I am trying to print the Welcome Guide as an owner. I initially was able to select print but closed to add another piece of info. I no longer have the print option and it says I must confirm sitter before printing. All of my sitters are confirmed already. Any clues?
Hi @claudinekent I’ll tag @Therese and she’ll take a look at your account and be able to assist you when she’s next online.
Francine,
Voluntary Forum Moderator
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I actually was able to get it to print while attempting to amend sitter dates. I unconfirmed sitters and when they were confirmed again, I was able to print. However, I was never successful at amending the pet sit dates for two upcoming sits via the steps as I understand them. The only way I was able to amend the dates was to do a public posting, confirm sitters and then invite them to a private sit with new dates. This does not seem like how it should work so I gave up on doing it for the other sitter dates. We mutually agreed we were ok to leave it as is. I would prefer to have the dates correct if anything were to go wrong and we needed to utilize insurance benefits, but I gave up after spending hours trying to get what I needed from the THS site. It really is not user friendly and I do not know anyone who has anything positive to say about it. It seems upgrades or a completely new software system would be money well invested.
Thank you for replying.
Best
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Hi @claudinekent I am so sorry you have been having issues. I have emailed you directly from membership services so I help adjust the dates. Kind regards Therese
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@Angela_L I was provided with the security rationale when I asked about this a few years back. I really don’t think it’s a valid reason. If sitters wanted to retain any of the information in the welcome guide we could easily do it with screenshots or printing page by page to PDF or doing any number of things to capture that information. Not allowing sitters to print just makes it difficult for sitters to have that information at their fingertips especially if they don’t have Wi-Fi access yet or don’t have cell service. I would love to see this decision revisited.
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Hi @lifephasenext thank you for your feedback and I completely agree about having a hard copy or non digital access to the welcome guide for the reasons you give, I always ask for a copy as power outages, internet failure and poor cell service are real issues to on sit access of the document.
You also have a valid point about copying and storing the information once access is available. The Product team use the forum for member feedback and will pick this up … Thank you.
I agree with @lifephasenext that citing security as a reason for not making the Welcome Guide downloadable makes no sense., especially as it is easily circumvented. I now screen shot everything after a near disaster when I was unable to enter a new sit. The entry was only possible via a code, included in the Welcome Guide. Of course I should have made note of it but in the bustle of moving from one sit to the next I overlooked it . On that occasion all the shops/cafes were closed. I finally found an open service entrance and begged to use their internet to access the Welcome Guide. The shop was only open as the small business owner was in the middle of a crisis of their own so I was doubly grateful that they were kind enough to help. Just a ‘Download’ button on the Welcome Guide would make a great difference.
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I do like the welcome guide and that ease that if me and my partner aren’t together, both of us can access it via the website. I think owners have the option to download it and send it via a PDF as we have received that in the past which is also handy.
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@liz and @UKSitter , it would be very convenient if it were easily downloaded. My only hesitation is all the sensitive info it could contain, such as key codes, alarm codes, emergency contact info, WiFi passwords. What about these? Maybe this info could be blanked out in a downloaded version? You could manually enter it into a note to yourself. HO: do you change these codes with each sitter? That might be a good idea.
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@mars, in reply to your question about whether we change codes: we now change our front door code. We haven’t gotten around to thinking about other smart technology, like our back porch’s ceiling fan no old-fashioned remote to turn on the light and fan), and don’t get me started on our smart fridge, thermostat, or exercise bikes. We do not yet change our password for our wifi, but may begin to as we get more sitters. So far it has worked well for us to text our sitters with our key code, but my dyslexia has made my dyslexia-free husband has to double-check my messages 
To the rest of you awesome people, I am one of those people who love to have information, and I therefore assume my housesitters are like me 
I have a pretty detailed THS manual AND a much-more detailed printed manual with a Table of Contents, labeled images for how to use the three remotes to work the TV in the basement (that I have shared with some sitters electronically), and food we have left specially for our sitter (like my daughter’s homemade kimchee). Also, I am a big fan of Sticky Notes. I leave these all over our house. Some share stories about certain pictures or why there is a light switch only at the top of the stairs, or the story behind the Blue Dog with Pete Fountain print. Because they are sticky-note size, I am limited with words. I’m now thinking of expanding that to a one-page story about how all the art in our powder room are connected. Overkill?
