You may have noticed that Final Reminder V1.0 is no longer available from the online store. Rest assured no one has killed The Wizard; the magic of the Internet is still alive and well. It was, instead, a conscious decision pending the imminent release of Final Reminder V2.0.

This new version will bring a major redesign of the application for many benefits, including the following:

• Continual processing – Final Reminder now runs continuously in the background processing bills at a user set interval instead of once a day
• More accessible status and configuration – a new system task tray icon allows quick access to the status of Final Reminder and to the configuration window
• User friendly installation – Removing the scheduled task and moving to a ClickOnce deployment method means a less complicated and more robust installation
• Improved updating – Final Reminder checks for updates every time it is started and notifies via a pop-up in the system task tray
• Improved performance – The processing and memory intensive OCR component has been isolated in its own process and is called asynchronously to free up the system resources while Final Reminder waits for a result

I’ll be working hard to have this release out within the next 2 weeks. Until then the demo of Final Reminder V1.0 is still available to download, however it will have to be uninstalled before installing Final Reminder V2.0.

Work has also started on the integration of Hotmail and Dropbox, which will be released as patches in the coming months, and also an OS X version for later this year.

The Advanced Settings page in Final Reminder is pre-populated and these settings should be fine for the majority of users, however you may want to change these to work with your current processes. For example you might

• Have an existing folder structure for your scanned documents
• Require some intermediary processing between scanning or downloading bills and having Final Reminder process them
• Want to use a non-default calendar or document folder in your Google apps.
• Change the time of day that Final Reminder runs

“To Process” Folder Path – This is where Final Reminder will get files to process when it runs. If you’re scanning bills they should generally be scanned into this folder. If you wish to run some extra processing over the files first, for example rename them or convert them to PDF/A format, then you should scan them to a different folder and have them copied to the “To Process” Folder Path once the extra processing is completed. The default value is a FinalReminder\To_Process folder in your My Documents folder but can be changed to any folder you like, just ensure Final Reminder can access this folder at the time it runs (see Scheduled Task Time below), this might be an issue if it’s a network folder that will be disconnected when you log off or if you access the folder with a user account other than your own.

“Processed” Folder Path – This is where Final Reminder will put files once it has processed them. Once files are placed in this folder they can be safely moved elsewhere or deleted. Any file that Final Reminder has processed as a bill and added to your calendar should also be stored in your Google Docs account, however you should verify this before deleting or shredding the original copy.

Gmail Bills Folder Path – This is where Final Reminder will put bills it downloads from your Gmail account before it processes them. This value is only enabled if you choose the ‘Extract Bills From Gmail’ option on the Basic Settings page. The default value is the same as the “To Process” Folder Path so they can be processed by Final Reminder the next time it is run. You may wish to change this folder if you want to run some extra processing over the bills before Final Reminder processes them, for example convert them to a PDF/A format which greatly improves Final Reminder’s accuracy in identifying bills and due dates.

Google Calendar Path – This is the path Final Reminder will use to put bill reminders in your Google Calendar. The default value specifies your default Google Calendar. If you wish to have your bill reminders put in a different calendar you need the URL of this calendar. You can find the url in the Google Calendar web interface. On the left of the main calendar page is a list title ‘My Calendars’. Find the calendar you wish to use, click the drop down arrow on the right hand side of it and choose Calendar Settings in the menu that appears. This will open the Calendar Details page. At the bottom of this page, in the section Calendar Address, is a Calendar ID. Generally you can replace [calendarID] in the following URL with your Calendar ID and use this as the Google Calendar Path https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/default/private/full/[calendarID]

Google Documents Path – This is the path Final Reminder will use to save bills in your Google Documents. The default value specifies your default Google Documents folder. If you wish to have your bills put in a different folder you need the URL of this folder. Generally you can replace [folderID] in the following URL with your Folder ID and use this as the Google Documents Path https://docs.google.com/feeds/default/private/full/folder%3A[folderID]

Scheduled Task Time – This is the time of day that Final Reminder will run. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 you may need to run the Final Reminder Configuration application as an Administrator to save changes to this setting.

Once you purchase Final Reminder you’ll receive an email with your order number and details on how to download the installation files. Make sure you retain your order number.

Thank you for purchasing Final Reminder. Your order number is [order-number]. Please keep this number for future reference, it may be required for Final Reminder updates.

To download your copy of Final Reminder please follow the relevant link:

32bit x86 Installer: https://[download-link]
64bit x64 Installer: https://[download-link]

The first thing to do is decide if you want the 32bit or 64bit version of the application. There’s no difference in the functionality so it depends entirely on the version of operating system you’re using. The 32bit will run on both 32bit and 64bit operating systems. Click on the link in the email to download the version you want. You’ll receive a zip file.

Extract the zip file and open the ReadMe.txt file. Then run setup.exe to start the installation. You may be prompted to install some prequisites, generally Microsoft .Net Framework 4 and Microsoft Visual C++. Once the prerequisites are installed the Final Reminder installer will run.

The first details you need to enter are a username and password for Final Reminder to run under. It’s best if this is an administrator account but can be your normal user logon account as well. If you’re on a domain make sure you include that as well in the form [domain]\[username].

The next step is to enter your Gmail username and password, these details will be encrypted before they are stored. You will then need to decide if you want to extract bills from Gmail, and enter the label you’re using to identify them. You can automate the Gmail labelling process using Filters. You can also choose how long before the due date you’d like a reminder. 0 days and 0 hours would be 12am on the morning the bill is due.

There are other advanced settings but these are already set to default values. I’ll release a guide to these in the next few days. Two things you might want to take note of are the To Process Directory and the Scheduled Task Time. The To Process Directory is the folder you should put all scanned bills in so they can be processed by Final Reminder. The Scheduled Task Time is the time that Final Reminder will run every day. On Windows Vista and newer operating systems, if your computer is off at this time Final Reminder will run next time the computer is started.

That’s it! Final Reminder will run every day and process all scanned and downloaded bills.

I have a problem and a dream. Well, actually, I have several of both but the doctor assures me the former aren’t life threatening, and the latter are recurring much less frequently now. Anyway THE problem and THE dream are my chronic forgetfulness and my vision for a world where the menial, repetitive tasks that are an unfortunate necessity, a basic foundation that must be laid for us to build our lives, are performed for us reliably and automatically.

It is these two things that have led to the creation of Final Reminder. An automated bills reminder application that takes your bills, from numerous sources, consolidates them and adds reminders to your existing electronic calendar. It can take bills that you’ve scanned or that have arrived in your Gmail inbox, pick out the due date, upload the bill to Google docs and add a calendar reminder to your Google calendar with a link to the bill. If you go the extra step of syncing your Google calendar to your mobile device you’ll get reminders wherever you are, and because the bill is in Google docs you can view and pay it anywhere you have access to the Internet (dependent on Internet Banking). You’ll never miss another bill again.

I live with my fiancée and we’ve been using an early development version of Final Reminder to keep track of our personal bills for the last 3 months. It’s made a significant difference for us; seeing a due date on a bill is one thing but seeing it in our calendar puts it all in perspective and it’s saved me from a missed payment on a number of occasions.

Final Reminder is also a supported and ongoing project, I’ve got a number of planned new features including support for other online services like Dropbox and Hotmail, and there’ll be updates and changes as I receive feedback.

If you’re not sold yet there’s a 31 day trial version. Make your life easier, check out Final Reminder