March 2021 Release Notes

Number of Items:
69
Category :
Enhancement
Number of Items:
38
ID Summary Resolution
2456 New top navigation bar Put all your most frequently visited tables at your fingertips with the new top nav bar, which places all your navigation items in a convenient toolbar across the top of the screen. With the nav bar, you can organize related tables and navigation items into groupings together, so they're all available on the toolbar while you're working in one part of the system. For example, Contract Managers can configure a Contract Management grouping that has everything they usually need, without cluttering the screen with items they only need occasionally.

You can use the menu icon to switch between groupings or search for specific tables you want to open right away. 
 


Converting the Left Pane to the Top Nav Bar

Setup for the top nav bar is very similar to the left pane, so you can convert your left pane configuration directly to the top nav bar, or at least use it as a foundation.
  1. Click the Setup gear in the top-right corner and go to Look and Feel > Navigation Menu Setup.
  2. Edit a navigation menu. For ease of testing, you might start by editing the navigation menu assigned to your primary team. If you need to check your primary team, go to User Menu > My Profile and look for the Primary Team field.
  3. At the bottom of the General tab, set Navigation Menu Location to Top.
  4. Go to the Apply tab and apply the changes to your team.
The system interprets your old settings according to these rules:
  • Any items that aren't inside a top-level grouping are shown together in a new default grouping titled General, which usually includes items like Chart Collections, My Assigned, and Messaging. This is the first grouping that opens when you log in, if you have any items that aren't inside a top-level grouping.
  • Top-level groupings control what appears in the list under the menu icon. For example, if the first grouping in your navigation menu is People and Companies, the first grouping in the nav bar list is People and Companies, which contains all the same tables and items that showed when you expanded the People and Companies grouping in the left pane.
  • Lower level groupings are shown as items on the nav bar. For example, if you have a System grouping with an Import grouping underneath it, the System bar shows an item called Import that can be expanded to show its contents.
Using the New Nav Bar

Once you've applied the new nav bar, try it out.
  • Click the menu icon to see the list of groupings.
  • Switch to another grouping and watch the first item open automatically.
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to a table to see the options. For most tables, the options include a shortcut to create a new record, any saved searches assigned to the navigation menu, the table's charts and reports, and Setup [Table] for administrators.
  • Click the menu icon, scroll to the bottom, and click View All to see everything you have access to.
  • Use the menu search to find a table that isn't on the current grouping. Click the table name to open it, and notice it appear as a temporary tab on your current grouping.
Next Steps

Set up your users for success by following these recommendations:
  • Train users on the new UI before you turn it on for their team. When you do move a team to the new UI, turn on the top nav bar and the new table view at the same time. The new table view is covered in the "New Quick Search pane and table view" release note.
  • Review each navigation menu when you switch it to the top nav bar. Try to keep each grouping focused, so that all the items are relevant to a user role or workflow. Click grouping titles and system items to review any additional options that might apply.
  • Put the most relevant item or table at the top of the grouping. This is what opens automatically when you switch to the module. For example, in the Contracts grouping, you would likely place the Contracts table at the top of the list, or add Home and configure it with a contract-related dashboard. For each grouping, you can select whether to automatically open the first system item, or the first table. You can place system items in multiple groupings, and for the Home item, you can set different dashboards for different Home tabs.
  • Remind users that they can tweak their navigation menu by going to User Menu > Preferences > Navigation Menu Setup. However, only administrators can switch users from the left pane to the top nav bar.
2457 New Quick Search pane and table view Quick Search has moved to its own pane, where you can easily see and control the search filters being applied, and you can add or remove individual filters without needing to start over. Table views are now more responsive and flexible, allowing you to drag and drop columns in your preferred order, and saved searches are now featured right under the table name, where you can click to switch to another search. You can also click and drag to resize columns. To maximize screen space, action bars can now be right-aligned in line with other text instead of taking up a horizontal row at the top of the table.

Table view with Quick Search pane open and the saved search drop-down expanded

Enabling the New Features

To use the new table view and Quick Search, you need to enable both the new top nav bar and the new table view.
  • To enable the top nav bar, click the Setup gear icon in the top right-hand corner, go to Look and Feel > Navigation Menu Setup, edit your current navigation menu, and set Navigation Menu Location to Top.
  • To enable the new UI, go to Setup > Look and Feel > Power User Interface, edit your current scheme, and set Use New GUI to Yes.
When you turn on the new UI, action bars are automatically right-aligned. Users whose teams are not yet on the new UI continue to see left-aligned action bars, since the new alignment requires the new UI.

Using the New Quick Search

The Quick Search pane includes a text search box and up to four default filters. Default filters are configurable in the View, but when you upgrade your system, the system automatically selects the first four display fields in the View to use as default filters. ID, Text, and Attached File fields are not automatically selected for Quick Search. For personal views, no default filters are applied.

