Dear AODocs Users,
We’re pleased to announce the release of AODocs version 55.
This release features an extensive UI and UX revamp, enhanced automation capabilities with calculated settings, and new opportunities to work with external collaborators.
Please find the list of changes and features that will impact the end user and administrator experience.
Note: Subscribe to our announcement list to receive our Release notes.
Launch details
Rollout pace: 13 April to 14 April 2020
Video: AODocs R55 highlights
Check out the video highlighting the major changes we made: AODocs release 55 highlights.
Automate your naming conventions with calculated titles
Calculated titles were introduced as a private beta in release 54. In this release, we’re pleased to announce that this feature is now available for all AODocs customers.
Calculated titles are calculated from a formula. As a library administrator, you can use existing custom properties in your formulas to define naming conventions. Learn more: Create formulas for calculated titles.
For which users?
Library administrators
Why it's important
Having a standardized naming convention for your document titles prevents human error when creating documents and enhances the end user experience when searching for documents in the library.
By applying a precise formula to titles, you ensure data consistency across all your documents.
Calculated titles can help you:
- meet compliance requirements
- replace custom scripts
Additional details
Since the private beta, we made some improvements: you’ll be asked to confirm when you switch calculated titles on or off, and the impact of the action is described in the dialog. Moreover, Migrate For AODocs now supports migrating to document classes with calculated titles. Learn more: Migrate for AODocs in the Knowledge Base.
Note: This feature is only available in Document Management libraries.
Availability
All AODocs customers
See real-time updates of calculated properties
If administrators have defined calculated properties in a document class, you can now see the results of the formula evaluation in real time while editing document properties. Previously, the calculation was only visible when the document was saved.
When you modify a property, a blue spinner indicates that the calculation has been launched, and a blue line is displayed next to the calculated properties whose values have been modified! Learn more: Create and configure calculated elements.
For which users?
All users
Why it's important
Seeing the impact of their changes on the values of calculated properties in real-time helps users check the completeness and consistency of their document. This transparency increases their understanding and trust in the process.
Additional details
If the specificities of your use case cause this real-time update to be a disturbance, contact our support team: support@aodocs.com.
Availability
All AODocs customers
Access a more relevant document editor which dynamically adapts to users’ modifications (beta)
The document editor can now adapt to users’ input by displaying and/or requiring additional information, depending on the last input and the document context.
Using the same mechanism as calculated properties, you can set formulas to determine when a property should or should not be “hidden” and / or “mandatory”.
For which users?
Library administrators
Why it's important
We want you to be able to better:
- guide your users so they don’t have to wonder what is expected of them
- prevent your users from filling in contradictory information
- optimize the form length to make the user experience more comfortable
- avoid heavy customization and complex workflow states, which are difficult to maintain
Availability
AODocs customers who are part of the private beta program.
Note: To request access to the private beta, reach out to us: aodocs-beta@aodocs.com.
Enjoy an enhanced search experience with revamped views
We’re rebuilding AODocs views from the ground up, which includes extensive visual enhancements and additional features. This is an ongoing task that will be spread over several releases.
In release 55, the new views are available as a beta version. The aim of the beta is to collect your feedback to steer the course of the next steps.
The new beta version of views brings you:
- a complete visual revamp
- an infinite scroll of all the documents available in the view (previously you had to navigate the pagination)
- the ability to select multiple values in the filters: document class, workflow state and reference catalog - enhancing your user experience when you select which documents to display in the view
- the option for end users to add, remove and reorder the columns displayed in the view
Note: Your choice of columns and their order is kept the next time you access the view from the same desktop.
Learn more: Use views (beta version) in your AODocs libraries.
For which users?
All users
Why it's important
Views are the crossroads where users organize and find their documents. It’s important for these two actions to be efficient. The main goals in revamping it are to:
- improve the user experience for better efficiency and integration with the rest of the AODocs interface
- enhance performances through the use of new technology
- offer more search capabilities
- enhance customization options for end users without having to rely on administrators
Additional details
- All users can switch between the standard version and the beta version of views.
