2021 has been a productive year so far. Not only did our team release our new app, Hypernotes, but improvements and additional features have been added across all of our products. We published them with little fanfare, and barely a mention, but that’s not to say that they’re not worthy of celebration!

Here’s a short list of our favourite little updates over the past few months:

Undo/Redo

Since January this year, it’s possible to undo or redo certain activities in all Zenkit products using the Cmd/Ctrl+Z and Cmd/Ctrl+Y shortcuts on your keyboard! This includes reverting information added to fields in Base and To Do, like labels, dates, members, etc, or changing the text in chats, comments, or description fields. You can undo as many times as you like, and if you’ve already closed an item, the undo function will still work and even re-open the item for editing! You can also undo larger actions the creation or archiving of an item in Base. You cannot undo the deletion of an item, as this is a permanent change (which is also why you’re asked to confirm deletion!)

Printing Single Items and Tasks

Whether you’re working on a complex item in Base, or viewing simple tasks in Zenchat or Hypernotes, you can now print an individual item or task. To do so, simply open it, click the … button, and choose “Print” from the drop-down menu.

You’ll then generate a PDF, which shows all the fields available on the task, including all labels in their assigned colours, info about attachments, and comments (if you’ve chosen to include them). You can print or save the PDF to your device by clicking “Print” and then choosing a printer or the save to PDF option in the print settings.

Drawings

Okay, yes, we did write a whole article introducing the new drawing tool, but it’s worth mentioning again just for the sheer fun of it!

Logout on All Devices

The logout on all devices feature was introduced in version 4.5.2 to add an additional layer of security, just in case you’d forgotten to log out of a shared device or a device was stolen. The remote log-out function, when used, will log you out of all Zenkit products on all other devices and browsers except the one you’re currently using.

To use it, open your Zenkit profile, then open the “Authentication” section. Click on “Log out on all other devices”. That’s it! No need to confirm or do anything else.

Improved Recurring Items and Reminders

It’s not quite as flashy as some of the other updates, but we made huge improvements to the way reminders act with recurring items. It used to be that you’d need to set a reminder on each of the recurrent items, however now if a reminder already exists on the last item in the series, then it will be added to all future recurrences of that item.

New Knowledge Bases

With the progression from a single “does-everything” product to multiple products, we needed a way to consolidate and better manage our knowledge bases, which were previously all hosted in separate published Zenkit collections. We moved on to publishing using the same platform as our support helpdesk so that we could quickly and easily include links to relevant articles when responding to requests. It also enabled us to publish the knowledge bases in other languages, too!  German! The knowledge bases are due for a design update this year, so they’ll fit seamlessly into the Zenkit universe.

And…

• We’ve added archive access in Hypernotes
• Made it easier to find files shared in chats in Zenchat
• Added JSON export for collections, lists, and notebooks
• Added syntax highlighting for code blocks in Hypernotes
• Kept up all 8 translations of all four of our apps (with a new language coming soon)
• And much, much more!

If you want to keep up with all these updates as soon as they’re live, please feel free to take a look at our public changelog. Our dev team add details about what features were added, and which bugs were fixed in each app or the Zenkit platform as a whole.

Are you making use of these new features? We’d love to know! Leave a comment below, or get in touch with our team. As always, we’d love to hear your feedback.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit team

The post What’s New in Zenkit? appeared first on Zenkit.

The latest feature to grace the Zenkit suite isn’t a new productivity tool or a fascinating new way to connect everything together. In fact, some may even find it frivolous or worse, an anti-productivity tool!

But we think that drawing at work is an excellent use of time…

Introducing the Drawing Tool

Whether you’re creating a task in To Do, whipping up a new note in Hypernotes, or having a watercooler chat in Zenchat, there’s always room to draw. Drawings can help illustrate a point, send some cheer, or act as a basic diagram of something you’re planning to build. Whatever the reason may be, we think that this feature can offer an important visual aid that has thus far been missing in the productivity universe.

You can add a drawing anywhere in Zenkit that you would usually upload a file or image: In Hypernotes, use the quick command “/draw”. In Zenchat, click or tap the + button and choose “Drawing”, in To Do and Base, instead of uploading a file or linking to one in the cloud, simply click “Drawing” instead!

