conversation, a loading indicator is shown in a popup until the form is displayed. This was requested several times by clients who experience occasional latency so they have a visual cue that something is happening.

What is new in version 5.7.2:

• [Mail/Parser] The email parser will now check incoming attachments for a 'content-name' or 'disposition-filename'. Previously only the former was checked, and when an attachment only had the latter, and was text/plain, its contents were incorrectly appended to the message body.
• [Search/Performance] Optimized the fulltext search indexing for messages and comments. Only the first 10KB bytes of message content will be indexed, and messages will ignore quoted content since this should be contained in the original message. This should make indexing long conversations much more efficient, and it should remedy the situation where workers or recipients quote the entire conversation every message and end up polluting the search index.
• [Welcome] Added a link to the manual on the /welcome page.
• [Virtual Attendants/Parameters] Fixed a warning with worker variables on Virtual Attendants when no workers are selected.
• [CHD-2816] [Mail/Compose] Banned addresses will no longer be suggested as recipients when opening a ticket by organization.
• [CHD-2788] [Mail/Tickets/Bulk Update] Workers can now bulk update the organization on ticket worklists.
• [CHD-2779] [Mail/Worklists/Usability] In ticket worklists, the ticket move dropdown was changed to a chooser menu with a quick search box. This should make it much easier to select a specific bucket from a long list.
• [Mail/Worklists/Usability] On ticket worklists, the 'm' keyboard shortcut will now open the move menu and focus the quick search box.
• [CHD-2784] [Snippets/Usability] Added the two-step delete confirmation to the snippets popup.
• [CHD-2792] [Mail/RSS/Security] Fixed an issue where RSS feeds for worklists were viewable for disabled workers.
• [CHD-2754] [Plugins] Updated the built-in plugin manifests to version 5.7.2 from 5.6.x
• [CHD-2764] [Reports] Date-based reports can now group charts by hour.
• [CHD-2741] [Setup/Plugins] You can now search by name on the 'Installed Plugins' and 'Plugin Library' tabs in Setup.
• [CHD-2766] [Reports] When hovering over a report chart, the value of a data point is now displayed in addition to the date and the label for the 'Group Replies over Date Range', 'Created Tickets by Group over Date Range', 'Closed Tickets by Group over Date Range', and 'Worker History over Date Range' reports.
• [CHD-2627] [Mail/Parser] The parser will now treat 'message/rfc822' mime parts as attachments. These messages are sent as abuse reports, bounces, and forwarded messages. Their content will no longer be appended to the message body.
• [Mail/Print] Fixed the broken default logos when printing tickets or messages.
• [CHD-2807] [Snippets/Roles] Implemented role-owned snippets. This allows you to easily share snippets with multiple groups, arbitrary lists of workers, or everyone. Currently, only administrators can create or modify role-owned snippets, but any worker associated with the role can use them.
• [CHD-2680] [Snippets/Worklists] Added a virtual column on snippet worklists for displaying the owner (worker, group, or role). This is also displayed on the snippet chooser.
• [CHD-2680] [Snippets/Worklists/Search] Snippet worklists can now be filtered by owner. This also introduces a new multi-context autocomplete widget (selecting workers, groups, or roles).
• [CHD-2808] [Snippets/Setup] Added a new Snippets management area to Setup. This allows administrators to create, view, and modify all snippets (regardless of owner) in a centralized place.
• [CHD-2809] [Snippets/Worklists] Administrators can now bulk update owners and custom fields on snippet worklists.
• [CHD-2827] [Snippets/Subtotals] Fixed a bug that prevented filtering snippet worklists by the 'plaintext' type from the subtotals sidebar.
• [CHD-2826] [Mail/Filters] FIXED: Adding a wildcard (*) filter value on a header will match all messages, even those that don't contain the header.

What is new in version 5.7.1:

• This maintenance update includes 8 improvements from community feedback.
• It fixes an issue during upgrades where the platform attempted to read plugin manifests before updating itself.
• For now, any time the platform detects that the version has changed, it will redirect to /update without reading plugin manifests first.
• It fixes a bug that prevented the 'From:' field on the Send Mail page from listing groups that had only an inbox and no other buckets.

What is new in version 5.7.0:

