Release notes

What’s new in Doris

I keep this page up to date as I learn new tricks. The newest changes are at the top, in plain words rather than version numbers.

18 October 2026

Help, and a person who replies

There is now a Help page in the left-hand menu, and the lifebelt at the top opens it too. It starts with a search box for my manual, then the manual's five sections, and while you are still setting up, a line pointing at the page for the step you are on.
Under that, "Still stuck? Send it to the team". Write what you are trying to do, tick "I'd rather talk on the phone to one of the team" if you would, and send it. A person reads every message; we reply within two working days and hope much sooner. A copy lands in your inbox straight away.
Reporting a problem is now two plain questions: what were you trying to do, and what happened. The page, the version and the browser come with it on their own, and a screenshot is optional.
Every step on My dashboard and every tip in the setup wizard has a "Stuck? Get help" link, so help is a click away from where you are.
Members have a Help page too. It points questions about bookings at your venue (your phone number, and the billing email if you have set one), and problems with the app at me.
The manual on bookwithdoris.com can be searched, and results take you to the right section of a page, not just the page.
On Account, owners and admins will find "Help improve Doris". While it is on, I keep a note of which screens you open, which setup steps you reach and when I refuse something you tried, so we can see where setting up gets hard. Screen names only, never anything you type and nothing about your members. Switch it off and the notes about you are deleted at once.
Extras (a projector, the hall's urn, a set of chairs) can now be set up on every plan, under Settings, Resources, so a member can book the kit along with the room. Putting a price on an extra stays part of Diary & Billing.

17 October 2026

Six steps until your members book for themselves

On My dashboard, an admin now finds six steps: put your prices in if you charge, add your members (and hold their welcome emails until you are ready), make a few test bookings, put your bookings in, pick a cut-off date and tell people, then invite them.
Putting your bookings in starts with one question: what are you moving from?
Most steps tick themselves off as you do them. When a member books for themselves, the list has done its job; Settings, Elsewhere brings it back.

1 October 2026

Replies reach the right person

When a member or a guest replies to one of my emails about money, it now reaches you, not me. That covers statements, payment requests and reminders, and guest booking confirmations.
On Settings, Payments, "Billing enquiries go to" lets the owner choose that address, your treasurer's for example. Until it is set, replies go to the owner.
Booking a space by the hour, the times when it is already taken are now greyed out, so you can pick a free one first time.
When you set up a new organisation I ask for a phone number, and you can ask one of the team to ring you and help you get going.

28 September 2026

Build the diary first, invite people afterwards

When you add a member you can now ask me to hold their welcome email. They are added straight away, so you can book for them and set them up, and they hear nothing until you say.
When the diary is ready, press "Send invitations" on the Members page. It sends to everyone who is waiting, or only to the people you have ticked. Members who are waiting are marked "Not invited yet".
The welcome email now tells a new member how many bookings are already in their diary.
In the setup wizard I hold the email unless you choose otherwise. Afterwards I send it at once, as before. While anyone is still waiting to be invited, the form opens on Hold, and you can change it.
I never send a held email on my own. And a member who is waiting is not emailed a statement until they have been invited.
A sign-in link can now only be made for an account I created and that nobody has yet used. Someone who already has their own Doris account signs in themselves, with their email address and the code I send them.

21 September 2026

Furniture that fits

Stairs, stages, counters, reception desks and tables can now be pulled to size on the floor map, the way rooms can. A longer staircase gains steps and a longer table gains chairs. A sofa stretches along its length.
The small things stay the size they are: an armchair, a basin, a plant.

