Check out the new releases from Archbee! We've added new features, new integrations, and an awesome Chrome Extension that allows you to create customized workflows, step-by-step guides, how-tos, tutorials, or SOPs - see more below.

new feature Archbee Chrome Extension - Create Step-by-Step Guides & SOPs

It is a powerful Chrome extension that is part of the Archbee.com documentation platform. Take advantage of the user-friendly interface, customization options, and collaboration features to save time and increase productivity.

It is free and perfect for: 

✔️ Employee onboarding documentation 
✔️ Internal procedures 
✔️ Customer onboarding & offboarding - show customers how to do things fast 
✔️ Software product guides and documentation 
✔️ How-to's, guides, tutorials 
✔️ Standard Operating Procedures 
✔️ Process documentation 
✔️ Training guides 
✔️ Product updates 
✔️ Walkthroughs 
✔️ Playbooks 
✔️ Quick answers to the "How do I…" questions

Available in Chrome Web Store here.

See how to use it here: https://docs.archbee.com/archbee-chrome-extension-guide

new feature Zendesk integration

With the new Archbee - Zendesk integration you can now link an Archbee Space to your Zendesk account and include all Archbee pages/docs/articles in the Zendesk search. When you will search for something, you will get both Zendesk articles and Archbee article results in the search so you can easily share them with your customers.

See how to configure the integration here: https://docs.archbee.com/zendesk-federated-search

new feature Intercom integration

The new Archbee - Intercom integration will allow you to easily search all Archbee articles/pages/docs directly from the Intercom chat or from the Intercom's Archbee app.

You can search and share Archbee articles with your customers, or you can send them directly via chat an Archbee search widget so they can search specific Archbee content/articles.

See more on how to set up the integration and how to use it here: https://docs.archbee.com/intercom

new feature New block - Workflow 

The new Workflow block is accessible by typing "/workflow". This new block acts like an improved list item, where you can add multiple numbered items, rearrange them, and delete any item, and the list will auto-number your items. 

The Workflow block also supports any other block inside each element of your workflow.

An example of a Workflow is below:

improvement New block menu

We updated our block menu: moved it to the left side, changed it to a horizontal display, and added a new action "Insert block above". 

When opening a block menu, the whole block will be highlighted so you can easily identify it and move it around.

improvement API plugin - drag & drop params

For the "/API endpoint" block, we are now supporting parameter rearranging. Just add your API params and click on the 3 vertical dots on the left side of the param box and drag them around.

fix Fixes and improvements - as always, we included also some bug fixes, infrastructure updates, and other improvements to increase user experience with Archbee.

Watch this webinar to dive into the recent product updates, showcasing new features, improvements, and fixes to enhance your documentation experience.

Subscribe to the changelog to get the new updates and if you want to provide product feedback, get in touch with us at support@archbee.com or check the https://roadmap.archbee.com/

The Archbee team has worked on some pretty neat stuff this month! 

new feature Rolled out the new editor to everyone!

The new editor was released to all Archbee users. It brings a lot of cool new stuff, including performance, improved copy-paste from different sources, integration to Grammarly-like plugins, and more! And more improvements to come to the editing experience.

new feature Zapier integration

Archbee is now integrated with Zapier, and you can include Archbee in your automated flows. See more about this here: https://docs.archbee.com/zapier

new feature Export a whole Space to markdown

Until now you could export a single document or an entire organization to markdown. You can also export a single Space to markdown with the new update. See how to do it here: https://docs.archbee.com/exporting-documents

new feature Logout from all devices

For security reasons, you can now log out from all devices. You can do this from the profile page https://app.archbee.com/settings/teams

improvement Document revision history

We have improved the revision history, and now entries in the revisions list are compressed, allowing users to better identify changes and who made those changes. See more about this here: https://docs.archbee.com/document-history

improvement Github integration - custom CSS can now be defined in separate files

You can now define your custom CSS in separate files in your repo, declare them, and we will import your custom CSS in Archbee. More about Github integration and custom CSS files here: https://docs.archbee.com/KCSO-custom-code

improvement Changelog and Dynamic Links improvements

Changelog - you can now re-order items in a changelog with drag&drop item

Dynamic Links - You can now add a custom name to your Dynamic Link. Even if you rename your dynamic link, we will keep track of your referenced page so you can move it and rename it without impacting the link.

fix We also dedicated time to fixing many small things and improving our infrastructure overall.

Subscribe to the changelog to get the new updates and if you want to provide product feedback, get in touch with us at support@archbee.com or check the https://roadmap.archbee.com/

This roundup highlights the most noteworthy features and updates in the past 12 months. We have been adding and improving existing features, and it's time to share what we shipped in the past year. Let's break it down.

