Keep on track with all our new features and implementations by inquiring our regularly updated release notes on this page.
In this article:
Release Notes - 2023-02-14
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Or so people say, and after a few sprints focusing on big projects which we will not spoil just yet! we actually did the opposite of paving the road to hell. We paved the road to product quality. Little by little, one too many fixes and improvements here and there, our Archiving and Cataloguing solution is getting stronger (... just like the song). Why don't we take a look at what happened these past 4 sprints?
Improvements
Artwork sets
- After placing all the necessary filters, and getting a good selection of results to create the artwork set, in the action bar we have the option to select all / deselect all artworks so the users won't have to add artwork by artwork
- And talking about placing the necessary filters, that is a micro-labor of curation which is now sticky for the next time that artwork sets are being looked up
Provenance art events
- For all transactions that have several receivers attached to them (but by descent, inherited, and bequest in particular) they render all of them
- The override functionality used to remove the established indentation for possession events, but now it keeps / maintains it as it should
Publications
- When a publication is rendered as part of an artwork, sometimes the references will come with illustrations. These illustrations are linked to the page where they are located. When such references and their respective illustrations are rendered, they now follow the page sequence where they are located.
- When searching for publications, one of the filters is Authors. Sometimes the users may not necessarily remember the name of the author but the AKA name. When this is the case, now the Author's filter recognised that name and will display the results that match the constraint.
- There are four types of Publications which are the highest in rank and therefore cannot have a parent publication themselves. The ARE the parent publications. The publication types are:
- Periodical
- Popular periodical
- Professional periodical
- Book series
We improved two things to prevent placing a parent publication ON these types:
- When you create these types of publications, they will not display the Parent publication section, to prevent any temptation to add a parent publication
- When you create another type of publication they will display the Parent publication, and you can add a parent publication. But if you realise that this publication is actually one of the above mentioned types and you try to change the publication type to any of those, you will receive an error message explaining that since you have set a parent publication you cannot change the publication type until you have removed the parent publication. And of course, the change will not take place.
Archive resources
- When an ancestor resource (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent) is private, the progeny resources (child, grandchild, great-grandchild) cannot be public.
If you try to turn them public, an error message will be displayed explaining that the one or more ancestor resources are private and the change cannot take place. In order for this change to take place, you will need to turn the ancestors public. - Some archive resources can have more than 100 sub-resources. When you access one of these resources (e.g. collection) and scroll all the way down, those sub-resources will display. Now, if you select let's say archive resource 220, the resource tree displaying all the sub-resources contained in that resource will go all the way up and only display 100 resources at a time. This can make you believe that the other resources are lost which is not true. On top of that, if you try to select all the sub-resources, you will see that only a fraction of the sub-resources contained in the resource are selected.
To provide more transparency we have added a new command in the action bar to load all the sub-resources. This way, you can have them all loaded at once if you need to have them all selected, or you can still have the fraction of sub-resources that load by default and scroll to have more sub-resources loaded.
Also we have added a counter so you are always aware of the amount of loaded sub-resources as opposed to the total amount of sub-resources contained in the resource.
The rest...
- The sort criteria to order art events (e.g. order Included artworks based on the Exhibition Catalogue number) is improved:
- empty values are displayed at the end
- non-numerical values are sorted below the numeral values
- Other Identifiers filter has been added a visibility status so that you can have them public or private depending on what you intend to do with them
See? the road to quality is paved with small fixes and improvements!
Release Notes - 2022-12-07
Improvements implemented
Better error notifications when trying to delete / archive referenced entities
Maybe you are performing a cleanup, maybe you realize there has been a mistake, or simply you identify an entity that needs to be removed. Now, it is important to remember that one of the greatest asset of our Archiving & Cataloguing solution is the fact that entities are related. That is how when you are recording a publication, it can be easily connected to an artwork without you having to re-record the data again. These linkages are important and the more you make, the more you should be aware of them when you try to archive or delete the entity. And so, we want to help you be aware of it and in that effort our first step is to provide better error notifications that can give you an idea of the power of the entity.
You will get a notification that will state:
- The reason why you cannot archive the entity: because it is connected to art events
- The amount of connections / references that happen between the entity and other art events
- The actions needed to be taken: remove or edit those connections manually
They look like this:
You will get these notifications when you try to:
- Delete a media item from an archive resource
- Archive main entities: publications, auctions, and exhibitions
- Delete an additional name from and agent
- Delete an address from an agent
- Delete an indexing term
- Delete an aka title from the Artwork details
- Delete a primary title from the Artwork details
- Delete a committee
Select preview images from Archive Resources
By now you already know how to set up your preview image(s). If you are still a bit confused about it, don't worry and see this article.
