Sprint Review (55)

News & Announcements Roadmap
, , ,
1

Hey all! :wave: yet again with a bit of delay I’m posting the summary of what was discussed in the 55th sprint review meeting. Tbh, I always take the last sprint review meeting number and add one, so I might be off with the numbers here :stuck_out_tongue: . All sprint review meetings are unique in their own way, but this one felt “strange” as some very exciting content that was demoed, but I noticed I was not able to properly capture this awesomeness in words in my notes. So, if this post reads like a disappointment, please don’t take it that way! It’s just me not being able to put the cool stuf in the right words! :sweat_smile:

:warning: Please take note, these are not the release notes for the next update, but rather a list of items the teams have worked on and are working on. Release notes will be posted in the Latest News & Announcements/Release Notes category. As part of the Release Train, the next release is tentatively planned for early May but we need to keept the major efforts in the migration in mind.

:warning: :warning: Additional PSA for these notes specifically: a lot was inexplicitly demoed as we could see the internally release version with the new dashboard, so I’m making some assumptions based on what I’ve seen. You have been warned, but in the unfortunate case you are still disappointed at some point, you may DM me for a virtual hug to make you feel better :hugs:

Organizational updates

  • The Anytype team continues to grow! Another person joined the team in the area of Analytics.
  • Linked to this news: a lot of improvements have been made to the way Anytype is analyzing and using the data that is (anonymously) shared with the team as part of the alpha program. This should lead to better informed decisions and already led to an interesting insight that there are way more mobile only Anytype users than expected. There were no conclusions shared about this insight in the meeting, but I can expect that such a finding could lead to, in this example, more love for the Anytype Android team :love_letter: .

Completed in past sprint

Middleware

The team has been working further refining the migration process to move from the current infra (with all of its sync issues) to the new infra (hopefully resolving those issues :crossed_fingers: ). The Nightly testers group will start testing the migration process in the coming weeks.

Desktop

  • Development work of Collections is completed! This allows you to create your own, well, Collection of Objects and mimic a folder-like structure. Note that in with Collections a single Object can be added to multiple Collections, whereas in a classic folder structure a single file can only appear in one folder!
  • We got a glimpse of the new homescreen/dashboard/sidebar combo.
  • Import from Notion is still getting more love! This sprint the team worked on the import of Notion databases in several formats
    • CSV > multiple Objects in a single Collection but without content as that is not provided in CSV export from Notion
    • HTML > database to simple table in single Object into a single Collection
    • TXT > plain text into single Object in a single Collection

In Progress & Next Up

Desktop

  • New onboarding flow: in one word, very cool (ok, that’s two words, sorry…). This new onboarding flow will remove the barrier of invite codes and will allow you to completely self-onboard. This feature consists of two parts: 1) the UI to sign up for an Anytype account, and 2) the content to support you in the onboarding so you understand how Anytype works. A bit like a tutorial :books: with use cases
  • New infra migration is still being worked on to make sure the Anytype Desktop application plays nice with the new infrastructure :love_you_gesture:

Mobile

  • Widgets development is close to completion
  • Collections development is close to completion

Thanks for reading :heart: and catch you next time, when the team expects to be able to share more product updates.

27 Likes
2

Awesome, thank you again for the sprint review! Looking forward to the new features and specially to the new infrastructure.

A got a question though, is it possible to get (clearly marked work in progress) screenshot(s) of the new homescreen/dashboard/sidebar? Or do I need to be patient haha. :wink:

2 Likes
3

We’re gonna do a sneak peak in the next Town-hall, but maybe we can share a screen-shot here.

9 Likes
4

I’m really curious about this one. What if I have data that are neither in mobile nor in desktop, but loading icons/boxes still hint at its existence (in the node, if I’m lucky), how is manual migration expected to solve these issues? I imagine I can only export what I have in my device…? :thinking:

Anyway, congrats Anyteam in completing Collections. A folder structure would be a huge relief! :open_file_folder::sparkles::clap:t2:

Also looking forward to the new Home/dashboard reveal!!

3 Likes
5

There will be a new Beta application for both mobile and desktop, but the export/import migration can only be done on desktop.

As for Ghost Objects, whether they will be recovered after implementing the new infra, or simply vanish altogether, remains to be seen.

Maybe it will but we can’t promise that. The new infra isn’t expected to solve these issues, but rather prevent them from happening in the future.

5 Likes
6

So mobile-only objects will have to be copied manually?

I know, but one can hope. :pleading_face: Hence, my curiosity with the migration process.

1 Like
7

@Kerstie there should not be any mobile-only or desktop-only Objects (but due to sync issues, they could exist). Currently, the Anytype backup node is the single source of truth. Hopefully, the export is done from your account rather than from the local instance you have installed on your desktop. @Angelo do you know whether an export will be from the locally downloaded Objects on the desktop or from the Anytype backup node?

