It’s not because…

I’m an old curmudgeon that resists new things; after all, I do consulting and teaching, and staying up on the latest technologies is an important and enjoyable part of my professional life.

It’s not because…

I’m a zealot for a particular language; I think most modern languages have pros and cons.

Really, my dislike boils down to this:

JavaScript feels like a major step backward in the evolution of programming, and I see it as an easy path to brittle, buggy, unmaintainable code.

SO WHY HAVE I HAD A CHANGE OF HEART ON THIS SUBJECT?

Well, I recently attended a training class on SharePoint 2013 and the instructor made an excellent case on writing SharePoint Hosted apps (if you’re not familiar with the application hosting models in SharePoint 2013, please reference this article).

BUT, THE THING IS, SHAREPOINT HOSTED APPS CAN ONLY BE WRITTEN IN JAVASCRIPT.

SO THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME TO PUT ASIDE MY BIASES AND EMBRACE WRITING JAVASCRIPT.

But, if I’m going to do that with any sort of professional satisfaction then I want to really feel like I’m writing elegant, beautiful, maintainable code that I can be proud of.

If you find yourself in a similar circumstance, then let me recommend a three-step process to get you jump-started.

1. Read this book. More than any other text I’ve seen, JavaScript: The Good Parts does a good job of acknowledging my concerns about JavaScript and providing real answers to address them. Beyond that, it’s just a treasure trove of good practices to engage and bad practices to avoid. It opened my eyes to some of the expressiveness of the language, and while I’m not sure I can call it “love” yet, I’ve certainly gotten past my loathing.
2. Embrace jQuery. Sure, the old-hands at JavaScript know about this already, but if you’re new to the party then don’t bother wondering whether or not you need this: you need it, and doing any kind of browser-based programming without it just seems unthinkable at this point.
3. Don’t abandon your architectural roots.  Those of us that are schooled in programming know that certain patterns work on building scalability, reusability, and maintainability into our code. Your multi-tiered, loosely-coupled, MVC, MVVM learning still apply here. (By the way, Knockout is an excellent way to implement some of these patterns). It just may take a little more effort on your part to stay architecturally sound since the language and the tooling makes it easy to pollute your architecture.

SO, JAVASCRIPT ISN’T SOME KIND OF “DOOMSDAY MACHINE.” IT’S JUST A NEW FRONTIER, ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THE SAGA OF PROGRAMMING.

Go forth and write some elegant code!

• Do You Have Social Amnesia?
• While You’re Waiting on Google Glass, Try Some Popcorn…
• Plus a Client and ThreeWiller testimonial

View Now

THEN YOU MAY BE SUFFERING FROM SOCIAL AMNESIA.

While this metaphor is somewhat tongue and cheek, I find that it is a good characterization of how some companies tend to embark on developing a social initiative that treats social knowledge as separate and independent from existing organizational knowledge typically found in SharePoint.

Having worked with both SharePoint and one of the leading social solutions, Jive Software, I’d like to share some observations about how you can recognize the symptoms and avoid the consequences of social amnesia.

As a 15+ year veteran of Microsoft, I have seen the evolution and growth of SharePoint, one of Microsoft’s most successful products ever. 

Not only was it embraced by our customers, but Microsoft was itself a heavy user of the platform.  But while SharePoint was good at a number of things, social was not its strong suit.

A couple of years ago I joined ThreeWill, a company that is an avid user of both SharePoint and Jive Software.  And even with my natural bias for SharePoint that I acquired over my years at Microsoft, I can honestly say that I was totally impressed by how Jive approaches the social needs of an organization.

When asked to compare the difference between SharePoint and Jive, I can summarize it in a single word –  engaging. 

While SharePoint has a number of features and continues to evolve “socially”, it has  never really been embraced for its social charisma.  Jive on the other hand is truly engaging and entices your participation in social activities.

While at Microsoft I found the internal SharePoint sites to be a fantastic resource for any information I might need.  You could go to product group sites, competitive info sites, sales programs, internal employee programs, and find more useful content than you could ever imagine.  This content ranged from individual contributions to highly polished official content ready for customers or partners.  However, what it didn’t really offer was the type of environment that pulled you into the world of social collaboration.

Enter Jive.  The Jive experience is one that draws users into the social online community. 