In our first iteration, the preview image(s) could only be selected from the Dossier. But what happens when the preview image(s) is located in a different Archive resource?
Don't worry, we have the solution for you, just check our new tutorial: How to set up preview image(s) from an Archive Resource
Create Artwork Sets from the Artworks list view
If you were already having fun with How to work with Artwork Sets you are so in for a surprise. Now, not only will you be able to create Artwork Sets from Master Data, but also from the Artwork list view itself! When you are working in the Artworks section, performing your specific searches and getting the artworks you are interested in, you can create your Artwork Set as a next step from all that work.
If you want to know more, check the tutorial: How to create Artwork Sets from the Artworks list view
New Features
Identify when an art event is connected to a publication with media
When you create provenance, exhibitions, and publication events, you pull data from the main entities which in turn may or not may not be connected to an archive resource with scans / media. How can you find out, which of your events include entities connected to an archive resource with scans / media?
We make that easy for you: we have implemented a book icon - similar to the one you see in the publishing solution artwork detailed pages which indicates that:
- The provenance art event is connected to an Auction entity which in turn is connected to a Publication type Sales Catalogue with scans / media
- The exhibition art event is connected to an Exhibition entity which in turn is connected to a Publication type Exhibition Catalogue with scans / media
- The publication art event is connected to a Publication entity which in turn is connected to an Archive resource with scans / media
To know how it works please check out this article: Identify when an art event is connected to a publication with media
Bugs & Improvements
And if all these were not enough... we also had a little bit of time to work on some bugs & improvements:
- Auction entity fixes
- Auto-save issues fixes
- Attestation report fixes
Release Notes - 2022-11-29
New Features
Agent consolidation
Whenever you need an agent, how often do you take the time to check if such agent already exists? If the answer is seldom or never, most likely you are now facing with a lot of agents with the same name, the same type, and potentially many repeating additional names and addresses. The bigger problem? When you create relationships between the agents and some art events - e.g. you use an agent as an author, or as a venue - you might be using a repeated agent so... how do you know which agent is the right one?
Fret not! This feature is here to help and a beauty all round:
- You need to identify the agents that are repeated
- Mark the agents as Duplicate and Master respectively
- Merge the Duplicate with the Master to create your super Master agent that will comprise all the relationships throughout our Archiving & Cataloguing solution
- Delete the Duplicate agents when you have performed the consolidation
Sounds great eh? So, if you want to know more on how this feature works, please go to these two articles and start cleaning up your data:
Global / local Notes
Notes are crucial throughout our Archiving & Cataloguing solution. They are used to record specific data that may not have a specific field to be entered because it is also quite specific to different entities and art events.
There are many notes that are created every day and because of that, it might be a bit difficult to keep track of their location and subsequent administration and editing. Notes can be part of an entity such as an Artwork, a Publication etc. They can also be part of art events like a Provenance event. So you need to be able to identify them and from there, know where they are.
This feature is here to help. With the ability to look up the notes throughout the whole Archiving & Cataloging solution, or in specific entities. If you want to know more on how this new feature works check the article How to look up Notes and start managing your notes.
Artwork Sets
Ever wanted to put a set of artworks together for let's say... complete their cataloguing process? What about putting artworks together under a specific subject that you have been using? Maybe that filter could be a time period, a certain medium... many things that are part of the Artwork details can become a filter or a parameter under which you can create a list of artworks. Depending on the purpose that you need that collection of artworks together, you can create them and manage them.
In the past, these sets were located within the Artwork detailed pages, but now they have their own section in Master Data and you can manage those sets as you see fit. You can create, edit an delete Artwork Sets.
Bugs & Improvements
And if all these were not enough... we also had a little bit of time to work on some bugs & improvements:
- Attestation details fixes
- Inscription issues fixes
- Reproduction details fixes
Release Notes - 2022-10-17
Improvements implemented
Rendering the recorded data
Exhibitions usually put out catalogues. These catalogues in turn, become sources of data that shed insights into the life of the artworks. When a work of art is part of an exhibition, it will either be mentioned or pictured in the catalogue. As such, when an exhibition entity is recorded and connected to an artwork, a rounded event will include the references, whether they are text or reproductions. The latter will include details such as the page, and how the image is being referenced (e.g. no. / fig. / pl.) as well as extra details in the form of comments. All those are now rendered in the exhibition art event.