3 Likes
9

Yey! Mobile Widgets :yum:

10

Probably not the widgets you’re looking forward too looking at your reaction :sweat_smile:
These will be part of the sidebar, at least on desktop. Since mobile has no sidebar, I’m not really sure how they’ll be implemented.
But they’ll still just be inside the app.

1 Like
11

You’re right! It’s not Android or iOS widgets, but items in the sidebar that for example Bin, Recent Objects, Favorites, Sets, just like you have right now on the home screen. I could imagine that later widgets are added like pinning a Set in the sidebar to easily add things on the go.

1 Like
12

Disclaimer: This discussion is only relevant for those who want to migrate their content from the Alpha (Legacy) app to the Beta app, and can otherwise be disregarded. Anyone onboarded from (May/June) onward will be using (pre)Beta from the start.

The migration will be done on your local desktop device from app to app using the data stored on your HD, and only synced to the node after this.

Export account in Legacy app → install & open Beta app → import account to Beta app

Objects that aren’t synced to your desktop device, won’t be included in your export file, and thus won’t return in the Beta version.

This is because the Beta app is entirely new software / sync architecture and the Beta backup node is starting from a blank slate. To clarify: accounts won’t be migrated on the node level (Legacy node → Beta node).

To aid the migration process, the Legacy app will receive a version update with proper account export functionality.

The Legacy node / sync mechanism will continue working, so you can always keep using it and if unsynced Objects reappear, you can do the migration later. (It is not recommended to do the import more than once though, to avoid overwriting new content.)

You could also add object content manually via copy/paste, and rebuild Sets and Relations from scratch. There’s a chance that later on (no promises), it might be possible to export individual objects in the legacy app, but for now this functionality hasn’t been developed (will notify Community in this case).

:iphone::arrows_counterclockwise: Regarding mobile sync: you’ll also need to install the beta app on your mobile devices, and as long as your Objects are synced on your desktop prior to your Legacy export/import to Beta, they will resync to your mobile Beta app.

Optimal device synchronization (and collaboration) is the primary agenda of Anysync, to prevent these kind of problems from happening in the future.

There’s been obstacles along the way, but we can’t thank you all enough for your efforts. It’s why we need our amazing Community; to put the app to the test and build the best Anytype we can! :busts_in_silhouette::globe_with_meridians::milky_way:

7 Likes
14

Ah, unfortunate news for my mobile notes. :laughing: But I’ve mentally prepared myself for this to happen already. Thank you for the heads up and the transparency. Since the legacy app will still be functional, I see no problem doing manual migration. I’m actually excited to start fresh, but a part of me still wants to check out which of my old objects will transfer over.

I think you guys have made good progress this year, and I really like what you’re building, so I say it’s worth the (alpha) testing.

1 Like
15

Hello all
It’s exciting to see the progress although now I feel like I am in limbo - I need to continue making new entries, I have created a lot of relationships and other cool stuff and now it might not get fully transferred :sob: .
It’s OK, I’ll survive :face_with_head_bandage:

Anyone has got info on the calendar? That’s what keeps me from fully using AnyType

2 Likes
16

This is a little confusing to me but when you have the Town hall event, it would be great to explain this.

I have used both mobile and desktop a lot. this is going to be a very interesting transition to the new architecture.

1 Like
17

Do you have Notes taken on your mobile device, that have never appeared (synced) to your desktop? In this case, those notes would not transfer in the migration, as the export is done locally on your desktop device.

Absolutely! I will open a Topic soon to submit Q’s in advance.

18

If those entries are present on the same desktop device where you’ll install Anytype Beta, there is nothing to worry about.

19

Thank You! I get it now! I think most of everything is synced so that is good.

I do have a question
When exporting any from the old Anytype, will any media such as audio, video, & images stay with the pages/sets that we have put them with together?
many times I have text with images embedded.

1 Like
21

Hi @Jason_Eleazar,

I would guess this would be so since Anytype exports the pages to markdown format.

Export screen
Export screen857×676 54.6 KB

As long as you have the export set up to include the files, you should be good to go!

@Angelo also early mentioned that:

So everything regarding that should be fine. I would be concerned, with the current export function that one’s sets do not export. As far as I know, only pages, notes, profiles, and custom objects export. However, as the above quote mentions, it’s likely that the coming export functionality will allow this to be possible. Ultimately, we’ll know more by the time that the beta app is released!

22

It’s a completely different export process.

The one you’re showing is markdown, useful for example if you’d want to import to other software, even though you can also considered it some kind of back up.

The migration will occur via our middle-ware, a comprehensive 1:1 export used solely for Anytype software.

23

Oh. That makes more sense. I would have assumed that the export would be different for specifically transferring your data from the alpha app to the beta app.

1 Like