Try out these features in the new Quick Search pane:
  • Open the Quick Search pane. The first four display fields in the view are automatically added as default filters, for every view except for the Personal View.
  • Enter a search term and notice the search results refresh automatically.
  • Click the plus icon in the Add Filters section to easily apply custom filters. These work much like adding an advanced filter in a saved search, but you can do it right from the Quick Search pane and apply it to the search results immediately.
  • After you add a few filters, remove one by clearing Clear in a default filter or clicking the X in an advanced filter.
  • Click Clear All Filters at the top of the pane to easily show all the records again.
  • If you have configured an Active Records search in the past, select the Active Only checkbox to apply it.
Using the New Table View

When you go to a table, notice that columns are now automatically sized to use the whole width of the screen, and avoid horizontal scrolling whenever possible.

Try out these features in the new table view:
  • Click a column header and drag it left or right to reorder the columns in the view.
  • Click the border between two column headers and drag to resize the columns.
  • Select Views > Reset View to reset your changes to the columns.
  • Click over the drop-down arrow next to the saved search name to select a different search.
  • Click Search to open the new Quick Search pane.
Configuration Options

To reflect these new features, there are several new configuration options:
  • In the View wizard, you can select the new Quick Search checkbox to add a field as a default filter in the Quick Search pane. In the example image above, the view has Contract Title and Contract End Date configured to appear as default Quick Search filters. In general, it's best to include only a few key fields as default filters to prevent cluttering the pane. Users can also add as many custom filters as they like using the Add Filters section. When you upgrade your system, the first four display fields in each View are automatically selected for Quick Search, to save you from having to configure each View individually. This way, you can use the automatic selections as a starting point, and make adjustments to individual Views as people use Quick Search.
  • In the View wizard, Column Width now has three options, Auto, Auto - min width, and Fixed, which work with the new Column Width Size setting to determine the appearance and behavior of the columns. Use Auto - min width to prevent columns from becoming too small to read on small screens, or use Fixed to prevent the system from changing the column width on larger or smaller screens. These settings determine how the system automatically allocates screen space, but users are still able to change column width and order on the fly by dragging and dropping.
  • In the Action Bar wizard, you can set the alignment to right or left at the bottom of the Design tab. With the new UI, it's best to set action bars to align on the right side, which leaves more space for records. However, you don't need to do this for every action bar upon upgrade; instead, when you turn on the new UI, your action bars are automatically right-aligned.
  • If you want to show a Saved Search icon in the Action Bar, set new global variable "Include 'Saved Search' button in default action bar" to Yes. The icon is configurable in the Look and Feel scheme on the Icons tab.
    Saved Search icon in Action Bar
Next Steps

Help your users get the most out of the new features by following these recommendations:
  • Train users on the new UI before you turn it on for their team.
  • When you do move a team to the new UI, turn on the top nav bar and the new table view at the same time.
  • If time allows, review and test system-level Views in your main process tables before making the new UI available to everyone. Remove unnecessary columns to avoid cluttering the screen, and select the most useful fields to include as default filters in Quick Search.
  • When you're satisfied with the Views and Quick Search filters, make sure to enable the new nav bar and table view for all users in your system.
2470 Global search improvements Global search has gotten much more powerful and flexible, with a new drop-down option to search a specific table, collated results by table when you search the whole KB, and the new Quick Search pane to further filter the records found by the search.

Using the New Global Search

Try out the new global search for yourself:
  • Use the drop-down to select All and search the entire KB. Once you enter and submit a search term, search results for each table are listed as they were in prior versions, but a new Search Results pane summarizes what was found so you can more easily navigate all the records.
  • From a search of all tables, click one of the tables in the Search Results pane to load just results from that table. This also opens the Quick Search filter options in the pane, while preserving the Top Results and Expand List navigation options that allow you to return to the full list of results, or jump to results in another table.
  • You can also use the global search bar as a shortcut to search a specific table. Use the drop-down to select a table from the list, then enter a search term and press Enter. This opens the table view for the table you selected, with the Quick Search pane showing your search term in the text search box. From here, you can use the Quick Search filters to narrow down the results, or simply open the record you want to work on.
Recommendations

Train users on the new features and how to navigate between Top Results and the results in specific tables.
2454 Extend Quick Search results with synonym dictionaries New synonym dictionary support makes it easier for users to find all the records they're looking for, even when the records use different terms or phrases. For example, you could add "GDPR" as a synonym of "General Data Protection Regulation" to make sure all relevant contracts show up in search results for the acronym GDPR, or link "indemnification" with "limits of liability" so that users find all related records when they look for either term.

Synonyms are organized into three dictionaries, so admins can categorize terms and users can select only the dictionaries they want to use for a given search. To use synonyms with your KB, you'll need to add terms to the dictionaries, and teach users to select the Synonym checkbox if they want to include synonyms in a Quick Search. 



