Tag Archives: Box

About Box’s cloud storage. See also Cloud.

Detecting if third-party cookies are disabled

July 19, 2017Agile & Scrum, Kanban & Lean, UsabilityBox, Document Management, UsabilityKerika

If you have signed up directly with Kerika, we use the Box Platform to store your files for you — Box is a secure, reliable cloud service and we have been a partner with them for several years.

But we do all this for you: efficiently, quietly and behind the scenes.

Which means you may never notice (and, really, you shouldn’t have to…)

However, we found that some users automatically block third-party cookies (this is a browser setting available in all types of browsers).

This was causing problems for the preview function for these users: when a user clicks on a file attached to a card or canvas, that’s getting stored in Box by Kerika for that user, we use Box’s Preview function in the form of an IFRAME.

Using an IFRAME enables us to add some Kerika-specific features, like automatic version tracking, to the standard Box Preview function.

This, however, requires users to allow Box.com to set a cookie, and this can fail if the user has never permitted Box.com to set cookies, or is automatically blocking all third-party cookies in their browser: when you are using Kerika.com, Box.com is effectively a third-party to the connection.

We want to make sure people understand this can be a problem, so we have added some smarts to Kerika to detect when people who have signed up directly are blocking Box.com.

If this is the case, a pop-up dialog box will appear explaining why the Preview function won’t work correctly without allowing Box.com’s cookies to be stored in the browser.

Kerika’s integration with the Box Platform

June 3, 2017Agile & Scrum, Kanban & Lean, Kerika, Team CollaborationBoxKerika

Kerika’s integration with the Box Platform: a customer’s perspective on how sweet it is…

Kerika with the Box Platform: a Customer’s Perspective from Arun Kumar on Vimeo.

How we manage your document versions

September 13, 2016Agile & Scrum, Kanban & Lean, Team Collaboration, Technology, UsabilityBox, Google AppsKerika

Kerika helps you (and your team) manage multiple versions of a document, and it does this so smoothly that you might not even have noticed…

Here’s how it works: when you add a file to a Kerika card or canvas, it shows up in the list of attachments, like this:

If you then attach another file to the same card or canvas that has the same name and file type, Kerika automatically treats it as a new version of the same file, rather than a completely different file:

In the example above, when a Team Member adds another document called Foo.docx to a card that already has a file attached to it with the same name and file type, Kerika treats the new document as a new version of the old Foo.docx rather than as two documents called Foo.docx.

How you access all these old versions depends upon how you set up your Kerika account:

If you are using Kerika+Google, these files are being stored in your Google Drive, and Google will manage the versions for you: you can find this under the File menu in Google Docs

And pretty much the same thing is true if you are using Kerika+Box: Box will take care of the older versions automatically, although their user interface is slightly different

And what if you signed up directly with Kerika, without using a Google or Box ID?

We provide an easy way to get to older versions of a file for users who signed up directly: when you are previewing a file, click on the Older versions of this file link on the top-right.

Kerika will show you a list of all the old versions that are available for that file, along with details on who uploaded those versions, and when:

Downloading attachments, with a single click

September 12, 2016UsabilityBox, Direct Sign Up, Google AppsKerika

Did you know that we have made it really easy to download files that you attach to a Kerika card, canvas or board?

Just hover your mouse over an attachment, and you will see these buttons appear on the right:

These buttons let you:

Download a file
Rename a file
Delete a file attachment

Couple of other points to note:

Rename a file shows off our integration with Google Drive (for our Kerika+Google users) and with Box’s service (for our Kerika+Box users): renaming the file from inside Kerika will automatically rename it in your Google Drive or Box folder as well.

Deleting a file attachment doesn’t actually delete the file from your Google Drive or Box account: it just means that file is no longer attached to that particular Kerika card, canvas or board.

We encourage you to hang out with your friends

September 9, 2016Technology, UsabilityBox, Direct Sign Up, Google Apps, LoginKerika

When you sign up directly with Kerika, we take a look at your email address and try to figure out whether you would be better off with Kerika+Google or Kerika+Box.

This helps ensure that you are going to be able to easily collaborate with other people from your company, who may have signed up already using their Google or Box IDs.

Here’s an example: joe@kerika.com tries to sign up directly, and we suggest automatically that he sign up as a Kerika+Box user since so many of his colleagues already have Kerika+Box accounts:

Why the files in your Kerika+Box folder have random characters appended to their names

September 8, 2016Technology, UsabilityBoxKerika

If you are using Kerika+Box, we store your Kerika files in your Box account: you can always go to Box.com, login using your Box ID, and see for yourself.

(But, please, don’t move them around!)

What you might notice is that the filenames in Box have some random characters appended to them. For example, a file that you might see listed inside Kerika as “Alternative Home Page” actually shows up with some random characters appended, like this:

The reason we do this with files we store in Box — and not for files we store in Google Drive, for our Kerika+Google users, is that Box doesn’t allow for several files within a single folder to have the same name.

(Google does, which is why we don’t need to append any random characters to the files we store in Google Drive.)

It’s very common for our users to have several files within the same board that have the same name: for example, our developers always attach an analysis document to each card that describes exactly what they are doing. (Yes, we are fairly fanatical about documenting our software!)

These documents are often the same for many cards: Analysis.docx or Results.xlsx or Mockup.png might show up hundreds of times within a single board.

Since all the files related to a single Kerika board are stored in the same folder in your Box account, this presents a problem: Box won’t allow for more than one file called Analysis.docx within a folder.