Here at ThreeWill our Jive community is called “Cafe ThreeWill” and it has become the default “go-to” location on our intranet.  You can still go to SharePoint but you’ll find that most everyone will hang out in the Cafe.  Similar to the SharePoint world you’ll find Jive “Places” that cover the breadth of corporate topics as well as employee personal interests.

You can also find important documents such as the “Employee Benefits Handbook” or the latest sales collateral.  But in addition to just finding important documents, there is a wealth of information provided through the informal collaboration around the content (see Jive Software social capabilities).

So if Jive is all that, then why would I ever go back to SharePoint? 

Well, here’s the rub. 

While Jive is a great place to take advantage of the informal social knowledge within your company, I have found that it really isn’t a replacement for enterprise content management.

For example, if I am in an industry that requires strong compliance and records retention, Jive falls short while SharePoint excels.

One of the most common use-cases we’ve seen is the need to create “official” documentation in SharePoint and then “publish” this documentation to Jive for social consumption. 

One customer, BMC Software, has an external facing Jive Community to serve it’s partner channel.  BMC creates documents that go through a formal workflow on their internal SharePoint system and as part of the workflow the approved content is published to the Jive community.  By doing this, BMC is able to maintain good corporate governance over important information but still have all the advantages of the social experience provided by Jive.

If you have a use case similar to this, ask us about our next release of Pointer.  This new version of our Jive-SharePoint connector will be optimized for this specific use-case.

As you continue to explore your social strategy, beware of social amnesia!  Jump on the social band wagon but don’t leave your SharePoint content behind.  

Read the New Datasheet

Thanks for reading our newsletter and have a wonderful May!

1.  Custom app dev in SharePoint 2007 and farm solutions in SharePoint 2010 followed the same path as Microsoft developers used themselves for customizing SharePoint.

As a developer, we could find dozens of examples for how to perform some custom app dev, usually by taking a look at how Microsoft themselves applied that same kind of customization.  Following in their footsteps not only helped us find the right approach, but along with it we had an early indication for how well the solution approach would scale and otherwise hold up to enterprise standards.  Starting with SharePoint 2010 sandboxed solutions, they started sending us down our own path.  And as we found, this path has not proven robust at all, and was in fact deprecated in SharePoint 2013.  Now, we are sent down yet another path.  I like the new path.   I can see why it makes sense, but I’m concerned that it hasn’t it been proven in the field, and we can’t assume good behavior because the apps approaches, and there are 3 of them, are not used by the SharePoint 2013 product itself.

2.  I envision more time will be spent with architecture design and POC’s than experienced SharePoint developers have had in the past.

Once we have more experience with SharePoint apps, we’ll settle into some common patterns, but until then I imagine a matrix of pros and cons for solution architecture as we decide among:

• SharePoint hosted app:  Html pages with javascript access to SharePoint using client side object model or REST svcs.
• Autohosted app:  App hosted in Azure and is automatically provisioned
  • Javascript access to SharePoint using REST svcs.
  • Server side, .net client object model or REST svc access to SharePoint
• Provider hosted:  App hosted somewhere other than Azure
  • Javascript access to SharePoint using REST svcs.
  • Server side, .net client object model or REST svc access to SharePoint
• Remote event receivers (can’t wait to make use of these!)
  • Server side, .net client object model or REST svc access to SharePoint

3.  Javascript javascript javascript…

We’re doing plenty of it now, but I think we should consider some of the design patterns and tools discussed.  MVC and MVVM (Model View ViewModel) are discussed along with an enabling javascript library called knockout (equivalent to jQuery templates, now retired).  I’ve heard these mentioned at ThreeWill in the past but hadn’t thought of them as high priority, until now.

4.  Server side authentication back to SharePoint requires extra steps for autohosted and provider hosted apps where SharePoint 2013 is hosted on-prem.

The reason is that SharePoint needs to be connected to Azure Access Control Services in order for the OAuth authentication to work.  It sounds like it is possible to make it work for on-prem, but it’s not the norm (see p 112).  For this reason, I would try to avoid server side code in the app for calls to SharePoint and instead focus on javascript.  Javascript has some of it’s own perils, mostly in the form of a new built-in iframe proxy to work around XSS, but authentication should be a simpler path.  For on-prem instances of SharePoint 2013, the recommended path is to create “high trust” apps for server side calls from the app back to SharePoint.

In summary, configuring a high trust app requires that  the “app” and SharePoint exchange a certificate used for authentication.

5.  For those looking to get up to speed on SharePoint 2013 apps, I highly recommend this book as your first step.

At just 171 pages, it is a quick read and is packed with the right detail to get you started.  Moving on from there, check out these great SharePoint Developer Training Videos from Microsoft.

Interested in learning more about SharePoint 2013? Join us for a SharePoint 2013 bootcamp in June.

Learn More

One of Popcorn’s chief goals is to make your conversations more intelligent.  That should mean that we’re providing you with knowledge before, during and after your calls.

This release of Popcorn really brings that concept home.

We’ve now added the ability for our users to search for people in Salesforce at any time.  You’ll notice one big change almost immediately, as a result.  Popcorn now has a start screen, that lives in your task bar, like a normal app should:

From here, you can now type in the name or part of a name for someone in Salesforce and display that person within Popcorn.  From there, you can work on their Salesforce data, just like you’ve done before while on a call.  If they have a standard or mobile phone number stored in Salesforce, you can call them from Popcorn as well!

We’ve made great strides to improve the performance of Popcorn and getting you something to work with when the call comes in.

You’ll probably notice that we “pop” even faster – we’re going to let you know that the call’s coming in as soon as possible and will let you control the call from Popcorn right away.  Then we turn our attention to pulling up the person in Salesforce.  Know who it is before Popcorn does?  Just search them up right away.  Popcorn doesn’t mind.

As always, we’re smashing pesky bugs along the way too.  Check out our Release Notes for a more exhaustive look.

How to get the update?  Don’t worry, you’ll be autoupdated when this version is available.  Look for this early next week.  Enjoy!

Feel free to follow me on Twitter or connect with me on LinkedIn to get more updates on Popcorn.  We greatly value your feedback, so let us know what you think and any other ideas you have for Popcorn.

One more thing, great news about Popcorn…Popcorn is free for the first three people that sign up from your company. Early adopters rejoice!

Download Popcorn Now

And remember…

Right now, that product for me is the Plantronics Voyager Legend.  I’m fortunate enough to have the upper end model – the Voyager Legend UC (which works well with Skype, which is important to me).

HERE’S MY LIST

1. VOICE CONTROL - To answer an incoming call, all you have to do is say Answer.  The caller is announced, all you have to do is say Ignore or Answer.  Also, I can answer a call just by putting the headset on…
2. MULTIPLE CONNECTIONS - You can connect via Bluetooth to two devices – I’m connected to my computer for Skype calls and my iPhone for mobile calls.  No more switching back and forth.  Also, I can use the Legend with my iPad – this has been a nice option when I want to watch a Netflix movie late at night…
3. APPS – I’ve opted to go with Vocalyst Pro - I can send voice notes to Evernote and send an SMS or email to contacts without touching my iPhone.  Take a look at our app called Popcorn if you are an early adopter like me – it’s free for the first three people in your company and it helps with better sales conversations.  I use it with Skype and Salesforce.com and it’s really improved my daily workflow. And I have to mention InstantMeeting.  Trust me, go and download this free app now.  If you are on conference calls at all you will thank me for this little gem of an time saver and frustration preventer….
4. CHARGING CASE – The charging case is the same size as my iPhone – my iPhone is in one pocket and my Legend case in the other.  This adds an additional 14 hours of charging.  I have yet to get into a situation where I my battery runs out and I have no way to charge.
5. MUSIC - I can listen to music throughout the day – I often do this with my mobile streaming Rdio or Stitcher.  If a a call comes in my music is interrupted, but once I’m off the call it picks back up where it left off.  When it first did this I had to stand up and do my little happy dance.
6. BUTTONS – Talking about happy, the diagram physical controls for the Legend make me want to smile.  They just make sense.  Really enjoy the volume rocker.
7. SOUND – Just earlier today someone commented on how good I sounded (I supposed I’ll attribute that to the Legend and not my “smooth as silk” voice).  It’s got three mics – around here at ThreeWill we like anything that comes in threes…
8. EXTRA CHARGING ACCESSORIES – as if the charging case is not enough, there are two other options for charging including a desktop stand and a travel charger.
9. MAGNETS – Plantronics really thought through the design of not only the headset, but also the accessories.  It’s an Apple-like experience.  The headset snaps into the carrying case/desktop stand/travel charger with the help of magnets.  Same feeling as plugging in my magsafe to my MacBook Air.
10. SMART LOOKING -  Finally, I think that it’s one of the best looking headsets out there.  It’s sleek and smart looking.  Unlike most other headsets, it doesn’t make my wife throw up in her mouth when I wear it (yes, I jest, but see warning below).  You can use it on either your left or right ear – so fortunately I won’t go deaf in one ear listening to music all day.  I can move the Mic boom up to let my office mates know I’m just listening to music and not on a call.