20 September 2026

A new floor map: walls, doors, and an upstairs

The floor map has been redrawn as a proper plan. You place your rooms and push them together, and I work out the walls. You never draw a wall by hand.
Click any wall to put in a door, a double door, or a window. A door follows its room when the room moves, and goes when the room goes.
There are spaces for the places nobody books: an office for hot desks to sit in, a kitchen, toilets, a store room, a foyer, a corridor. And furniture, from a table and chairs to a pot plant.
Buildings with an upstairs can add floors. A lift panel beside the map lists each floor with how many of its rooms are free, and the map slides from one floor to the next.
The time is now a line you drag across the day’s opening hours, so you can watch the building fill and empty. A click on a free room books it.
If you already have a floor map, nothing changes until you say so. You will see an invitation above it to try the new one, which opens on a copy of your rooms, and once you have switched you can go back to your old map. If you have never drawn one, the new map is the one you get.
Members see the new map too, on a computer, wherever you have chosen to show them the floor map. The floor map is part of Diary and Diary & Billing.
If a booking would put someone in a second room at a time they are already booked elsewhere, I ask before I make it. It is only a question, and "Book anyway" is one click.
Repeating bookings can now be two and a half, three and a half or four hours long.

16 September 2026

Doris Diary Free

When your free trial ends, you keep the diary. Doris Diary Free is 100 bookings a month, with unlimited rooms and unlimited members, for as long as you like.
Every booking counts in the month it happens, whoever makes it. Unused bookings carry over for a month, and if a month runs over I lend from the next one before anything is refused, and tell you first.
Your Overview shows the figure at any time, tells you from your own volume whether the free diary is right for you or Diary would save you money, and offers a pack of 40 bookings for £16 in a busy month.
Diary is unlimited bookings at £20 a month. Diary & Billing is Diary plus the money side, at £40. Standing open-ended series, co-working desks, the floor map and calendar push are part of Diary.
Once, if you want the full Diary & Billing back for another 30 days, Settings → Subscription will give it to you.
A guest booking, the Saturday party for someone who is not a member, is part of Free: a name, a phone number, an email and a note, counted like any other booking. The deposit and balance, the hirer’s confirmation with your payment details and the day sheet are part of Diary & Billing.

12 September 2026

Repeating bookings at any time, and a tidier Members page

Repeating bookings can now start at any quarter hour. Choose "At a specific time" when you set one up; until now I could only offer starts on the hour.
The Members page now lists everyone all the time, with tick boxes so you can put several people on a rate card, or into a team, in one go.
Each member's rate card shows in the list, so you can see a change has taken effect.
A guest hire on the diary now shows the hirer's name, not the name of whoever typed it in.
Adding someone new? I have a ready-written note you can copy with one click, filled in with your organisation's details, so the welcome email never arrives unannounced.
The guides have grown into a proper manual, with a contents page.

8 September 2026

A friendlier setup, session blocks, and plans that count properly

Setting up walks you through the same screens as Settings, one step at a time, with a little advice beside each one. You can run it again whenever you like.
On fixed-slot diaries a price can now cover a block of sessions, so a whole morning books as one.
Membership plans can count hours or bookings, carry unused allowance forward for as many days as you choose, and either allow or stop bookings beyond the allowance.
Any price can now be used for a one-off or a repeating booking; there is no longer a separate "regular only" price.
You can set your organisation's timezone and country, and your Doris subscription has its own page in Settings.

3 September 2026

Rate cards

Each group of members can have its own rate card: the rooms they may book, at the prices you set for them. The Default card is your full price list; every other card is a selection from it.
Rooms on a card can be grouped ("the desks"), and I will pick any free one for a booking.
Admins get a My dashboard view of their own day.

1 September 2026

Member records, and the floor map for members

Each member can have contact and emergency details on record, kept private to your organisation. Members look after their own details; you can fill them in until they first sign in.
On a computer, members can see the floor map (if you switch it on) and a read-only day view of the diary.

30 August 2026

Guest hire, statements that send themselves, and card payments

Guest hire: take bookings from people outside your organisation, with deposits and balances tracked, and a payment link they can pay by card, straight into your own account.
Statements now go out on your statement day without you lifting a finger, and a new Payments page keeps what is owed and what has arrived in one place.
Refer an organisation: recommend Doris to another organisation and receive a thank-you voucher when they subscribe.
Kinder emails: a proper welcome when an organisation joins, and gentler reminders around trials.

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