Drawing in Zenkit

Once you’ve opened the drawing window, you’ll be presented with a blank page and an array of basic tools, like a colour picker, some different brush options, undo/redo, and the option to add text or images to the canvas.

The first thing you can (or really, should) do is select the size of your canvas. You can do this by clicking the “Size” button in the top left corner. Choose either a custom size, or pick a predetermined portrait, landscape, or square image.

Once you’ve created your canvas, pick a colour in the top right, and start drawing!

The colour picker currently offers the same colour options as the label colour picker, however, this may change in future updates. To change the size of your brush, use the toggle to the left of the coloured circle. In the same corner, you can also pick a different brush, which will allow you to use different textures to create more layered and varied work.

You can click “Select” in the centre of the top panel to select different elements of your drawing and move them around, rotate, or resize them. To go back to drawing mode, click “Drawing”.

To undo or redo an action, use the undo/redo buttons or the Ctrl/Cmd+Z and Y shortcuts. To erase the entire drawing, click on the “Clear” button.

Once you’re happy with your drawing, click “Save” in the top right corner to save it as a file attached to your item, an image inline in your note, or send it as a message in chat.

Annotation

The drawing tool is not limited to only creating new images. It can also be used to annotate or extend existing ones, too! Any image file uploaded to any Zenkit product can be annotated using this tool. Simply open the image, then click “Annotate” in the top left corner.

The annotation will allow you to draw and select anything you added to the image, as described above, however it will not let you select or remove elements that existed in the original image.

What do you think? Are you going to start adding some drawings to your work?

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Draw Anything in Zenkit appeared first on Zenkit.

We’re so excited to reveal the reason we’ve been so quiet these last few weeks: World, meet Zenchat!

Zenchat is a chat app. But it’s not just any old chat app. Zenchat’s built-in task management functions enable holistic collaboration in teams like never before.

Meet Zenchat

Zenchat is just like the chat apps you know and love, with a little Zenkit magic thrown in:

Chat 1:1, in a group, about a project (from Base or To Do!), or even about a single topic or task.
Quickly turn any message into a task & assign or edit within your chat. Never switch apps for routine task management again!
Get in the habit of directly chatting about tasks so valuable information stays where it belongs. See that chat in the comments of any task or item, in any Zenkit product.
Connect Zenchat to the Zenkit Universe to see your tasks in advanced views like Kanban, Gantt, to do lists, and vice versa.
Like all Zenkit products, Zenchat is enterprise-ready: SSO, SCIM provisioning, admin tools, identity management & more.

So now you know the basics, let’s get back to the beginning. Why exactly did we make a chat app?

The Story Behind Zenchat

When we first started building Zenkit we thought that communication tools (like team chat) and tools to add structure to work (like Kanban boards, to do lists etc) had an equal impact on productivity and collaboration. We thought it was 50–50.

But if you watch the people around you, it’s more like 90–10, or even 99–1! Humans are naturally inclined to chat. It’s a habit that sticks with us not only in our private lives, but at work too. That said, without that 1% of structure, there’s no sustainable productivity. Information just gets lost in chat threads.

So we have a problem: People don’t want to leave their chat, but they have to in order to track their work. But when you use an external app to manage tasks, you lose all the valuable commentary and feedback related to that task because—let’s face it—you’d always rather have a quick chat about something than use the comment function in a task app.

But what about integrations? Well… we don’t think integrations quite cut it either. Commands are not handy for regular users (e.g. commands to add a task, or commands to show tasks). And like normal messages, the integrated task elements also get lost in chat threads and messages.

On top of that, there’s ambivalence about where to add task relevant information. Do you chat about it in your team or with your manager? Or do you add it as a comment on a task? The likelihood of someone adding the relevant info to a task after chatting about it is about as high as people using the comment feature in a task to discuss it. (So… pretty unlikely)

So we decided to make something that could do both. Something that would seamlessly combine collaboration and task management into one app.

That was the genesis of Zenchat.

We wanted to combine chat and tasks perfectly so that you’ll never have a jarring context switch that brings you out of your flow, you can keep task-related discussion connected to the task itself, and your conversations gain more direction and relevance.

How to Use Zenchat

Simply go to chat.https://zenkit.com and log in with your Zenkit account (if you’re not logged in already)!

