Beta Help

 Download: The beta version is available here.

Thank you for choosing to install oDesk Team Client v. 2.2 Beta. We have made some significant improvements to the client software in this release and are looking forward to getting your feedback. You'll notice a few renamed features (like the Time Tracker), but the primary change in this release is the Team Room.

This provides a view of the Team you are working in that was formerly only available on the web. You can see at a glance:

• Working status of people on your team
• What they are working on (memo)

And you can now directly chat your team members, as long as they have also installed this Beta.

Installation:

Step 1. Download installer. The beta version is available here.

Step 2. Exit all oDesk applications, if you have any installed. (In the system tray, right click the Team icon and select Exit all oDesk applications.)

Step 3. Run the installer.

Step 4. Choose applications. Since you are evaluating the beta version, we recommend installing All so that you can access all possible functionality. In order to be paid hourly providers must run the oDesk Time Tracker application. In order to be able to use the new Team Room and Chat functionality, providers and buyers must be running oDesk Team Room.

Step 5. Launch both Team Room and Time Tracker. Use your oDesk password to login to both Team Room and Time Tracker.

Logging In

Using Team Room:

Launch oDesk Team Room from the Windows Start Menu. You will see all members of all your current teams. In the view menu you can choose to Group Users by Team if you are working with multiple teams and want to be able to clearly distinguish between them.

Using Time Tracker:

Time Tracker enables Providers on oDesk to be paid on an hourly basis. It automatically takes a screenshot of the user's desktop once every 10 minutes to enable collaboration on oDesk. Buyers are not required to run Time Tracker, however some do in order to track their own time for billing purposes, or to help with collaboration and transparency. The Time Tracker feature was previous referred to as 'logging in with the oDesk Team client'. We think the new name is much clearer.

FAQ:

How do I report an problem with the beta version?

You can file a ticket from directly within the product: Right click on the system tray icon and select Preferences > Logging.

How do I change back to using the (non-Beta) production version?

You can do so from within the product. Right click on the Team Room system tray icon, and select Preferences > oDesk Preferences > Launcher. Click the button Switch back to production version.

Or you can just install the latest production version from the oDesk website: http://www.odesk.com/community/downloads

I'm not a Windows user - how do I use my favorite Jabber client?

Any jabber client (eg. Pidgin on Linux, Adium on Mac) can be used to connect to the oDesk chat server. 

Settings for specific clients follow:

GAIM:

screen name: use your regular odesk username (without @odesk.com)
server: odesk.com
resource: (does not matter)
password: your odesk password
alias: (does not matter)
[x] use tls if availble
[ ] force old ssl
[ ] allow plaintext auth over unencrypted stream
port: 5222
connection server: jabber.odesk.com

Pidgin:

Basic:

Protocol: XMPP
Username: use your regular odesk username (without @odesk.com)
Domain: odesk.com
Resource: oDesk
password: your odesk password
alias: (empty)

Advanced:

[x] use tls if availble
[ ] force old ssl
[ ] allow plaintext auth over unencrypted stream
Connect port: 5222
Connect server: jabber.odesk.com 
Proxy type: No Proxy

Adium (MAC):

Protocol: XMPP

Account:
Jabber ID: username@odesk.com
password: your odesk password
alias: (empty)

Options
Connect Server: jabber.odesk.com
Port: 5222
[ ] Allow plaintext authentication
[ ] Force old SSL
[ ] Require SSL/TLS
[ ] Do strict certificate checks
Presence Subscriptions: Ask What To Do  

Proxy type: No Proxy