A rundown of the features we are sunsetting in 2022
Updated: 11 November 2022
Back in August, we announced a dozen features set for depreciation. We are now adding one feature to that list, plus a few dozen switches. We're hoping that by removing these features our Community Settings will be easier to navigate for our Administrators. If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask. We will start removing these starting on November 18th.
Yammer Integration: Yammer was one of the first integrations we tackled, a big achievement for us at the time. As time passed we neglected this integration and feel we are not doing a service to our clients by supporting it. We will be discontinuing our integration with Yammer, as of November 18th. We would encourage you to check out Teams Integration as a replacement.
Switch Removal: This project is part of an ongoing initiative to eliminate unnecessary settings from our product. You'll find that we are essentially making these features on by default and not removing any functionality.
Community Settings:
Remove the option to Allow users to set their own time zones. Members will now always be permitted to set their options will be on in all communities moving forward.
Community Status: Vote One and Idea Submission Only will be removed. Both of these options will continue to be available on the Campaign Level.
Customize Site Behavior >> General: Remove the switch Show ‘Off Topic’ Link Alongside Campaigns. The Off Topic is now a System Label and can be seen via the Label Dropdown.
Language Settings: Allow Admins to create campaigns in other languages. From now on when setting up a campaign, the Admin will be able to select which language their campaign should be in from the supported languages. This switch becomes redundant.
Customize Site Behavior: Homepage Login Prompt. This is now just the default behavior, and the switch is now redundant.
Customize Site Behavior: Show End Dates on each campaign in sidebar. Whenever an end date is present, it will be displayed.
Look & Feel: Custom Side Bar Content. We’re now offering rich-text editing in the Custom Sidebar, so this HTML area is now redundant.
Social Login Settings: Social Logins Require email for social logins. This behavior is now the default for all Social Logins.
Export Data: Export Ideas attachments. Switch will be removed but we will include these items by default where available.
Export Data: Include geo location. Switch will be removed but we will include these items by default where available.
Idea Owners> Multiple Ownership. Ideas can now be owned by multiple owners in all cases.
Idea Owners Moderation right over idea teams. By default, Idea Owners can add/move positions.
Notifications: Receive email notifications for ideas you have created / Receive new comment emails
These switches are now redundant as Idea Submitters are following and are subscribed to all ideas by default.
Customization > Tags: Allow Tags. Tags are persistent in the Idea Submission tool. To remove it, simply slide out of the Idea Submission Tool.
Make Tags Mandatory. This is also now controlled by selecting the pencil icon on the Idea Submission Tool.
Campaign-Related Switches:
Allow Idea Linking: Idea linking moves to the Idea Submission Tool.
Allow single idea to have multiple submitters: This option now moves to the Idea Submission Tool.
Administrators May Submit Ideas on behalf of other members. This becomes an element that can be optionally dragged into your Idea Submission form in the Idea Submission Tool.
All Idea Report Abuse
Display Report Duplicate
These switches are redundant as these two are controlled in the Automator Builder. To turn these options off, simply disable the rule in the Automator Builder.
Receive Thank You Email for Unauthorized Users. This setting is tied to ideas submitted by unauthorized members. New behavior is that we WILL send a Thank You email but we will remove the link back to the idea.
Administrators May Submit Ideas on Behalf of Another Member. This feature can be turned on by dragging into the Idea Submission Form.
Customized Site Behavior: Ideas in Ideate Stage are Editable by Idea Submitter and Co-Submitters will be removed from Customized Site Behavior and instead be visible in any Ideate stage. Similarly, Disable Idea Edit by Submitter will be removed from Campaign Level.
Campaign: Member Idea File Attachment Allowed. This switch will be removed. Instead, we will show the File Attachment in the Idea Submission Tool.
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Updated: 18 August 2022
Like all software companies, IdeaScale regularly takes stock of their current feature set and determines which features need to be depreciated. This year we have a short list of features we will be sunsetting at the end of September. Removing these features will allow us to focus on our core offerings and build better features moving forward. Let's have one last toast for the following:
Merge Ideas: Two years ago we introduced Linked Ideas, which greatly overlapped the functionality offered by Merge Ideas. Since that time Linked Ideas has been widely adopted. We think of Linked ideas as a more refined means of joining ideas. Any idea(s) that have been merged prior to September 30, 2022 will remain that way.
Global File Library: We currently offer a Global and Community File Library. Both serve the same purpose. So we decided we will combine them into one repository, called File Library. Any files you have utilized in the Global File Library will be moved automatically to the new File Library, and all URL paths will be supported.
RSS feeds: We will no longer be offering RSS for publicly-facing communities. Side note: we still miss Google Reader.
iOS App: We’ve spent many hours making our communities mobile responsive, so much time we haven’t spent nearly enough time working on our dedicated app. We will be discontinuing the support of our native app on September 30.Domain Based Cookie SSO: The SSO wars of the 00’s are over and SAML won.
Exporting Data as XML: For certain exports, we allowed data to be exported as an XML file. We will no longer support XML. (Don’t fear Excel/CSV exports aren't going anywhere.)
Submit Via Email: Sadly, this feature never got off the ground, based on the number of hoops one had to jump through to actually submit an idea. What was initially designed as an easy means to submit ideas on-the-fly turned out to be anything but easy. The related Draft Email Reminder feature that reminds members to submit their drafts will remain.
Idea Cloud: One of our oldest and clunkiest reports will now no longer be supported.
Inbound Status: This seldom-used Idea status was super helpful when utilizing a widget. However, since our Widgets have been sunset (class of 2020) the Inbound has created a huge amount of confusion. Any idea in the Inbound status will be moved back to the respective submitter's drafts.
FAQ's:
Q: What does this mean for me? Do I need to do anything?
A: No action is required on your end. We will quietly remove them from your community.
Q: When is this happening?
A: We will be removing these features starting September 30th.
Q: Is this it? Are other features going to be removed?
A: We will be removing other, seldom-used, features in the coming months. Watch this space for updates.