1:1 Chats

Zenchat will already have all of the people you already collaborate with in other Zenkit products available to chat with. Simply search for their name and get chatting!

If you’re not yet connected, invite them to join Zenkit by clicking the + icon, then “Invite new user by email”.

Group Chats

From that same + menu you can create new group chats with members you’re connected with. Give the group a name, add as many members as you like, and get chatting!

Project Chats

This is where it gets interesting! Using the Zenkit Universe, you can connect any collection from Base, or any list from To Do, to a chat. Once connected, you have a group chat directly connected to your project and anyone who’s a member of the collection or list will also be a member of the chat. Tasks created in this chat will become tasks in the To Do list, or items in the Base collection.

Whenever anyone chats about or comments on tasks or items, a short summary of that will be added to the project chat so that you have a bird’s-eye view over what’s going on in your projects.

Topic Chats

Chat about any task or item. In any chat, click to open any task and start commenting on it. “Star” a task to make it appear as a separate chat in the panel to the left.

If you’re commenting on a task or item in another Zenkit product, you can choose to chat about it instead! To do so, open the item, click the … icon in the top right hand corner and choose “Open in Zenchat” (this only works if you already connected the chat to the collection or list).

Creating and viewing tasks

In all chats, any message can be turned into a task! Click the … icon on any message and choose “Convert to task”. To view the task details, simply click on the task to open it. You can even begin chatting about it from there, or click to expand and add even more detail!

A list of all tasks can be viewed from the task panel in the chat – simply click “Tasks” in the top right corner of the chat to view them. This panel can be opened as a small drop down menu or pinned as a panel to the right of your screen.

Chats are connected to To Do by default, but you can also connect them to Base. Once connected, you’ll see the option to “Open in To Do” and “Open in Base”.

What does this mean for other Zenkit products?

The great news is that with every new Zenkit product, all other products are improved. To release Zenchat, we made big improvements to the database and naturally several big changes to the comments! You’ll now see the chat in the comments section of tasks and items, and in these chat comments you can now send voice messages, attach pictures, preview links, and more!

Alongside the release of Zenchat, we’ve also updated our website to showcase the Zenkit suite and make plenty of space for all the new products coming soon!

Get started with Zenchat

You can use Zenchat on any device or platform you choose. Download the version you need here: iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS and Linux: .AppImage, .tar.gz, .deb, .rpm. Find the full list of download options here.

We hope you love using Zenchat as much as we do! Please let us know what you think in the comments below, and if you’ve given it a try we’d love to hear about your experiences!

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post World, Meet Zenchat appeared first on Zenkit.

This is a very big day for us, and for Zenkit. Today, the Zenkit you know and love has been joined by a new product: Zenkit To Do. To Do is the first of many new products that will be joining the Zenkit family, so it’s time you were properly introduced!

But first of all: What does that mean for the original Zenkit application and for you as a Zenkit user?

The original Zenkit app will be in the center of the whole Zenkit product family. We will continue to improve its existing features and functions, as well as innovate as we always have done. To express this new central position, we rebranded it as the “Zenkit Base” or simply “the Base”. With the release of To Do, Zenkit Base will be stronger than ever. You can learn a little more about this rebranding and the latest changes to the Base here.

Now, on to the star of today’s blog:

What is Zenkit To Do?

Zenkit To Do is a super-simple task management tool designed from the ground up to help you work productively and collaborate with anyone. It’s just as beautifully designed as Zenkit, but much simpler and easier to use for daily task management.

In case you didn’t catch it last week, here’s To Do in action:

You can start using it by logging in to todo.https://zenkit.com with your existing Zenkit login credentials (or if you’re new here, register for an account).

What can it do?

Like any good task management tool, To Do allows you to focus on what needs to get done, reminding you at the appropriate time, and helping you get your team on board.

Here’s what you can expect in the first batch of features available with the launch (as you can expect, there’s a lot more on the way!):

Inbox
Quick Add
Smart lists
Starred
Sharing
Due Dates and Reminders
Repeaters
Subtasks & Checklists
Files
Comments
Offline support
Dark mode & new themes
And lots, lots more…

Check out the full list of features here.

