PointFire 365 v2.7.0.0, April 9, 2024

This release introduces new features and improves existing ones, including better user counts, more complete deactivation, and better performance.  Version 2.7 is the final version using the two-app architecture.  Version 3.0 will only need the modern app.

This is a supported official release. It can be used for production.  If you were using an earlier supported release, the upgrade requires no change to data or licenses, however you must press the "Activate" button on each site after upgrade or use the ActivateApp script. Some JavaScript from the previous version will remain cached until the next session unless you press Ctrl-F5 or equivalent on your browser.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

All of our PowerShell scripts use the PnP.PowerShell module. The PF365 installation script will install it if that has not already been done. If no one has yet run the command "Register-PnPManagementShellAccess", you must get a global admin to consent for the Tenant. This only has to be done once for the entire tenant. Contact support if you need an alternative.

Details here

https://pnp.github.io/powershell/cmdlets/Register-PnPManagementShellAccess.html

New and Changed Features

• In single-page model, translations of Call to Action text in Hero webpart
• ApplyingMUIFromTenantRootSiteWithoutUsingSiteLevelMTL.ps1: New script gets the MTL entries from tenant root site and applies the translations in all the sites present in a tenant without using the site level MTL.
• Script DeactivatePF365.ps1 now optionally removes Multilingual Translations list and Multilingual column 'Item Language' and 'Source Item' from site
• Improved performance for lists and libraries newly made multilingual
• ItemLanguageCalculated hidden added to lists and libraries newly made multilingual, to help with PnP modern search.
• Improved message in MUI step 3 when the app is not trusted
• More consistent override of translations: Resx<root<hub<site
• Scripts changed to use PnP.PowerShell rather than native login: EnableScriptingMultiSites.ps1 SetFooterPropertyInTenantLevel.ps1 EnableScripting.ps1
• MTL was cluttered with language codes when there was a choice column with those codes.
• No making Page library multilingual if MLP feature is enabled (still allow translating choice column)

Resolved Issues

• In MUI step 3 for classic webpart title translations, 'Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation'
• Manage variation page names Blank for library with more than 5000 pages
• MUI step 3 stuck for library with more than 5000 pages
• Poorer performance with more than 5000 pages
• When custom scripting is enabled and the Edit permission user is setting the webpart language, showing 'Please enable custom scripting on the SharePoint admin center.'
• Errors when using "forceLocale=" URL parameters
• While making the Library Multilingual, it is showing the error "FAILED: The content type {...} is read only." in console when a new content type is read-only
• The script ActivateApp.ps1 showed the Error "The remote name could not be resolved: 'mytenant-admin.sharepoint.comfalse' Method invocation failed because [System.String] does not contain a method named 'Load'."
• Error running EnableScriptingMultiSites.ps1 for some subsites
• After running Uninstall.exe, some files did not remove from folder
• Error while running script DeployingMUIForSite.ps1 when there is certain sealed content types
• Eliminated instances of error "Refused to set unsafe header "Origin"' in the console
• More accurate users count while checking the PF365 license
• In Manage Variations on list with more than 5000 items, Save and Publish is not working
• In MUI step 1, it sometimes did not add the choice column choices value to the Multilingual Translation list
• Rare ActivateApp error "cannot convert argument 'context', with value "PnP.Framework.PnPClientContext", for "GetAppInstances" to type "Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRuntimeContext" :"
• After clicking on the Deactivate button, the removal was not complete
• "Created date" format issue for items with two instances of "Created date", one hidden
• On a site where Multilingual Page Publishing was once enabled, language variation fields in MUI step 2 sometimes incorrect
• MUI step 3 "Error in StartApplyTrans5: Unexpected response data from server."
• PF365Installer.ps1, when it is activating the app in sites that it upgraded, message "You must add PointFire 365 add-in app to this site"
• CallActivateAppMultiSite.ps1 sometimes activated all the languages not just the selected one.

PointFire makes SharePoint truly multilingual and lets your users collaborate in their language.  Two different users going to the same page on the same site will each see it almost entirely in their language, both UI and content.

To get your copy, go to http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/List/Index/1/pointfire-installation-packages and log in or create an account.

The fully-featured trial version can be downloaded for free and can be used for development and testing, with some pre-sale support.

PointFire Translator Express has been released and is available using Microsoft AppSource.  See the press release with a quote from Microsoft Vice-President Giovanni Mezgec here.