Writing experience updates

1. Reusable content
   1. Content Variables - https://docs.archbee.com/reusable-variables
   2. Content Snippets - https://docs.archbee.com/content-snippets
2. New custom blocks
   1. Expandable Heading - https://docs.archbee.com/expandable-headings
   2. Vertical Split
   3. Link block
   4. Code Drawer - https://docs.archbee.com/code-drawers
   5. Button block
3. Improvements on existing custom blocks
   1. API endpoint
   2. Table improvements - resize columns
   3. Code Editor 
   4. Insert images in lists
   5. Improve styling for the SwaggerUI block
   6. Dark-mode image support
4. Other writing improvements
   1. FontAwesome - add inline icons or change the icon of documents or Spaces.
   2. Emoji library and new shortcuts
   3. Support for international keyboard layout
   4. Drag and drop and contextual options for blocks
   5. Better markdown support - replace markdown shortcuts as you type
   6. Select anchor from @dynamic links - open a document to a section

New publishing workflow

1. New publish workflow
   1. Preview and production environments
   2. Publish Spaces with icons
2. Appearance Settings
   1. New template designs
      1. Stripey template
      2. Booklet template
      3. Colored Nav template
   2. Content layout settings
      1. one column
      2. two columns
   3. Logo Redirect URL
   4. Control over the document info on published pages
3. New home page template: Provided Template
4. Public Access Control: Authenticate customers with Magic links - https://docs.archbee.com/authentication-options#ZOP-e
5. Hosted Spaces New Features
   1. i18n support - https://docs.archbee.com/localization
   2. Space links and Version links - https://docs.archbee.com/version-links
   3. Host spaces on a subfolder - https://docs.archbee.com/hosting-spaces-on-a-sub-folder
   4. Better SEO meta controls with redirects
   5. Accessibility improvements for the published Spaces
6. Contextual Documentation Widget - https://docs.archbee.com/contextual-documentation-widget
7. PDF export - https://docs.archbee.com/export-to-pdf

Collaboration experience

1. Document verification - https://docs.archbee.com/document-verifications
2. In-app navigation, spacing, colors, and more have been tightened all over the app
3. Use emojis in the thread comments
4. Upload Logo for the Organization
5. Feedback analytics - https://docs.archbee.com/feedback-analytics

Integrations

1. Released the Public API - https://docs.archbee.com/get-document
2. Microsoft Active Directory SSO
3. SAML - https://docs.archbee.com/google-setup
4. GitHub integration - https://docs.archbee.com/github
5. OpenAPI import & sync - https://docs.archbee.com/importing-openapi-swagger-spec-files
6. Postman Collection
7. Jira Integration

General

1. Platform and infrastructure improvements
2. Delete an organization
3. More control over the trial experience with swap Trial and auto extend the trial for 7 days
4. Dark/Light mode based on the system preferences.

What to do next?

Go to our roadmap and add your suggestions.

Reach out to support@archbee.com or read the full article on our blog.

We've done it. Today we ship some of the hardest features we've ever shipped, with the best team we've ever had.

1. Code Drawers

Code drawers are a way to show code examples in a 3-column layout. Multi-languages are available and even responses.

When you have multiple code drawers in one doc, scrolling to the current one will change the code examples in the third column. To show the current section only.

2. 3-Column layout

This new layout automatically appears when blocks like `API Endpoint`, `OpenAPI` and the new `Code Drawer` are available in the document.

It's a new way to present annotated API information so that your users are taken to the exact context they need to be in as to understand how to use your API.

The view is also available in public documentation.

3. A new version workflow + language localization

Previously creating versions was a hassle and little understood. We've made it better.

Now you can choose where to start the new version from and label each version accordingly.

On top, we've made it possible to create language translations, every element of the UI being translated on top of the content that you'll create. We support English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian at the moment and adding more as we see more usecases from you our customers.

The new versions also show in a neat new way when editing the content, in the left navbar.

4. Tens of design and UX features improvements to keep your documentation workflow going — and we're bringing more.

Hoping to get your feedback and stay tuned for next releases!

Some changes we've made to allow a better user experience.

1. Staging becomes Preview

Our Staging environment has been renamed to Preview environment and is now publishable — just as the Production environment. Now everybody can preview their documentation sites BEFORE setting their domains — a huge time saver.

On top of that, the Preview environment is now authenticated by default for users already authenticated in Archbee. This makes it possible to create your documentation site privately and make it public only when it's ready, and you've configured it for Production.

2. Collections become Spaces

For many people `Collection` does not reflect what we mean.

Now Spaces, collections were meant to be the first layer of document organization. Spaces sound more familiar from similar software that's focused on internal documentation.

Basically:

• Documents are organized into Spaces;
• Spaces are organized into Sites (which we'll introduce shortly).

3. Workspaces become Orgs

Our Workspaces feature allows you to use a single login to be in the context of multiple companies, negating the need to re-login with another account. 

This is great. However, many users get confused by the concept, buy a subscription and assume it's for all Workspaces they create. Each workspace has its own subscription because what we really mean by workspaces is "organization". 

We considered a switch to "Teams" but we realized it could also mean that there are separate teams in an organization. So we're making this semantic change to reflect that.

4. Code Editors Update

All code editors have been updated to allow multiple tabs using the same language, drag and drop to reorganize tabs, and performance improvements.