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I can understand the concern if I were to print out the information. But if it is downloaded onto my phone or computer I would think it would be less of an issue. If I were to lose my phone -heaven forbid - there is a lot more information on it that would be more valuable than a Welcome Guide pdf.
Are HO encouraged by TH to fill out the Welcome Guide? I always request one but have had a few homeowners tell me that they just have a word document with all the info I should need. Some of them are a bit confusing and some don’t have the usual info…I would much prefer the Welcome Guide since the format would be the same every time…if I need to find certain info, I know exactly where to look for it.
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I don’t mind if they have a word doc instead of the welcome guide but I ask them to email it to me ahead of time so I can read through it and make note of any questions I might want to ask.
I haven’t used the Welcome Guide before. We always used a doc. But I decided to switch to using the Welcome Guide. I am so disappointed! There are so many issues! I am very surprised THS hasn’t fixed these (especially the very-easy-to-fix ones).
Here is a partial list. These are in relation to the PDF that I downloaded.
- Can sitters see the guide on the site or do they have to download it as a PDF? If they can see it on the site we should be able to see what they see.
- The system generates “My Dog Cody is 13 years old Poodle”
- No photos that were added to the guide appear in the PDF.
- There are other places than the allowed ones where I want to add photos. I might want to add photos to any section and should be able to.
- All the formatting - line breaks - I added are removed. That is really bad. This makes ONE GIANT PARAGRAPH. Really awful.
- Website for any store added says “Undefined”
To THS: Please prioritize fixing these issues.
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Totally agree. Just came on here to find a thread on the Welcome Guide.
I have no idea what the sitter will see, but when I make a PDF, it gets rid of all line breaks and nice, easy-to-read formatting making it one big mess.
Also, the “neighbourhood” section is just too difficult. I’d rather just list places not have to put in address, website, etc for each one.
AnD i’ve tried saving to that multipul times now and when I return, it does not save my changes!
I am new to the site as a Home Owner and am just embarking on producing a word document for my sitters this summer. I would definitely appreciate a copy of your template an experienced sitter like yourself has to guide me. I am sure it will be an ever expanding work in progress but don’t want to make it too un-user friendly. Many thanks
I greatly prefer the THS Welcome Guide. While it is not perfect, there are a number of reasons for my preferece.
I know where to find things.
It is easily updated by the HO so it is always up to date.
While a Word doc and printed manual in the home is very nice and very much appreciated, MANY times they conflict! Which one is correct? This can cause confusion in the care of the home and ets and possibly hazardoes situations with according liability. It should be clearly stated by THS that the Guide has the information that rules.
On a side note, if a HO is emailing a Word doc, DON’T! What version of Word? Or did you use Apple’s word processor? Or something else? If a HO wants to email their own guide, then send it as a PDF to assure proper readability by the sitter.
The contention by THS that it is not printable for security reasons is ridiculous! Prior to a sit I go to each page of the Guide and print it as a PDF so I have it offline. I rarely print it on paper as if I have saved the PDF on my phone or computer, I have it offline.
So, we can print it but it’s an unnecessary hassle. Give us ONE BUTTON to click to print the entire Guide! ONE!!!
We should also be able to EASILY print the listing to have offline, including pictures. That would be helpful before, during and after a sit to avoid any issues by the HO or sitter. The term “print” does not have to mean on paper - PDF is a great option to have it offline AND not use any paper!
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I created word documents after seeing the suggestion on the forum and am copying into the Welcome Guide. However I am finding that the online guide is not always saving some of the sections. I save them (e.g. Favourite Cafes) but when I go back they have disappeared and it just says Add Cafe. Will stick with Word documents, send them as PDFs (have already sent first draft in advance) and print a version for the sitters.
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@pdanson sorry to hear it’s not working as it should. I’m going to tag @Therese who can pick up on this Monday to see if any reported issues.
My favorite homeowners have uploaded shared docs to Google drive, they update it constantly. Sometimes even while I’m on their sit, they changed plans and then they upload the different information?.
It’s password protected, and very easy for everyone to access on every kind of device.
I’ve been working on my own form which I have on my own website so that people can fill out all the information I need. It’s much more useful when I don’t have to pester them with questions constantly. I also offer to email it as a PDF for them, as well as print it off for them and they can leave it at the house for the next sitter.
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