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The Discord Qrew - What's It All About?
4 MIN READ TLDR: There's a Discord server for Quickbase Qrew members. It's run by Quickbase Qrew Members, not by Quickbase. It is a true Community-owned space. Quickbase employees participate as members of this community. Members of this space are online daily interacting with each other, helping with formulas, pipelines, and other product related questions. Quickbase Qrew Members can join here. As Community Manager here at Quickbase, I want to make every effort to actually be in the Community as much as I can be. That's not easy. There are a lot of you. There is only one of me. Part of the way we want to build more ways to engage with each other is to allow for more in person events via Qrew Groups. I'm excited to see efforts in Portland, Raleigh/Durham, and Boston coming along, and would expect to see a few more cities starting up soon as well. But what about the rest of the time when there are no in person gatherings to attend? That's a lot of time. How can the Qrew connect in other ways beyond Qrew Groups and this Qrew Discussions website? Our Community Slack was created in 2020 to allow for a virtual space to connect during our first virtual Empower, but it's been missing a true community feeling for some time. There had to be something else out there. I can't remember the first time I met @Rosson Long. I want to say it was former Quickbase Community Manager @Evan Martinez who introduced us on a call sometime in late 2022/early 2023. I arrived on the call without much in the way of an agenda, and Rosson immediately launches into this platform called "Discord" to show us the community he's built in this space. I'm googling "Discord" because I'd never used it. I'm not a gamer, clearly, otherwise I'd be very familiar with this platform. And Rosson is going from channel to channel talking about all the ways Quickbase community members could benefit. Rosson's passion for both Quickbase and this Discord space he's created are obvious. There's clearly value here, but I'm hesitant. My interest was piqued, so I asked for an invite. As an experiment, I decided I'd be a member of this small community inside the much larger capital C Community, and participate in Discord discussions when it made sense to. I've been doing so for the past six months, and here are my observations... If you love building in Quickbase and want to be around others like you, the Discord Qrew is where you want to be. It's not all work, it's some play. There's a #random channel where we recently went through our favorite lines from the movie "This is Spinal Tap". #thisgoestoeleven I witnessed someone share they had been let go from their employer and within days have a job interview and offer lined up. There's a #jobboard channel now as a result of this, members share openings in their org or post that they're looking for work opportunities. I was blown away watching this group come together to help one of their own find work. The knowledge is next level Quickbase. Some of the formulas, Pipelines jinja, tips and tricks being shared in this space are incredible. There are close to 200 members as of today, and there's always a group of frequent flyers in there daily helping each other out. I'd expect this number to climb steadily. Messages do not expire in Discord as they do in free Community Slack, which is a huge value add. It's very easy to pop into a room and demo a workflow or watch someone else demo a workflow. It's a very welcoming, extremely engaged, passionate group of Quickbase experts, and if you aspire to be a Quickbase SME one day, this is a good group for you to get to know. Don't take my word for it...here are some quotes from Quickbase Qrew members on their experience in the Discord Qrew... @Amanda Thomas wrote "This community helped me solve a problem yesterday without even realizing it. I was typing up my question and all the things I'd tried and just thinking about how to explain what I needed made me realize I had another option!" @Rosson Long wrote "The Discord community gives me an outlet to connect and talk with other Quickbase developers in real time about common problems and solutions. It also creates fun opportunities for humor and brings a light hearted mood to what can otherwise be a stressful and demanding job experience." @Allan Heaps wrote "The Discord community has been a key element in my comfort with and ability to move from a long career of educational technology and instructional design to database development and data analysis. I am the only one of my kind at the extended studies unit where I work. This Discord community gives me a group of capable mentors and peers who like to interact and learn together. I love that the conversations here cover archived questions and tips, opportunities to meet and show problems, and occasional conversations and demonstrations about who we are as humans in our lives beyond what we do at work." For those looking to join the Discord Qrew, here's a link to join.Accelerate Your Success with Quickbase Certification
