My document won't launch. How do I resolve pop-up issues?
Some users experience issues opening up files or downloading drawings due to their browser pop-up settings. To get the best experience in Pigeonhole, please enable pop-ups following these instructions;
Google Chrome instructions here.
Firefox instructions here.
Safari instructions here.
If problems persist, try clearing your cache and browsing history.
What are the Pigeonhole Terms and Conditions?
Is Pigeonhole free? What’s the pricing model for Pigeonhole and what is included in the service?
We offer a simple Annual subscription pricing model based on the total number of floors of your building, which means no user licence worries. Share Pigeonhole with as many users as you want.
On the subscription page here, simply contact us to register the buildings you want to licence based on their total number of floors.
We charge annually in advance and our payment gateway accepts Visa or MasterCard. Alternatively, we can issue an invoice for larger Enterprises.
Pigeonhole is a ‘software as a service’ (SaaS) offering that is available for use on a global basis. Our T&Cs are available on our website, are consistent with the T&Cs of other SaaS companies, and cover;
The SaaS pricing covers;
- Access to Pigeonhole online facility for the subscribed building, which gives you the capability to easily upload, share and store all your building plans and compliance documentation
- Unlimited users per subscribed building, so that people at all levels can leverage the benefits, including; CEO, CFO, building managers, facility managers, retail managers, specialist contractors, consultants, builders, tenants and auditors
- Free App download for your team and extended service providers
- Access to Zendesk support page with up to 3 service requests per month
- Product updates (52 product improvements in 2018).
- Pigeonhole Chat and notation facilities
- Activity tracking by time and day for quality assurance
- Search functions and Smart data capture via OCR
- Consistent naming conventions
- Archiving and version control
- Access and use of our Bulk Upload facility
- 100gb of storage per building.
Regarding pricing and product updates, we reserve the right to amend the future pricing for significant service enhancements or the introduction of major features.
Is Pigeonhole secure?
Pigeonhole is built using best-of-breed technologies, primarily from Google which contains best-of-breed security measures. All data is stored on Google servers and any transmission of data is done using HTTPS which means it is encrypted. Data cannot be accessed without a username and password and access is controlled using industry best-practice authentication methods. For more information, refer to our Privacy Policy.
Does Pigeonhole guarantee compliance?
We do not guarantee compliance. We can work with clients to understand which documents you need to retain in Pigeonhole for compliance if requested. If all your documents are in the relevant Pigeonhole then a simple email to the auditors will give them access to the documents they need.
How do I register for Pigeonhole?
Simply click on the Subscription link at the top of the page or click here.
Everything in Pigeonhole is done Online or in the app, from Enterprise or Building account setup, user registration and subscription set up, to the use and collaboration of documents. If you have your Company name, ABN, Building details and Payment details, registration can take as little as 5 minutes.
During set-up, we will ask you to nominate a Super-User or number of Super-Users as the Administrators and point of contact for your account. You can register and create multiple buildings at once.
Contractors do a one-time registration with Pigeonhole when they are sent a shared file and download the Pigeonhole app to their digital device or log-in on to the website on their desktop.
Getting started - Defining a new building and initial user access
Getting a new building up and running in Pigeonhole is straight forward, and focuses on the building fundamentals and user security. Once you have signed up for your building’s Pigeonhole, you will need to supply the following information:
– Building details
– Initial users
1. Building Details
- Name – this can be the address of the building or the name commonly used for the building
- ‘First’ level name – this is the name of the main first level of the building. Generally, this is called ‘Ground’ but may have other names in some buildings.
- Colour – this is the colour you want to be used for your building in the Pigeonhole app, and all pigeonholes within it. We don’t recommend the colour, but Blue is a common choice.
- ‘Above ground’ Levels – this is the total number of above-ground levels. For example, if the building goes up to Level 53, then 53 would be entered here.
- Basement Levels – this is the total number of below-ground levels for the building. For example, if the building goes down to B4, this would be 4. We also ask you to confirm the name for the underground levels. For instance, these could be ‘car park’ levels.
2. Initial user details (names, email addresses, and roles)
Managing access to different functions within Pigeonhole requires giving users one of three different user roles:
- Super-user/admin – Super-users have full access to the buildings within their account, can share whole buildings with other users, and manage all data within buildings. We suggest the property owner or facility manager have this access.
- Building Manager – Building Managers have full access to the data within the buildings they manage and can share each Pigeonhole within their buildings, but they are unable to share whole buildings. We suggest that the facility management team get this level of access.
- Contractor – Contractors given access to specific Pigeonholes, can view all data in that Pigeonhole, they can submit new drawing revisions, can use the chat function, and can add notes.
The super-user role is typically assigned to the facility manager creating the building. If other users need super-user access, or if ownership needs transferred, then this can be requested via Pigeonhole Support. The roles and duration of access for users are assigned when Pigeonholes are shared.