A WORD OF WARNING

Even though you will be tempted to put the Legend on first thing out of bed and take it off as the last thing that you do…I don’t recommend doing this.

I have done the field research with my wife and this does not thrill her.  When you are with your family, be with your family (even though having one ear on listening to your favorite podcast is tempting).

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

One last thing, the Legend is durable.  True story – I woke up and couldn’t find my coveted Legend on a Monday morning last month.

My iPhone was showing that it was connected, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.  If I was using an Android, I could have used the Find My Headset app…I use the Find My iPhone app at least once a week.  So, after about 15 minutes of turning over things in the house I thought about what I had worn the day before.  My khaki shorts…I asked my wife if she had seen them and she mentioned that she ran a wash the night before and to check the dryer.

Yes, it was there.  And, yes, although it was initially a bit warm to put on, it still worked.

Do you have a Plantronics Legend?  Have anything else to add to the list above?  

Increasing interest in social software is an indication that at least viscerally enterprises believe there is value in the social interactions within their organizations.  Finding a way of collecting social knowledge within an organization and then turning it into an asset that measurably grows business value is the promise of these enterprise social solutions.  Industry analyst are closely following this market and we’re beginning to see quantitative data that validates the value proposition.  McKinsey’s recent study  reports that 90% of the companies using social technologies see business value as a result.

You’ve Got SharePoint, Right?

Understanding that social systems can bring real business value leads to the next logical question of which social system is best for my organization. With more than 80% of enterprises having already deployed SharePoint, why don’t they just use SharePoint for their social solution?

The reason these enterprises are looking beyond what they already have is that social solutions require a different approach than what has traditionally been offered by SharePoint.

Jive’s A Market Leader

Jive Software is a good example to use when comparing the difference in approaches. Jive is a leader in the social software market (Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace”, 9/27/12) with a social solution specifically designed for the enterprise that has taken a distinctly different approach from SharePoint on how information is created, organized and shared.

Let’s take a look at these approaches and use some analogies (we love our analogies).

SharePoint As The Filing Cabinet

SharePoint environments are very hierarchical in nature made up of sites, sub-sites, and document libraries. This way of organizing information is analogous to how enterprises have organized information for years in file cabinets, file drawers, and files. This structure has facilitated an easy way of storing and finding data, as well as providing ways to insure that confidentiality is maintained for certain information along with managing compliance, record retention, and support for business processes through workflows.

Jive As The Conference Room Table

Jive’s approach is very different in that it tends to do away with the hierarchical approach and is more like working on the flat surface of a conference room table. Documents are kept readily available for people to use to collaborate and take action. Rather than grouping documents in a SharePoint-like structure, Jive prefers to group documents in different types of “Places” and then cross-referencing them through the use of Tags and Categories. This flat structure tends to make it easier to surface current and relevant information as people are pulled into conversations through @mentions and by “following” information of interest.

Most Enterprises Need Both

Jive fills the need for an engaging social environment that allows corporations to embrace the social knowledge and the benefits it brings to their organization. SharePoint, on the other hand, continues to provide an exceptional platform for managing content and supporting the more formalized information assets of the business. So while these two solutions have distinctly different approaches, they both address important needs of the enterprise. In simple terms, Jive is the system of engagement and SharePoint is the system of record.

Make Sure Information Flows Freely

And by implementing both, another requirement emerges, that of needing information to flow between the system of record and the system of engagement. As in the metaphor above, once information on the conference room table reaches a certain point, it may eventually need to be moved to the filling system. Conversely, information in the filling system needs to be easily discoverable and accessible on the conference table. The ability for information to be discoverable across systems and to move freely between these systems is an important consideration when integrating social solutions into the enterprise.

