Changelog

Bring Your Roster With You

Switching to a new system shouldn't mean re-entering everyone's information by hand. We've completely rebuilt the import experience.

What's New:

📋 Improved Preview: See exactly what will happen before you commit. The preview shows new members, updates to existing records, and any potential issues—all clearly organized.

🔍 Smarter Matching: TroopBook now does a better job recognizing when an imported record matches someone already in your roster. Fewer duplicates, cleaner data.

🏕️ Group Detection: Importing from Scoutbook? TroopBook automatically detects patrols, dens, and other groups from your data and creates them for you.

📊 Clear Change Summary: See at a glance how many members will be added, updated, or unchanged. Understand the impact before you import.

⚠️ Better Error Handling: When something doesn't look right—missing emails, unusual data—you'll see clear warnings with suggestions for how to fix them.

Supported Sources:

• Scoutbook Plus exports
• My.Scouting roster downloads
• Legacy Scoutbook exports
• Generic CSV files with member data

Why It Matters:

Your roster is the foundation of everything in TroopBook. A smooth import means you can start using events, communications, and all the other features right away—with accurate data from day one.

Share the Workload

Running a troop is a team effort. Now TroopBook makes it easier to share the work.

What's New:

👥 Member vs. Admin Access: Not everyone needs to see everything. Regular members see their own information and troop-wide content. Admins get the management tools to run the show.

🔓 Invite Helpers: Promote trusted parents so they can help manage events, send communications, or update the roster. Delegate without worry.

🛡️ Right-Sized Permissions: Members see what's relevant to them. Leaders see what they need to lead. It's access that makes sense.

Why This Matters:

Before this update, the dashboard was mostly an admin-only zone. Now, you can open up TroopBook to more of your leadership team. The parent who coordinates campouts can manage events. The committee chair can send announcements. Everyone contributes without stepping on each other's toes.

What's Coming:

This is the foundation for even more granular roles in the future—like dedicated event coordinators, communication managers, or advancement chairs. We're building toward a system where you can match TroopBook access to how your troop actually operates.

Find Anything Fast

When you need to find something in your troop's data, you shouldn't have to remember which section it's in.

What's New:

🔍 Global Search: One search box that looks across everything—members, events, website pages, and communications. Press a shortcut key or click the search icon, type what you're looking for, and go.

⚡ Instant Results: Results appear as you type. Find the right person, event, or page in seconds, not minutes.

🎯 Smart Matching: Search finds what you mean. Looking for "Smith"? See all the Smiths. Looking for "campout"? See upcoming campouts and past ones too.

📂 Organized Results: Results are grouped by type so you can quickly scan members, events, or pages. Jump directly to what you need.

Use It For:

• Finding a scout's contact info without browsing the roster
• Locating that campout from a few months ago
• Jumping to a website page you need to edit
• Tracking down an email you sent last week

How to Use It:

Look for the search icon in the dashboard sidebar, or use the keyboard shortcut to open search instantly. Start typing, and TroopBook does the rest.

Your Troop's Public Website

Every troop deserves a website, but not every troop has a web developer. Now you don't need one.

What's New:

🌐 Your Own Troop Website: Get a professional public website for your troop or pack. Share information with current families, prospective members, and your community.

✏️ Easy Page Editor: Create and edit pages with a visual editor. Add text, images, and formatting without touching any code. Changes save automatically as you work.

🖼️ Media Library: Upload photos and images to use across your site. Resize and organize your media in one place.

📅 Public Events: Choose which events to display publicly. Prospective families can see what your troop is up to without needing an account.

🔍 Built-in Search: Visitors can quickly find information across all your pages and events with full-text search.

📱 Mobile-Ready: Your site looks great on phones, tablets, and desktops. No extra work required.

Perfect For:

• Welcoming prospective scout families
• Sharing your troop's mission and leadership
• Posting public event schedules
• Providing joining information and contacts
• Showcasing your troop's activities and achievements

Your Calendar, Your Groups

There are plenty of tools that let you publish a calendar. But they usually give everyone the same firehose of events. TroopBook does it differently.

What's New:

📅 Personalized Calendar Feeds: Subscribe to your troop's events in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook, or any app that supports iCal. Events show up automatically and stay in sync.

🎯 Only Your Groups: Here's what makes it special—your calendar feed is filtered to YOUR groups. If you're in Patrol A, you see Patrol A's events. If your scout is in Den 3, you see Den 3's events. No wading through events for groups you're not part of.

🔄 Always Up to Date: When an event changes—new time, new location, canceled—your calendar updates automatically. No manual syncing required.

🔐 Secure, Permission-Based Access: Each family member gets their own calendar link based on their group memberships. Share it with your spouse, add it to multiple devices, and know that you're only seeing what's relevant to you.

⏰ Token Management: View your active calendar subscriptions, see when they expire, and extend them with one click. Stay in control of your calendar access.

Why This Matters:

Scout families are busy. Between school, sports, and scouting, calendars fill up fast. A generic troop calendar adds noise. A personalized feed that shows only your events? That's actually useful.

Works With:

• Apple Calendar (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
• Google Calendar
• Microsoft Outlook
• Any app that supports iCal/ICS feeds

Send Emails to the Right People

Communicating with your troop shouldn't mean blasting everyone with everything. Now you can send the right message to the right people.

