Dear AODocs Users,
We’re pleased to announce the release of AODocs version 60.
In this release we continued our work on three major streams of improvement that were started in previous releases:
- the revamp of our views – to provide you with a best-in-class document search and browse experience
- the support of Microsoft users in AODocs – notably with the capability to use your organization’s Microsoft Groups to manage permissions in AODocs
- number of features for Microsoft and Google users in Google Cloud Storage files: automated generation of Word, Excel and PDF files, Word file comparison, digital signature, etc.
On top of that, discover how to automate the processing of your files, by leveraging Google Artificial Intelligence services!
Automatically generated table of contents
Launch details
Rollout pace: From 7 June to 8 June 2022.
Enjoy an enhanced search experience and other features with revamped views (beta)
We’re continuing to rebuild AODocs views, and the new version includes extensive visual enhancements and additional features. With this release, there’s only one remaining feature that still requires the use of the legacy views: exporting folders in Team Folders and Secured Folders.
In release 60, new views are still available as a beta version, but you can activate the new views by default for your users.
The R60 beta version brings you the ability to:
- copy a folder tree structure
- scan a folder’s content in Google Drive for missing documents or permissions
- view details of the progress of bulk actions
- navigate folders in the main list
- preview thumbnails of attachments
-
select and copy attachments to another document (Application Platform customers only)
Folder navigation and the Attachment thumbnails preview
Learn more: Use views (beta version) in your AODocs libraries.
For which users?
All users
Why it’s important
Views help users organize and browse their documents, so it’s important for these functionalities to be efficient. Our aim with the revamp is to:
- improve the user experience
- enhance performance and search capabilities
- provide end users with customization options so they no longer have to fully rely on library administrators to configure views
- improve the overall display of views to fit with the revamped AODocs interface in previous releases
Additional details
Each user can switch between the legacy and beta versions of views. Your feedback is always welcome, the feedback form is still available next to the button to switch versions!
Availability
All AODocs customers.
Note: To activate the new views by default for your users, or to opt out of deploying the beta version of views on your domain, contact our support team at: support@aodocs.com.
Leverage your Microsoft Groups when sharing data
Since release 58, in domains with an active AODocs Content Services subscription, users with a Microsoft account have been able to sign into AODocs and enjoy its features in full. You can grant Microsoft users access to libraries and documents individually or via a Google group.
We’re taking this feature to the next level by allowing the use of Microsoft groups defined in your organization (in your Azure Active Directory) to specify the permissions in:
- libraries
- document classes
- workflow steps
In this release, both Security Groups and Microsoft 365 Groups are supported.
Learn more:
For which users?
Library administrators, either with a Google or a Microsoft account.
Why it’s important
Using groups in AODocs is the most efficient and scalable way to assign permissions to large groups of people: consider the inconvenience of having to share a library with individual members of a whole department in your organization, which may contain hundreds or even thousands of people!
Additionally, leveraging groups in AODocs is a reliable way to ensure your permissions are always perfectly synchronized with the current state of your organization. When people leave and join, your assets are shared accordingly in a trice!
Availability
An active AODocs Content Services subscription is required. Additionally, this feature is only made available upon request.
For more information, contact our sales team: sales@aodocs.com.
Sign any document electronically, with even more flexibility
The AODocs eSign connector, which lets you electronically sign your assets via DocuSign or Adobe Acrobat Sign, has been improved by a number of powerful features over the past weeks.
In this release, you can enjoy the following benefits:
- Users with a Microsoft account can now use the eSign connector, and trigger e-signature workflows in their names (*)
- AODocs document attachments stored on Google Cloud Storage can now be electronically signed, in the exact same way as attachments stored in Google Drive (*)
- Users can trigger an e-signature workflow and be prevented from accessing the document during the process, but still have the signed file attached back to the document when all the signatures have been provided.
And the icing on the cake: the eSign connector now provides real-time feedback directly in the AODocs document when the signature process is interrupted.
For which users?
All users, either with a Google or a Microsoft account.