New Features
They are not only inscriptions, they are Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Whenever an artist has had the need to mark their artwork they have made use of different ways to do so. The purposes can be many, and whatever their motivation, the works of art may carry with them markings that can take, not only different forms, but also can be applied in different ways.
As such we have the Inscriptions, defined as any text in the work of art intended to be read or for the purpose of it. And we have markings, which are those "texts" that are not intended to be read or they do not make use of letters to relay a message. The signatures have their own definition since, more often than not, will help identify the artist behind the piece.
Together with our users we have enhanced the way our users can enter the data in our Archiving and Cataloguing solution not only for the texts intended to be read, Inscriptions, but also for the Signatures, and the texts that do not take a the form of readable material, the Markings.
Check out these articles to know how this feature works:
1. How to add Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
2. How to record Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings via art events
Release Notes - 2022-09-26
Improvements implemented
Download media items in bulk per archive resource as zip with sensible names
This one is a beauty! We know that from time to time the media items in an archive resource need to be downloaded for different purposes. When we have 10 or 50 or 100 items, downloading one by one can be a hassle and one tedious task! For this we have implemented a really neat and hassle free way to download the media items from an archive resource in bulk.
Check out how it works here: Download multiple images as a zip file
Exhibition entity and art events are public by default
Yes, we hear you. Whenever creating exhibitions and their respective art events, they are intended primarily to be seen through our Publishing tool, hence, seldom will they be dimmed as private in the visibility status and it can be a tad annoying to turn each of them to public if they are private by default.
This is why, now whenever you create an exhibition entity, it will be public by default and its respective art events such as the recording of the venue and the exhibitor will be public by default as well.
And our ongoing enhancement work!
We took care of some pesky issues that were throwing shade on our new features like the visibility of the publications linked to an archive resource in the document preview. When the publication is linked to a resource with scans, the document preview displays such scans, whereas if the publication is not linked to a resource, the document preview displays nothing.
Release Notes - 2022-09-12
Improvements implemented
Public reports display the additional preview images and the credit line
Artworks can have more that one preview image. These preview images are intended to provide more visual details on the artwork. They are added in our Archiving and Cataloguing solution and they are displayed in our Publishing solution.
Now, they are included in the public reports as well at the end of them under Reproductions.
Also, the credit line, a quite important part of the Artwork's Provenance has been added at the end of the Provenance section.
And when there is a URL attached to it, the credit line is hyperlinked in the public report to access the page where this information can be found.
Publications entities enhancements
When linking a publication to an archive resource with scans, the archive resource may have quite a long name which, instead of being separated by spaces, it is separated by under-scores. When this is the case, the name is considered as one quite big word (or a progression of characters). In the publications, where the linked archive resource name is displayed, such big titles could not be broken, so instead we are taking the first few characters of that progression and then adding the ellipsis (...) for our users to know that the name is longer.
And in our publication type drop-down menu, we had a less that appealing label for the Sales Catalogue option, but now it displays nicely and ca be used as such.
Shinny new customised reports: Auctions
Continuing with our goal to provide you with more and more autonomy to manage your data, we have added the ability to create customised reports in the Auctions overview, similar to the customised reports in Artworks and Publications.
Please have a look at this article to learn more about customised auction reports and how to create them: How to create customised reports for Auctions
And our ongoing enhancement work!
And of course we took care as well of some issues that were preventing our users from doing their work smoothly such as reviewing the autosave functionality from our Archiving and Cataloguing solution, as well as the editing of agents.
Release Notes - 2022-08-15
Improvements implemented
New filter "Genre" in artworks
When it comes to artworks, filters are quite useful to find the exact information or answer among the sea of data. This is why we added a new filter in the overview: Genre so that you can filter all the artworks that match the specific Genre you have entered.
ISBN not only validates for 10 but also for 13
Working with ISBNs can be quite useful when cataloguing and recording data. When a publication is created, entering the ISBN is another point of data that can come in handy through time.
Now, not only can we validate the ISBN 10 but also, when you enter the ISBN 13 our Archiving and Cataloguing solution will also validate it, so you can use either of them!
