What's new: the product changelog
Where to read product updates (What's new in the account menu), plus a plain-English list of the biggest recent changes you will notice: Approve first in place of Take over, one alert per need, email copies, replying while AutoBook Agent stays on, Rep review, To do, equal Sales and Service desks, staff questions, service tickets and more.
Updated October 12, 2026
What's new is your running log of product updates, published roughly every week. Everyone on the team can open it (managers, reps and admins alike), so the whole store can see what changed and when. You'll find it in your account menu (click your name and photo at the bottom of the left menu; on a phone, tap your avatar top-right), marked with a megaphone icon.
What you'll see
Week picker
On the left (or a dropdown on your phone) is a list of weeks, newest at the top. Pick a week to read everything that shipped in it. The most recent week opens by default.
Week summary
At the top of each week is a short plain-English recap of the theme: the headline of what we focused on, so you can get the gist in one read without scanning every line.
Day-by-day list
Below the summary, each day lists its specific updates as bullets (new features, fixes, and behind-the-scenes reliability work), with the most important items called out in bold.
1
Open the account menu → What's new
Click your name and photo at the bottom of the left menu and pick What's new. Reps and managers find it in the same spot.
2
Pick a week
Use the Weeks list on the left (a dropdown labelled Week on mobile). The newest week is selected for you automatically.
3
Read the summary, then scan the days
Start with the highlighted summary for the gist, then read the day-by-day bullets for the detail that matters to your role.
Read-only, and shared by the whole team
What's new is a log, not a setting: there's nothing here to configure or save. It's intentionally not manager-only: every rep sees the same page, so a rep and a manager are always looking at the same update history.
A heads-up on what's on at your store
Some entries describe things that depend on your store's setup, for example a channel your store hasn't turned on (chat, text, email, phone). Seeing an item in the changelog doesn't always mean it's on for your store yet; check the relevant Settings page (or ask your manager) to confirm what's active for you.
Recent changes: Approve first replaces Take over (October 2026)
- One switch per customer, per desk: AutoBook Agent: On | Approve first. It sits on the reply box's control row, in the record's ⋯ menu, and in the same place in the app. Take over, Give back, the per-conversation Who's driving menu and the leave reminder are gone.
- On: AutoBook Agent replies; anyone allowed to act on the customer can reply too, and nothing changes hands.
- Approve first: AutoBook Agent writes a draft for every message it would send and a person sends it with Approve & send (change the words first and it becomes Edit & send) or throws it away with Discard. The holder shows beside it: Approve first · <name>.
- Nobody is stranded. A draft nobody handles sends by itself after 2 business hours on text and email, or 2 minutes on website chat. Approve first goes back to On after 3 days with nothing from the person who set it (morning email only).
- Other reps can still reply to a customer on someone's Approve first, without changing the switch or the owner; the holder sees a line saying they replied.
- So far. Setting Approve first or starting to reply opens a small card above the box: what's booked, quoted, promised, and the open question.
- The store's channel setting still wins, and the line beside the switch says so (· store setting).
- The Inbox's Taken over switch is now Approve first. To make a customer yours, use Assign to me.
- Website chat on Approve first shows the customer a short holding line while a person approves the reply.
Recent changes: one alert for each thing that needs you
- One push per need. When a customer needs you, you get one push and a row on your To do. Nothing reminds you about the same thing again, and no manager is paged. The number on the app icon is your To do count.
- Reps own their customers; AutoBook Agent is the customer's safety net. Work about a customer who has a rep stays with that rep, even when they are off or on leave: nothing moves and nobody else is pushed. If the rep hasn't acted by the deadline, a customer who is waiting gets AutoBook Agent's best complete answer, and how it went shows on Rep review. A new lead, a customer with no rep, and service-desk work still move to whoever is working that desk.
- Deadlines count your working hours. A new lead's first touch, a handoff, a held reply and a missed call get 30 working minutes; a service request 60 (30 when urgent); a document, voicemail or inquiry 2 working hours. AutoBook Agent's first reply is still instant. Days off, holidays, lunch and leave never count.
