Neatly Version 1.0 Update

This latest update of Neatly is definitely a big one. Big enough to consider it a new version of the platform.

When we released the first version of Neatly, the goal was to collect feedback from users on what's working and what's not. To understand what's missing and to better fit it to how we work with shared files.

Here is the list of the newest additions to Neatly.

Projects

How many of your shared docs are needed for only a short period of time?

I'd guess at least 60% of them are used for a week or two. Once done with these docs, they just take space in your Google Drive (or whatever cloud storage platform you use) and cause more clutter.

We're fixing that with the new Projects tab in Neatly.

Projects are temporary categories that sit on a separate tab from your other categories. You can create a project for work that's only a temporary priority.

You can safely delete a project once you're done with it or turn it into a regular category (see below).

There are several advantages to working with Projects:

1. The separate tab keeps your projects from cluttering your categories and disrupting your workflow.
2. You can give access to the project to whomever you want - teammates, contractors, clients, etc. This will keep access to categories limited to your team for example, while making project cross-departmental.
3. Account admins can convert a project into a category if it succeeds and becomes something more permanent.

Here are some examples of projects:

• Drafts & research for blog posts, guides, ebooks, newsletter editions
• New product specifications, wireframes and links to designs in Figma or Zeplin
• Deals in progress - for sales or agency proposals (convert to category if the deal is won)
• Any type of work which will require approval once completed

Google Drive Sync

Getting started with Neatly is now much easier.

You can turn any Google Drive folder into a Neatly category with just a few clicks.

Click the Drive Sync button and choose your folder to add to Neatly

Create a new category or import into an existing one

First level sub-folders will be imported as sections within the selected or created category. Second level folders and lower will be file groups within the section.

Additionally, we added the ability to bulk-upload files from Google Drive. Simply use ctrl+click or cmd+click to select multiple files to upload.

File Feed

File Feed is another feature designed to make Neatly your go-to app for using Google Drive files.

File Feed gives you an up to date display of all files added or shared with your Drive account. You can sort them by latest added, modified or shared with you.

With just a couple of clicks, you can add these files to Neatly.

Sharing with non-Neatly users

You were only able to share documents with your Neatly account users in the fist version of Neatly. We've changed that now.

You can share any file with a non-Neatly user from the right side menu.

This is important since sharing outside of your account or organization is something we do daily.

After clicking to share, add the recipient's email address and hit enter. You'll have the option to add the recipient as a user in your Neatly account, but it's not mandatory in order to share.

The recipient will receive an email from Neatly with a link to the document or file and viewing permission if the file is stored in Google Drive. Note that this works with Non-Google links as well (website links, other cloud storage sharing links etc.)

The Wizard 🧙

Finally, we've added an on-boarding wizard to help you set up your team and categories.

Just click the "Open Wizard" button in the lower left corner of the page to launch it. The wizard will guide you through setting up your category or project, adding teammates and setting access permissions.

It helps you organize the three basic types of categories people use regularly:

1. Team File - a category for a specific team or department in which their everyday files and links reside
2. Resources - a category for company-wide files and links such as employee guides, holiday calendars, etc.
3. Projects - a project for temporarily priority files and links in which you'd invite co-workers from different teams, partners, vendors, customers, etc.

Go ahead and try Neatly out and let me know @UseNeatly what you think about the new features.