-
The following features are not yet available in the beta version of views:
- switch to another view
- browse by
- filter on Category properties
- New button to create documents
- actions and bulk actions on documents
Availability
All AODocs customers
Notes:
– Fill in this form to send us your feedback about the beta version of views.
– To opt-out from deploying the beta version of views on your domain, contact our support team: support@aodocs.com.
Share your attachments with non-Google users (early access program)
To help you extend your business outside the Google environment, we integrated Google's visitor sharing feature into AODocs.
You can now easily share your document attachments (Google Drive files) with non-Google users with the freshly-revamped and standalone Additional Drive permissions pop-up (previously found as a tab in the Document permissions dialog), which we also made available in Document Management libraries:
Former Additional Google Drive permissions tab in the Document permissions pop-up.
New revamped and standalone Additional Drive permissions pop-up.
For which users?
All users
Why it's important
Sharing documents with AODocs users has been a natural and long-standing use case. However, we’re aware of some instances where information needs to be shared with external partners or customers who don’t have a Google Account.
Aside from the option to share documents and their attachments with the whole web via link, there was no previous way to meet this need in AODocs until the Google visitor sharing feature was released and we integrated it into AODocs. This deep integration of such a recent Google feature is a great way for AODocs to constantly stay in-tune and provide the most cutting-edge solutions to our users!
This is the very first step towards the collaboration with non-Google users and we’re really excited to bring it to your use cases!
Additional details
- We integrated visitor sharing into Secured Folders and Document Management libraries. In Team Folders, the feature is available directly from Google Drive.
- The functionality can be activated or deactivated in a library.
- To get fine-grained control over the sharing opportunities with external users, the allowlists have been enforced.
Availability
Customers part of the early access program (EAP).
Note: For more information, contact your technical account manager or sales representative. You can also reach out to us: sales@aodocs.com.
The Additional Drive permissions pop-up is available to all users in Secured Folders and can be deployed to Document Management libraries on request. Contact our support team: support@aodocs.com.
Benefit from navigation and search improvements
To improve your user experience, we improved navigation and search capabilities:
- If you create a new document from a view, you can now navigate back to the view using the breadcrumb in the created document (previously the default view in the library was displayed in the breadcrumb).
- When you press the link under the Folder system property of a document, you navigate to the most recently visited view or subfolder where the document is located.
- In a view, when you sort a column displaying Date & Time properties, the time is now taken into account when the column is sorted (previously, only the date was taken into account).
- Library administrator can use these system properties to configure views:
-
Checked out at – displays the date and time documents are checked out
-
Version creator – displays the name of the user who created the current version of the document
- Version description – displays the description of the current version of the document (if any)
-
Checked out at – displays the date and time documents are checked out
Note: These system properties are also available in the beta version of views.
For which users?
All users
Why it's important
Thanks to your feedback about these topics, we implemented these changes to enhance your experience searching for documents and give you more consistency in the navigation to and from documents.
Availability
All AODocs customers
Better collaborate on Microsoft Office files
In 2019, Google introduced the possibility to edit Microsoft Office files directly from their online editor. Until now, leveraging this feature in AODocs was cumbersome. AODocs users had to: open the attachment in AODocs, open the attachment in a new tab, and then open the file in the corresponding Google editor.
Now, you can simply edit the file in the corresponding Google editor embedded in AODocs!
For which users?
All users
Why it's important
Use cases sometimes require the usage of Microsoft Office documents, like contract management for legal teams. You may also have non-Google formats due to a migration from a legacy system. We want the collaboration on these types of files to be as smooth as possible.
Additional details
- If the attachment is locked by UFO, the file opens with the standard UFO warning message.
- We added a warning message that appears when you preview a Microsoft Office attachment that has comments in it (the comments are not displayed in the preview).
- The feature is available in all AODocs libraries.
Availability
All AODocs customers
Working with calculated properties just got easier
Calculated properties and titles are the most recent AODocs features that help you ensure data consistency across all your documents, lighten the manual work for end users and replace a significant number of custom scripts. We are still focusing on these topics and your feedback is always welcome!
