Better filtering in Excel exports now!
Hi Podio users,
We know our users do a lot of Excel Exports, however today, exporting a view will export all fields in an app.
So, we tried to optimise your experience and restrict exports to contain only selected fields (fields ticked under options) for both the new and old Table Layout.
-
Export of any saved or unsaved view with Table layout (besides the first All items view) will contain only fields selected under options
-
Export of the First View ( the "All items" view ) will contain all fields in the app including meta data like created on, created by and tags
-
Export of any saved or unsaved view with other layouts like card, badge, activity layout will contain all fields in the app including meta data like created on, created by and tags
Note: This will not have any impact on the export APIs to ensure the existing implementations don't break
This has been a frequently requested feature by many customers over the years, so we are thrilled to be able to offer this tiny extra improvement to your daily work.
Sumedha
Product Manager, Podio
-
Needs Option to Export All Fields in Current Filters and Views in Table Layout
Hi Sumedha,
This feature is a good feature, but I believe one extremely important need was not considered - a need that I have.
Current internal procedures rely on the fact that these exports include all fields. Therefore, I believe the new feature should be an option between exporting all fields and exporting only the displayed fields.
All of a sudden, without warning, this is really cutting into my work schedule - the opposite of what I understand Podio is meant to do for us. I have to reformulate many of my procedures due to the forced change.
It seems that providing the original option should not be a big change for Podio since it was there before - all that is needed is a switch of some sort to select which type of export.
-
Mark R Cannon We ensured that the exports made using Podio APIs contain all the fields.
From the Podio UI, we have retained the old way of exporting in non-table layouts. So, in case you do not wish to export only fields selected under options - you can change the layout to any non-table layout for a view and export the file - it will contain all fields.
Hope this helps!
Thanks,Sumedha,
Team Podio
-
i had the same issue- what a pain to have to "change the layout to any non-table layout for a view and export the file" just to be able to get an export w/all the the data & fields like normal.... not sure how taking away the popup w/the option to "export all fields" was removed....
-
It appears that what the engineers did is take a generic feature request (which I thought is a very good one) and, without considering the use cases that users already had for the existing feature and/or not asking current users for their use cases, and deleted the current feature. Whereas, the original feature request, as I understand it, was not to remove the current feature (exporting all of the columns even though current "displayed" columns did not include some), but to add another feature (exporting only those displayed). I provide below three use cases that I recommend being considered, since they appear not to have been considered when deleting the feature existing at the time of the change (they all apply to me).
- The export in the My batch jobs page has a name (r.h. column) that is consistent with the name/label of the Podio View exported (if the view url is in the Address field) and is automatically used as the filename of the exported .xlsx file. If the layout is changed before exporting, the last part of the name is now the text " - Last view used" instead of the view name. I have used the View name as a key feature of the export to maintain my records. Renaming the filename is an extra, unwarranted step, which can produce errors and waste time - which is contrary to what I believe the purpose of Podio is.
- Remembering to change the layout before export is an extra unwarranted step, which can produce errors and waste time - which is contrary to what I believe the purpose of Podio is.
- One important reason to keep all columns in an export is that even though the data is not "displayed", the export becomes a record of the filtered items, including data in all of the app's fields, after the view is deleted, which is required since apps only are allowed 100 views at any one time. I believe enabling users to easily and quickly keep records is one important purpose of Podio.
The additional use case below I believe informs a related feature: to separate the two parts/purposes of the View, which are 1. filtering and 2. table layout.
- To create a View, I would 1. create a filter then 2. create a "table layout" (column selections, that previously existed, and order arrangement like in the "New" Table feature you have provided), which is independent from the view. This independence would allow me to use the same "table layout" for several filters. The combination of the filter and the "table layout" becomes the View. However, the View would not need to be designated as such, but it would be made up of two parts: the filter and the "table layout", which, when independent, provide the equivalence of a View. This could 1. reduce the number of "Views", since I don't need two views for only one filter, and 2. provide versatility without the separate views by enabling me to select any "table layout" (the set of columns and their order arrangement) for the same filter - depending on my particular need in a variety of situations (e.g., view online or export for several uses of the data). I currently employ more than one View with the same filter and different "table layouts" since that is the limitation of the Views feature. A feature implementing this use case would expand my versatility and speed of completing my work, both of which I believe are two of Podio's purposes.
-
Lacey Perreault Mark R Cannon Export of the First View ( the "All items" view ) will contain all fields in the app. So, you need not change layout every time you need to export all the fields.
-
Thank you for your response, Sumedha. The problem is that I don't want all items, just all fields. The First View (the "All items" view) does not meet my needs in this case. I still need to filter the items. I also want to have a view (or at least a filter) to go back to for up to a year or so after I have exported it. Thanks again.
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
6 comments