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IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017


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IBM has released what's new for IBM Connections Cloud for May 2017. Here is some of the updates


Verse

Verse: Calendar delegation

Need to view or manage the calendars of others? You can now use IBM Verse to add people who have given you access to their calendar using IBM Notes. Add them to the Delegation panel, and open any managed calendar in a separate browser tab. When a new calendar notice arrives, you'll be alerted by a red badge in the calendar's browser tab.

Alain Amadou gave Kelly Hardart delegated access to manage Alain's calendar using IBM Notes*. See how easy it is for Kelly to set up and monitor Alain's calendar in IBM Verse.

1. Get the button to open the Delegation panel


The first thing Kelly needs to do is get a button added to the navigation bar. The button will open the Delegation panel where she can manage calendars.


Image:IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017


2. Adding names to the Delegation panel


If someone had already given you access to their calendar using IBM Notes, you can search for this person in Verse and add them to the Delegation panel.
Image:IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017




3. Monitoring delegated calendars
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* For this release, to give someone access to manage your calendar, you must use IBM Notes. See How do I give someone access to manage my calendar? 



Verse: Automatically show remote images


Messages that contain remote images can pose a security risk. Up until now, if you wanted to see an external image, you had to click Show Images in each message containing external images. However, if you are willing to trust external images, you can have Verse automatically show remote images for all messages.

There's a new setting in Mail and Calendar Settings > Security where you can set a new default to Always show remote images.

Image:IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017




Verse Android: Improved responsiveness to screen overlays


Verse on Android now has improved responsiveness when a screen overlay application is present. Screen overlays are apps that draw on top of other apps and dim the screen. Previously, Verse was purposely unresponsive when an overlay app was present. With the release of 9.5.4, Verse on Android will again respond to touches when a screen overlay is present.

MaaS administrators can block screen overlay apps by using a configuration file for the Traveler/Verse application with prohibitScreenOverlay=true set. Once set, the setting can be disabled only by using a configuration file with prohibitScreenOverlay=false. Simply removing the key is not sufficient. For more information, see Using Maas360 with IBM Verse for Android Devices.


Connections

Connections: Navigation bar responds to your window

Connections Cloud features a fixed and responsive navigation bar. No matter how far you scroll, it will stay at the header of your page for easy access. Applications listed there will also adjust to the width of your window. As you reduce the width of your window, applications that no longer fit on screen move to the More menu. As you enlarge your window, more applications become visible. If your window is very narrow, and no applications fit, they are all listed under one Apps menu.

Note that clicking an application in the navigation bar opens that app's page. Views can be selected from there, within the application.



Image:IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017




IBM Docs: View .RTF and text files with IBM Docs


Add .RTF and .txt files to the long list of files that can be uploaded and opened in IBM Docs.

Developers

Developers: Extend Verse with Live text

Bring your text to life in Verse. IBM Verse now supports live text extensions. Many IBM Notes users are familiar with the concept of live text, where developers can write widgets to detect certain types of text within a message such as package tracking numbers and write an action to occur when a user clicks on the text. Verse recognizes specific patterns of text such as an address or a monetary value, and brings that text to life with actions you can take. Live text lets you perform various business actions, expanding the scope of resources relative to the task at hand. View an address on a map. See a monetary value. Convert a currency, and so on.
Image:IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017


Only Web Widgets are supported for Verse. The following widgets and actions are not supported:
  • Notes widgets, provisioning widgets, and OpenSocial widgets
  • Live text widgets built from a form
  • Live text actions using Feed Item content
  • Live text actions using Text Selection content (user selects text and right clicks for a context menu of live text action)
  • Live text actions using built-in Content Type or Recognizer

To get started, see the Live Text Extension Tutorial and IBM Verse Developer Browser Extension documentation.

You can also export the Live Text widget from IBM Notes. See the IBM Verse Developer Browser Extension documentation.




Developers: Extend Verse to disable the send button before Send


As an addition to the Hook BeforeOnSend extension point which IBM released earlier this year, an enhancement allows developers to disable the send button on a message.

A new section has been added to the documentation to cover the update to this feature. See IBM Verse Developer Extension documentation.


Administration

Administrators: Make yourself the business owner of a community

When a community business owner is no longer with your organization, you as an administrator can now make yourself the business owner of an open or moderated community. As a business owner, you can change the membership role of any member. Administrators cannot give themselves the business owner role for a restricted community, unless the administrator is a member of that community.
Image:IBM Connections Cloud enhancements for May 2017




Administrators: Mail Onboarding Manager updated with new features


Updates apply to both service-only and hybrid environments.
  • Export a status log to a text file.
  • For scheduled transfers, you can run the quality check before the scheduled transfer time. And once you have addressed any issues, you can either start the mail replication immediately, or wait for the scheduled group transfer time.
  • Perform a directory sync for a single user to update the individual record, rather than syncing all records.
  • Specify whether to begin provisioning user accounts automatically as the mail transfers complete, or wait to begin provisioning until a time you choose.

In addition, for service-only environments, you can mitigate any migration gaps by configuring smart hosts.


See the previous IBM Connections Cloud enhancement posts right here (and previous SmartCloud naming ones) on IdoNotes