Why Can’t SharePoint Be More Social?

It has to do with the different approach and needs of a social community. Microsoft has recognized this as validated by its acquisition of Yammer.

For enterprises that choose to use Jive and SharePoint together ThreeWill has a product to support the free flow of information.

Pointer for Jive is ThreeWill’s way of “Making SharePoint Social” for companies that This technology provides a flexible and comprehensive Jive-SharePoint integration solution that supports a variety of use cases. Additionally, we offer an Integration Strategy Workshop that helps companies define how they can continue to leverage their SharePoint infrastructures while adding the social benefits of Jive Software.

For more information, download our whitepaper entitled “Making SharePoint Social.”

Read and Download

Join The Discussion

We’d like to hear from you! Please join our group on the Jive Community at https://community.jivesoftware.com/groups/threewill-solutions.  Or, feel free to leave any comments or questions below.

With so much discussion about wearable technology and a new generation of contextual applications in the news today, we’d like to invite you to experience one of these applications today.

What’s Popcorn?

ThreeWill and Plantronics have partnered up to bring a new product to market called Popcorn.  Here’s a 90 second video on Popcorn.

Special for Early Adopters

We love early adopters – the first three users for your company are free…

Download Popcorn Now

Popcorn FAQ

Expand allClose all

What is Popcorn?

Popcorn is an innovative app that helps you better respond to incoming calls by pulling in information from Salesforce about callers and by making it convenient to complete important tasks, like logging calls. Popcorn facilitates better conversation and follow up through improved context about the caller before, during, and after the call.

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What are the features of Popcorn?

Answer Calls on Your Computer

• Incoming call? Answer it through Popcorn on your computer.

Expansive Caller Information

• Popcorn provides rich caller information to inform you before, during, and after your call.  Everything from their Job Title to Recent Activity pulled from Salesforce directly to your desktop.

Follow Users

• Popcorn allows you to follow and unfollow callers during your conversation.

Next Steps

• After your call is finished, Popcorn allows you to choose from a list of important Next Steps to take concerning your caller.

Log Calls

• Never forget to log your conversations by logging your calls directly in the app.

Caller Lookup and Wrong Match Resolution

• Oftentimes, you have the person in Salesforce, but not by the number they’re calling you from. In these cases, Popcorn will still Pop, allowing you to search for the caller by name. By the same token, occasionally you’ll have the wrong number associated to someone, or you’ve got them tied to an office number, or they’ve changed numbers. If that’s the case, and Popcorn has Popped with the wrong person, no problem. Just tell Popcorn that this is not that person and you can return to the Lookup screen, where you can even create a new Lead or Contact.

Lead and Contact Generation

• Your Salesforce data is never complete. Got a new number incoming? Add them from the Lookup screen.

Suggestions

• Occasionally, Popcorn may suggest an action related to updating your data. For instance, you may have looked up a contact for an unknown number. Popcorn will suggest that you update this Lead/Contact’s Mobile or Phone field in Salesforce.

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What are the new features in Popcorn 1.1?

Popcorn Accounts

• In order to track your subscriptions, you’ll need to register at ThreeWill.com when you purchase Popcorn for Salesforce.  This account is used when you startup Popcorn.

Skype

•  The 1.1 release brings with it Skype support.  This means that even if you currently don’t have one of the supported Plantronics headsets, you can still be Popping with your Skype calls.

Broader support for International Numbers

Create Contacts and Leads

• Did Popcorn not find a match for the current caller?  Are they not in Salesforce yet?  Not a problem.  Now you can Create the contact or lead right from Popcorn.

Popcorn Suggestions

• This latest addition to the call screen allows Popcorn to make helpful suggestions concerning the current caller, such as whether or not you’d like to update a phone field for a contact or lead with the current Caller ID.

Wrong Match Resolution

• Did Popcorn find the wrong person because they are calling from an office number?  This can now be fixed in a cinch.  Right from the call screen you can tell Popcorn that this isn’t who we thought it was and you can return to the Lookup screen and find the right match.  See the FAQ for details

Various Fixes and Improvements to the User Experience

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What are the new features in Popcorn 1.2?