For more details on setting up and using synonyms in your system, see Synonym Dictionaries.
2458 Updated record forms As part of the updates to the navigation menu, table view, and Quick Search, Agiloft record forms have also been freshened up with a new look. There are only a few functional changes:
  • Additional options like Print and New Email are now placed together under a shared ellipses button next to Save and Cancel.
    Contract record header with Save, Cancel, and a more options button showing Print and Email below it
  • The buttons, table name, and summary field value now float when you scroll down the record. The floating bar also includes the record tabs, once you scroll past them.
  • Record tabs now appear below the common area, since the content in the common area stays the same across all tabs.
The updated forms also empower you to easily create an interactive graphical display for record status. To add one, simply go to Setup [Table], open the Layout tab, and click Graphical Status Display. In the wizard that opens, select the appropriate field for the table. The system uses the field values to automatically generate an interactive status bar that lists each value on its own tile. For more information, refer to Status Bars.

 
The Look and Feel wizard has also been updated with corresponding options for these updates, including Graphical Status Displays.
2469 Roll out the new UI one team at a time
When you upgrade to Release 22, none of the new UI changes are applied automatically. Instead, you can manage the rollout of the UI changes to your users by enabling the updates for individual teams.
 
To enable the new UI for a specific team:
  1. Go to the Setup gear icon in the top-right corner > Look and Feel > Power User Interface, edit the scheme for the team, and set Use New GUI to Yes at the bottom of the General tab. However, even if you change this setting, users don't see any changes unless their navigation menu is also switched from the left pane to the top nav bar.
  2. Go to Setup > Look and Feel > Navigation Menu Setup, edit the navigation menu for the team, and set the Navigation Menu Location to Top at the bottom of the General tab. 
Overriding Personalized Navigation Menus
 
When you update a navigation menu to the top nav bar, the "Push to users" setting on the Apply tab determines whether the change is applied to users with personalized navigation menus.
  • To unilaterally apply the updated configuration to all the users in the selected team, choose "Force changes upon users." This brings all affected users back into alignment with the team's default navigation menu. However, it also overrides any customizations users might have made to their navigation menus.
  • To prompt users to update their menus, without removing existing customizations, you can choose "Notify users about optional change." However, if you do this, you need to communicate the plan to users so they know to go update their menu to the top nav bar. To do so, they will need to go to User Menu > Preferences > Navigation Menu Setup and click the option to update their navigation menu position. This updates their navigation menu to the same position as their team's menu, without affecting their customized modules. Users will also see a red notification badge that directs them to the Preferences menu.
  • If you want to migrate users to the new top nav bar, you should not select "Do not push changes to users."
Recommendations

Because the new UI requires turning on both the top navigation menu in Navigation Menu Setup and the new table view in Power User Interface schemes, edit all your active schemes first and turn on the new table view. Then, when you set a navigation menu configuration to the top nav bar, the new UI appears for teams assigned to that configuration menu.

If you use only a few navigation menus that are shared by all your users, consider making a copy for yourself so you can test the new UI before rolling it out, or making a copy and gradually transitioning each team from the old one to the new one. This way, you can test the UI and adjust the nav bar modules and table views if necessary, and you can train each team before you apply the changes to them.
 
If necessary, you can also apply the new nav bar without applying the rest of the UI changes. To do so, set the Navigation Menu Location to Top for the team, but don't set Use New GUI to Yes in the team's Look and Feel.
2514 Added "overlap" search filters for Multi-choice fields
Quick Search filters on Multi-choice fields now include overlap conditions to offer more intuitive filtering. Select "overlaps with items in" or "does not overlap with items in" to use the new filters. If you select "overlaps with items in," the criterion finds records where the field contains at least one of the values listed; if you select "does not overlap with items in," the criterion finds records where the field does not contain any of the values listed.
 
Quick Search filter with Multi-choice field
2471 Easily maximize modal windows
All modal dialog windows now include a button to maximize or restore them. Click the maximize button to easily expand the modal to fill the available space, or click restore on a maximized modal to shrink it to its default size.

Modals also now support resizing from all four corners.


2453 Internet Explorer 11 support
Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is still supported, but isn't compatible with some of the new UI elements introduced in this release. Notably, IE11 is not supported for the new Quick Search pane, or the updated table view that offers drag-and-drop columns adjustment.

If you need to use IE11, you can disable these new UI features until you can move to another browser. To do so, go to the Setup gear icon in the top-right corner > Look and Feel > Power User Interface, edit the current scheme, and set Use New GUI to No on the Global tab.


2483 Modify signing order, attached documents, and more in Adobe Sign previews

This idea came from you!

Easily and clearly control your Adobe Sign agreements using new preview options, directly from your Agiloft system. Preview now lets you review and edit the current recipient list, message contents, and ordered file list before sending. You can even add password protection, adjust the reminder schedule, and select a language for the recipients. These options now appear when you click Preview/Sign from an Adobe Sign agreement.
 
First, review the Recipients section to see exactly how your Agiloft signing order translates in Adobe Sign. For example, if you dynamically set the signing order in Agiloft, the system automatically cleans up the list so that Adobe Sign receives only the recipients who are actually assigned to this envelope. You can drag the items in the list into a different order, or click the number or email address to adjust as needed.