New Photography state for Reproductions
When a Catalogue reference is recorded, they can be either a text reference, or a reproduction. When it comes to the latter, the state of the reproduction should be recorded. Such recording usually takes the form of a photograph that shows visually the evolution of that reproduction through time. In order to make sense of that evolution, it is important to establish what the photograph is presenting. There are several states like earlier state, first state, etc. And now we have added a new one: present state to identify that currently, the reproduction is in such state.
New features
Link publications to archive resources with scans that have been extracted and converted
We now provide a flow to allow you to select whether you want to have the media extracted and converted with OCR in parallel or not, as well as the ability to full-text-read in the archive document preview for each extracted and converted media. And also by providing a flow to allow you to link the publication to the archive resource with media, as well as the setting of the preview / cover image that will allow the identification of such publication.
For in depth tutorials about the new features please check the following articles:
How to extract images from PDF Files
How to link scans to a publication entry
How to remove or replace publication scans
How to change the publication cover image
Release Notes - 2022-08-01
Improvements implemented
Consolidate publication types "Auction catalogue" and "Sale catalogue"
We used to have, among others, 2 publication types which are treated the same in the Public Display: Sales Catalogue and Auction Catalogue. We consolidated both types so now, whenever you create a publication type that will be linked to an Auction event, it will always be a Sales Catalogue and, following the respective rules in place, they can be visible in Public Display.
Display the credit line text and link at the end of the provenance list
Remember that the information you enter is the base upon which your public website takes shape, so it is only natural that, whatever feature we have visible internally is reflected in its public representation and vice-versa. That's why the credit line is now also being previewed as part of the last provenance transaction.
New feature: The Preview images
Managing preview images
Through this feature, you can set the primary image which is the one image that identifies the artwork. You can now also add more preview images to it so that more details can be seen.
Are you ready to dive deeper into preview images?
Read the complete tutorial about uploading, ordering replacing and managing multiple preview images for your artwork entries.
Publishing multiple preview images
And talking about the Public Display, the images can be seen in the detail page but also in full view. Additionally, we have added a new icon, so that when the users of the Public Display hover over the description icon, the same as with the copyright icon, the respective information is displayed.
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Release Notes - 2022-02-23
Improvements implemented
Pre-populate the overwrite field
Originally thought as a text field to rewrite the auto-generated entry, it came to our attention that the whole process of rewriting could be a bit cumbersome when a little detail is the one that needs to be edited - like an extra dot, or the removal of one word. How to improve this? By pre-populating the field with the same auto-generated entry for the user to edit it rather than rewriting it whole.
Full & Public artwork reports download as DOCX
As part of our reports service we have the standard and customized reports. On the former we have 2 types of reports.
New feature: Customized reports for Artworks
Creation of customized reports to select data to be displayed and 2 formats to download them.
Release Notes - 2022-02-09
Improvements implemented
Set a type for Artwork titles
Artworks can have other names aside from the official one. And they are important to be recorded as part of the whole that informs an artwork.
Those names, not only can be added in our Archiving and Cataloguing solution but also can be marked with their respective label: Primary as the official name, Also known as as the other name, and Other if there are other names less known but still used.
Add the traveling venue to the artwork's exhibition event
The (traveling) exhibition entity records all the data around the exhibition such as titles, the venues, the dates, the agents, the included artworks, etc. And when the artwork's exhibition event is created, if the artwork was, for instance, not displayed in all the venues where the traveling exhibition took place, it is possible to only add the venues where it was displayed and so the rendering displays only the available data.
The visibility & editorial statuses
In the process of publishing or, making the artworks visible to a public and wider audience that gets in contact with the digital project through our Publishing solution, not everything should be publicly visible or not everything is in the state to be publicly visible because it needs corroboration, revision, rework. When these are the cases, the visibility status is here to help: You have the choice between Private and Public.
In the process of creation of entities, being them artworks, publications, exhibitions, etc. not everything is in a state to be published.That is why we have the editorial statuses to alert the users of our Archiving and Cataloguing solution about the state of the data. Choose between Draft, Ready and Checked.
We recommend you to get well acquainted with these statuses by consolidating this article on the statuses: The visibility & editorial statuses
New feature: Overwrite toggle to manually override auto--generated references
Auto-generated references are a great feature but sometimes data is not displayed as desired. We created a new feature for you to modify the references to be displayed according to your needs and wishes without fundamentally altering the data.