What's New:

📧 Targeted Emails: Send to your whole organization, a specific group (just Den 3, just the patrol leaders), or any combination. No more "please ignore if this doesn't apply to you."

📝 Rich Text Editor: Write emails that look professional with formatting, links, and images. Preview exactly what recipients will see before you send.

👥 See Who Received It: After sending, view the actual list of recipients. Know exactly who got your message.

🚫 Automatic Unsubscribe Handling: Recipients can opt out of non-essential emails, and TroopBook handles it automatically. You stay compliant, and families stay in control.

↩️ Custom Reply-To Address: Set where replies should go—your personal email, a shared troop inbox, or a committee chair. Verify once, use everywhere.

Use It For:

• Weekly newsletters with upcoming events and announcements
• Campout reminders to just the families who RSVP'd
• Den or patrol updates without bothering other groups
• Leadership communications to committee members only

Behind the Scenes:

We've built robust email infrastructure with bounce and complaint monitoring to ensure your messages get delivered reliably and your sender reputation stays strong.

Plan Events, Pin Meeting Spots

Planning troop events just got a whole lot easier—and smarter.

What's New:

🗓️ Timeline View: See your upcoming events at a glance with a clean timeline layout. Filter by date range or event type to find exactly what you're looking for.

✋ RSVP Tracking: Know who's coming before the event. Use RSVPs as a real-time headcount.

✅ Attendance Tracking: Mark who actually showed up. Quick unit-based selection makes it fast to check in a whole patrol or den at once.

📍 Pin Your Meeting Spot: This one's built for scouting. Many events happen at places without a real address—"the trailhead parking lot," "the pavilion behind the baseball fields," or "the campsite by the lake." Now you can drop a pin on an exact location, not just enter a street address. Families get a map with directions to the right spot.

📥 Import Existing Events: Already have events in another calendar? Import them from CSV or ICS files to get up and running quickly.

🏷️ Custom Event Types: Configure your own event categories (campouts, meetings, service projects, etc.) and drag-and-drop to reorder them however makes sense for your troop.

Why It Matters:

Events are the heartbeat of any troop. Whether it's a weekly meeting or a weekend campout, these tools help you plan better, communicate clearly, and spend less time on logistics—so you can focus on the scouts.

Invite Members via Email 📧

Growing your troop membership just got a whole lot easier!

What's New:

📨 Send Email Invitations: Invite parents and scouts to join your organization with professional email invitations. Recipients get a personalized link to accept and create their account—no complicated steps required.

✉️ Beautiful Emails: Invitations look great on any device, from phones to computers. You can even preview what recipients will see before you send.

👥 Works for Everyone: Whether someone is brand new to TroopBook or already has an account from another troop, invitations work seamlessly. Perfect for leaders who help with multiple organizations.

📋 Stay Organized: Keep track of who you've invited and who's accepted, all in one place.

How It Works:

From your member list, click "Invite Member" and enter their email. They'll receive a friendly invitation with everything they need to join. It's that simple!

What's Coming:

This is just the beginning of our communication features. We're building toward event reminders, announcements, and other ways to keep your troop connected and informed.

More Ways to Sign In 🔐

We've made signing in to TroopBook even easier with more options and improved security features.

What's New:

🍎 Apple Sign-In: In addition to email/password and Google, you can now sign in with your Apple ID for seamless access across all your Apple devices.

🔗 Link Multiple Accounts: Connect your Google and Apple accounts to a single TroopBook profile, even if they use different email addresses. Sign in with whichever method is most convenient for you.

🔒 Enhanced Security: Behind-the-scenes improvements to keep your account safe and secure during sign-in.

📄 Updated Policies: Completed Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to ensure transparency about how we protect your data.

Why This Matters:

We believe security and convenience should work together. Choose the sign-in method that works best for you—whether that's your Apple ID, Google account, or a traditional password—while knowing your troop's information is always protected.

TroopBook Beta Launch 🚀

We're thrilled to introduce TroopBook, a comprehensive platform designed to simplify scout troop management for the digital age. After months of development and careful planning, we're opening our doors to troops ready to modernize their operations.

What is TroopBook?

TroopBook helps scout leaders, parents, and scouts stay organized with tools for member management, event planning, and troop communication. Whether you're managing a small Cub Scout den or a large Boy Scout troop, TroopBook scales to meet your needs.

Key Features in Beta:

• 👥 Member Management: Complete directory with profiles for scouts and adult leaders
• 📅 Event Planning: Create events with RSVP tracking and attendance management
• 🏢 Organization Structure: Support for troops, packs, dens, patrols, and custom units
• 🔐 Secure Authentication: Email/password login plus Google and Apple Sign-In options
• 📱 Mobile-Friendly: Works seamlessly on desktop, tablet, and smartphone
• ⚡ Modern Interface: Clean, intuitive design with dark mode support
• 🔄 Always Up-to-Date: Real-time updates across all devices
• 💾 Automatic Backups: Your data is safely backed up and always accessible

What's Next?

This is just the beginning! We're actively working on additional features based on your feedback:

• Email notification system
• Advanced event features
• Progress tracking and badges
• File and photo sharing
• Mobile apps

Join the Beta:

TroopBook is completely free during our beta period. Sign up today and help us build the best troop management platform for the scouting community!