Key Features

• Extended Salesforce Login
  Tired of logging into Salesforce? Those days are over. We now support long-term Salesforce authentication.
• Managing of Pre-Requisites
  Popcorn has some support software. From now on, we’re taking care of it for you and automatically install them.
• Auto-Updates
  From now on, you’ll be told by Popcorn that an update is available to download and install.

Bug Fixes

• Lost password support
• Fixed issue with SF role setup and viewing User details

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What if I don’t use a headset?

No problem! Popcorn also supports Skype calls.


But I don’t have a phone number tied to my Skype account

• Popcorn’s got you covered. If Popcorn is running and you receive a Voice or a Video call, Popcorn will pop.

What if the person calling doesn’t have a phone number?

• Still not a problem. Popcorn will simply pop with the Lookup screen, and the caller’s name automatically printed in the search box.

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What headsets does Popcorn support?

Here is the current list of Supported Headsets:

• Plantronics Voyager Pro UC
• Plantronics Voyager Legend

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What are the requirements for Popcorn?

To run Popcorn, you will need:

• Windows 7 (recommended)
  • Want to run Popcorn on Mac? Just install Parallels and use “Coherence” mode.
• I use a Plantronics Headset:
  • Latest Plantronics Firmware (Download Here)
  • Click here for the list of supported headsets
• I don’t have a Plantronics Headset:
  • Skype (Join Now)
• Spokes (Download Here) * NOTE that the Popcorn installation package will ensure that this is installed for you.
• An active Salesforce Account
• An Popcorn Account (What’s this?) with an Active Subscription to Popcorn for Salesforce (Check My Account)

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Does Popcorn support International Numbers?

As of our 1.1 Release, Popcorn supports most International Phone Numbers.


Which countries?

• As you know, there are hundreds of different lengths and formats depending on where you’re calling from and what region you are calling. With this in mind, Popcorn takes a more simplified approach. Essentially, we boil it down like this:
  • If the number is formatted Internationally within Salesforce, we should be able to make an exact match (this mean it’s the full number, without delimiters and includes the country code). For instance, a number from the UK should look like this: 447700954321.
  • If the number is formatted to the locale of it’s country of origin within Salesforce, then we will first get a range of matches by looking at the last 4 digits of mobile and phone numbers, stripping out known standard delimiters found in different countries. Then we will compare the last 8 digits found within the initial range of numbers pulled from Salesforce.

What does all of that mean?

• It means that we don’t just attack certain country codes, we’re trying to support them all in one fell swoop.

Are there risks with this approach?

• The only potential risk is that Popcorn may find more than one match, at which point you will need to choose who is calling.

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How do I install Popcorn?

Before installing Popcorn:

• If you are using a supported Plantronics Headset:
  • Pair your headset. (how?)
  • Install the latest Plantronics firmware.

Popcorn has 2 major dependencies: Microsoft .Net 3.5 and Plantronics Spokes. As of the 1.2 release of Popcorn for Salesforce, these dependencies will be automatically installed for you. You cannot complete your installation of Popcorn without completing this Step. Spokes is critical to getting Popcorn to pop. Without it we don’t know when calls are incoming or outgoing on both your mobile device and on Skype.

Then Follow These Steps:

• Download the latest version of Popcorn (Click Here).
• Double-click on the install file.
• If Windows asks for permission, click Yes.
• Click Next to start the install process.
• Click Next on the Prerequisites screen to allow for any prerequisites to install first
• If any prerequisites need to be installed, follow those to completion and click Finish.
• Accept the terms, then click Next.
• Confirm the installation path, then click Next.
• Click Install.
• A command prompt window will appear.  Press Enter.
• Click Finish.

After the install finishes, the next step is to run Popcorn and login with your Popcorn account (What’s this?). Typically, this would be the account that you created when you purchased your Popcorn for Salesforce subscription. If you have not purchased a subscription, you can do that here.

Occasionally, you may also need to configure Popcorn.

Not Working After the Install Finishes? Check our Troubleshooting Page.

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What is my Popcorn Account?

When you first start Popcorn, you’ll encounter the following screen:



Three Will and Popcorn track your subscriptions purchased from ThreeWill.com. These subscriptions are tied to the account you create for the purchase. This is what we call your Popcorn Account. If you have not purchased a subscription for Popcorn for Salesforce yet, you can do it here. If you have forgotten your password, you can retrieve it here.