So far, so… normal? We’ve picked out the most necessary features needed for people to get things done effectively. But what really sets To Do apart from the crowd are the additional features that make it a stellar choice for anyone looking for a little something more from their task manager.

The special sauce

Like Zenkit itself, To Do is enterprise ready, with groups, roles, SAML, SCIM, auditing, and everything else you need to ensure that your team is able to work securely on the same platform.

The most special thing about To Do, however, is that it’s part of the Zenkit Universe. This means that it integrates seamlessly with Zenkit Base, and any other products we will launch in the future. (We will roll out this sync the week after Easter).

So what does that mean, exactly?

While To Do can be used as a completely separate product, it is also deeply connected to Zenkit Base (and all future Zenkit products). All tasks within the To Do app can also be accessed and changed within the Base (and vice versa).

Tasks can be added and changed in the Kanban, mind map, Gantt chart, and all other views of Base, and the simplified to-dos are automatically synced to matching lists in To Do. This means that now you can choose if you want to use the full functionality of Zenkit Base or the simple, task-focused style of To Do (or both together).

It’s especially beneficial for teams who may already be using Zenkit Base, and would like to add more users to their setup but don’t necessarily need everyone to have full access. By adding To Do to your Zenkit suite, even more users will have access to whichever collections you choose to link, without having to join your collections or workspaces directly. The learning curve for To Do is also much smaller, meaning that new team members or clients can get on board quickly.

Zenkit To Do vs. Wunderlist

For those of you familiar with Wunderlist, Zenkit To Do should make you feel right at home. That’s no accident – Wunderlist’s imminent shutdown has left many users worried about what to do with their data, and dissatisfied with many of the alternatives. Zenkit To Do was created with the intention to give Wunderlist users a new home, too!

Additionally, with a “one-click-import” function, Wunderlist users will be able to transfer their lists, along with due dates and starred tasks, directly into Zenkit To Do.

Is there anything else I should know?

First of all, congratulations on getting this far! Today’s post has been a little longer than usual, so thanks for sticking with me. From now on we’re just crossing t’s and dotting i’s:

You can learn more about To Do on it’s dedicated home page, and all the features are listed on the To Do pricing page.

To Do has its own dedicated subscription structure, separate from the Base subscription and pricing. If you already have a Plus subscription for Base, you can still access To Do for free, and vice versa. All pricing information can be found on the To Do pricing page.

We have updated our Terms of Service today to reflect this addition to the Zenkit family, as well as to clarify and define some new terms used to describe how data is shared between the different products. Zenkit Terms are applicable to all Zenkit products.

Lastly, we’re hard at work putting together a new knowledge base specifically for Zenkit To Do. We’ll keep you posted as soon as it’s ready to go! If you have any questions, you’re welcome to get in touch with our lovely customer success team via the in-app chat, or via email to service@zenkit.com.

That’s it folks! What do you think of Zenkit To Do? Will you give it a try? We’re so happy to finally be able to show it to you all. It’s been a couple of months in development and it’s hard to keep such great news a secret

Cheers,
Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post World, Meet Zenkit To Do appeared first on Zenkit.

**Updated on 08.04.20 to provide instructions on how to import into Zenkit To Do**

Microsoft has finally announced when they will shut Wunderlist down for good. According to an article posted on Wunderlist’s blog this week, the app will be shut down on May 6th, 2020. They stated difficulty maintaining the app as it ages and an inability to guarantee that the app will work as it should, as reasons to finally pull the plug. In addition to no longer pushing updates to the app, it is now no longer possible to register for a new account.

What Does This Mean for Wunderlist Users?

Wunderlist users have until May 6th to move their data elsewhere, either by importing into To Do, or exporting it to upload to another app. The blog article states that –

“You can keep using Wunderlist while we keep supporting it. You’ll still be able to access your data – you can choose to export it, or import it into To Do. Of course, we’d love for you to continue your journey with Microsoft To Do.

After May 6th, your to-dos will no longer sync. For a period of time, you’ll still be able to import your lists into To Do. Starting today, we will no longer accept new Wunderlist sign-ups.”

The implication is that up until May 6th, users will be able to export their data to use in other apps. While they state that users planning to switch to Microsoft To Do will be able to do so after that date, there’s no guarantee that it will be possible to export data to other apps after this point. So, it’s up to you to switch over to a new tool before then!

