Viewing Web Document edits in real-time & revised tagging
If you’ve been noticing some cool, subtle changes in Box lately, your eyes aren’t fooling you. Web Documents, our feature for creating wiki-like online documents in Box, makes it even easier to collaborate on these documents with others in real-time. We have also improved tagging to help you keep content organized and within easy reach. I asked one of our engineers, Jeff Seibert - one of the newest members of our team, via Increo Solutions - to give you the full scoop on our updates for Web Documents. We think it’s going to be a welcome set of improvements for everyone.
Web Documents: It’s easier for others to join the party
Box’s built-in web documents offer a quick and convenient way to take meeting notes, track new ideas, and manage projects. Easy to share, web documents are a great way to keep your whole team on the same page. You’ll notice quite a few improvements:
Fluid collaboration
It’s now easier than ever to work on a Web Document with multiple collaborators: when you are finished editing, or wish to pass control of the document on to someone else, simply switch to the Preview pane. When someone else takes control of the web document and starts making changes, you will be able to watch their edits in real-time.
Activity tracking
You can now leave Web Documents open in your browser without worrying about locking everyone else out. If you remain idle for a period of 10 minutes or more, the document will be automatically unlocked so that others can edit it. (Don’t worry, you will be warned that the document is unlocked, and you can always return to editing by switching back to the Edit pane.)
Spell-check this…
The spell-checking feature is now much more reliable, particularly when it comes to checking text that you pasted in from Microsoft Word or other programs.
Never lose work
If you try to close a Web Document with unsaved changes, you will now be prompted to save or discard them before continuing.
Your direct line to Box.net
We’d love to hear from you - next time you are working on a web document, click Feedback in the top-right corner and let us know what else we can improve!
Improved tagging: Making files even easier to find
Box has long offered the ability to tag files. With this update, we have simplified how you add tags to files and folders and made tags even more visible as you browse through all your content. To tag any file, simply click on the tag icon and enter a new tag, or select from existing ones. You also have the option to display tags while you’re in List View, providing quick links to other files tagged with the same phrase.
And there you have it. Stay tuned to the blog for updates, big and small. Post comments here or tweet your thoughts to @boxdotnet - we want your feedback, both positive and constructive!
Post by Sean Lindo, Community Manager and Jeff Seibert, Software Engineer
Great that Increo Solutions is working on Wbe Documents, however …… when will attention be brought back to solving reported bugs in getbackboard? Bugs reporting in August (and again posted in September) in Feedback http://www.getbackboard.com/view/KT9qe32jk0 are not responded to and neither are priority improvement requests. Now the staff and products and part of box dot net, can we get some badly needed service response to fee paying customer.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:35 am
[...] and starts making changes, you will be able to watch their edits in real-time. We have also made other enhancements to Web Documents, including improved spell-checking and activity [...]
November 4th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Great feature - congratulations - However I would suggest to make it available through an additional Icon that could be called Document Chat or something similar - The idea is that Web Document as a static intrinsic feeling on its creation - most likely is that traditional Box user would create a web doc and then share it or assign a task to be modified . Increo’s new attribute empower users now to collaborate on a document online - on Real Time - and as powerful this feature is - it won’t be embraced to its full capacity unless it stands out as a new buttom next to the tag or add a comment options
Thank you Box.net for all those great Improvements
November 5th, 2009 at 8:28 am
well that’s lovely
November 5th, 2009 at 3:51 pm