Why it’s important
Electronic signature has proven to be an important piece in the automation and streamlining of processes for many organizations.
Availability
Application Platform customers.
(*) The features marked with an asterisk require an active AODocs Content Services subscription.
For more information, contact our sales team: sales@aodocs.com.
Empower your data with the connector to the Google Document AI platform
Our new connector to the Google Document AI platform lets you process documents such as invoices, receipts, forms, etc. This Artificial Intelligence-based service lets you reliably extract specific pieces of data (for example, net amount, VAT and due date from an invoice) and add them as property values in your AODocs document.
For which users?
All users, either with a Google or a Microsoft account.
Why it’s important
Some documents may be of poor quality (scanned paper-based invoice, photo of a crumpled receipt, etc.), and processing them manually often proves to be time-consuming and error-prone. Using an Artificial Intelligence solution lets you automate the analysis of such documents, to make them searchable, sortable and processable as best-in-class digital assets.
Additional details
The connector works with documents using either Google Drive or Google Cloud storage.
In this release, AODocs supports the following document parsers from Google Document AI: Invoices, Forms and Expenses.
Note: Additional parsers will be supported in the near future. Feel free to create a feature request if you have a specific need.
Availability
Application Platform customers.
AODocs customers with an active AODocs Content Services subscription can use this connector to process attachments stored on Google Cloud Storage.
For more information, contact our sales team: sales@aodocs.com.
Learn more: What is the connector to the Google Document AI platform?
Automate document generation with our expanded file templating features
The file templating service lets you automate document generation by populating variables in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides templates.
Microsoft Word documents and PDF forms are now supported as well.
Besides, for administrators willing to do a bit of scripting, you can edit Excel files through custom scripts.
Learn more: Run the file templating service.
For which users?
All users
Why it’s important
File templating is a real time saver for contract management, HR, sales and procurement document generation, all the while ensuring that consistency is maintained between documents.
Combine it with workflow features, and users can generate documents in one click after filling in key variables, without needing edit access on the templates or the resulting files.
Additional details
In addition to Google documents, spreadsheets and slides, the feature now also works on Microsoft DOC, DOCX, and PDF files stored in Google Drive. Support for Google Cloud Storage will follow soon.
Availability
Application Platform customers.
Compare two versions of a document – for Microsoft users
The comparison feature lets you compare two versions of a Microsoft Word document, highlighting the differences and generating a delta file.
Until now, this feature was only accessible to users with a Google Account and Drive storage.
This is no longer the case: any user on your domain can now benefit from it, regardless of their type of account (Google or Microsoft) or storage (Drive or Google Cloud Storage).
Learn more: Use the Compare feature in Word attachments to compare versions.
For which users?
All users.
Why it’s important
Identifying updates in documents is of the utmost importance when collaborating on files, especially with third parties. In the contract management round tripping use case for example, this makes reviewing the updates between iterations of a contract much faster.
Availability
Application Platform customers with an active AODocs Content Services subscription. For more information, contact our sales team: sales@aodocs.com.
Improvements and bug fixes
End user interface
When a workflow transition fails, an improved error message helps the user take the appropriate action:
Administration interface
- The
DateTime(com.google.api.client.util.DateTime) class can now be used from a custom script. - A custom script can now interact with Google Forms and Google Calendar (through Google APIs).
And there’s so much more brewing…
- We’re working very hard to offer you the possibility to store your AODocs attachments on Azure Blob Storage. Besides Google Cloud Storage, this will be a new opportunity for users relying on the Microsoft ecosystem to seamlessly enjoy all AODocs features.
- File templating: the Word and PDF file templating and Excel edition features described above will be made available regardless of storage type: Drive, Google Cloud Storage or Azure
- Drive labels: a feature will let you fill in Drive labels on attachments automatically, from a document’s properties
- Document export: it will be possible to allow Viewers of a library to copy a document to another library. This will let you gather read-only templates of documents in a library and let users generate their documents from there
Would you like to meet our product team to discuss your needs? Join the AODocs research group! Join the AODocs research group!