I am a systems administrator at a large corporation and have many accounts that need to run Popcorn. What do I do?

ThreeWill and the Popcorn team can work with you to get your accounts and installations going. Contact us at support@threewill.com.

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How do I configure Popcorn?

After Popcorn starts up and you’ve logged in, right-click on the Popcorn icon in your system tray.

Popcorn Configuration options are as follows:

1. Mode Selection (Chatter Only or CRM, then Chatter)
   • CRM & Chatter Mode – Popcorn will search through Salesforce in this order… Leads, Contacts, Chatter Users
2. Datahug Username and Password
3. Salesforce URL (leave blank unless otherwise instructed)
4. Run Popcorn at Login
5. Sign Me in when Popcorn starts

Don’t see Popcorn?  Look in the system tray.  If you still don’t see it, click on the carrot to see your hidden icons.  Click customize and checkmark “Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar.”

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How do I know that Popcorn is running?

Popcorn runs in the system tray and is brightly colored when ready to take calls.

Don’t see Popcorn in the tray?  Click on the carrot to show hidden icons.  Click Customize and checkmark “Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar.“

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How do I pair my headset?

Popcorn utilizes one of the latest innovations from Plantronics, the Spokes API.  The flagship product for Spokes is the Voyager Pro UC v2.  As new products come on the market with Spokes, Popcorn will support even more headsets.

Pairing with your Phone:

• Plantronics Pairing Guide

Pairing with your Computer:

1. Power headset on.
2. Insert Bluetooth USB adapter directly into your PC USB port. The LED will flash then turn solid blue to indicate the headset is connected to the USB adapter.  The LED remains solid blue when not on an active call.
3. Download the Plantronics software.
4. Check your audio settings on your computer.  Confirm the speaker and microphone settings for your PC softphone are set to Plantronics BT300.
5. Place a call.  During an active call, the Bluetooth USB adapter will flash blue.

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How do I setup my headset and Popcorn at the beginning of my workday?

1. Turn on your headset.
2. Make sure your headset is paired with the USB dongle and your phone.
3. Launch Popcorn (or set Popcorn to automatically launch at startup).
4. You’re all set!

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I just received a call, but Popcorn did not pop-up. What happened?

Are you using a Headset?

• If yes, then you may need to make sure that you’ve updated your headset to the latest firmware.

I’ve updated to the latest firmware/I’m using Skype

• Popcorn needs to be troubleshot.
• It’s also possible that Popcorn was still on the previous call.  To respond to an additional incoming call while Popcorn is active on a call, use the call controls on your mobile phone. Currently Popcorn only supports one call at a time. We hope to change this in the near future.

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What can I do if Popcorn stops working?

Basic Troubleshooting:

1. If you’re using a supported Plantronics Headset, verify that it is still paired with the USB Dongle (should be solid blue) and your Phone.
2. Check the Requirements.
3. Restart your phone and reset your Bluetooth settings. (if using a headset)
4. Exit and restart Popcorn.

Advanced Troubleshooting:

1. Run the Reset Popcorn Plugin utility from the Start Menu.*
2. Clear Popcorn Settings:  C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Popcorn
3. Contact your administrator to make sure your profile has access to custom objects.

* This will kill the PlantronicsURE.exe and restart it.

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Do I need any Administrators from my company involved in my install?

Popcorn runs as a Windows application on your desktop.  Other than local administrator access on your computer, Popcorn requires no admin rights.

In Salesforce, the administrator needs to make sure all users using Popcorn have Salesforce profiles that allow custom objects.

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I have a new feature request or feedback. Who do I send it to?

Great!  Email us at support@threewill.com

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I have a common question that should be added to an FAQ, how do I add it?

That’s great, please go to the bottom of the Support page and click “Submit a question.”

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How do I cancel my subscription?

If you so happen to need to cancel your subscription, we’ve ensured that it’s a painless process. We know it hurts to leave, but understand your decision.

Simply login to your account, you’ll see a subscriptions table. Under that you’ll see your subscription with an option to cancel.

If, for whatever reason, you feel like sending us a parting email, or letting us know where we failed you, pop us a message. We’re all ears for your feedback to improve our customer experience.

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