Messages and tasks

Exchange ideas, provide context and explanation by adding messages to the assets, also as discussion threads.

Communication tab and its widgets

The Communication tab on the asset page provides an overview of all communication happening on this asset. The tab shows discussion threads that may contain messages and tasks, which, in their turn, may refer to markers and/or other assets. For example, you can discuss the draft of a text or coordinate changes to a layout.

The Annotations widget (left) displays the preview image of the asset.

If an asset has a preview image, you can mark specific areas of the preview and refer to them. See Working with markers in censhare Web for more information.

The widget on the right displays communication, markers and related tasks. 

Here, you can post comments and create tasks. Others can reply to them. This creates a thread of messages and/or tasks. If the widget contains more messages than it can display, a scroll bar appears.

censhare saves messages and tasks and replies to them as assets and creates relations to the selected asset with the corresponding relation types. 

Messages

Create messages

Below the message input field (3), you can attach an asset (6), add a topic (5) or add a marker (4). The Marker icon only displays if markers are available. Click X (2) to discard your entry and POST (1) to publish it. The profile photo shows the author of the message (7).

1. In the Communication widget, click on the message input field.
2. Type in you message.
3. Three icons will appear under the input field. Optionally:
   1. Click Attach asset –

      

      – and select an asset that you want to relate to the current asset.
   2. Click Add topic –

      

      – and select a topic to categorize your comment.
   3. Click Add marker –

      

      – to refer to an existing marker. 
4. Click POST to publish your message or click X to delete your message.

The message is stamped with the author, date and time. 

Two or more users can create comments for an asset at the same time. The posts appear in chronological order. Comments by other users are not lost in the process.

Edit messages

Hover over a message until the

Convert a message to a task

A message can be converted to a task (but not the other way around). The message body and all attachments will be kept. To do this:

• Hover over a message until the

  

  icon appears. 
• Use the

  

  icon to convert the message into a task.
• Save your changes.

Delete messages

You can delete any message from:

• a search result page using Action menu
• a message asset page
• Communication widget on the Communication tab on the asset

After you deleted a message, it may remain displayed in the Communication widget if the message was part of a series of replies. Also, the relations between the remaining messages stay intact. This is due to the fact that the message asset is still kept in the system. However, it gets stripped of all content, features, and values. As any other asset, it can only be completely removed by the system administrator.

Tasks

Tasks can be accessed in the Communication tab, from two widgets:

• The Related task widget provides an overview of all tasks related to the current asset. You can filter tasks, or create and edit tasks from the overview. 
• The Communication widget also displays tasks, but as part of the overall communication on the asset, mixed with messages, and all displayed in their order of creation.

Creating and editing tasks is also available from both widgets, but the functionality is slightly different.

Create tasks

1. In the Communication widget:
   1. Click on the message input field.
   2. Select Task. The input field shows further options.
   3. Enter a name for the task and a description.
   4. Under Assign to, select an assignee for the task.
   5. Optionally, select a deadline.

   6. Click POST to publish your task or click X to delete your entries.

      

      The task is displayed in both the Communication widget in the discussion thread and in the Related task widget.

2. In the Related tasks widget:
   1. Click on

      

      in the top right corner.
   2. Fill in all fields in the Create Asset dialogue.

   3. Click OK to save your new task.

      

      The task is only shown in the Related task tab.

   4. You may also need to click the refresh icon to make the newly created task appear in the list. The refresh icon is displayed if you hover over the area nearby:

      

censhare saves the task and creates a relation to the asset with the Assignment relation type. Two or more users can create tasks for an asset at the same time. 

Edit tasks

1. From the Related tasks widget on the right:
   1. Filter for the tasks you want to display. 
   2. Hover over the task next to its name.
   3. Click the three dots.
   4. Click Edit properties. 
   5. Save your changes. 
2. From the Communication widget: 
   1. Hover over the task, until the

      

      icon will appear.
   2. Click on it. 
      1. You can only edit the data you entered while creating this task from the Communication widget. For additional changes, edit the task using the Related tasks widget or open it as an asset using the three-dot menu (exit the editing mode before).

      2. 

   3. Click Post or reset your changes by clicking on X.

Mark tasks as Done

Tasks can be marked as Done on the Communication widget. Just hover over the task to make the tick mark appear and click on it:

Completed tasks will stay in the discussion thread where they were before. But their progress (on the screenshot in the lower left corner) will be changed to 100%.