- Only people who are there get new work. Someone on leave, deactivated, never signed in, or not seen in AutoBook for 7 days is skipped. Coming back from leave puts you straight back in.
- Settings › Routing has no manager escalation setting, and an unanswered new lead always moves on to whoever is working.
Recent changes: staff emails
- Email copies of alerts. An email copy of an alert goes out when the push didn't reach your phone, so people not on the app yet still hear about it. Once alerts reach your phone, To do asks you once: Stop email copies or Keep email copies. The switch is under Alerts by email on Profile → Notifications (in the app, Me → Notifications).
- No texts to staff. AutoBook never texts you about alerts or asks you by text to sign in.
- Every staff email is listed under Emails from AutoBook on Notifications, with where each one is switched off.
- The morning email goes to everyone with work waiting, on the app or not. It lists alerts that arrived while the desk was closed under Came in overnight, and it no longer chases visit results.
Recent changes: replying without taking over
- Replying keeps AutoBook Agent on. Send from the reply box and AutoBook Agent keeps replying after you; the box says so (AutoBook Agent keeps replying after you send). Starting a new text or email works the same way.
- Take over was later replaced by Approve first (see the newest entry above).
- A call counts as a reply on both desks. Calling the customer while you hold their conversation counts on Sales and Service alike.
Recent changes: Rep review and My reviews
- Each time a customer needed a rep gets one review, written overnight once the rep's part is over (the job is done, or 48 hours with nothing more said): a handoff, a question from AutoBook Agent, a customer on Approve first, a service request, a promise or task, or a visit to log.
- The review rates the rep's handling 1 to 5 with reasons and quotes, reading every channel including call transcripts. A customer still waiting at the end is Dropped; a first touch after the deadline is Late. AutoBook Agent's own conversations are not reviewed.
- Managers work them on Rep review (To review, Reviewed, Reps). Message <rep> puts one row on the rep's To do and a note on the customer.
- Reps see their own reviews under My reviews, on the web and in the app (Me → My reviews).
- A manager's To do holds their own work. How the team handled customers is on Rep review.
Recent changes: visits marked for you
- AutoBook marks a visit completed when the proof is clear: a sale or delivery in PBS that day or the next, PBS showing a service car arrived, or your own message or call after the visit saying they came.
- No-shows are still set by a person, and you can always correct a result.
- Nobody is chased for visit results. A visit with nothing to go on stays as a quiet Did they show row on To do, with no push and no morning email.
Recent changes: Sales and Service desks
- Two equal desks, one customer. Each store's sales and service numbers are two desks, and every conversation belongs to one of them.
- A conversation's desk is decided, never assumed. Texts and calls follow the number. A website chat or a new email is placed at its first real topic ("hi" is not one); until then it shows on both desks.
- A conversation never moves desks. When the customer raises the other desk's topic, that desk opens its own conversation from its own number. The threads show Handed to Service and From the Sales conversation (or the reverse), and AutoBook Agent tells the customer which number will follow up, on website chat too.
- Every message goes out from the desk it is about. A service text comes from the service number once it is ready (the first one says It's <Store> Service.), and courtesy texts never merge across desks. Codes and opt-out confirmations come from the number the customer is using. STOP stops only the number it was sent to.
- The other desk's conversation is view-only, unless it holds work for your desk: then you can start your own text from your desk's number.
Recent changes: tools for the Service desk
- A Service tab in the app, right after Sales. People on both desks have seven tabs. Service advisors don't see the Sales pipeline, Deals or the Sales tab.
- The Inbox's Service tab has Yours · Unassigned · All, the sort control, an All advisors filter and its own Needs action chip.
- Hand to service (in a deal's ⋯ and on a Sales conversation) passes the customer to their usual advisor, else the Service desk. It sends the customer nothing, opens no ticket and leaves the deal open.