For end users, if a calculation error happens, you are no longer prevented from:
- creating a new version of a document
- restoring a previous version of a document (if the previous version is “in error”)
- deleting or copying a document
- restoring a document from trash
The calculated property is saved as empty and marked as “in error”.
Tip: In your views, you can find documents with calculated properties “in error” by searching for: “hasEvaluationError”=true.
For library administrators, we visually revamped the formula builder and added new capabilities:
- you can now access a direct link to the article: Getting started with formulas for calculated elements
- we added help text in the formula input
- we improved the title of the formula builder - It now clearly displays the item being calculated (title, property value or setting)
- to build your formula, you can now select:
-
system properties from the formula builder (previously, you could only add them manually)
- the current version name, description and creation date
-
- you can now use Javascript optional chaining in your formulas – this provides a simpler code to handle empty properties clearer design
For which users?
All users
Why it's important
Formulas are written in a JavaScript syntax. Even though we provide extensive documentation and pre-packaged formulas, we know it can discourage some administrators.
Our goal is to first address more specific use cases:
- prevent them from being implemented with custom scripts or complex workflow configurations – calculated settings should be easier to configure and maintain
- make calculated settings easier to use in the future, with tailored screens
However, we want to quickly address hurdles faced by administrators without previous experience in programming languages.
Availability
All AODocs customers
Improvements and bug fixes
End user interface:
- We revamped the email notifications received by library administrators when users request access or share Google Drive files and folders managed by AODocs. The new notifications have a brand-new design and are mobile-friendly!
- Previously, files whose media types are not detected by Google Drive (for example, DGN and MSG) could not be displayed in the advanced viewer. We improved the detection of these media types so the files are now displayed. Learn more: Preview attachments.
- On the library homepage, we restored the ability to open the link menu by right-clicking a selected view or workflow state.
- Before this release, when you deleted a folder, there were instances where a misleading label appeared mentioning the removal of “non-nonexistent files”. We have renamed this label “tasks”.
- In Secured Folders with domain-wide restrictions defined by Google Workspace, if a document was shared with users outside of the domain restrictions (for example, to “Anyone with a link”), the document attachment lost its domain-wide availability. We fixed this issue: the document and its attachment are now given the wider permissions.
Administration interface:
- It’s now easier to configure views where you want to display documents from multiple classes. You can pre-filter documents which are “in the list” and “not in the list” of multiple classes.
- For custom properties, the customized help text limitation is now 40 characters.
- We introduced new placeholders for file templating and workflow emails. You can now add:
- ${document:PersonFieldName:displayName} – to display the user's name (instead of email)
- ${document:PersonFieldName:thumbnailUrl} – to to display a users' image thumbnail
- ${document:CategoryFieldName:LevelName} – to display a specific sub-level of a category value (for example, Country/Region)
- If you reorder your list of views, a pop-up appears asking you to confirm the changes before the list is reordered. Learn more: Access the views in your library configuration.
- In the Create workflow pop-up, the workflow name is automatically filled in with the name of the document class you select for the workflow. Learn more: Create workflows.
- Custom roles can no longer be deleted if they’re used to define:
- Previously, in the custom script editor, library administrators couldn’t change the value of a parameter without selecting (or deselecting) the mandatory parameter. This has been fixed.
Super administration interface:
We updated wording throughout the domain administration interface to remove unwanted and non-inclusive terms (for example, whitelist is now allowlist)
And there's so much more brewing...
- The scope of features for the new version of views continues to expand! We’re continuing work on integrating features from the standard version and adding new features. Coming soon, the:
- integration of “browse by” in the beta version of views
- option to export the list of documents directly from a view using Bulk Updater
- ability for end users to customize filters (to select documents to display in the view) and bookmark them
- We want to ease the domain governance challenges you may face, especially when managing large domains. Super administrators will be able to delegate some domain administration tasks through custom-built roles.