August 2020 Newsletter: Trays

We're working hard to integrate the related parts of Workzone so there's less jumping around from one page to another, and information is easier to find. As you've undoubtedly seen recently, we've made a substantial change to the details pages, introducing trays with consolidated content.

What's New: Trays

• Details without leaving main page.  Previously, you left the main view (Task List, File List, Request Dashboard) when you clicked through to interact with a specific item. With a tray, like a preview pane in an email, you see the detailed content, while retaining the context of the original item in the main view.
• Bringing information forward.  Previously, you had to click a separate tab on the details page to see file attachments, project requests and time/expense info. Now that information is incorporated into sections on the main tray.  The sections are collapsible and remember when you've opened or closed them, so you can highlight the sections that are most important to you. We've also incorporated document approvals and uploaded a new file version into the tray page, so you don't need to go to a separate page, as you did before.
• New functionality
  • Drag and drop files anywhere on the project/task tray
  • New breadcrumb on the document details page links you to the project or task to which it's attached
  • Download multiple files from the request tray
  • System comments are hidden by default (uncheck box to show them)
  • New comment box is pinned to the bottom of the tray for quicker access
  • Comment subscriptions are now managed below the new comment box
  • Project-wide comments and activity (previously their own tabs) are now located as drop-down options in the 3-dot "more" menu at the top right of the project tray
• We know there's more to be done with trays -- please help us!  We know that the trays are a big change that take a bit of time to get used to, but they're consistent with modern web design best practices and are here to stay. That being said, we know we haven't gotten everything right yet, and are committed to trying to delight all users with the tray experience.  So, if you're still frustrated with some aspects of the trays experience, we'd love your help improving it. We need to know what worked better for you with the old details page (the more specific the better) so we can explore ways to address it. Please email your input to help@workzone.com. 

Other Enhancements

• New option to "Request New Approval" on edit page for an existing approval, for when you need to re-issue it because of changes made to content. This automation saves steps vs. deleting and re-creating it manually.
• You can now customize the default hours per day of work capacity for your organization and for specific individuals to change when Workload reports shows individuals as being over-allocated in a specific time period.   [Professional or Enterprise license required]
• We've increased the limit for custom fields in Projects from 10 to 20 [Enterprise license required]
• You can now include URLs and html on the thank-you page for your public request forms [Enterprise license required]

What We're Working On / Exploring

• Working in multiple browser windows simultaneously. Currently, the most recent workspace used in one window is transferred to other open windows.  We're working to have each window remember its own workspace. This should be available by the end of September.
• Rich-text formatting of comments. Bold, italics, colors, bullets, etc. This should be available by the end of September.
• Edit own comments. This should be available by the end of October.
• New project state of "Cancelled". This should be available by the end of October.
• Threaded comments. Currently each item has a single string of comments.  Frequently these comments can involve several distinct sub-topics, and it's very useful to be able to group these sub-topics into their own "threads", so that related comments stay together. Threaded comments will also allow for adding reaction emojis (e.g., thumbs up) to another user's comment. This should be available by the end of this year.
• Allowing tasks to have no start or end date. This should be available by the end of this year.
• Board view for projects, as alternative to list and Gantt views. This should be available by the end of Q1-2021.