AVAIL Desktop 4.0 Release

AVAIL Release Notes (Desktop 4.0)

We are ecstatic to get this latest release of the AVAIL Desktop (4.0) in your hands. It’s one of those releases that once you start using it you’ll find it hard to remember (or want to look back at) the old version. It’s ironic that we’ve added several new major features to AVAIL while managing to simplify the interface. It’s a testament to the design and engineering team (Brad, Donovan, Erika, Randall (me), Shelly, and Zach) and, I think, an indicator that we’ve done something right. After all, making software is fairly easy. Making great applications that people want to use is not.

Download AVAIL Desktop 4.0

(Full complement of installers can be found in the Downloads section of the Manage Portal)

AVAIL Desktop HomeAVAIL Desktop Home View w/ New Channel Cards
Features Include:
  • New Global Search!
  • New Host in Cloud Feature
  • New Virtualize Thumbnails Feature
  • New Home View
  • New Carousel View Mode
  • New Preview Panel
  •  New Favorites Panel
  •  New Publisher Bar
Search

The most striking changes you’ll see in AVAIL Desktop 4.0 are the addition of a new Home view and… Global Search. The new Global Search option introduces a concept we refer to as Progressive Search that helps solve the problems associated with sifting through large volumes of content and data. After performing a Global Search you are not only presented with all content that matches your search but, perhaps more importantly, the Channel context via what we call Channel Filters. Channel Filters provide an additional layer of context in understanding where the content that matches your search can be found. Select a Channel Filter to see that subset of your search results. Double click a Channel Filter and you’re immediately taken into the Channel with the option of further search and filtering via the Filters Panel. That’s Progressive Search. Helping you find needles in haystacks.

Channel Filters

Global Search & Channel Filters

 

Visuals

In keeping with our focus on visuals, we’ve overhauled what used to be called the Properties Panel and replaced it with a Preview Panel, focused 100% on presenting high-resolution images and specialized viewers for YouTube videos, PDF documents, and a new RPC viewer from ArchVision. We also added a new Carousel viewing mode to complement the existing List and Grid Views. The Carousel Viewer is great when perusing photos and detail libraries.

Grid View + Preview Panel

 

Performance + Cloud Hosting

We thought we’d have this update to you late in the 1st quarter but those plans were subverted by the pandemic. As the world went into lock-down we shifted gears and accelerated the development and limited release (in AVAIL 3.15 to select Enterprise customers) of our new Host in Cloud and Virtualize Thumbnails features. We knew the shift to WFH (work from home) was likely to put a strain on our customer’s networks and workflows and both of these features were timely in helping alleviate that pain. While work on those features delayed the general release, we’re pleased to announce that Host in Cloud and Virtualize Thumbnails are now part of AVAIL Desktop 4.0 for Enterprise customers.

Host in Cloud

Option to Host in Cloud

 

Host in Cloud allows you to host select Channels of content in the cloud. That content is then available for your users to download and use outside of your corporate network. The new Virtualize Thumbnails feature allows you to serve thumbnails for select content via the new AVAIL Thumbnail Service. This can be an effective strategy for improving performance with cloud-hosted content in solutions such as Panzura, Nasuni, NetApp, et al., or for remote workers with limited internet bandwidth or slow corporate network access via VPN.

We’ve updated the technology behind the Preview Panel and see huge performance gains when loading URLs and PDF documents. If you haven’t indexed a URL or a PDF document with AVAIL now’s a great opportunity to expand your use of AVAIL.

This release is packed with new features so we invite you to check out the AVAIL | Learning Channel to see videos highlighting everything that’s new in AVAIL Desktop 4.0! Better yet, download it today and treat yourself to a new and improved AVAIL experience.