Make the Switch to Zenkit To Do

For those of you looking for a Wunderlist alternative, you’re in luck! It’s super easy to move your Wunderlist data into Zenkit To Do using our direct import, and we’ve worked hard to pack To Do with many of your favourite Wunderlist features (like Favorites, subtasks, and that oh-so-satisfying chime when a task is checked off).

1. If you haven’t already, get your Zenkit To Do account (you can log in using your existing Zenkit login info)

2. At the bottom of the left-hand panel, click “Import from other apps”

3. Choose “Wunderlist”

4. Log in to Wunderlist if propted

5. Pick the lists you want to import.

That’s it! All your starred tasks, due dates, comments, attachments, inbox, folders and everything else will be imported and you can start working with them again right away!

Want to Try Zenkit Base Instead?

1. If you haven’t already, get your free Zenkit account.

2. Create a new collection and select ‘Import’, then ‘Wunderlist’.

3. Sign in to your Wunderlist account, then pick the lists you’d like to import.

4. Done! Continue using your lists in their brand-new home.

You can learn more about importing from Wunderlist in our Knowledge Base.

We’re always happy to welcome any new users on board, from Wunderlist or otherwise! If you ever have any questions about making the switch to Zenkit, please feel free to get in touch with our lovely support team via the chat bubble, or email service@zenkit.com.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Wunderlist is Shutting Down on May 6th, 2020 appeared first on Zenkit.

Highly requested and eminently useful, a browsable archive has been a long time coming.  While we’ve had the ability to archive individual items and entire collections for a while, finding all the archived items has been a bit of a hassle. That’s why we’re excited to finally release our vision for a helpful, easy-to-use archive that feels like an extension of your collections.

The best thing about our new browsable archive is that you can use Zenkit’s powerful filters to help sift through your archive. Even if (like us) you have three years’ worth of items in the archive, you’ll still be able to find even the oldest one in moments!

Finding Your Archived Items

Zenkit’s item archive works on the collection level, so you can find all the items you’ve ever archived from a collection, all in one place. To find the archive, open your collection and click on the collection name to open the settings. On the left-hand menu, click ‘Archive’.

The simple list of items is scrollable, and the archive filter works just like any other collection filter, helping you find items based on any condition you need. Tasks done by a particular user? No problem. All of your tax-related tasks from 2018? Sure thing!

Restore or Delete Archived Items in Bulk

Once you’ve found the items you’re looking for, you can select them all (or only a few of them, if needed) and restore or delete them in one click.

Not sure you’ve found the right item? Click to open the item details just as you would for a normal item. All the details you need are there.

Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click ‘Restore X items’ or ‘Delete X items’ at the bottom of the list and confirm the action.

Please remember that if you delete items, they’re gone forever! Neither you nor anyone on our team will be able to recover them.

All in all, you can now quickly and easily find and recover accidentally archived items, take a stroll down memory lane, or finally get rid of all your old archives in one fell swoop! We hope you’ll enjoy finding old items as much as we enjoyed building a way for you to find them! The archive is already available for all Zenkit users right now.

Cheers,

Siobhan & the Zenkit Team

The post Introducing the Browsable Archive appeared first on Zenkit.

If you’ve visited our blog before, you’ve probably read about how great Zenkit is for Kanban, building mind maps, creating editorial calendars, and much more. But did you know that Zenkit is also a really great list manager? Zenkit’s list view combined with the task-list add-on can make it the perfect Wunderlist replacement.

**Update: We have now released Zenkit To Do, a task manager designed specifically to make any Wunderlist user feel right at home.**

Despite Microsoft’s purchase of Wunderlist in 2015 (that’s four years ago!), and news of its replacement by Microsoft To Do, it’s still one of the top 100 productivity apps in the app store. And now that Wunderlist’s shutdown date has been officially announced, users are probably looking for a new tool to take its place.

With our direct Wunderlist import, it’s a cinch to make Zenkit the new home of your to-dos, reminders, and projects.

Zenkit as a Wunderlist Alternative

There are many things that make Zenkit the best Wunderlist alternative in 2019, 2020, or even 2050! It has all the basics, like the list view, the easy-to-use checkboxes from the task-list add-on, favorites, due dates, reminders, attachments, and more.

