SheetPlanner 4.0 Release

Posted by SheetPlanner
Aug 4, 2023 at 11:19 PM

All,
SheetPlanner 4.0 will be available on the Mac App Store. We are just testing the new trial, upgrade and purchase process.

Those interested should expect to see it in the Mac App Store in the next two weeks or so.

Release notes below…..The new Boards view is awesome…..lots of bug fixes, optimization, polish.

Peter

# SheetPlanner 4.0 Release Notes #

SheetPlanner 4.0 is a major update to this spreadsheet-like project planning tool. Major enhancements in version 4 include:

- SheetPlanner now requires macOS Monterey (12.0) or later.
- Added a new kanban-style Board view to arrange lanes of cards.
- Completion and Progress are now linked.
- List cells now display customizable colors for each list item.
- Move cells around the Outline view via keyboard shortcuts.
- Plus many other improvements; see the full release notes on the SheetPlanner website for details.

Read on for a detailed list of changes.

* Improved free trial:
- No longer displays the unlock options on first launch.
- Now automatically starts the trial on first launch, so all features can be tried for free.
- The trial now only counts days the app is open, so taking a break from the trial won’t use up trial days.

* Board view is a paid upgrade:
- Version 4 includes a powerful new Board view. To use it, a paid upgrade is required, other than for recent purchasers.
- All other current features remain available for previous purchasers.
- The upgrade trial only counts days on which the Board view are displayed.
- The Upgrade bar appears only while the Board view is displayed, to emphasize that the upgrade is related to that view.
- The Upgrade window appears at the end of the trial, with options to just keep using the already unlocked features, or buy an upgrade.
- Attempting to show the Board view after the trial has ended will instead show the Upgrade window.
- The Unlock/Upgrade window now uses dynamic text, so it’s easier to change the wording.

* Board view:
- Added a new kanban-style Board view to arrange lanes of cards.
- Supported column content and types include Completed, Topic, List, and Symbol.
- Supports vertical and horizontal lanes, which can be collapsed or expanded.
- Clicking a selected card shows an Info popover; the popover can be detached by dragging its arrow.
- Can Command-click cards to select multiple cards, or drag a selection from empty space.
- Can drag cards between vertical and/or horizontal lanes to move them.
- Cards show a menu button when hovering over them.
- This menu includes the options from the View ▸ Board menu to change the lanes used for the Board view.
- It also includes a command to Collapse/Expand Cards, which removes or adds the values after the topic.
- When expanded, the menu also includes a command to Show/Hide Value Names, which shows or hides name labels above each value.
- The menu also includes the available card values, like in the Board Inspector, to quickly show or hide values.
- All these options are also available in the View ▸ Board menu, and the Board Inspector.
- When the Outline view is hidden, pressing arrow keys will select cards based on their positions on the board.
- Arrow selection also supports Cmd-arrows to select multiple cards. (Shift-arrows is equivalent.)
- Pressing the Spacebar when a single card is selected will show the info popover. (Press Escape to dismiss.)

* Board Inspector:
- Added a Board section to the Inspector, included when the Board view is displayed.
- Includes menus to choose the vertical and horizontal lanes, like in the View ▸ Board menu.
- Includes a list of checkboxes to choose which values to include in the cards; they can be dragged to change the order.

* Completion and Progress are now linked:
- When a row is marked as complete, the Progress column is set to 100%.
- When a row is marked as incomplete, the Progress column is set back to what it was before 100%.
- When the Progress is set to 100%, the row is marked as complete.
- When the Progress is set to less than 100%, the row is marked as incomplete.
- The Completion pie now reflects the Progress value in the Outline and Board views.
- Existing documents are updated to reflect this change.

* List colors:
- The List Inspector now includes color pickers for each list item.
- List cells now display the color of their value.
- The list picker menu now also shows the colors.
- The People list picker also shows the icons and colors.

* Move submenu:
- Added a Move submenu to the Organize menu, with items to move selected rows up, down, left, or right.
- The rows are only moved within their parents.
- Multiple rows can be moved at once (including from different parents).
- Undo is supported.