Randall Stevens
CEO

Download AVAIL Desktop 4.0

(Full complement of installers can be found in the Downloads section of the Manage Portal)

 

Following is a full list of new features and updates…

New Home View
  • Displays all Channels available to you
  • Ability to quickly Favorite Channels
  • New Channel Cards
  • Improved visuals for Channels
  • Set Channel Card Image from any thumbnail in a Channel
  • List View displays Comments, Flags, and Download Links
New & Improved Search 
  • New Global Search (aka Cross Channel Search) capabilities
  • New Channel Filters help narrow large result sets
  • Integrated Channel & Content Search
  • New Global Search tracking in Analytics
New Carousel View Mode
New Preview Panel
  • Replaces “Properties Panel” as the primary viewer in List & Grid Views
  • Focus on high-resolution visuals
New Details Panel (replaced Properties Panel)
  • Show details at the Channel and Content level
New Host in Cloud Feature
  • Synchronize local content to an AVAIL cloud-hosted location (in Amazon AWS S3) for download
  • Local & Cloud views of Channel
  • Publish Changes feature
  • New Analytics tracking of Downloads for Egress Tracking
  • Supports High-resolution Preview Images
New Virtualize Thumbnails Feature
  • Extract thumbnail images and deliver via AVAIL cloud services
  • New Delete Virtualized Thumbnails feature (Channel Level)
New Favorites Panel
  • One-click Favoriting of Channels for easy access
New “Publisher Bar”
  • Access to key Publisher features
  • Separated from Consumer features
Improved Channel Details
  • Easily add/replace Channel Cards
  • In-line editing of Channel Name & Description
Improved Stream Definitions  View
  • Resizable Grid View for Stream Definitions
  • Double-click a Stream Definition to Edit
Improved Navigation
  • No-click scrolling of Channel Filters, Grid, List and Carousel Thumbnails, Filters Panel
  • New Shift-Scroll in Filters Panel for horizontal scrolling of Unwrapped Tags
Improved URL & PDF Browser Response
Improved Channel & Marketplace Navigation
  • Removed “Shared with Me” from Marketplace navigation
  • Added “Show Hidden Channels” option at the lower right corner of Home
  • Added Hide Channel / Unhide Channel to right-click menus
  • Improved “Click to Subscribe” button reduces confusion with two-click select/subscribe present in 3.15
  • If a Marketplace Channel requires “activation” (ie. required license/authentication from vendor) it will be presented with new Activate Channel dialog after “subscribing”
Improved Identity Management
  • New Login Screen (added Sign In w/ Google and ArchVision)
  • New Logout option!
Tips
  • Begin typing in the Search box to see Channels that match your search (Channel Name and Descriptions are being searched)
  • Ctrl-scroll will resize thumbnails
  • Double-clicking a Channel Filter from Home will take you to that Channel with the search performed and access to additional filtering from the Filters Panel
  • Use mouse scroll wheel to traverse Channel Filters and Carousel thumbnails
  • Use Shift-scroll in Filters Panel to traverse unwrapped tags
  • Use Ctrl-click to unselect a Channel Filter
  • Use Ctrl-click to select more than one Channel Filter
  • Use Ctrl-Tab to cycle through viewing modes (List, Grid & Carousel)

AVAIL 2019 Summer Release

AVAIL Behavioral Change.

With the latest update we’ve made significant underlying changes to the way we can identify content being managed on the AVAIL platform.

AVAIL has always relied on using what is known as a Hash to uniquely identify content.  The Hash is important in being able to automatically identify and associate metadata with content.  This is what allows AVAIL to recognize duplicate content across your file system even if the name of the file has been changed.

Another important piece of information that can be used to identify content is the Location of the file on the host File System.  It’s important to understand that files stored on a file system can have only one Path/Address on that file system.  That is both a strength and weakness of file systems.

For example, image A is located at \\unc_path\demo\ImageA.jpg.  A copy of ImageA.jpg is made, renamed and stored at \\unc_path\another_demo_path\ImageB.jpg.

ImageA.jpg and ImageB.jpg are exactly the same file contents which means they will produce the same Hash.  But they are stored in two different locations on the file system which gives each file a unique Location.

File Name    |       Hash       |                Location

ImageA.jpg |as3w-wa25 | \\unc_path\demo\ImageA.jpg

ImageB.jpg |as3w-wa25 | \\unc_path\another_demo_path\ImageB.jpg

From this example, while the Location is important in referencing where the file is located on the file system, that information does not tell us that these two files are copies of one another.  The Hash, on the other hand, tells us that these two files are exact duplicates of one another.

How Do We Store Data In AVAIL?

Rather than rely exclusively on the Hash of a file for identity in the AVAIL database we are now assigning what is known as a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) to content indexed into AVAIL.  Along with the GUID we then can store a Hash, Location, and other Tags (metadata).    This allows AVAIL to reference instances of the same file (Hashes the same) stored in different locations on a file system but assign different Tags.

Why Is This Important?