The brand new hierarchy view and subtasks are like what Wunderlist would probably have evolved into (we think), if they’d not been purchased by Microsoft.

So, if you’re looking to make the switch, here are the top 6 Zenkit features that will make any Wunderlist user feel right at home:

1. List view: Like any good task manager, Zenkit has a list view, plain and simple. Anyone who’s used a list-based productivity app (be it Wunderlist, Todoist, or any other) will be familiar with it.
2. My Favorites: Like Wunderlist, Zenkit gives you the option to mark certain list items as a favorite. Favorite items appear in your Favorites – a separate section of the app that has your most important tasks front and center!
3. Labels: Similar to Wunderlist’s tags, Zenkit’s labels give you the chance to further prioritize your tasks. You could also use them to categorize items or simply track progress.
4. Duplicate lists: If there are lists you find that you use on a regular basis, you can use Zenkit’s list duplication feature to, well, duplicate your lists! This will save you time from having to repeatedly insert the same data.
5. Collaboration: Share lists and collaborate with friends, family, or colleagues in real time. You can even manage how much access someone has to edit content.
6. Direct import: You can import your lists directly into Zenkit! Don’t bother exporting your Wunderlist data and trying to figure out how to upload it to your new app of choice – Zenkit can connect with Wunderlist directly and import all of your lists with task completion and favorites intact!

Switching from Wunderlist to Zenkit

Our direct import feature means that you can easily move your lists, projects, inbox, and even favorites into Zenkit in moments. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Create a free Zenkit account (if you don’t already have one)!

Step 2: Click the ‘+ New Collection’ icon on your homepage to create a new collection, and choose ‘Import’ from the list.

Step 3: Choose Wunderlist from the list of import options.

Step 4: Give Zenkit permission to access your Wunderlist data by logging in to your Wunderlist account.

Step 5: Once you’re logged in, a list of all your Wunderlist lists will appear in Zenkit. Click on the name of the list you want to import, then click ‘Import’.

Step 6: Your Wunderlist list will appear as a collection on your Zenkit homepage.

Step 7: Et voila! You have your new Wunderlist alternative. Simply open the new collection and start working.

That’s it! Once you’ve signed in to your Wunderlist account from Zenkit once, you’ll never have to do it again, so importing the rest of your list can be done in just a few clicks

Now it’s time to get productive – use Zenkit to track your projects, share files, collaborate on tasks, write out your shopping lists, or plan your next big event. We can’t wait to see how you’ll use it! Need a refresher on just how it all works? Check out our extensive Knowledge Base.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Zenkit: Your Wunderlist Alternative appeared first on Zenkit.

You asked for it, and we made it happen. We’re so excited to finally announce the release of our game-changing subtask field and hierarchy view. We truly believe that these features will revolutionize the way you work in Zenkit, helping you intuitively structure your projects like never before.

All New: Subitems for Zenkit

Ever looked at your project and just felt completely overwhelmed? Whenever you have a large project to tackle, the best advice is always to break big tasks down into smaller subtasks that feel manageable and approachable on a realistic timeline.

However, depending on the size of your project, breaking things down to such small pieces can mean that your Kanban board, list, table, or whatever else you’re working with becomes cluttered and confusing. Looking at a seemingly endless list of tasks can put you right back where you started—overwhelmed and intimidated by the sheer number of things to do.

In the past, we’ve recommended a couple of workarounds – using two separate collections to manage higher-level tasks and all their subtasks or using a reference field within a single collection to link related tasks. Filters and saved views were a way to manage the overcrowding by helping you to focus on particular subsets of tasks, but they weren’t as precise as we’d have liked.

The introduction of our ‘Subitems’ field solves all of this by taking the breakdown of tasks to a whole new level.

Subitems enable you to quickly and intuitively add subtasks, sub-sub-tasks, sub-sub-sub tasks (you get the picture!) to any item in your collection. By opening an item, you can see at a glance which tasks belong to it and if it has a parent task. You can move items in the subitems field around using drag and drop to quickly change the order in which they appear, and which items they’re subitems of.

