Vignette release notes September 18, 2026
Client-ready appointment questionnaires, direct contractor payments, smarter payment schedules, clearer Stripe fees, and more consistent forms.
New this week
Send questionnaires with appointments and meeting requests
Appointment and meeting-request questionnaires now continue all the way to the client. Start blank or from a Planning template while creating or editing the calendar item, tailor the questions, and keep the draft private until the invitation is sent. A fixed appointment shows its questionnaire immediately; a meeting request reveals it after the client chooses a time. Clients can save valid progress, return through the same durable link, and submit when ready, while the photographer can preview drafts, review retained answers, reopen an incomplete submission, or save the response-free structure as a new template. New appointments also roll back cleanly if their questionnaire cannot be attached, so a calendar item is never left looking complete when its task was lost.
Learn howPay accepted contractors from the booking
An accepted team assignment can now be paid from its own row in the booking. Scheduled hours prefill the review, changing the hours recalculates compensation from that assignment’s rate, and the final amount remains editable. Before opening Stripe Checkout, Vignette shows what the contractor receives, the estimated Stripe fee, and the photographer’s total; Vignette keeps $0. The row tracks pending, processing, paid, and not-completed states, resumes an active attempt instead of starting another, and prevents a successful payment from being paid twice. Payment stays unavailable until the contractor has a verified Vignette account with payouts ready, and the saved audit record never changes that person’s reusable default rate.
Learn howBuild payment dates around the session
Payment plans can now turn a rule such as six weeks before the session or two weeks after the booking into a real due date. Apply it to one payment or spread the remaining balance toward the session with a preview of the first due date and cadence. When the available window is shorter than the preferred schedule, Vignette compresses it safely; when distinct dates are impossible, it blocks the change instead of creating duplicates. Retainers tied to contract signing and settled payments remain untouched. Pay-in-full plans also offer booking confirmation, contract signing, or a photographer-selected date, and every due date now includes the weekday wherever the plan appears.
Learn howSee Stripe fee guidance before taking payments
Account → Payments now includes a fee guide even before the payment account is set up. It compares standard U.S. estimates for cards and wallets, ACH Direct Debit, international cards, standard bank payouts, and optional instant payouts, including an estimated cost on a $100 payment. The guide makes clear that Stripe—not Vignette—charges and keeps these fees, labels the figures as estimates, explains why they can vary, and links to current Stripe pricing.
Learn howFixes and refinements
Form choices share one accessible Vignette control
Booking and package categories, contract templates, the studio time zone, appointment duration, and manual payment or refund methods now use the same Vignette picker instead of a mix of browser-native menus. The control supports keyboard navigation throughout, keeps System and My templates grouped, preserves archived-template labels, and places common time zones ahead of the complete list.
Dense forms fit smaller screens
The booking category grid adapts from two columns on phones to three on wider screens, and the selected session date includes its weekday for a quicker accuracy check. Contract variables collapse to one mobile column, questionnaire fields and choices stack without horizontal overflow, and the Sun Tracker keeps its date and reset action paired when its compact controls wrap.
Team contracts start with the right role
A new team contract now prefills its role variable with the assignment’s human-readable label, such as Second shooter or Videographer. The value stays editable, and opening an existing contract preserves any custom role that was already saved.
Learn howDuplicate gallery choices say exactly what happens
When selected gallery photos repeat filenames already in the gallery, the prompt now offers Skip duplicates or Upload all with a plain-language explanation of each result. Long filename lists scroll without pushing the decisions out of reach, and dismissing the prompt returns to selection without starting an upload.
Learn how