On the Related tasks widget, completed tasks are by default hidden since the task completion filter is by default set to Open. To display your completed tasks, set this filter to either Done or All. More about filtering tasks is in the next section.

Searching for tasks

You have two basic options to search for tasks. 

• While on the asset:
  • If you want to search for tasks for the asset you have currently open, you need to go to the Related tasks widget, and use one of the three filters: Assigned to, Status, and Completion.

• From anywhere in the system:
  • As censhare saves every entry as an asset, you can search for tasks just like for any other asset. In censhare Web, enter the "Task" asset type as the search criteria in the quick search to list all tasks. Narrow down your search using either Detailed search or Advanced search, e.g. to use free text search.

Other common features

Add a marker to a message or task

See also Add markers to messages or tasks.

You can add markers from the same asset to the comments (messages and tasks) related to this asset. 

1. Enter the editing mode using

   

   or start typing your message for new messages.
2. The following three options will appear:

   1. 

   2. The markers icon –  

      

      – is only displayed if there are any markers on the asset. Click on the icon and select a marker.

Remove markers from the message

• Hover over the message, until

  

  appears.
• Click on it to enter the editing mode.
• Delete markers like any other symbols in the message.
• Click Post to save your changes.

Add a topic

With topics, you can assign categories to comments to identify them across multiple assets.

To select a topic:

1. Enter the editing mode using

   

   or start typing your message for new messages. The following three options will appear:

   1. 

2. Click #. A selection field opens.
3. Select a topic from the list. The topic is added to your message.
   1. To create a new topic, click the

      

      icon next to the selection field. The asset chooser displays.
4. Select a topic template asset, enter the name you want, and confirm your selection. The created topic is added to the selection list.
5. Click Post to save your changes.

Remove topics from the message

If you already exited the editing mode, hover over the task until the

Click on it. 

In the Topics dropdown, click on the x next to the topic you want to remove from the message.

Refer to other assets

A message or task can also refer to other assets, for example in a discussion about a text draft. You can select the desired asset while you write your message. Other users can then switch to the related asset directly from the thread.

To add an asset relation:

1. Enter the editing mode using

   

   or start typing your message for new messages.
2. The following three options will appear:

   1. 

3. Click

   

   .
4. From the asset chooser, select the asset and confirm your selection.

censhare adds information about the asset and a preview image below the message. Next to the asset title, you can select asset actions from a menu, for example, open the asset or edit its properties.

The entry is linked with the referenced asset via a "Media" type link. Using this relation, you can also check whether a reference is made to an asset in a message. Open the asset in an asset page and go to the Media from widget. In the asset list, you see all threads and messages that refer to the asset.

Remove related assets

1. Enter the editing mode using

   

   .
2. Hover over the related asset until the

   

   icon appears.

Reply to messages and tasks

You can reply to any of your own or other users' messages and tasks.

1. Move the cursor to the entry in question. An arrow displays on the upper right.
2. Click the arrow to display an input field. 

All replies to a message are shown indented in a thread.

Find messages and tasks

As censhare saves every entry as an asset, you can search for a message or task  just like for any other asset.

In censhare Web, enter the "Message" or "Task" asset subtype as the search criteria in the quick search to see all messages. Refine your search if necessary using Detailed search or Expert search.

Since message assets have the subtype "Message" with the main type "Text", you need to search for them separately in the Expert Search. First, add the main type "Text" for the "Type" parameter and then add "Message" parameter for the subtype. The reason for this is the different search logic of the expert search.

Communication inside layouts 

When you work directly in a layout, it is also possible to create and edit messages and tasks related to the opened layout in the InDesign Query palette.

The Communication tab is located in the Asset query window, next to the Files tab.

The InDesign query palette does not display message and task assets by default. In this view, it is most important to focus on the content assets, which are actually placed in the layout. 

You can configure the display of messages and/or tasks via the Preferences in the censhare Client.

Note for administrators

In both of 'indesign' and 'incopy' XML preferences elements there is a 'child-assets-filter' XML tag. The XML tag contains a filter query that defines, which child assets are visible in the layout query palette if the root asset (layout / InCopy text) is expanded.

By default, assets of message or task type are excluded:

<child-assets-filter>
 <query>
  <not>
   <condition name="censhare:asset.type" value="text.message."/>
  </not>
  <not>
   <condition name="censhare:asset.type" value="task."/>
  </not>
 </query>
</child-assets-filter>

You can adapt the filter condition to your customers' or projects' needs as necessary. The element 'child-assets-filter' can also be removed completely to not filter out any child assets.