Major features include:

• Translates modern pages
• Translates documents and metadata
• Compatible with SharePoint built-in multilingual or PointFire 365
• Translates documents, including Excel, PowerPoint, PDF
• App only, no server.  Easy to install and maintain
• Available from Microsoft AppSource for easy upgrades
• Translates in your account, in your region, using a private endpoint.

The free version translates documents.  The full version also translates pages and metadata, among other features.

If you already have PointFire Translator Server, you can get PointFire Translator Express for free.  It does not have all the same features, but it is easier to maintain and has higher translation quality.

If you already have PointFire 365, it is fully compatible.

If you are using SharePoint's Multilingual page publishing, it is fully compatible.  When you press the translation button, it creates the copies of the pages and translates them in a single step.

If you are not providing secure managed translation for your users, then where are they sending your internal data to be translated?

This is to announce the release of the PointFire Localizer 1.0.0. It is a free open source GitHub Action that allows you to localize your SharePoint Framework (SPFx) solutions with the help of the Azure AI Translator.  It does not require any paid PointFire tool, but it does require an Azure account.  

You can learn more and download here: https://github.com/marketplace/actions/pointfire-localizer

Also see this blog post for details: https://blog.icefire.ca/blogs/post/localize-your-spfx-solutions-with-pointfire-localizer1

We are available to offer any needed support with the tool and answer all your questions.

This release corrects certain issues.  If you received an interim release from IceFire support for testing, it must be updated with this release.  This release is a bug fix release, with minor functionality changes.  It is recommended that you update if you have encountered the issues that are discussed.

Documentation is available here.  

This is the last scheduled release, although support continues.

Release Notes – February 29, 2023

Deploying PointFire 2016

It is recommended that you run the installation on the server where Central Administration is located. Once PointFire 2016 is installed on the target server you can deploy the feature by running the PFConfiguration tool:

Start ->PointFire 2016 ->PFConfig

Note: If you experience issues running the configuration tool from the shortcut, you can navigate to the PointFire directory and run PFConfig or one of the installation scripts directly.

C:\Program Files\IceFire\PointFire2016

⦁ PFConfig.exe – PointFire Deployment Manager
⦁ InstallPointFire.ps1 - to install PointFire using PowerShell.
⦁ UpgradePointFire.ps1 - Upgrade PointFire using PowerShell.
⦁ RemovePointFire.ps1 - To retract the solution using PowerShell

Note: Deploying using the scripts requires additional configuration steps. Please see the install guide for detailed information.

Updating PointFire 2016 

If you are updating an existing PointFire 2016 deployment, launch the PointFire Deployment Manager and follow through the upgrade process, or retract then re-deploy PointFire, or navigate to the installation directory to run the upgrade script.
Note: If configuration keys in the web.config files have been edited manually after PFConfig initially set them, using PFConfig to update the PointFire may erase or overwrite some of those keys. For safety, note the values of the keys currently in web.config prior to updating.

Upgrading from PointFire 2013

If you are upgrading from a PointFire 2013 deployment, please consult the PointFire 2013 v1.0 to 2016 v1.0 Upgrade Guide.

New Features

• none

Resolved Issues

• Distorted image of spimn.png seen on a view page when grouped by Modified By

• Javascript error prompts on search results page with some custom refiners

• Blank page appears when multiple webparts in a specific sequence are present on a page

• Possible memory leak with error messages generated in ULS logs

Documentation
Documentation for PointFire 2016 is available to be downloaded from the following links:

PointFire 2016 Installation Guide: 
http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/134/0/pointfire-2016-documentation

PointFire 2016 Administrators Guide:

http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/134/0/pointfire-2016-documentation

PointFire 2016 Users Guide: 

http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/134/0/pointfire-2016-documentation

PointFire 2013 v1.0 to 2016 v1.0 Upgrade Guide: 

http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/134/0/pointfire-2016-documentation

Support
We recommend that you, or whoever you designate for support, register an account on the support site http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Base/UserRegistration/Register . Support can be obtained by clicking on New Ticket on the site after you login or by sending an e-mail to icefire@wssplus.ca

PointFire 365 v2.6.2.0, August 31, 2023

This release introduces new features, including translation of Choice columns, translation of modern page titles and webpart titles using the Single Page Method.  It also allows MUI translation and Clear Cache to work if scripting is off

This is a supported official release. It can be used for production.  If you were using an earlier supported release, the upgrade requires no change to data or licenses, however you must press the "Activate" button on each site after upgrade or use the ActivateApp script. Some JavaScript from the previous version will remain cached until the next session unless you press Ctrl-F5 or equivalent on your browser.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Starting in March 2022, all of our PowerShell scripts have switched from the legacy SharePointPnPPowerShellOnline module, which stopped being maintained in 2020, to the PnP.PowerShell module.

