Product
What's New in Aphex: August 2022
This month is all about sharing. We’ve bundled two transformative updates into one release, including one of your top requests - better printing.
What is changing with Publications?
Millie Barratt-Boyes
Aug 18, 2022
We’re introducing an exciting new-look for our Publication Viewer, and making some fundamental changes to the way you can share plans.
What's Changing: a Summary
After hearing from many teams about the type of control and reassurance they want over the visible data in their shared plans, we've streamlined the interactive sharing process.
Here's what's changing:
Old Publication Viewer New Publication Viewer
| Infinite number of individual links can be generated for a single Publication | → Single shared version with a consistent URL |
| Each link can allow different levels of access to data |
→ Each Publication has a single, admin controlled configuration of what data is shared |
| Any recipients of a magic link have ongoing access to the Publication. Access cannot be revoked. |
→ Ability to toggle public access on or off at any time using 'Share to Web' |
| Each magic link can have a different baseline visible |
→ Admins can choose to include Baselines in the shared plan |
|
Delay Data is always shown in shared plans |
→ Admins can choose to include Delay Data in the shared plan |
|
Three step process to gain access to a shared plan using a magic link |
→ Immediate guest access to shared plans |
| Primary grouping control only |
→ Updated grouping and sub-grouping controls to match Planner |
| Dark blue theme matching Planner |
→ Light theme to indicate the view-only nature of Publications |
Why have we made this change?
We've been paying close attention to how projects are sharing plans, and after talking with many teams, it became clear that we needed to make a few fundamental changes to Publications.
Lots of you told us that it was difficult to keep track of all the different shared versions, and what information was accessible through each. We heard whispers of teams creating dozens of shared plans for the same Publication - each one with a different baseline, or a different filter.
At a first thought, the ability to customise what's visible in every single shared plan sounds pretty neat, right? However, in the end, we found this made it near impossible to account for what information was publicly available at any given time.
Our solution? Keep it simple.
What do you need to do?
If you're an Admin, for each new Publication your team creates, you will control when the Publication is 'Shared to Web'. You will also control if the delay data or baseline information is accessible in the Public version.
If you're a wanting to share a Publication, you can copy the Publication URL and send it to your recipient. They will have immediate access to the plan until the Admins disable public sharing.
What happens to old shared plan links?
Any magic links you’ve already generated will still allow the recipient to view your plan as a guest for three months after the new Publication Viewer is released. After three months, any old shared plan links will expire.