* Menus and toolbar changes:
- Rearranged the View menu, to put the views and their options into common submenus.
- When the focused row is selected, the Focus toolbar button now changes to Unfocus, as an alternative to the ⨂ in the Topic header.
- Fixed the Hide Column item in the column menus not being enabled.
- Fixed the Delete Column item in the column menu not being enabled for custom columns.
- Added a SheetPlanner Release Notes item to the Help menu, to show the full release notes on the website.

* Templates and opening documents:
- Added templates for Sprint Planning Board and Software Development.
- Updated the To Do List template.
- When saving a new custom template, it now automatically shows the rename popover, to make it easier to give it a better name.
- Added an Open Recent drop-down menu to the Template Picker, as an alternative to the File ▸ Open Recent menu.
- Fixed a crash opening a document on some machines.
- Improved file caching to avoid conflicts when editing two documents with the same name.

* Sharing:
- Changed the Sharing toolbar icon to the macOS standard icon.
- The Share toolbar button now uses the sharing popover introduced in macOS Ventura.
- When choosing File ▸ Share…, the sharing panel now appears as a popover from the Share toolbar button.
- Moved the Show/Hide Highlights menu command to the View menu, and renamed Show/Hide Change Highlights to make the function more clear.

* Sidebar:
- Fixed the sidebar limiting resizing in some situations.
- Double-clicking the sidebar divider will change it to a default width (proportional to the window size).
- Right-clicking on the sheet name when not already editing it will now display the sidebar contextual menu.
- Fixed duplicate sheets in the sidebar.
- Fixed missing sheet if not edited.
- Fixed contextual menu in sidebar.
- Fixed renaming a sheet.
- Fixed incorrect document handling behavior when importing to a new document.

* Outline view changes:
- The Outline’s Progress cell now treats a blank value as zero, so it always shows the bar, pie, or percentage.
- Fixed the contextual menu when right-clicking on a cell.
- Fixed themes in the Outline view.
- The Outline now automatically discloses rows when needed for jumping to predecessors or successors, or for Board navigation.
- Updated all of the color pickers to use the macOS native control instead of a buggy third-party one, now that macOS supports a nicer control with a color palette popover.
- List columns now use Summary when they become a parent (unless they have a custom value assigned; calculations don’t override custom values).
- When indenting rows, the connections are now adjusted to bypass the new parent row, since parent rows can’t have connections.
- Fixed cells not editing after their column was unhidden or initially added.
- Fixed the Progress and Completion Date cells ending ending while typing; they now wait a few second before updating (being linked).
- Fixed autocomplete when typing in a People cell.
- Fixed assigning calculations to cell values when they become a parent via indenting or dragging.
- Fixed disconnecting a dependency for parent rows.
- Pressing the Escape key will now unfocus if focused, cancel filtering if filtering, or exit the print preview if that’s shown.
- Fixed undoing unfocusing.

* Timeline view changes:
- Removed the extraneous disclosure triangles in the Timeline view.
- When printing the Timeline, it now defaults to no empty columns before the first populated one (this can be changed in the Print Inspector).
- Fixed a rare issue with Timeline child rows not appearing.
- Fixed missing horizontal and vertical grid lines in the Timeline view.

* Calendar views:
- The Month and Year views now show only the matching items when focusing or filtering.
- Improved the scrolling behavior when unfocusing or canceling filtering.
- The Topic Column Inspector’s Completed style (Hidden, Checkbox, or Pie) is now used in the Month view.

* Inspector changes:
- Rows can now be selected in the List and People Inspectors, to make it more intuitive that they can be reordered and deleted.
- Fixed adding rows in the List and People Inspectors, so they are selected and editing when added.

* Other changes:
- Fixed filters using Any Column when evaluating the People column.
- Changed the logic of searching/filtering to be consistent between using Any Column or a specific column.
- Vertically centered the date picker button in the date cells.
- Fixed an error for some people with the newsletter signup form.
- Added a control in the Settings to enable overriding the system appearance to always use light or dark mode.
- Updated the onboarding screens and What’s New for version 4.
- SheetPlanner now requires macOS Monterey (12.0) or later.