These changes allow us to develop more robust Tag management capabilities that leverage both Location and/or Hash information.  It is also important as use cases for AVAIL expand beyond static content libraries.  When using AVAIL to manage project information it is common for content from source libraries to be copied into project-related areas on the file system.  On the initial indexing of the copied files, the Hash helps us understand where the source file originated.  Once that file is edited for use in a project the Location becomes the most important identifying piece of information.

Sound Confusing?  It can be :). Thankfully most of you don’t spend much time diving into the intricacies of file systems.  It seems simple on the surface but when you begin digging into different use-cases, identifying and managing content gets complicated.

How Does This Affect Me?

  1. The upside… If you index files into a Channel of AVAIL and edit those files while they remain in the same location, AVAIL will not treat the edited file as a new reference (GUID) as it has previously.  New references will not be created via manual indexing or via AVAIL Stream.
  2. Be aware… If you index files into a Channel of AVAIL and need to re-index those files from a different location, AVAIL will create new references (GUIDs) representing the new file system locations.  As long as the files haven’t been edited, they will Hash the same and any Tags you’ve assigned will be copied to the new GUID.  The downside of this change is that you’ll need to manually remove the original file references in the Channel if the originals no longer exist (or let AVAIL Stream do the work for you :).

Randall Stevens, CEO

Major Enhancements to AVAIL

In the sections that follow is a brief summary of the major enhancements for the August Release of the AVAIL Product Suite.

AVAIL Desktop v3.12
  • Text Search and Tag Search Now Linked – Text Search and Tag Search are now co-dependent and will update based on the results of each other
  • View Websites within AVAIL – Like the PDF preview, you can now view full websites for URLs that are indexed into AVAIL.
AVAIL Database Maintenance
  • Search Database Update – Re-engineered the Search Database to increase search performance and in preparation for new search and channel features
  • Indexed Content Behavioral Change – Content is now based on location first, hash ID is now second where previously these were combined
AVAIL Release Notes

The following are the enhancements and fixes to the current released version of AVAIL.  These enhancements apply to the AVAIL Desktop and AVAIL Browser for Revit

AVAIL DESKTOP – VERSION 3.12

Text Search and Tag Search Now Linked – When using the Text Search Box, the Tags within the Filters Panel will now automatically update per the results of the search.  The ‘Clear Search’ options will now clear all selected tags and text.  Based on the search and/or Tag selection, Tags in the Filters Panel are highlighted with medium gray to represent that these Tags will not result in narrowing search results.  Tags highlighted in black represent that the tag has been selected by the user.

View Websites within AVAIL – Like the PDF preview, you can now view full websites for URLs that are indexed into AVAIL.

IMPROVEMENTS AND FIXES

AVAIL Desktop

  • Improved UI performance of displaying content and content scrolling in a Channel when viewing in the ‘Thumbnails’ view mode.
  • Improved the performance upon switching of Channels
  • All search terms and selected Tags will be reset upon launching of AVAIL
  • Added ‘Clear Search’ button in Filters Panel upon the text and tag-based search
  • Access Channel Details within the Properties Panel by right-clicking on Channel and selecting ‘Edit Channel’. Must have ‘Edit Permissions’. Displays the Channel Owner, date created, and date modified in the Channel Details when ‘Edit Channel’ is selected.
  • Fixed latency in retrieving Tags for a selected piece of content that previously caused Add/Remove Tags dialogue not to populate correctly.
  • Fixed the process of indexing a file with no extension that resulted in an empty ‘File Extension’ tag.
  • Fixed the failure of a large preview not re-loading in the Properties Panel.

AVAIL Browser for Revit

  • Fixed the loading of External Type Catalogs to accept the proper encoding
  • Fixed the loading of multiple model groups (Details groups) where previously it would only bring in the first

AVAIL Database Upgrade

  • Overhauled the entire Search Database to not only improve search performance but to set the stage for upcoming features that support new publisher tools around keyword management and ability to edit/update/change content without re-indexing.

AVAIL Spring 2019 Release

Spring is here!  Time for an update and spring cleaning.  We’re releasing updates to the AVAIL Desktop (3.11) and AVAIL Browser for Revit (4.2).