5. Better Markdown converters

We've made a bunch of modifications to our Markdown converters and now they catch more of our custom blocks, that were previously hard to translate to markdown. For example, our Link Blocks and Tabs now translate to a custom Markdown directive, that we understand and other software can easily be made to understand.

6. Removing favorite collections (now spaces)

The favorite collections (now spaces) feature has been removed, for various complicated reasons. You can still drag and drop spaces to organize them as you see fit, potentially putting spaces you care more about at the top of your list.

7. Lots of UI changes and improvements

We've reorganized many things around the UI to build a better user experience.

Cheers from the fearless Archbee team, meaning is not afraid to deploy to prod on Fridays or any other day 💪

At least that we can do to feel 0.1% as brave as Ukraine people.

#WeAreWithUkraine 🇺🇦

As promised to many of you, we're focusing on improving the functionality we already have as opposed to adding new stuff. 

We've improved the performance of the app, the design system, our libraries & code, the self-service abilities of the system.

Here are some highlights:

• custom HTML with handlebars templates in custom footers or custom landing pages for documentation sites; read more here: https://docs.archbee.io/custom-landing-page;
• improved image rendering; we've changed our CDN for images with one that renders sizes dynamically and allows people with smaller screens (e.g mobile) to download the exact size of images they need; we also changed the way image widths/heights are calculated so no layout shifting will happen anymore;
• user downloadable invoices; download any invoice on demand so that you don't have to look for them in your email;
• ability to appoint a new super admin; this also changes the email that Stripe sends invoices to;
• ability to change email address by yourself;
• UI improvements all over; we've tightened our design system even more; more consistent colors and spacing;
• better automatic scrolling in the document tree section;
• improved search algorithm and faster instances on AWS for search indexing;
• we've upgraded most of our code to the latest libraries so you get the benefit of improved performance and security;
• reduced load time for public collections by 20%;
• reduced load time for documents by 25%;
• improved callout blocks;
• more accurate reading time prediction by using a new algorithm;
• faster real-time sync between people looking at the same document;
• better table of contents rendering;
• improved loading time of the knowledge graph on workspaces with 1000+ documents;
• improved document tree drag & drop accuracy;
• improved blockquote rendering.

Enjoy!

In a nutshell, we've been hard at work improving our core tech, but we've also been able to sneak in a couple of nice to have features.

Updates

• documents now load 7-10% faster;
• we were able to shave 150 to 200 milliseconds off the realtime sync algorithm, making realtime collaboration better;
• we've added more and better editor shortcuts (Markdown included); check the new shortcuts by hitting Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) + /;
• we've changed our CDN to AWS CloudFront, and setup better firewalls to our APIs to mitigate next Denial of Service attacks;
• certificate generation for hosted docspaces on your domains now happens in maximum 1 hour since the DNS has propagated, and we also have lowered their regeneration rate to 2 months;
• hosted docspaces are now 15% to 60% faster, as we were able to cache some of the content close to your customers; this will also improve your SEO;
• UI improvements across the board: more consistent spacing and colors throughout the app; cross platform scrollbars;
• better support for Safari and Firefox; there's still work to be done here, but we strive to be 100% cross-browser as ~15% of you don't use Chrome-based browsers;
• better support on mobile browsers;
• we've started doing automated phishing scans to prevent malicious use of our platform;
• our embed integrations come out of beta and are now generally available;
• iframe embeds and custom javascript are generally available but will stay in beta for a while longer;
• docx import comes out of beta.

What's next?

• workspace-level domains, share any amount of docspaces in an URL format like this: https://docs.yourdomain.com/docspace1 https://docs.yourdomain.com/docspace2;
• desktop app;
• improved datatables that draw inspiration from AirTable;
• continued core technology improvements;
• many misc. features asked by you; thank you for your great ideas in the Feature Wishlist, we watch them closely and many of them will get implemented.

Document expansion preservation

Until now, everytime you opened a docspace, every document would expand and you would be able to see every one of their children.

While this was good for small docspaces, it was a nightmare for docspaces with more than 80-100 documents.

Now the document expansion will be saved and restored later for each user.

Swagger HTTP headers

You can now add headers to our Swagger UI component. This allows you to make authenticated requests to your API endpoint.

GraphiQL HTTP headers

You can now add headers to our GraphiQL component. This allows you to make authenticated requests to your API endpoint.

Docspace events

Until now, it was really hard to get a grasp of what your team has been working on and what happened to certain docspaces.

From now on we record events for docspaces and neatly show them when you click on a docspace!

Editor fixes

As you report small bugs in the editor to us, we fix them to improve the user experience. We fixed a bunch of bugs related to lists, link editing, paragraph spacing and more.

Editor performance

We made some optimisations to our editor, and document loading is now 10 to 15 percent faster.

New chat system for support

We've migrated to Crisp.chat for providing realtime support.

New feature upvoting and roadmap system

Please go in there and upvote or suggest your desired features!