Timeline View Improvements, Future Workload Planning, Project to Template

By ActiveCollab Team 4 min read
Timeline View Improvements, Future Workload Planning, Project to Template

QuickBooks integration upgrade

We hope you already know we integrate QuickBooks with ActiveCollab to help you get paid efficiently. Anyway, December 17th is the deadline for upgrading the way both systems communicate. “But that’s a few weeks away!” - you might say. Exactly. We like to approach matters in a developer’s way - way ahead.

As it usually happens when bridging two systems, unforeseen problems unfolded as we worked on this, but we had the chance to resolve them way before the deadline. Instead of putting out fires in mid-December, we are happy to have this cleared up now. Cloud customers don’t need to lift a finger, as all the work has already been done. Self-hosted customers should just reconnect ActiveCollab and QuickBooks, and then continue using the systems as usual.

Timeline improvements

Here’s a quick recap of November improvements to the project timeline. Until recently, timelines were restricted to showing only tasks due ±6 months from the current date. This restriction is now lifted, so all tasks in open task lists are visible. You can also view completed tasks in open task lists. This way, dependency chains won’t appear broken when one of the tasks in the chain is marked as done.

The timeline zoom was a frequently requested enhancement, and we’re happy to include it in our latest release! You can finally zoom out to see weeks, months and even years of tasks, at a glance. When exporting, the zoom level is taken into account, so you’ll get PDF and PNG exports just as you see the projects in your browser.

Summed up, this is one neat upgrade: timeline zoom, unlimited tasks view and full dependency chains. You’ll have an even better overview of your projects, whether they last a couple of days or years.

Future Workload planning

ActiveCollab Workload used to show only the current week, plus the following 30 days, and the time range it presented couldn’t be changed. A lot of customers whose plans span for longer periods of time contacted us and asked if we could provide a solution for their needs.

The most requested time frame was 6 months, and we considered granting it. Briefly. We decided to discard this simple and obvious solution the moment we realized this will extend Workload not only horizontally, but also vertically (especially in the Unassigned section). The more data to show, the more space and time to load it takes. With a 6 months time range, the drag and drop functionality could possibly be compromised, as well as Workload performances.


Instead, we decided to leave Workload visibility the way it was when launched (the current week plus a whole month ahead), but also let you jump to any month in the upcoming year. This way, Workload keeps its loading speed, takes as little space as possible, and provides you with an even wider time frame for planning than the 6-month range would.

There’s another small detail. If you look closely, when selecting a month in the future, you’ll see two extra weeks after that month’s end as well. That time extension is there to let you have a better overview of your plans, as we know they don’t necessarily start and end precisely when calendar months do.

Convert projects to templates

Here’s an interesting feature that has been requested many times. If you have a project that you know will be reused, now you can create a template out of it. Those tasks lists, tasks, subtasks, dependencies and estimates don’t have to be recreated manually. When moving start and due dates from project to template, ActiveCollab is smart enough to skip holidays and weekends.

Coming up next

Next month will be an interesting one! We’re cooking up some really exciting new features, such as a fresh column view, with an entire column dedicated to completed tasks, and an improved time report.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates as soon as they happen, as well as invites to concept discussions and early testing!

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Other posts in the series on ActiveCollab Monthly Updates

  1. ActiveCollab Annual Updates: 2021
  2. Task Filters, Batch Editing, Project Progress Bar, Overview of Completed Tasks
  3. New My Work Launched, Red Dot Browser Notification
  4. Default Billable Status, New Project Budgeting Types, Duplicate Task Lists
  5. New Time Reports, Sidebar Collapse, Timesheet, Internal Hourly Rates
  6. Intuitive Task List Reorder, New Task Filters, Magic Link Login
  7. Template Start Date, New Project Header, Mobile App Stopwatch, Notification Scheduling
  8. Apply Template, G-drive & Dropbox Attachments Previews, Quick Chat Reactions
  9. New Project Icons, Increased Mobile App Speed
  10. Completed Projects Tab, Clickable Timesheet, Mobile App Reminders
  11. New Projects Page, Convert Chat Message to Task, Webhooks Improvements
  12. New Projects Page Header, Chat Reactions, Company Days Off
  13. New Mobile App Launched, In-app Chat Custom Groups
  14. Default Tax Rates, Invoice Taxes, Comment Time&Date
  15. List View and Task Filtering
  16. Improved Search Bar, ActiveCollab 8.0: List View
  17. Refurbished My Work, Notification Bell EAP, Invoice QR Code
  18. Target Project Budget, New Column View EAP
  19. Past Workload, Attachment UI Improvements, In-app Chat EAP
  20. Personal Timesheet, Time Report Custom Date Range
  21. Storage Info, ActiveCollab 8.0: Time Indicators
  22. ActiveCollab 8.0: Improved Search and Task Navigation
  23. ActiveCollab 8.0: Upcoming Early Access Program
  24. Group Tasks by Start Date, ActiveCollab 8.0: List View
  25. In-app Chat Introduction, Default Client Visibility, Stopwatch Project Name
  26. Browser Notifications, Task Dependencies Improvements, In-app Chat EAP
  27. Upgraded Editor, Activity Grouping
  28. ActiveCollab Annual Updates: 2020
  29. My Work EAP, Storage Add-on, Self-hosted ActiveCollab 7.0
  30. Default Budget Alert Percentage, Task Improvements
  31. Column View Improvements, Budget Alerts, Availability-based Date Picker
  32. Refreshed Column View, Project Stopwatch, Get Paid Free Tryout
  33. 90-Day Trial, Time Tracking Enhancements, Uptime
  34. ActiveCollab Monthly Updates: December 2019
  35. Timeline View Improvements, Future Workload Planning, Project to Template
  36. Self-Hosted Upgrade, ActiveCollab 8.0: Enhanced Search Page and Subscribers List
  37. ActiveCollab 8.0: User Card, Pin Discussions
  38. Managing Recurring Tasks and Notes
  39. Budget Intervals, ActiveCollab 8.0: Navigate Discussions, Edit Labels, Move Task Lists
  40. Recurring Tasks on Workload and Custom Availability
  41. Custom Availability and Time Tracking Limits
  42. Project Timesheet and Stopwatch
  43. New Comment Options and Time Estimates’ Visibility
  44. ActiveCollab 8.0: Batch Edit Time Records, Early Access Program
  45. Subtask’s Due Date, People Page Improvements, Comment to Task, and Duplicate Notes
  46. New Mention Types, New Task Menu
  47. In-app Chat Improvements, In-app Reminder Notification, Mobile App Beta Testing
  48. In-app Chat Launched, Mobile App People Page
  49. Improved Invitations and Expense Tab
  50. ActiveCollab 8.0: Subtask Due Date and Batch Edit
  51. ActiveCollab 8.0: People Page and Subtasks
  52. Two-factor Authentication and Time Tab Improvements
  53. ActiveCollab 8.0: Assignments Dashboard, Estimates, User Profile, Teams, and Trash
  54. ActiveCollab 8.0: My Work and Estimates
  55. November Recap: ActiveCollab 8 Rollout, Calendar, Task Reports, and Invoices
  56. ActiveCollab 8.0: Virtual Users and User History

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