- Usual advisor first. Service work with no owner goes to the advisor on the open ticket, then the customer's usual advisor, then the Service desk.
- AutoBook Agent follows up quiet service customers from the Service desk, set by the Quiet service request follow-up reason on Follow-ups (on at every store). To do also shows a car ready but not picked up after a day.
- The record leads with the customer's open work; a service-only customer never shows "No deal yet".
- Service numbers in Insights and the managers' morning email. Kia lead reports carry Sales conversations only.
- Service visits book straight into PBS at a store that writes to PBS. AutoBook Agent, your online Book page and Book visit on a ticket put the visit in the PBS schedule, and the customer gets a confirmation by text and email. AutoBook Agent offers to book the visit itself instead of saying the desk will confirm.
Recent changes: To do and quiet rows (October 2026)
- Today is now called To do on the web and in the app. It works the same way: the customers who need you, most urgent first.
- To do shows one row per customer. The most urgent thing is on top and the rest are folded under it. The second line says what kind of thing it is and the specifics.
- Quieter rows. A row in To do or the Inbox shows its words and one signal. Its buttons appear when you point at the row (web) or swipe it, or use ⋯ or press and hold (app).
- Unread is a bold name, not a dot, on web and app.
- Two quick switches beside the Inbox tabs, with counts: Needs action and (since Approve first) Approve first.
Recent changes: no double answers
- No double answers. If you reply while AutoBook Agent is about to answer the same message, it rethinks its reply instead of repeating you.
Recent changes: when AutoBook Agent asks staff a question
- The customer always gets an answer. On text and email, AutoBook Agent waits 2 business hours for your answer (on your store's hours), then sends its own best complete answer and says the exact detail is still coming. Your answer still reaches the customer if it comes later.
- It never says who it asked. It tells the customer it's checking.
- Questions go only to staff who use AutoBook. Someone not seen on the web or app in the last 7 days (or on leave) is skipped.
- An assigned rep who is off is skipped, and the question goes to whoever is working the sales desk.
Recent changes: service tickets
- Stages: Requested, Booked, In the shop, Ready for pickup, Done. Booking and check-in keep the ticket open; the paid repair order in PBS or staff pressing Done closes it. Car ready marks Ready for pickup.
- Cancelled in PBS. If the visit is cancelled in PBS and not rebooked, the ticket closes itself with a thread line (Cancelled in PBS) and a one-tap Reopen.
- Hand to sales keeps the ticket open. It sends one handoff to the customer's sales rep and leaves the service ticket with the service desk. Only Only a sales question: finish this request, offered before a visit is booked, closes it.
Recent changes: ownership, calls, and everything else
- Follow-ups follow the sales owner. When a customer's sales owner changes, their open follow-ups move to the new owner. Promises stay with the rep who made them.
- Appointments show how the rep was chosen, for example Asked for you.
- Rep call transcripts. Your calls with customers through AutoBook are transcribed as real lines in the order they were said, using your store's and the customer's names.
- AutoBook Agent can end a phone call politely when the call is done.
- Out-the-door prices are checked against your store's discount ceiling.
- Morning email switch. Everyone can turn off their 8am email in Profile → Notifications (or the app's notification settings).
- Translate in the web Inbox now translates email threads too.
- Inventory opens a car in a side pane, like Appraisals.
- The app's Upcoming list starts at today.
How often is it updated?
Roughly weekly. Each entry is grouped by week, with the newest week shown first and the most recent days at the top within a week.
Why can't I configure anything here?
It's a product changelog, not a configuration screen. It only displays what changed; there are no toggles or save buttons. That's also why it's safe to give every rep access to it.
An update mentions a feature I don't have. Why?
The changelog covers everything we ship across AutoBook, but some features depend on your store's setup, such as which channels it has turned on, its plan, or whether it is connected to PBS. If you don't see a feature, check the matching Settings page or ask your manager.
I have a question about a specific change.
Reach the AutoBook team at support@auto-book.ca or 647-786-0989 and reference the week and item you're asking about.