We continue to focus on the goal of providing rich information related to content you’re managing in AVAIL for quick decision making and access.  In this update to the AVAIL Desktop we worked on two major features, both interrelated.  We’ve added native support for viewing PDF documents directly within the AVAIL Desktop interface.  Now you can quickly view PDFs without having to open external software. This is a great way to view PDF documents of details, sheet sets, specifications and manuals; all without having to launch another PDF application.

We also shed a little love on the entire Properties Panel strategy.  When you open the Properties Panel to view a PDF document you now have a one-click expansion option that will maximize the viewing panel.  This is a great new feature not only for PDFs but also for improved viewing of Photos. You’ll also see a fresh new docked panel of icons on the far right providing quick access to Properties, Channel Details, Comments and Shared Users.

You asked for it, you got it!  Those of you using AVAIL to manage your Revit content libraries will love the new Filters Panel feature in the AVAIL Browser for Revit.  Mimicking the Filters Panel you see in the AVAIL Desktop, the new Filters Panel in the AVAIL Browser for Revit means you can use tag-based or text-based searching in Standalone Mode.  Simply increase the width of your AVAIL Browser and the Filters Panel will automatically appear.

More details about this release are below.  We hope to hear from you as you begin implementing these new features.

Randall Stevens, CEO


Major Enhancements to the Current Version of AVAIL

In the sections that follow is a brief summary of the major enhancements for the May Release of AVAIL Product Suite.

AVAIL Desktop v3.11

  • View PDF in Properties Panel – Enables user to preview full PDF from inside the Properties Panel.
  • View YouTube Video in Properties Panel – Enables user to watch a YouTube video in-line from inside the Properties Panel.
  • Upgrade from .Net 4.5 to 4.6.2 – Required in order to support the chromium browser for PDF and YouTube support.
  • OS 64-bit Support – AVAIL Desktop no longer is supporting 32-bit operating system installations.
  • Re-positioned Display Controls – Moved controls above the Filters Panel to enable further user experience improvements.
  • Side Panel Controls – Moved the ‘Properties’ and ‘More items’ buttons to a new bar on the right-hand side of the Content Browser
  • Share Channels Button – Visible next to the Channel name at the top of the Content Browser.
  • Filter Grouping for Indexing – Filters now have logical ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ associations between them to allow for more robust filtering of your content.

AVAIL Browser for Revit v4.2

  • Revit 2020 Support – Revit 2020 add-in is now fully supported.
  • Revit 2015 Support – Revit 2015 Support is now discontinued, v4.1 will be the last version to support Revit 2015.
  • Tag-Based Filtering – The AVAIL Desktop Tag-Based filtering is now available when the AVAIL Browser add-in is widened.
  • Channel Filtering – Support pinned, recent and all filter options along with ability to pin and unpin specific channels.
  • Swappable Panel Support – Added functionality to swap content browser and properties panel depending on personal preference.
  • Installer Upgrade – Added support for Autodesk-recommended certificate installation to remove ‘new add-in found’ warning.

AVAIL Release Notes

The following are the enhancements and fixes to the current released version of AVAIL Products. These enhancements apply to the AVAIL Desktop, AVAIL Browser for Revit and Stream Products unless otherwise noted.

AVAIL Desktop – Version 3.11

View PDF in Properties Panel – Enables user to preview a full PDF from inside the Properties Panel. After selecting a PDF in the Content Browser, you can then click expand the Image icon to preview the PDF.

View YouTube Video in Properties Panel – Enables user to watch a YouTube video in-line from inside the Properties Panel. Like the PDF preview above, you can now also view YouTube videos within the Properties Panel.

Re-positioned Display Controls – Moved to above Filters Panel to continue user experience improvement. This cleans up the top content search bar and leaves space for some additional search options in the future.

Side Panel Controls – Moved the ‘Properties’ and ‘More items’ buttons to Side Panel. This feature expanded Channel Details, Comments and Shared Users.

Share Channels Button – Is now visible next to the channel name at the top of the Content Browser. Similar to the icon controls, this was to help clean up the search area.

Filter Grouping for Indexing – Filters now have logical ‘AND’ and ‘OR’ associations between them to allow for more robust filtering of your content.

AVAIL Browser for Revit

Tag-Based Filtering – The Filters Panel that you are familiar with is now available in ‘Stand-Alone’ mode inside the Browser for Revit. This tag-based filtering is able to be seen when the browser panel is expanded to a minimum width. 