• [Plugins] Plugins will now be disabled during an upgrade if their requirements aren't met. Third-party plugins that haven't been tested with the new application version will also be disabled. To compensate for this, we'll be introducing a system that automatically updates plugins after an upgrade.
• [Plugins] Plugin requirements can now be specified in their manifest. These include PHP extensions, plugin dependencies, a required minimum version of Cerb5, and a 'tested up to' version.
• [Plugins] Plugin requirements are now clearly displayed in the Plugins tab in Setup.
• [Plugins] Plugins manifests now should specify a version in the same XX.YY.ZZ format as Cerb5. The incremental revision count has been removed since it complicates maintaining branches of development for different major versions.
• [Plugins/SDK] Updated the SDK examples to reflect the new plugin manifest changes.
• [Devblocks/Platform] Implemented strVersionToInt() and intVersionToStr() utility methods. These convert versions between the formats '5.7.1' and '050701'. The latter integer version makes comparisons quicker and more efficient.
• [Devblocks/Platform] Added the PclZip library by Vincent Blavet to Devblocks (LGPL licensed). This can be used to manage ZIP archives when the PHP 'zip' extension isn't installed. This will initially be used by the new browser-based plugin installer.
• [Devblocks/Platform] Devblocks will now track plugin version numbers instead of revision numbers. This allows simple version comparisons when looking for updated plugins.
• [Plugin Library] Implemented the Plugin Library which allows completely browser-based plugin installs. In addition, it makes it much easier to find new plugins that are guaranteed to be compatible with your current version. After a Cerb5 upgrade, the plugin library will help you automatically update all your plugins (previously you had to track down new plugin versions from various places on your own). This first library will focus on plugins that we've reviewed to ensure they're safe; however, we're building the system with the ability to add arbitrary repositories for easier management of your own custom plugins.
• [Plugins/Setup] The setup pages for installed plugins and the plugin library have been combined into a single 'Manage Plugins' section. Each list is presented as a tab, which makes them easier to notice.
• [Plugins/Setup] The list of installed plugins is now displayed in a worklist. This allows the familiar paging, sorting, and searching functionality. Plugins can now be enabled or disabled per-row, which makes it easier to enable dependencies.
• [Plugins/Setup] Installed third-party plugins can now be completely uninstalled through the browser.
• [Plugins/Usability/Setup] Plugins that are disabled will now display a banner on top of their plugin icon. This visual cue improves the usability of the worklist by making it easier to spot plugins that are inactive.
• [Plugins/Setup] Plugins that are installed through the browser will no longer default to enabled. Instead, a popup will be shown which allows the plugin to be configured at the same time as it is enabled.
• [Plugins/Setup] When managing plugins in setup, a configuration popup is now provided for each plugin. This saves plugin authors the requirement to create a new configuration section, and it makes it easier for end-users because they don't have to hunt down inconsistent configuration settings after installing a plugin.
• [Plugins] Moved the Gravatar plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins] Moved the Feed Reader plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins] Moved the Call Logging plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins] Moved the Datacenter plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins] Moved the Datacenter domains plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins] Moved the OpenID plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins] Moved the Spam Analysis plugin out of the core project and into the plugin library.
• [Plugins/Setup/Search] Implemented quick search for the Installed Plugins and Plugin Library worklists.
• [Plugins/Setup/Subtotals] Implemented subtotals for the Installed Plugins and Plugin Library worklists.
• [Plugins/Setup/SDK] Implemented a new extension point (cerberusweb.plugin.setup) that displays tabs on the 'Configure' area for a plugin in Setup. This makes it easy to provide options that need to be verified before a plugin can be enabled (e.g. for integration). Multiple instances of this extension per plugin will be rendered as tabs in the popup. Developers no longer need to implement custom page sections for configuration, and users no longer have to dig for the setup page for each plugin -- they can simply configure them at the same time they enable them.
• [Plugins/Setup] Plugin requirements now must be satisfied before a plugin can be enabled in Setup.
• [Virtual Attendants/Variables] Virtual Attendant behaviors can now define, set, and check custom variables. Variables can be used in conditions and actions. They are also available as placeholders in snippets. The value of a variable can be static (a constant value), synthesized (generated based on other values), or composited (combining multiple values). For a simple example usage, a variable can be set to a different value depending on the various outcomes of a condition. Additionally, a true/false variable can be set based on a complex set of conditions and then reused throughout the decision tree as a single condition with a more intuitive name (e.g. "has SLA"). This also handles workflows where a piece of information (e.g. an organization or server name) needs to be extracted from another field (e.g. a ticket subject) and act as both a condition and a value in actions. A variable's value can be set using snippets, and if the same template needs to be sent in multiple actions (e.g. auto-replies) then it can be set as a variable and reused with a single placeholder. This improves reusability and allows template modifications in a single place.
• [Snippets] Implemented a 'regexp' modifier for snippet placeholders. For example, {{ticket_subject|regexp('/New Order: (.*?)/', 1}} returns the first match of the given regular expression. The optional second argument specifies the match to be returned as determined by parenthesis. For example, in the regular expression "/((d)(w))/" on the text "4J" there are three matches: the first match is both d and w ('4J'), the second is exclusively d (a digit; '4') and the third is exclusively w (a word character, 'J'). This modifier supports the same options as PHP's preg_match() function. This modifier is especially useful when paired with the new Virtual Attendant custom variables feature in order to extract information from one field and save it as a new one.
• [Virtual Attendants/Mail] Virtual Attendant behavior can now rewrite ticket subjects using placeholders. For example, under certain conditions the phrase "URGENT:" could be prepended to incoming ticket subjects.
• [Virtual Attendants/Custom Fields/Snippets] Virtual Attendant behavior can now set text-based custom fields using placeholder values.
• [Virtual Attendants/Variables] Virtual Attendant behavior can now define custom variables that refer to workers. This is useful for configuring assignment workflow, where the variable can be used to set an owner rather than a hard-coded worker.

What is new in version 5.6.3:

• This maintenance update includes 12 improvements from community feedback.
• The storage system will no longer leave stray attachments behind after deleting tickets.
• The debug page can export an XML file which describes Virtual Attendant behavior for all events.
• A new X-Header records the mailbox a message was downloaded from.
• The installer includes database scripts for facilitating fully-automated installs.
• When adding a new workspace, a worker's own workspaces are now shown by default, since the full list can be overwhelming when it's unintentional.

What is new in version 5.6.2:

• This maintenance update includes 14 improvements from community feedback.
• Workers can now properly delete snippets they have write access to.
• Virtual Attendant behaviors are now grouped by event and can be reordered by dragging on their titles and moving them within their event group.
• This release fixes an issue which resulted in bulk updating tickets submitting all the changes to the database in one pass instead of batching them as designed, and an issue which prevented ticket searching by group through the Web API.

What is new in version 5.6.1:

• This maintenance update includes 22 improvements from community feedback.
• If a POP3 mailbox fails more than five times, it will automatically be disabled and a notification with the most recent error message will be sent to all administrators.
• Mail conversations now show the relative date next to the 'Date:' header.
• Hovering over the relative date will also show the absolute date in the current worker's timezone.
• Broadcast compose will now use the organization from the first recipient when creating the ticket.
• The organization peek popup now shows the tabs for 'People' and 'Comments'.