An overview of the functions available to each user role is as follows:
| Super-user | Building Manager | Contractor | |
| Create Buildings |
x |
||
| Share Buildings |
x |
||
| Share Service Pigeonholes |
x |
x |
|
| Share File Pigeonholes |
x |
x |
|
| Add New Files |
x |
x |
x |
| Add New Inside Pigeonholes |
x |
x |
x |
| Add New File Revisions |
x |
x |
x |
| Add Chat |
x |
x |
x |
| Add Notes |
x |
x |
x |
| Archive data |
x |
x |
x |
Our web site has some easy to follow steps to guide also at https://pigeonhole.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/360000109171-Step-by-Step-How-to-Guides
Is there a best way to use Pigeonhole?
Pigeonhole was developed to service the needs of Facility Managers and Executives who need a complete view of their buildings or portfolio and Contractors who need access to building documentation. We believe the best performance is when a whole building or portfolio is viewed via a desktop browser as there is a lot of data to display. The mobile app is designed to provide excellent performance when viewing a smaller subset of Pigeonholes or individual documents that have been shared.
Is there a storage limit in Pigeonhole?
Each building subscription plan includes 100Gb of storage. If you require more storage, please email [email protected] to confirm pricing.
What browsers are compatible with Pigeonhole?
Pigeonhole is compatible with most of the latest, commonly used browsers. The latest list is here.
If you are having difficulties, please make sure you are on the latest version of the browser or email [email protected]
Getting Started - Day One with Pigeonhole
Once a subscription has been purchased, a Facility Manager or Property owner can get started in 5 easy steps.
First, create your account by opening the Pigeonhole app in a browser and then click the aptly-named button called ‘Create Account’. You use the same account to access Pigeonhole from any device so please set a secure, strong password and remember it. You will receive a verification email, please click on the verification link in the email, log out of Pigeonhole and log back in, and then you’re all set.
Second, download the Pigeonhole app to your mobile device and log-in with your new account. You can download the mobile apps from the following links; iOS, or Android. Remember, you can always access Pigeonhole via your web browser too so you should bookmark the app link or click the ‘Login’ button at the top of our homepage.
Third, it’s time to start creating your Building Pigeonhole. As a Facility Manager or Property Owner for a building subscription, following the process will name the floors of each building correctly, setting up the underlying construct of the Pigeonhole. For instance, if you call your basement levels ‘Car Park 1’, then Pigeonhole will reflect that.
If you manage a portfolio of properties, you should complete the same information flow for each building and you will see each building on your app homepage. Each building should have a key point of contact for users, who is familiar with the app and the key elements of functionality. If that is you, please let users know they should approach you with any questions first. If you want someone else to be responsible for the building, then you should invite them and give them a ‘Facility Manager’ profile.
Fourth, once the building Pigeonhole is created, start uploading documents following the instructions here.
Fifth, it’s time to start collaborating and sharing files with contractors and realising the efficiency gains of Pigeonhole.
How do I upload a document?
After subscribing and your building Pigeonhole is set-up, you can start uploading documents and inviting others to collaborate with. Instructions for uploading documents can be found here.
Documents can be uploaded via a number of methods. The key concept in uploading plans and drawings is to also store the key metadata related to the drawing, such as date created, revision, level and title. Pigeonhole’s OCR process can be used to extract metadata where it is clearly labelled, and other data can be uploaded as required. New revisions will replace older revisions, however, the older revisions will always be available to view.
Is help available for document uploading?
Technically, uploading documents into Pigeonhole is straightforward. We’ve mandated a naming convention, which means a couple of extra steps, but this provides data for search capability which gives simplicity moving forward every time you use Pigeonhole.
Following our instructions here, you can start uploading documents within minutes of completing some simple Pigeonhole setup questions when you take out a building subscription. If you’re a Facility Manager, you can make your job even more straightforward from now on by asking contractors and suppliers to upload current or future documents for you. You will then quality assure them, and you’ll know all of the documents available for your building.
Legacy or historical documentation requires a slightly different approach. Some clients have asked if we can provide a service to do the initial upload of documents for them and there are a couple of options for this;
A client can use their people or resources to scan or digitise plans and then upload them into Pigeonhole using our tools and documentation as a project initiative. A client controls all of their project costs in this respect.
We can arrange the scanning or digitisation of your documents and then the uploading of those documents into Pigeonhole at an additional cost.
If you already have digital copies of your documents or plans but need help to upload them into Pigeonhole, we can provide a quote to do this for you, in addition to the annual subscription.
Contact us if you need a quote to get your initial document upload done.
How do I share a document?
Pigeonhole is designed for sharing. A super-user, generally a Facility Manager, can share individual or multiple documents easily following the instructions here. Access can be set with a time-limit so that it automatically expires after a given time-period.
Do you have any demo videos?
We have a Youtube channel with a growing number of demo videos to show users how to use some of the Pigeonhole features. You can access the channel, watch the videos and subscribe by clicking here.
Adding or removing users in Pigeonhole
Instructions to add or remove users in Pigeonhole can be found here.
