During the All Hands, there was a question on why ‘Backup and Recovery’ is listed in ‘In Exploration’ considering it’s importance. To add a small amount of clarity, we are mainly referring to an automatic backup and recovery system that would be robust enough for organisational usage—which we don’t have today and needs deeper exploration on how to do it properly with our local-first architecture. This is also part of the work we’re doing around Hard Delete Permissions, Admin Roles, etc. to minimise data destruction. It’s not necessarily just a simple backup system.
That being said, it’s also true that we don’t have a simple backup system today. Although the local-first infrastructure means that your data is always on your (multiple) devices, and this can be seen as an indirect form of backup, it’s not a proper solution. In the meantime, we suggest that you periodically export your entire space and save copies of it as a backup. This is manual, but it is a solution for the interim.
There is nothing quite as satisfying as stumbling upon a piece of software that is inherently extremely useful, but also full of potential, using it daily as a core app for nearly 2 years, and having it just getting better and better.
This is a very promising list for the future. Also, reading the other recent post on the more profound rethink of types/objects/collections, etc. I can tell that AnyType is super focused on innovative stuff for the tool.
I would like to request that the team also please seriously focus on AnyType’s Search functionality. I’m not finding mention of that in the recent discussions (in my experience, search is currently AnyType’s biggest weakness - I don’t mean to criticize, just it’s an area that is wanting for attention). There are a variety of feature requests related to it. Many of the other features and thinking will come to naught if people cannot find their information with precision. I love the new features coming and new ways to organize our information but in every case, the point is not merely to store information but to be able to recall the information efficiently and at the moment that it is needed (otherwise there is little reason for capturing the info in the first place).
I really hope that the features get designed working backwards from a central principle of aiding recall processes (which implies that we need really good search functionality). Thank you for considering it.
Indeed, search upgrades are a priority and are actively being worked on today. We’ve bucketed them all in ‘Search Upgrades’ in the ‘Ongoing Upgrades’ section because it’s something we continuously work on. It feels redundant to put it in the ‘Coming Up Next’ section every roadmap update, hence this its separation.
Understandably, this can look like we’re not working on it. But there are many aspects we simply put continual work into and don’t call out as a specific initiative (unless it’s big enough like a rework).
Dear @kaye I have a question about Editor 2.0
My biggest issue with Anytype was all the time (and still is), that it’s impossible to design a Page in such a way that the print result matches the screen layout to 100%
I call it “WYSIWYG” (although there was some discussion about this term, but you get what I mean).
It’s not so that I would expect the same functionality as Word or Libre Office etc., but I have the strong need to be able to write and organize all my paper letters in Anytype.
Therefore I need some basic features like:
Manual Page breaks
A reliable layout with fixed positions for elements like the address block, the date, and so on (imagine a typical business letter, for example an invoice).
Only if this is given, will Anytype be sufficient for uses in (at least small) businesses and offices.
– Can you confirm that the team has the need for that on the radar and that the Editor 2.0 will support it?
Yes, I can confirm this is something that we’re aware about and will certainly prioritise this as printing documents is likely a core need for many people (and organisations). I just can’t confirm and say it’ll be done exactly to people’s needs or liking because we’re not in development on that aspect yet.
Regardless, I will do something very similar like I did with Collections 2.0 with Editor 2.0, so there will be plenty of space for input and seeing what it’s going to be.
The recent tab update was such a pleasant surprise (I don’t think it was even on the roadmap?), and it’s made me shift most of my note-taking to Anytype. The roadmap looks really promising too – you’re clearly building towards excellent PKM.
I only use Logseq/Obsidian now for pure research projects, mainly because Daily Notes work so well there. Any chance we might see a similar workflow option within an Anytype Space in the future? Not as the default, but maybe as an optional mode? Capacities does both but has its own issues, Tana is intriguing too, but I see the most potential in Anytype by far.
You’re attempting the impossible – listening to everyone’s requests – and somehow still making progress. That’s what makes Anytype special!
I wonder what major change(s) happened within the team that led to such a great well-organized roadmap, I’m just curious
Looks clear, on the right track and is on par with most of the users’ expectations, I love it!
Yet I have a bunch of questions:
What is meant by “Local File System integration”? Is it reading/linking to local files and folders outside of Anytype or maybe files (images, txt etc) will be saved in their form without being “integrated” into the database/anytype’s custom file system?
What happened to the Hand-drawn notes? It was previously on the roadmap, now it’s not to be found anywhere on the current one, I know we now have Excalidraw embeds but imagine if Hand-drawn notes were developed by Anytype team, I’m 100% sure that would be perfect!
This point is a little request, can we have the ability to use those cool Type’s icons for Objects instead of/besides the emojis picker please?
Last one, how often will this roadmap be updated/modified? With each stable release?
Do you mind sharing a little more on what kind of workflow or features you’re looking for? While I’m somewhat familiar with those tools, people use them in very different ways. Are you specifically mentioning something more akin to a calendar/time-based journal type of feature?
I’m glad that you’re finding the roadmap to be more organised now. That’s all that matters. To answer your questions:
It’s like a virtual filesystem driver: a new drive will appear in your system with structure space/collection/object—where objects will be as markdown files.
We have to build Editor 2.0 first, after that it can be easier to build some hand-writing tool. Excalidraw is hopefully sufficient in the meantime.
It will be updated every two months. The goal is to have a public/stable release every two months along with a town hall, in which we’d share the updated roadmap. This routine/consistency hopefully is what the community is looking for.
It looks great. You did a great job.
I think the division into different sections (coming up next, on the horizon, etc.) depending on delivery probability, expected timeframe, and whether changes are subject to change is brilliant.
This allows you to take into account the degree of uncertainty due to the Local First protocol and other changes, but still let us know what you are currently working on.
Now I know exactly when things are likely to happen. This gives a peace of mind.
I can’t wait to see what comes next. Let’s gooooo!
no need to click multiple times on a date in the calender to create a daily note
click on the date and it should bring one to the one and only daily note
logseq has a constant stream of daily notes, giving the user the ability to scroll through many days at once and get an overview at a glance
in obsidian I can just create a date-link and it brings up that daily note
linking dates sets the backlinks to that one daily note even if it doesn’t exist yet
going to that note gives me the note object where I can write dedicated things for that day and I also see the links to the notes that link to it
weekly notes
in obsidian I have a daily notes template that has also the weekly note embedded. this way I see the weekly note that corresponds to this day in a week and below that I have my daily note
if the weekly note doesn’t exist, yet, I just click on the missing embed and I have my weekly note created
in general both tools provide a very fast way to navigate to / create daily notes while also having other things linked to that note.
even if a particular daily note is not created yet. just linking to a date is enough. I can just create a link to dates within another note and I create it by clicking on the link whenever I have to later on.
this doesn’t break my current flow of writing and I don’t have to think about it anymore.
everything is already there when I click on a daily link, the weekly, the backlinks and so on.
while anytype doesn’t know of such concepts, like one daily note or linking to objects, that don’t exist, yet - this makes it cumbersome in many ways to deal with such workflows.
You can also checkout Capacities and their daily note feature. As they also work with types, it might be easier to grasp for some here who don’t get or are not familiar with Obsidian or Logseq.
To answer your questions:
