Quickbase August 2024 Release Notes

8.18.24

• Enhancements
• Open beta
• Beta opportunities
• What’s fixed in Quickbase
• Feature retirements

Enhancements

Audit logs—new details and more coverage

New details

To help you inspect and reconstruct events under investigation, we’re adding the following information to audit logs:

• A new column named Session Information, containing:
  • A numeric session ID associated with a browsing session on a particular device (which resets when the session expires), or
  • A short snippet of the user token, for compatible API calls
• When creating a new user token, a short snippet of the token and the token ID will be included in the event details. This can be used to trace back API call usage.

This update increases visibility into actions taken on your account, including actions performed by users when they are using a service account.

With these additions, we’re removing the Application column from the audit logs interface. This column is still available in exports and the API call.

More coverage

We’re also adding coverage for more events, including:

• When an app admin selects save on the app branding or app properties
• When a realm admin selects save on the realm branding or realm policies
• When a realm or account admin selects save on an individual user account in the admin console

Secure links

Quickbase applications are often extended to anonymous (unauthenticated) users through Everyone on the Internet (EOTI). This feature allows safe public data entry and viewing.

With secure links, customers on the Business or Enterprise plans can add another layer of security on top of EOTI by:

• Generating unique links
• Verifying them using a new formula function: GetAccessKey()

This capability is intended for anonymous users to complete limited workflows, like an invoice or a survey. Learn more in our help article and get started with this formula in the Exchange.

Updated email builder

Create report subscriptions, personal notifications, and personal subscriptions with the updated email builder.

When you create a subscription directly from a table or summary report, including legacy-style reports, you’ll be directed to the updated email builder. Legacy subscriptions are available in table settings.

When you create personal notifications or subscriptions, the default option will be Build your own. This takes you to the updated email builder to create a custom email. Legacy notifications and subscriptions continue to be available as options for personal emails.

Snowflake channel—user role support

We are extending our Snowflake channel capabilities by adding support for user roles. Pipeline builders can now authenticate specific roles assigned to their Snowflake user.

Multiple roles can be connected as different accounts and later changed throughout the pipeline and across the entire workflow.

Learn how to connect to the Snowflake channel with a user role.

Pipelines—new Jinja filter parameters

You can now choose how you want data to be processed when using certain filters in Jinja. For the base64_decode filter, you can now decide whether you want the decoded data to come out as a regular string (the default) or as raw data (bytes) by using a special setting. This gives you more control over how you handle base64-encoded information.

We’ve also applied this option to the HMAC filter. If you use the same setting, the result will be in a raw data format (binary) instead of a string, allowing you to easily use it with other filters or systems.

New formula function

A new formula function, URLDecode(), is now available to take URL-encoded strings and return the decoded value.

Open beta

Service accounts—available to all customers by August 31

Starting with the August release, we will roll out service accounts for all customers to try during our open beta phase.

Collaboration and governance are two crucial parts of Quickbase application building. Service accounts allow you to collaborate securely without needing to share a user login. Now, realm admins can convert a user account to a service account. Service accounts have access to the entire platform. You can use a service account to build apps, pipelines, and even make API calls that use user tokens.

Realm admins can assign users to one or multiple service accounts. After a user has been assigned to a service account, they can switch to it from their user menu. When a user switches to a service account, an event will be added to your audit logs with the session ID.

New navigation updates

Our new navigation experience (currently in open beta) will be generally available (GA) on October 1, 2024. It will then become the default navigation for all users.

This new experience is the result of extensive development, testing, and feedback from our beta users. Before then, we encourage you to explore the new navigation experience and provide feedback. Try out the following updates in open beta:

New help menu and feedback system

On August 19, 2024, we're launching our revamped help menu in the new navigation—replacing the temporary version introduced earlier. This intuitive menu brings back familiar interactions and provides quick access to essential resources. Key features of the updated help menu include:

• Support for custom URLs
• Direct access to Quickbase help, Community forums, and other resources
• A quick way to contact our technical support team for assistance

Previously, the Give feedback button was only available from the My Apps page. Now it's included directly in the help menu, so you can easily give feedback from any page in Quickbase.

Restyled user menu

As a continuation of our efforts to modernize the platform, we have restyled the user menu in the new navigation experience. This change will be rolling out by August 22, 2024. Some of the labels have changed, but you’ll still be able to access everything you could access before.

• My preferences is now Profile
• My personal settings in this app is now Personal notifications and reports

Restyled Sandbox control

Sandbox controls have also been restyled in the new navigation experience to create a more consistent and modern look and feel.

Sidebar interaction

We updated the sidebar so that the arrow to expand and collapse it is visible when it's collapsed or when you hover over it.

Learn more about all of our navigation updates.

FastField integration

With a stronger integration between FastField and Quickbase, it is now easier to collect more data in the field and manage it in Quickbase. With easier setup, automatic data connections, and Quickbase SSO, you can do more.

If you're already using FastField, contact support to link your accounts.

If you're new to FastField, go to the Admin console to start your 30-day free trial.

With linked accounts, you can do things like:

• Create FastField forms from existing Quickbase tables
• Automatically create Quickbase records from FastField form responses
• Control who can access FastField from Quickbase
• Use the FastField pipeline channel
• Sign in to FastField using your Quickbase credentials

Collect your data from anywhere, and manage it with the power of Quickbase.

Beta opportunities

FEATURE	DESCRIPTION	STATUS	HOW TO PARTICIPATE
New forms on Quickbase mobile	Mobile users can use the new forms experience to add, view, and edit records while on-the-go.	Pre-registration (beta program coming soon)	Sign up in our early access app
Document creation	Create documents like invoices, proposals, or purchase orders with this document creation capability. We’re collecting beta signups and will communicate more over the coming months.	Private beta program starting now	Sign up in our early access app  Select Register now! to sign up for general registration. You may become eligible for this program based on your areas of interest.

View all beta opportunities in our early access app.

What's fixed in Quickbase

ISSUE	AREA AFFECTED	DESCRIPTION	WHAT'S FIXED
QBE017419	Mobile	Users with devices using iOS 16 and above couldn’t upload xlsx, html, xlsm, and docx files.	Users with devices using iOS 16 and above can now upload xlsx, html, xlsm, and docx files.
QBE019326	Mobile	Rich text widget height on a new mobile dashboard was not complying with the set height.	Rich text widget height on a new mobile dashboard now complies with the set height, according to the defined mapping. The issue will be fixed in the new mobile app version 1.64.
QBE017674	Pipelines	A validation error message saying Item max size exceeded appeared when unwarranted.	This error message no longer appears unless appropriate.
QBE018080	Pipelines	Pipeline activity stopped due to error but was still updating endpoint records.	Endpoint records no longer update when pipeline activity stops.
QBE019675	Pipelines	The Jinja {{runtime}} object did not work in condition (branch) filters.	The Jinja {{runtime}} object now works in condition filters.
QBE019656	Pipelines	Links navigating to pipeline activities resulted in a 404 error.	Links to pipeline activity are fixed.
QBE019574	Pipelines	In the Quickbase channel, files failed to upload when over 75MB.	File limits are now consistent between Quickbase and Pipelines.
QBE19582	Pipelines	The base64_decode Jinja filter resulted in validation errors.	A new output_encoding parameter has been added to the base64_decode and hmac filters to make it work.
QBE019084	Pipelines	Request for the JSONP trigger in the Webhooks channel resulted in intermittent errors.	The JSON trigger request in the Webhooks channel executes successfully.
QBE019424	Custom emails	Screen readers were not reading list options or section headings when used with keyboard navigation.	Screen readers can now read list options and section headings.
QBE018578	Forms	Multiple-choice text fields shown as radio buttons did not display properly.	Multiple-choice text fields shown as radio buttons now display properly.
QBE019569	Navigation	In legacy form previews and field properties popup windows, the navigation sidebar appeared unnecessarily and took up space.	The navigation sidebar no longer appears in legacy form previews and field properties popup windows.
QBE018133	Forms	Formula fields dependent on values through relationships displayed incorrect values in new record view.	Formula fields now display correct values in new record view.
QBE019327	Forms	When adding a child record from a parent record in New Forms, the Reference Proxy did not populate for every record after the first child record.	The Reference Proxy now populates when adding child records in New Forms.
QBE019604	Dashboards	The navigation sidebar did not expand and collapse properly.	The navigation sidebar now expands and collapses properly.
QBE018938	Dashboards	Custom text and font colors for rich text components failed to set.	Users can set custom text and font colors for rich text components.
QBE019248	Navigation	Some performance analyzer actions required multiple clicks before starting.	All performance analyzer actions now start promptly when clicked.
QBE019351	Navigation	Content and buttons in pop-up windows were being covered up and not displaying properly when using the new navigation.	Content and buttons in pop-up windows display properly when using the new navigation.
QBE019596	Navigation	When the custom branding uses dark background color, the text in the Recent apps menu could not be seen.	Text in the Recent apps menu is now visible even when the custom branding background color is dark.
QBE019600	Navigation	The Outcome suggestions icon on Dashboards was cropped and only partially visible when using new navigation.	The Outcome suggestions icon is now fully visible when using the new navigation.
QBE019669	Navigation	When actions were not provided as part of the URL in /nav/main or /nav/app/<appid>/table/<tableid> it resulted in error.	Users are now redirected to the default location (the My apps page or table home) when actions are not provided in the URL.
QBE019664	Navigation	Mobile preview when testing as a role did not work when using the new navigation.	Mobile preview now works as expected.
QBE019598	Quickbase Sync	SFTP connected table names did not match their Quickbase Sync folder name.	SFTP connected table names now match their Quickbase Sync folder name.
QBE019647	Quickbase Sync	In Admin Console Connected tables, user data fetching was timing out and failing.	We lowered the page size so results come faster and it does not time out.

Feature retirements

End of Support

Update on Automations, Application Webhooks UI, and Quickbase Actions retirement timeline

There's one more planned change in the process of retiring Automations: disabling the ability to edit existing automations.

We had previously communicated that this would happen in August 2024. However, in the spirit of streamlining the retirement of Automations, as well as Actions and the Application Webhooks UI, we are moving this date to June 2025.

As a reminder, Automations is currently unsupported, and we recommend migrating to the more powerful and flexible Pipelines capability. It’s no longer possible to create new automations. Existing Automations, however, will continue to run indefinitely and you’ll still be able to enable or disable automations as needed.

Automations, Actions, and the Application Webhooks UI will also not be available going forward on newly-created accounts.

Learn more about the retirement of Automations and the retirement of Application Webhooks UI and Quickbase Actions.