Livingdocs Release July 2023: Enhanced Search Filter Definition & Multi-Language UI Capability

In this release, we have introduced significant improvements to the search and filter functionalities so you can find and load the exact data you need with much greater ease. Moreover, we enhanced the multilingual capabilities by allowing for the creation of multi-language menus complete with translations for each and every single menu item.

Enhanced Search Filter Definition

With this release, we have introduced a markedly more powerful way to define filters, which now allows for the use of logical operators: 'AND', 'OR' and 'NOT'.

This general improvement can now be applied to three features when working in Livingdocs:

1. Public API

   When using our Public API to programmatically load articles, you can leverage the increased flexibility of function to define exactly what content you need. You can also put this to use for automatically generated pages.

2. Dashboards

   Thanks to the enhanced filter definition, you can now define different dashboards for different roles in the newsroom to present the specific articles needed for specific roles without any additional UI interaction.

3. Configurable Filters 

   The third feature to which the new improvement in search and filtering can be applied is the creation of configurable filters by offering an interface which allows users to manually define exactly what they need to see.

Multiselect Option for Configurable Dashboard Filters

If the dashboard filters provided by Livingdocs don't quite cover  your use case, we have offered a good solution: the possibility to create configurable filters, allowing you to define filters yourself with the selections you need. Now, you can define these filters to enable users to select multiple options (multiselect) so that the documents resulting from a search can match one of, or a combination of, the filters selected. 

Multi-Language UI Capability 

With the July Release, we have taken the next step towards a full multilingual UI experience: all the configured labels can now be configured in multiple languages.

While users are not yet able to configure their preferred language, this capability will be introduced in the next release come September: In the next release, Livingdocs will provide all the labels in German, English, Italian and French, and users will be able to select which of these languages are used according to preference. 

For now, you can already start configuring all your labels in multiple languages in order to test the consistency before users have the capability to choose their preferred UI language.

Configuration Capability for Multiple Custom Previews

When defining Article and Page previews to enable users to see exactly what their work will look like once published, you can now include different preview variations thanks to the new configuration capability for multiple custom previews. Users can also toggle between different preview versions, with previews presented in the order they were configured.

In addition, the custom previews will preserve the scroll positions when they are manually reloaded. This greatly improves the user experience when it comes to these previews, as you do not have to scroll back down every time a fresh preview is requested.

Further improvements in the July 2023 Release include:

1. Distribution Planning

   When using the Distribution Planning Screens, you can now see which team is working on a story. What's more, we have improved the user experience when multiple users are planning article distribution simultaneously.

2. Document Copy

   You are now able to label every copy target more clearly in order to improve the labels in the Document Copy dialog.

Deprecations

In order to keep Livingdocs as streamlined and user-friendly as possible, we periodically remove features when we have found better solutions to the problems they solve. We will always give you ample notice so that you have plenty of time to make adaptations to your setup. You can find a comprehensive list of deprecations and changes that may affect your newsroom in the Technical Release Notes. 

1. Publish: Prepare Publish Flow → Publish Control

   We are phasing out the old Prepare Publish Flow in favor of Publish Control. Looking ahead, Publish Control will put into full effect in the November 2023 Release. You can already opt into using this improvement.

2. Dashboards

   It has been one year since we made the Table Dashboards the default, and the July Release is the last one to support the old dashboards. Come the September 2023 Release, the dashboards customised by custom Angular Code will no longer be functional.

3. Filter Sets

   As we have now enhanced the flexibility of dashboard configuration with different filters and columns, along with the ability to organise them in the main navigation, we are deprecating the Filter Sets feature which allows you to organise different filter settings and apply them from the Filter Bar. If you are using the Filter Sets feature, please contact us directly to discuss possible replacements for this functionality. The Filter Sets feature will be removed latest in the January 2024 release, with the potential for earlier removal if it no longer being used by any users before the January Release goes live. 

To get more in-depth, technical information about this release, please refer to our documentation site. There, you can stream the recordings and peruse the slide presentations of our Feature Webinar and Developer Webinar, as well as gain insights into the technical specs.

We look forward to showing you what’s in store for our next release!