We get around this limitation by appending these random characters, so that effectively every Analysis.docx file has a unique name.

But, we also try to avoid confusing our users, so when we show a list of files attached to a card, we strip out the random characters:

And the same goes for downloading files: we strip out the random characters and give you a clean-looking file.

Making sure Gmail users sign up for Kerika+Google

August 23, 2016KerikaBox, Direct Sign Up, Google Apps, Login, UsabilityKerika

We offer three ways for you to sign up as a Kerika user:

Using a Google ID, e.g. a Gmail address if you have one.
Using a Box ID, if you are a Box user.
Signing up directly.

Using a Google ID means you are getting Kerika+Google: the version of Kerika that offers amazingly smooth integration with your Google Drive and Google Docs.

Using a Box ID means that you are getting Kerika+Box: the version that offers amazingly smooth integration with the Box platform.

And signing up directly means that you can use any email address you like, and leave it to Kerika to store your files for you.

Originally, we had just Kerika+Google, and then we built Kerika+Box to address the market for enterprises that preferred using Box to Google.

And, finally, we built the direct login method for people who didn’t care about how their Kerika files were stored, and were happy to just leave that whole job for us to take care of.

We are now trying to streamline that process even further.

If you already have a Gmail address, it is very likely that you are already comfortable with using Google’s services, which means you should really be getting a Kerika+Google account so that you can benefit from all the great, smooth integration we have already done.

In the same vein, if the majority of people from your company have already signed up for a particular service, e.g. Kerika+Box or Kerika+Google, then it makes sense for you to sign up in the same way so that you can share boards with your coworkers.

This process is now more automated, and, we hope, simpler: when you sign up, we look at the email address you are using to set up your Kerika account and try to set you up with the version of Kerika that will make most sense:

If you are signing up with a Gmail address, we are going to set you up with Kerika+Google.
If most people from your company have already signed up for Kerika+Box, or Kerika+Google, we will set you up the same way as well.

This should make for less confusion about which flavor of Kerika is going to be tastiest for you…

Automatic version tracking

April 23, 2016Agile & Scrum, Kanban & Lean, Team Collaboration, Technology, UsabilityBox, Direct Sign Up, Document Management, Google Apps, Kanban, Kerika, Scrum, Task Board, WhiteboardKerika

Another great new feature: if you upload a file on any card, canvas or board with the same name as a file that’s already attached to that particular card, canvas or board, Kerika will automatically keep track of these as being different versions of the same file. This makes it even easier to organize all your Kerika project files.

Here’s how it works:

Kerika lets you add files to any cards, boards or canvases, on any of your Kerika Task Boards, Scrum Boards or Whiteboards.

There’s no limit to the number of files you add, nor any limit on the size of these files.

When you add a file, to a card, board or canvas, Kerika automatically uploads that file and shares that with everyone who is part of your board’s team. You don’t have to do anything: Kerika makes sure that all the Team Members have read+write permission, and all the Visitors have read-only permission.

These files are stored in your Google Drive, if you are using Kerika+Google, or in your Box account, if you are using Kerika+Box, or with Kerika if you have signed up directly with an email address.

That’s how Kerika has always worked; what we have added is an automatic versioning feature that checks when you add a new file to see if has the same name, and type, as a file that’s already attached to that particular card, canvas or board.

If the file name and file type match something that you have already added, Kerika automatically treats that new file as a new version of the old file, rather than as a completely different file. This makes it really easy to manage your Kerika project files.

Here’s an example: this card has a file attached to it called “Foo.docx”.

If a Team Member adds another file to this same card, also called “Foo.docx”, Kerika will treat that new file as a different version of the same Foo.docx, rather than as a completely different file:

Accessing these older versions is easy: if your Kerika files are in being stored in your Google Drive, you can get the older versions using the Google Docs File menu:

If your files are being stored in your Box account, you can access the older versions from the menu on the right side of Box’s preview window:

If you signed up directly with Kerika, you can access the older versions from within Kerika’s file preview:

Clicking on the Older versions of this file link on the top right of this preview will give you a list of all the old versions of this file that Kerika has:

So, that’s it: simple, easy, automatic tracking of multiple versions of your project files! Brought to you by Kerika, of course.

Changing your Kerika password

March 17, 2016Kerika, TechnologyBox, Google Apps, Kerika, SecurityKerika

For folks who sign up directly with Kerika, we store the user password (in an encrypted form, of course), which means that these users can change their passwords directly from within the Kerika application by going to their My Account page at https://kerika.com/my-account:

For people who sign up using their Google or Box IDs, we rely upon Google/Box to manage their passwords: in fact, we never even see anyone’s Google or Box password, even for a second!

So, their My Account page looks a little different, like in this example of a Kerika+Google user:

Feature, restored: simple download of files previewed within the browser

February 16, 2016TechnologyBox, UsabilityKerika

We now allow users to sign up for Kerika directly, by using any email address. This version is powered by the Box Platform, which allows us to make good use of Box’s cloud storage technology while presenting a simple user interface for our own users.

Another cool feature from Box that we had integrated, as part of this new service, was to use their browser-based preview functionality — which came to Box as a result of their 2014 purchase of Crocodoc.

We use this preview feature with a simple IFRAME integration, which means we don’t add anything to it ourselves, but one downside of this approach is that if Box removes something from their preview capability, it can disappear from Kerika also.

This happened recently when they took away a button that allowed for a quick download of a file that was being previewed.

We have fixed this by adding our own “Download file” link within the Box Preview:

Get more done, with Kerika

Task Management for Remote Teams