Channel Filtering – Now supporting pinned, recent and all filter options along with ability to pin and unpin specific Channels. This provides each user the ability to highlight and list their favorite Channels right within the AVAIL browser add-in.

Swappable Panel Support – Added functionality to swap the Content Browser and Properties Panel. Once you open the Filters Panel, a button will be displayed to allow you to swap panel views based on your personal preference.

Fixed and Known Limitations

AVAIL Browser for Revit
• Fixed issue with delay of detection of connection with AVAIL Desktop
• Fixed issue with display of “Loading…” message when transitioning AVAIL Browser Panel from hidden to shown within Revit
• Addressed errors when detecting changes to active document in Project Mode
• Addressed errors when detecting view activation in Project Mode
• Fixed reference to dependent assembly System.Windows.Interactivity for Revit 2016-2018
• Fixed DPI scaling bug for Revit 2016 & 2017 for Hi-Res displays
• Fixed version conflict with shared dependency with Dynamo
• Fixed issue with broken Upgrade file command

AVAIL 3.10.1 Update Now Available

What better way to kickstart 2019 than with an AVAIL update!  We’ve made improvements you’re not going to want to miss across AVAIL DesktopAVAIL Browser for Revit and AVAIL Stream.  This release concentrated on improving the experience of sharing Channels with members of your team and marks the commercial release of the Standalone Mode for the AVAIL Browser for Revit.

We had a major overhaul to the setup and configuration of what we now call Teams.  The manage portal on getavail.com was recently updated. What used to be referred to as “Manage Users” is now “Team Members”.  For those of you not using SSO (Single Sign-On) you’ll find a new “Team SignUp Mode” that makes it easy to add members to your Team via a Shareable Link.  You can also now restrict new users by domain making it easier than ever to build out your Team.

AVAIL Desktop 3.10.1

We made improvements to the Shared Users feature with the AVAIL Desktop to take advantage of the improvements to building your Team.  Now everyone, including Enterprise customers using SSO, can easily search for members on their Team using First Name, Last Name or Email.  As you begin typing in the Search Members box you’ll see a list of Team Members matching your search criteria and easily invite them to your Channel.

Users of the free version of AVAIL can also now create Teams and begin sharing Marketplace Channels and their own two free Channels with others in their firm.  Subscribers to ArchVision RPC or ArchVision Family and Detail Warehouse can also now login to AVAIL using their ArchVision account for authentication.

Bug fix:  At some point we introduced a bug that was causing Keys that you had set in Tags & Filters Editor to not remember the new Key when indexing new content with the same Value.  We fixed that!

AVAIL Browser for Revit 4.1

We made some major updates to the AVAIL Browser for Revit including:

  • Standalone Mode!
  • Support for Assemblies
  • New Marketplace download feature
  • Persistent user settings
  • Full thumbnail support for non-Revit content
  • Improved Thumbnail Generator
  • Improved Installer
  • Improved Login Support

We’re officially now out of beta with the Standalone Mode of the AVAIL Browser for Revit!  What does this mean? It means you can now view and search for Revit content directly in the AVAIL Browser for Revit without opening AVAIL Desktop. You now have the option of running in either mode (Standalone or Desktop). The AVAIL Browser for Revit will recognize when you launch the AVAIL Desktop and switch modes automatically!

We’ve also improved some usability within Standalone Mode such as the ability to Pin Channels as well as remember the last Channel you were using upon launch.

For you Publishers we made some improvements to the Revit Project Thumbnail Generator.  You now have the ability to select Families, Drafting Views, Sheets and Other Views independently for processing. A great time saver when you only need to update specific thumbnails.

On the admin front we improved the installers to adhere to Autodesk-recommended certificate installation in order to suppress that pesky “new addin found” warning.

Oh, and some bug fixes including:

  • Fixed issue with loading of view names containing multiple dash characters.
  • Fixed issue when reloading Families with a Type Catalog.
  • Ability to add the AVAIL Browser for Revit to the Quick Access bar in Revit.
  • Corrected Analytics reporting of Project Name vs Filename.
  • Fixed issue with drag and drop of views when drilling into views of a sheet.
  • Fixed display of blank view upon upgrading within Content Mode.

AVAIL Stream 1.4.1

Stream has been updated with full support for Revit parameter harvesting.  The same Revit configuration file you use with the AVAIL Desktop is now supported with Stream.

If you’re a Stream user contact support@getavail.com for the update.

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