If you want, you can also enable a setting to show you exactly where in the hierarchy an item appears and you can click on the linked names in the path to open any item that appears before it in the path. If you have the task-list add-on enabled, marking a parent task as complete will also automatically mark all of its subtasks as complete, too.

However, simply creating a new field wasn’t enough…

Intuitively Add Structure with the Hierarchy View

The all-new hierarchy view is like an expanded version of the subitem field. It shows you every single item you’ve added to the hierarchy and lets you quickly add unconnected tasks into the hierarchy as a first-tier item, or as a subitem of any other item, by simply dragging and dropping them onto the list.

Indentations mark when items become subitems, and you can drag items left and right to change their level in the hierarchy. You can quickly collapse or open items to get a quick overview of top tasks or see everything in your project at once.

Make the Magic Happen with Filters

The magic of the subitems field and hierarchical structure really becomes apparent when you start working with filters and in other views. For me, the “aha!” moment happened in Kanban view, when I was looking for all the tasks related to one of my main tasks.

With the handy “Set filter for subitems” function, you can now immediately view all tasks related to a particular task in a couple of clicks. Not only does this help you intuitively know the progress of a particular part of your project, it also does away with the anxiety-inducing mass of tasks on your board in an instant.

But that’s not all we built. Along with this subitem filter, we’ve also created a filter to help you find all tasks within a particular hierarchical range – view all top-level tasks only, or any tasks within any range with a simple slide of the toggle.

These filters reduce the volume of tasks on your board to a minimal but important set, making it easy for you to know exactly what’s happening in your project, and what you’ve still got to do at a glance.

The Mind Map Connection

And that’s not all! We’ve re-built the mind map so that it connects directly with hierarchies and subtasks, so when you make a change in the mind map, it reflects in the other views and vice versa! With this update, we have finally cemented the link between the mind map and the other views, giving you multiple intuitive ways to work on your project.

Converting Existing Mind Maps into a Hierarchy Field

If you already have a mind map in your collection, you can convert it to V2.0 by clicking the button in the top right corner of your mind map window. Once you convert your mind map, the title of the collection becomes the centre of the map, and a subtask field will automatically be created so you can start adding tasks to the map from anywhere in your collection.

Checklists vs. Subtasks

Checklists will remain as a separate entity, in case you want to add lists to an item without creating entirely new items. However, you can also convert existing checklists to be subtasks on an item: All you need to do is to make sure that you have created the subitem field in the collection, then click the checklist name to convert it.

Tl;dr?

Check out the video:

We’re extremely proud of our new subtasks field and hierarchy view, and can’t wait to hear all about how you will be using it in your own projects! I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Jesse, who was the lead on this product, to Martin, our CEO, whose input was instrumental in taking this as far as it’s come, and to the rest of the team who supported the development of these awesome new features.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Introducing Subitems & Hierarchy for Zenkit appeared first on Zenkit.

We’re gearing up to release some pretty big features in the near future, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped working on the little things! Here’s what we’ve added to Zenkit, along with a ton of tiny tweaks and fixes, in the last couple of months.

Sort in Kanban View

Sort your lists in Kanban view by any field of your choice! Kanban lists are used to be sorted simply by whether you added an item to the top or the bottom of the list, or by the order that you dragged them in. Now, with Kanban list sorting, you can choose to sort your cards alphabetically, by item age, according to the due date, labels, references, and much more.

How to sort in Zenkit’s Kanban view:

• Click on the name of your view in the top right-hand corner.
• Click ‘Edit’ next to your view name.
• Click ‘Sort by’ and pick a field.
• Pick ascending or descending.

It’s as easy as that! Like all other Kanban view properties, the sort is specific to that particular view. If you create multiple custom Kanban views, each one can have a different sort applied and it won’t affect how other views are displayed.

Private Fields for Published Collections

If you’ve published a collection, you can now choose to hide certain fields from appearing to visitors. This option makes it much easier to control what information is shared with the public, and allows you to track all data, even confidential data, in one collection.

How to hide a field in a published collection:

• Click on the name of the field
• Scroll down and click the ‘Publicly visible’ toggle to the off position.
• Alternatively, change the field visibility in the published collection settings!

