The Support Center has moved!! See the new website https://support.goalexandria.com/ 
7.18.5 Release Notes
New & Improved
20 October 2018
Mapped Drives & Aliases
We've received reports of problems archiving to mapped network drives on Windows systems. Because mapped drives and aliases are only available to the user who created them, and they are not available to Alexandria program in many run-time scenarios, we suggest that you use an explicit path to the network resource instead.
Circulation
- Fixed a bug which was causing a due date set with the Overnight Checkout (O) command to apply to subsequent transactions.
- After print patron or item details, the interface will return its focus to the command line.
- Notes, which are intended for the Librarian's use only, are no longer included on Patron Details.
- Restored alert messages in Self Service. Also, be on the lookout for our new Self Service module, coming soon!
- Transaction dates are now displayed correctly in the Cash Drawer Balance report (Circulation > Actions Menu > Cash Drawer Balance).
Clever
Now, in addition to other field mapping, you can map Alexandria's Community ID and Barcode fields to a Clever ID field. This is useful if you use different fields than we do to identify your patrons between systems.
Field mapping is automatically configured to match and overwrite fields in Alexandria with fields in Clever, as documented in the Support Center. Before enabling Clever, please contact COMPanion Customer Support if you have any questions.
Export & Import
- Corrected an issue with Mackin Automatic Imports which caused some files to be processed multiple times, possibly creating duplicate records.
Management
- The Ignore Leading Zeros on Barcodes preference is now being respected when performing a barcode search in Items Management.
Researcher
- Patron's can now choose an avatar for their account, which will be displayed in Scout and Status.
- Improved support for the newest version of NoveList Select.
- Improved searching for terms containing punctuation.
Reports
- Corrected issues with Statistics reports and various monthly usage reports that were causing some columns to be misaligned or mislabeled.
- Statistics reports no longer count both checkouts and renewals together as Checkout usage. Checkout usage now comes from checkouts alone, as recorded during normal circulation or with the Start Statistics Mode (Y) command.
- In Circulation reports, such as Loaned Items Information, titles from the MARC record are now punctuated properly.
- When the Account Information report in email format is run, Alexandria no longer sends duplicate emails to the recipient.
- On the System Analysis report, Last Maintenance information is now being correctly updated and displayed.
Statistic reports contain core Circulation statistics data in Alexandria. They provide historical data, such as hourly counters for checkouts, check-ins, renewals, holds, and other actions for every unique combination of Patron Site, Copy Site, Patron Policy, and Copy Policy. The data is historical, which means once the counts have been recorded, they will persist even after you delete any records that contributed to their generation. Access these reports at Tools > Reports > Statistics.
Status
- Charges and Holds show more information.
- Reviews are now sorted from newest to oldest.
System
- Improved performance and reliability throughout the system.
This page has been moved over to https://support.goalexandria.com/release-notes/
All release notes 23.9 and onward are on the new Support Center.
Cloud-Hosted Updates
When you host with us, we take care of all updates! During these updates—the second to last or last weekend every month (Saturday and Sunday)—please plan for possible downtimes with Alexandria. And if you need to contact Customer Support over the weekend, please call us (emails are only responded to during regular business hours Monday–Friday).
Self-Hosted Updates
Once all of the Cloud-Hosted servers have been updated, we will make the update available to Self-Hosted servers.
We highly recommend you consider Cloud Hosting.
Not every version is able to update to the newest version, so the Available Updates window will only include those versions that meet your machine and version requirements.
Self-Hosted Notice - Mac
If you self-host on a Mac, hold off updating your servers to macOS 10.15 Catalina until you can update to Alexandria 22.8 or later (64-bit compatible releases).
If you self-host on a Mac, here's how to install the update on your Self-Hosted server:
- Log in to Alexandria.
- Append /admin to the end of your Alexandria URL.
- Click the Actions menu, then select Check For Updates.
- Select the update version from the list, then click Update. Your update will now download.
- The update screen will close automatically and you will be redirected to the login window.
Self-Hosted Notice - Windows
As of 2023 our self-hosted update process has changed.
If you self-host on a Windows machine and are on Alexandria 22.6 or earlier: Contact us for instructions and assistance updating to the latest version.
If you self-host on a Windows machine and are on Alexandria 22.12 or later, here's how to install the update on your Self-Hosted server:
- Log in to Alexandria.
- Append /admin to the end of your Alexandria URL.
- Click the Actions menu, then select Check For Updates.
- Select the update version from the list, then click Update. Your update will download to the Updates folder in your Alexandria Support folder.
- The download may take several minutes.
- The update screen will close automatically and you will be redirected to the login window.
- Once the installer has downloaded, and not before, quit Alexandria.
- Remove your existing Alexandria application using Add or Remove Programs in System Settings.
- Run the newly-downloaded Alexandria Installer.
Important Information
Version Numbering Change
As of 20.1, we've simplified our versioning scheme by dropping the series version. We now use the following:
- xx = academic year, beginning in June; yy = month
For example, 20.1 means:
- 20 = 2020 academic year
- 1 = The first monthly update (June)
Centralized Catalogs
If you have more sites than you are licensed for, contact our Sales team immediately at 1-800-347-6439. You can check this in Sites Management; the number of total sites plus the Union Site shows at the top, and the number you have licensed is at the bottom. The Union Site does not require an additional license.
Data Conversion
These Data Conversion notes are for Self Hosted users updating from v7 and switching from v6. If you are cloud-hosted or moving to cloud-hosted, we do everything for you!
Data conversions from older versions may not be supported. Before updating, please check the version you're currently running.
Updating from v7
If you're already running 7.17.12 or newer, you can update to the latest version. But if you're running an older version, you'll need to update a few times.
- Running 7.16.3? Update to 7.17.12 before updating to the latest version.
- Running 7.16.2? Update to 7.16.3, then to 7.17.12, before updating to the latest version.
- Running an even older version? Contact COMPanion Support for assistance. Depending on your current version, your upgrade path may go through one or more of the following: 7.15.3 → 7.16.2.6 → 7.16.3 → 7.17.12 → Current Version
Upgrading from v6
The process to update from 6.23.1 to v7 is quite a bit different than updating from a more recent version. Check out our v6 to v7 Conversion Guide for more information.
Running 6.22.9 or older? Update to 6.23.1, then to 7.17.12, before updating to the latest version.
Data conversion can take up to 10 minutes for a single database of average size or longer for larger collections and Centralized Catalogs, during which time the program will be inaccessible in your browser. Do not fear; it's still working. If you're concerned, check your server logs for a progress update.
