Quickbase September 2024 Release Notes

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September 15, 2024

New

Sidebar navigation on by default starting October 1

October 1, 2024, we'll start rolling out sidebar navigation as the default navigation experience. The rollout will begin October 1 at 7pm EST and will finish by October 2 at 7pm EST.

In sidebar navigation, the menu bar across the top moves to the left. This gives you more valuable screen space while keeping tables within easy reach. All existing settings like permissions, table order, and custom branding translate 1:1, so your work won’t be interrupted.

Account admins can control whether their users can choose between the legacy and new navigation experience. If this account-wide control is turned off, users will have the new navigation experience by default.

Users who have tried new sidebar navigation and then switched back to legacy top navigation will not be defaulted to the new navigation on October 1. Instead, Quickbase will remember their preference. However, as long as admins allow them to see navigation options, they can switch to the new navigation at any time.

To ease the change, we’re providing you with several resources that you can share with your team members:

• Guide to Quickbase's Updated Navigation (end-user guide)

• Introducing Quickbase New Navigation (blog post)

• Updates to Quickbase navigation (help article)

• We’ll also continue to provide in-product messaging and tours to introduce you and your users to the updated navigation.

Service accounts

Collaboration and governance are two crucial parts of Quickbase application building. Realm admins can now convert user accounts to service accounts, enabling secure collaboration among multiple users without the need to share individual logins.

Service accounts can be granted access to apps, pipelines, and solutions. They can also perform actions in a realm, including making API calls that use user tokens.

Realm admins can assign users to one or multiple service accounts. After a user has been assigned to a service account, they can switch to it from their user menu. When a user switches to a service account, an event is added to your audit logs with the session ID.

Note: You can only directly sign in to a service account if using SAML. This is so that you can leverage SAML Token Exchange. The menu shown below is only available on sidebar navigation.

Since beta launched in August, we’ve added the ability to switch back to your primary user account when operating as a service account.

Note: Accessing a service account directly from Pipelines will be available near the end of this year.

Learn more about setting up service accounts.

Application Lifecycle Management: Reports and charts now available in QBL and Solution APIs

We’ve added reports and charts support in QBL (Quickbase Language) as part of version 0.4.

Starting September 18, 2024, you'll be able to export, create, and update reports and charts schema in addition to the existing app schema (tables, fields, relationships, roles, and all their settings). Schema includes:

• Table home page

• All types of default and shared reports and charts

• Reports and charts properties and settings

• Report groups

• Shared report role permissions

This updated QBL version will be the default version when exporting solutions, but older QBL versions are still available and valid for the Solution APIs.

With Solution APIs, you can do things like build and test changes in a dev app, and then apply those changes to a production app. This means you can make updates faster and easier.

QBL and Solution APIs are included for Enterprise customers. They are available, with some limits, to Business plan customers until December 31, 2024.

Learn more about QBL and Solution APIs.

Enhancements

Charts in custom emails

In custom emails, app builders and users can include chart reports embedded as images. In source mode, these can now be resized to further customize what recipients receive by placing the report inside of a <div>

<div style="width:300px">
  <qb-report report-id="1" />
</div>

AI Smart Builder now generates the latest version of dashboards

As of August 29, 2024, the AI Smart Builder now generates the latest version of dashboards. This means that you no longer need to manually upgrade your generated dashboard to the latest version—so you benefit from our dashboard updates right away.

Open beta

New navigation updates

As we continue our efforts to modernize the platform and provide a consistent experience, we’ve made several updates to our navigation experience.

Updated report menu

We've restyled the report menu in the new sidebar navigation experience. The new component gives you a quick overview of the available reports for the current table with quick access to your recent ones and your personal reports. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to quickly organize the list using drag and drop.

Some of the labels have changed, but you’ll still be able to access everything you could access before:

• Mine is now Personal reports

• Common is now Shared

Updated navigation in Pipelines

On October 1, 2024, we will bring the new navigation experience to Pipelines by adding the global bar.

This gives you a similar navigation experience as your apps, the Admin Console, and Exchange. The global bar also supports custom branding settings on the account level.

This update brings the familiar look and feel of the user menu—giving you quick and easy access to links that were previously in My Preferences.

Improved responsive behavior for action bars and the global bar

Between September 19, 2024 and September 30, 2024 we will progressively roll out changes to improve the responsive behavior across many parts of the new navigation experience. This optimizes the layout for varying screen sizes. These improvements apply to form, dashboard, and report action bars, as well as the global bar in the new sidebar navigation experience.

Document Creation—open beta rolling out by September 27

The Document Creation open beta will be launching by September 27, 2024. Document Creation allows you to effortlessly generate documents such as invoices, proposals, and purchase orders directly within your app. Our customers on Business and Enterprise plans can find this new capability in the table settings.

Document Creation starts with document templates. You can create these templates by visiting the table settings page. Templates can include reports and charts, forms, and customizable tables to help you build professional-looking documents. After creating a template, install the Generate Document formula from Exchange to allow your app users to generate documents in PDF, Word, or HTML format.

Learn more in our Document Creation overview.

Additionally, new Quickbase accounts created after September 16, 2024, will not be able to access the legacy Exact Forms feature. Please see the Feature Retirements section at the end of these release notes for information about the retirement of Exact Forms.

Beta opportunities

View all beta opportunities in our early access app.

What's fixed in Quickbase

Feature retirements

End of support

Exact Forms

On September 15, 2024, Exact Forms will officially reach End of Support. This is an old tool which is compatible only with certain Windows computers. By September 27, you'll be able to use our newer and more powerful Document Creation feature instead (refer to the Open beta section in this release notes for more details).

For those with more advanced requirements, some of our partners also have document add-ons available. Learn more about Exact Forms alternatives in our blog post. 

New Quickbase accounts created after this release will not have access to Exact Forms. In the second half of 2025, we will then turn off the ability for all users to create new documents using the Exact Forms feature.

We plan to keep existing documents created with Exact Forms running for the foreseeable future, rather than moving it to End of Life.

End of life

Retirement of Legacy Pipelines Builder on October 1 

As of October 1, 2024, we will be retiring the Legacy Pipelines Builder as part of our continued focus on enhancing the Pipelines Designer experience.

If you encounter any technical issues with the Pipelines Designer, please follow the steps to open a support case or share your feedback.