The option to hide certain fields was highly requested after the release of published collections and is already being put to use by teams like Mozilla, who have been using published collections to manage the proposed sessions in each of their Spaces at the upcoming MozFest. See how they’re making use of published collections & hidden fields by clicking ‘See the proposed sessions’ on any of the Spaces.

As always, more information about public and private fields can be found in our Knowledge Base.

Update to Mobile Menus

When we released our big design update a few months ago, we released swipe gestures for mobile, too. Swipe gestures are used to access workspace and collection settings, add new collections to workspaces, manage collection members, and much more. For Apple users, this is an intuitive way to find these menus, since swipe gestures are built into the iOS environment everywhere. However, Android users are not as used to using them, since only a few apps implement this kind of interaction. This meant that some Android users were having difficulty making simple changes such as adding collections and workspaces on the go. So, we added a button…

You can now add new items, collections, or workspaces from the + button found at the bottom right-hand corner of the app’s home screen. Workspace and collection settings are still accessed by swiping left on the workspace or collection name, but it is now much easier to add new ones in an intuitive way! You can also access Zenkit templates from that same + button, so you can install pre-made collections straight to your device.

New Kanban Swimlane Design

Last but not least, we changed the way the swimlanes in Kanban view were displayed. In the past, the list titles disappeared after you scrolled down the page. This could lead to confusion, as it wasn’t always clear which list an item belonged to. Now, list names stick to the top of each section as you scroll so that it’s always clear exactly what list or label applies to each item in the section.

What do you think of these updates? Do you like them as much as we do? Let us know in the comments! Want to stay in the loop? Check out our changelog, which we’ll be updating with details of each new release (and will fill with details of past releases soon).

Cheers,

Siobhan and The Zenkit Team

The post New to Zenkit appeared first on Zenkit.

Public views are one of those subtle changes our dev team likes to slide into updates without much fanfare. They came out as part of our Zenkit 3.0 update, but I feel they haven’t received the love they deserve.

Not to be confused with published views, public views allow you to share a view you’ve created with other members of your collection.

Say you’ve created the perfect Kanban view for your team: You’ve got your lists sorted by task status, and swimlanes set up grouped by an assigned member. You’ve attached a filter so that only the highest-priority tasks appear.

You ask your team to check their Kanban view to look at your productivity masterpiece, but all they see is the standard layout, with no filter of swimlanes in sight. What’s gone wrong?

Public and Private Views

All Zenkit views are private by default, and it used to be that views could only be private. This is because we’ve always built Zenkit to be as flexible as possible so everyone can use it in exactly the way they want, without frames or structures being imposed on them by us. However, restricting views to private only means that teams that work together miss out on being able to share the workflows or structures they build themselves.

It may not come as a surprise, but in the example above, the issue was that the view was still set to private so nobody else on the team could see it

Luckily, publishing a view is super simple. When you’re editing any view, you’ll see a toggle right at the bottom of the menu with ‘Public’ next to it.

Click that on and voilà! the view appears in a new ‘Public’ section in your views menu and it becomes visible to everyone else in your collection.

How to Use Public Views

Personally, I really enjoy creating custom views, so I’ve got a ton of private ones for tasks assigned to me with my Kanban set up exactly as I like it, or with a calendar of my most important deadlines. However, our team also have several public views set up so we can all get an idea of how our tasks fit into the big picture.

There are loads of ways you can create public views to help boost your team’s productivity and make sure everyone is on the same page:

• In a marketing team or ad agency, you could have public views for current campaigns you’re running.
• A team of developers can have a public view that shows tasks related to the current sprint.
• A distributed team could create a public mind map for everyone to collaborate on in a brainstorming session.
• You could share a simplified table view of a complex collection for easier data processing.
• And much more…

Each team is totally different, so you’re likely to find a ton of different ways to use this. Let us know in the comments!

Public Views vs Published Collections

Despite the similar terminology, public views aren’t the same as published collections. That being said, having at least one public view in any collection you want to publish is necessary, as only public views are shown in published collections.

As always, you can brush up on your published collection know-how or learn a little more about creating custom views you can share with your team in our Knowledge Base.

Have you been using public views with your team? Let us know all about them! We’re excited to see how you’re using public and private views to shape how you share your work.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Feature Spotlight: Public Views appeared first on Zenkit.