MinuteBase

Better, Simpler Linking

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:17:00 +0100

We’ve had a “link” minute type since the very first version of MinuteBase. It’s a simple, yet powerful little feature as it not only lets you link to things, but it will also embed content. For example, if you link to a YouTube video then you’ll be able to play it right there in the minutes.

It works really well when it’s used, but it just wasn’t simple enough. It’s a hassle to have to select a different minute type just to put a link in your document, which means most of the time you don’t bother. It also means you don’t get the benefits when you paste a URL into other minute types, such as actions or decisions.

So we’ve made it simpler by getting rid of the link minute type altogether!

Now simply put a URL in your text, action or decision minute and we’ll display relevant information alongside it.

So be it a tweet…

A video…

A book…

Or many, many others, your meeting minutes can be richer and more engaging.

Decisions

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:16:00 +0100

Making decisions is a major part of any meeting and MinuteBase has always made it easy for you to document them in your minutes. Many of you have asked to make it even easier to highlight decisions in your meetings, we’re happy to be able to bring that to you today.

You can now choose from a new type of minute when writing your minutes, a decision.

Simply select this new minute type and we’ll give it a little thumbs up icon to identify it.

When you send the minutes out by email, we break out the decisions into their own section to make it easy to see at a glance what was decided upon in the meeting.

To make it easy to focus on just the decisions you’ve made in a meeting, we’ve added a select box so that you can view text, actions and, of course, decisions on their own. The headings always remain, so you can filter the content to just what you’re interested in without losing your place in the document.

The headers above the agenda and minutes sections now lock to the top of the screen as you scroll down the page, making it easier to get to the controls wherever you are in the document.

We’ve deliberately kept this first version of decisions simple, we’ve got plenty of ideas for the future but we wanted to get it in your hands as soon as possible. Let us know what you think.

Drag and Drop File Uploading

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:13:00 +0100

Sharing files with your team takes a leap forward today. Minutetakers can now drag and drop multiple files to a minute:

… and boom they’ll be uploaded and attached:

You can also use the standard file dialog to select multiple files (CTRL + Select on Windows or Command + Select on Mac).

Drag and drop file uploading works with recent releases of Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The preview release of Internet Explorer 10 also supports the feature. For full details of browser support see our support article.

Private and Public Comments

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:10:00 +0100

One of the great features of MinuteBase is the ability to comment on agenda items or minutes and discuss items without having to meet in person or sending around lots of email.

We’re pleased to announce a couple of new features which make comments even more powerful.

Private Comments

Comments are great for discussing things with your team-mates, but sometimes you want to make a note which is just for you. With private comments you can do just that.

Simply write yourself a comment as usual, then check the “private comment” checkbox and you’ll be the only person who can read it.

We add a little padlock to the comment number so you can easily tell if you’ve written any private comments on an item.

Public Comments

With public meetings you can send the URL of your meeting to anyone you want, but what if they want to leave you feedback? Previously you’d have to invite everyone into your account, not any more!

By turning on public comments you can allow anyone to leave comments on your public meetings, making it much easier to get feedback from a wider audience.

We hope you like these new features as much as we do and we look forward to your comments!

An End to Forgotten Passwords?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:43:00 +0100

The convenience of web apps – available on any device with a web browser – is often mitigated by the curse of the forgotten password. When we were deciding on the feature set for MinuteBase 2.0 the ability to sign in using other services was high on the list. For example many MinuteBase users also work with Google Apps.

Take take up of this feature for new users has been incredibly high, because we ask people to choose a sign in provider when registering. What is less well known is that existing users can easily add providers from their profile. MinuteBase supports these services:

Google
Twitter
Facebook
Linkedin
OpenID

Adding a provider

Go to your profile by clicking your name in the top right of the navigation.

Click the Edit Profile button and select Authentication from the side panel.

You’ll see a list of sign in providers. Click one of the add buttons and you’ll be directed to the service to approve. Done!

OpenID is slightly different. Paste your provider’s url and click Attach.

When you come back to sign in to MinuteBase, we’ll remember which authentication method you used last time.

MinuteBase Exits Beta

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:52:00 +0100

Today we’re excited to announce that MinuteBase has completed its beta test phase. We’re truly grateful for all the amazing feedback you’ve given us on MinuteBase v2.

During the beta we’ve looked at how people are using MinuteBase and had many conversations with our customers. As a result we’ve simplified our plans:

Minute-Takers Galore

There are now no restrictions on how many people can be Admins or Minute-takers. If you want to give Minute-taking rights to all your team you can. This is particularly useful for companies that are using MinuteBase to collaborate on meeting agendas.

Unlimited Templates

Meeting templates are now unlimited on all plans. You can now save as many agenda and meeting minutes templates as you need.

More Storage

Storage has been increased to 100GB on Business plans and to 1GB on Personal plans. Many customers are using MinuteBase to securely share files from their meetings.

More Workspaces

Workspaces have been increased across all plans. Business to 30, Team to 10 and Personal to 3. Our customers love Workspaces. It’s the single most popular feature of those debuted in MinuteBase v2.

Check out our updated plans here

Thanks

We’d like to thank all our beta testers – you’ve been brilliant – your contributions, feature requests and detailed feedback has meant so much to us.

Development of MinuteBase continues apace. Our mission is to create the most beautiful, easy to use and enjoyable meeting collaboration software on the web. Thanks for helping us do it!

Improvements to Privacy and Members Section

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:08:37 +0100

We’ve just released a new version which includes some important changes to how the People and Members areas work.

Previously everyone who had access to your MinuteBase account could view any other members profiles and see them in the People section. We did this because it was the simplest approach and worked well for small teams and organisations.

However, there are many situations where you may not want to let the attendees of one meeting know who else you’re having meetings with. You may not want to invite someone into your account and let them access the profiles of all of your other clients for example.

In this new version, we’ve improved the privacy of people’s profiles. You can now only see a person if you share a workspace with them.

Minute-takers can now manage the members of the workspace which means you can setup a new workspace and assign a minute-taker and let them take care of the rest. They don’t have to ask Admins every time they want to add a new person.

We’ve replaced the old badges for identifying Admins and Minute-takers with colour coded borders:

Black for Admins
Green for Minute-takers
Blue for Users
Silver for Contacts

We’ve also made a number of improvements to the members area and invites. Adding members and creating new users is simpler than ever. Just use the auto-complete box at the top of the page.

Clicking on a cog next to a person allows Minute-takers and Admins to send an invites and upgrade a user to be a Minute-taker.

So go ahead and invite everyone to join you safe in the knowledge that you’re not giving them access to any more information than you want.

Email Localization Fix

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 18:14:53 +0100

We’ve just pushed a quick update to fix localization times on emails.

Let us know if you run into any further little issues with MinuteBase 2.0

MinuteBase 2.0 is Live!

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:37:43 +0100

The wait is over. MinuteBase 2.0 has launched. We’re delighted and not a little relieved it’s finally out!

Your ISP’s servers make take a few hours to update as we’ve moved servers. In which case you’ll see a holding page.

We’d love to hear your comments and feedback. In the mean time enjoy!

MinuteBase 2.0 Migration in Progress

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:38:38 +0100

As of 18:30 UTC on Friday 10 June we’ve started the migration of accounts from MinuteBase to MinuteBase 2.0.

Because we’re moving servers there may be a few hours in which you will only see a holding page. Your ISP’s servers will automatically update themselves, but it can take a little while.

You can follow us on Twitter

Thanks!