The PF365 installation script will uninstall the old module and install the new one on the workstation if that has not already been done. If no one has yet run the command "Register-PnPManagementShellAccess", you must get a global admin to consent for the Tenant. This only has to be done once for the entire tenant.

Details here

https://pnp.github.io/powershell/cmdlets/Register-PnPManagementShellAccess.html

New and Changed Features

• Changes to the dialogue to localize choice columns. Rather than a dropdown and an "Apply" button, there is a list of choice columns each with a checkmark that applies/removes translation of choice columns. The JSON code is no longer being shown.
• Choice column translation skips hidden and other inappropriate columns
• Support of Azure Translator private endpoints if applicable
• Support for forcelocale parameter to change the language within a URL
• New script for setting PointFire365 footer option at the site collection level: SetFooterPropertyInSiteLevel.ps1
• New script to store Azure text translation API key and region in the sitecollection level: SetAzureTranslationPropertySiteLevel.ps1
• New script UserAuthentication.ps1 to set default authentication method to be used in other scripts
• Changes to SetTenantLicense.ps1 to call the script 'TenantLicenseRequest.ps1', if the number of users is not valid.
• New script to deactivate PF365 app: DeactivatePF365.ps1
• get MTL item and its variations from the Tenant root site and parent hub site, if available
• in DeployingMUIForSite.ps1, include Translate Interface step 1 and step 2, previously only step 3
• PF365 now declines to make the MTL multilingual.
• Detect whether this is an initial installation to the app catalog and skip the upgrade of the apps
• New script SetSinglePageMethod.ps1 to indicate to PointFire that the Single Page Method will be used in a site. This can reduce performance, so it is off by default.
• New script PF365MigrationTenantLevel.ps1 goes through all the sites of a tenant and then migrates the Item Language and Source Item columns that come from PointFire 2016 or earlier.
• Making a list/library multilingual now adds the calculated column "ItemLanguageCalculated", which makes searching easier
• Some scripts are now logging messages to a text file
• Several changes to support Viva Connections

Resolved Issues

• Language selector for Web Parts sometimes shows no languages.
• Do not show 'display this webpart in' option for section property panel since PointFire does not support language setting for sections
• Some UI elements not being translated when there was a large number of languages
• Reduce the number of page loads while navigating to another site
• Issue: Sometimes the redirected URL, for example in Quick Links, is not correct when the link contains special characters.
• Added changes to skip the translation of read-only Content types.
• Added changes to retrieve and apply translations in Content Type, inherited from parent site or from content type hub.
• Personal Menu (me control) items are sometimes in the wrong language
• Issue: In "New" and "Display" Form, the language change stuck.
• Some view names not translated correctly.
• Catch error in activation
• Fixed styling for translated navigation text when it is selected
• If we switch libraries using the new Library switcher navigation, the filter field was not getting added to the URL.
• If choice column value contains single quote value from the beginning, then Json column is not applied successfully.
• the installed script was first checking for tenant license and then it was again checking the license in site level.
• While activating PointFire 365 app in a sub site, it was sometimes showing the Error : The managed path sites/demosite is not a managed path in this tenant
• After changing the language using the Microsoft account setting rather than the language toggle or the profile, list/library was not being filtered.
• When switching between different views, the language filtering was not automatic, need to refresh the page.
• More issues related to old Serbian language code, and more still.
• Improved performance for MUI translation
• In team site, change the language to French in Home page, then navigate to multilingual Document/sitepage library, language menu is not showing, and language filtering is not working. Need to refresh the page.

PointFire makes SharePoint truly multilingual and lets your users collaborate in their language.  Two different users going to the same page on the same site will each see it almost entirely in their language, both UI and content, without using Variations.

To get your copy, go to http://community.icefire.ca/index.php?/Knowledgebase/List/Index/1/pointfire-installation-packages and log in or create an account.

The fully-featured trial version can be downloaded for free and can be used for development and testing, with some pre-sale support.