Reports vs. Backups

Some people have written in about not being able to open the .mbdata backup file on their computer, so I thought to clarify the difference between Reports and Backups. This pertains to the iPhone version.

Backups
Under the Backup tab in MileBug, you can create a backup file of all your data. It stays on your phone until you email it to yourself or pull it off using iTunes File Sharing. There is a help guide to iTunes File Sharing at the bottom of the Backup tab. Just click "What is iTunes File Sharing?". The .mbdata file generated by the backup process is readable only by MileBug and is intended to be used to restore your data if you have problems with your iPhone or get a new iPhone.

Reports
Under the Reports tab, you can generate a human-readable report in either HTML or CSV (Excel or Numbers) format. You may choose the date range, the business(es), the vehicle(s), and the sort criteria. You can preview the report right in MileBug, too! Then hit Send, and the iPhone Email Composer will appear with your report as an attachment. After entering your email address, hit Send on the email composer and your report will arrive in your Inbox shortly.

Happy Taxes Everyone!

Odometer Fix submitted to Apple

Thank you all for making us aware of the odometer bug when upgrading to iOS 4.2.1. We have fixed the problem and submitted an update for Apple's review. This new release was submitted on Tuesday, November 23rd, and we anticipate it being available via the App Store by the end of next week.

WORK-AROUND: In the meantime, you can safely use the Number Pad option for data entry in lieu of the odometer picker. Select the Presets Tab at the bottom, choose Settings, and select Number Pad for the data entry.

Our apologies for the inconvenience.

FYI, this release also includes the option of HTML or CSV reports. And the reports will be email attachments so greater amounts of data can be exported in the report.

Reports: Copy/Paste for Mac users best with Office 2004 or newer

Working with a customer, we determined that copying and pasting the emailed reports will work properly if the user either has Windows Office 2000 or newer, or Mac Office 2004 or newer.

Older versions result in all the data in one column in Excel or a running sentence/paragraph in Word.

Reports: Date sorted...or Business/Vehicle sorted?

A couple users have inquired about why the emailed report is not sorted by date. However, upon closer examination, you'll see it is sorted by date...but within each business/vehicle.

When we were designing the report, we had to choose between listing all the trips by date, regardless of business, and listing the trips by business/vehicle. Since each business, and vehicle within a business, needs to be submitted separately to the IRS or to an employer, we opted for grouping the trips by business, then vehicle, sorted by date within a business/vehicle.

So if you look closely, you should see that all the trips for one business are together in chronological order, followed by the trips for the next business, and so forth. If multiple vehicles were used in one business, then the trips are sorted by vehicle first then date.

Syncing Mileage Data: Apple's Restrictions

iTouch Users from all over have had trouble with many different applications freezing up and having to be reinstalled. Apple has now (hopefully) addressed this with the new upgrade to the iPhoneOS (2.1), for both iPhone and iPod Touch.

However, prior to this, many people have lost the data associated with their apps because of this. I have had a couple inquiries regarding the syncing of mileage logs to the home computer when the device syncs via iTunes. Problem...Apple doesn't allow it!

It's true! Developers are not able to write applications that sync/save data during the iTunes sync process. This is why you'll see a number of applications that email reports (like MileBug), use file transfer apps, or even build custom web sites that allow the backing up of data.

So while this is not the most desirable setup, it's what Apple has given us to live with. We have looked at building a web application that would allow MileBug users to back up their data, but it just hasn't happened yet. So for now, please periodically email yourself a report of your data. Making backups is a good habit for any software you use. Enjoy!

MileBug Reports: HOW and WHAT

There have been a couple of inquiries regarding the reports feature of MileBug, so I thought I would describe the HOW as well as provide an example of WHAT it produces. First, to access the reports, simply click the Reports tab at the bottom of the application. You will be brought to this screen.

Once here, you can select the date range you wish for the report. The default is the last 30 days. Then choose a single business or ALL businesses, and likewise a single vehicle or ALL vehicles. Click the Send button at the top right and your email program will open up.

You may choose to email the report to whomever you wish and with whatever subject you wish. You may also add text to the body of the message, but it is highly recommended you add only to the top of the message unless you're very comfortable with HTML.

Once the report arrives in your email Inbox, you can read the enclosed instructions for a nice styled report (via HTML) or an Excel report which allows you to manage the data how you wish. Basically, just select and copy all the text beginning with Tax Deductible Mileage Report and paste it into Word for a styled report, or paste it into Excel for a spreadsheet. For the best experience in Word, simply select File-->Page Setup and choose Landscape. Excel just requires some adjusting to the column and row size.

Here's a sample report pasted into Word, and the same report pasted into Excel.

There are two sections: Summary and Detail. Both are grouped by business and grouped by vehicle within business, to make it the easiest for filing tax forms for each business/charity. The last column is Type: B-Business, C-Charity, M-Medical.