2 MIN READ Are you looking to grow your skills and stand out in your job? Quickbase Certification is a simple and powerful way to master app-building with no-code/low-code solutions. Whether you’re just getting started or want to level up, Quickbase Certification can help you unlock new opportunities. Let’s explore how this program works and why it’s right for you. What is Quickbase Certification? Quickbase Certification is designed to help you prove your skills in app building and automation. You can start with App Foundations, which covers the basics of building apps in Quickbase, and then move to more advanced topics like Pipelines for automation. These certifications are useful because they show employers that you can create apps that improve business processes. No matter your level of experience, Quickbase Certification can help you grow your expertise and make a real difference at work. 👉 Explore Certification Paths Why Should You Get Certified? Quickbase certification is a great way to boost your career. Employers are always looking for people who can solve problems and build apps that make work easier. By getting certified, you can prove you have the skills to create scalable, efficient solutions. You might also get better job offers and higher pay as you gain this valuable knowledge. Whether you work in IT, project management, or app development, getting certified shows that you are ready to take on bigger projects. How Do I Get Certified? It’s easy to start! Just visit Quickbase University and sign up for the App Foundations certification. After learning the basics, you can challenge yourself with advanced certifications like Pipelines, where you’ll learn about automation and how to connect systems. The certification process focuses on hands-on learning, allowing you to grow your skills effectively.👉 Start Your Certification Journey What Happens After Certification? Certification is just the beginning. As a certified professional, you’ll unlock: Community Access: Join Office Hours with Sam Trachy to connect with experts, share tips, and learn from fellow Qrew members. Peer Resources: Qrew Discussions provides a space to ask questions and get answers directly from Quickbase experts. Networking Opportunities: Attend Qrew Meet-Ups—virtual or in-person—to expand your network and stay inspired. Showcase & Grow: Display your achievements with digital badges, and access exclusive resources to keep up with the latest Quickbase updates and features. Ready to take the lead in your career? Don’t wait to transform your skills with Quickbase Certification. Start today at Quickbase University and go from App Foundations to Pipelines—your next big career move is just a click away!
A brand new table report experience
4 MIN READ Earlier this year, we embarked on a journey to modernize the Quick Base interface. We committed to doing this in a safe and methodical way and began discussing some of the trade-offs on this Community post. We are proud to say that the time is almost here for customers to be getting their hands on our first large slice of this – the new table report – and providing us valuable feedback. This process will be slow and methodical. At the start, we will be more restrictive about the types of apps and environments that are suitable. As we add features and address bugs, that net will continue to widen. Here is the current progress: Throughout this modernization process, your feedback will be critical for its success. To that end, we are exploring a private, invite-only, forum, right here in the Quick Base Community where engaged builders can ask questions, read about progress and even provide some unstructured feedback to our interaction designers and/or engineers. We first showed you the new table report at Empower 2019 and it was clear users were excited. So, we spent the time since then working on the foundation of the house which includes things like getting core interaction components in place and optimizing for performance. I have one test with 500,000 records that is achieving about a 10x improvement over our current report. As we start on our multi-phased early access process, we want to be transparent and open. At the onset, we are going to be looking for feedback on the framing of the house. That is the walls, electricity and plumbing. It isn't yet time to pick out the floors and the cabinets. Bringing it back to this, not every field type is completely supported yet and the implemented design is not perfectly aligned with the vision of our talented designers. We hope you are as excited as we are to try this new feature. When enabled, users will be able to toggle on and off the new report. Quick Base is used by hundreds of thousands of users across over 100,000 applications. For the most part, no two applications are the same and we regularly say to customers "You did what with Quick Base!?". That makes our job of objectively choosing what to implement (and when) somewhat challenging. We are doing our best to meet or exceed industry best practices while also keeping things somewhat familiar for those of you that have been using the platform for years. This sometimes requires us to make tough decisions, such as migrating away from dynamic filters and onto column filters. We acknowledge that some people may prefer the legacy style but are prioritizing data density and a more approachable interaction with column filters. Participating in the early access means a few things: You are going to be using a feature in early access that is not production ready. It may be unstable, do things you don't expect and not include something you are used to. Quick Base does not guarantee the stability of any feature in early access and normal SLAs and Care channels are not applicable. While in early EA, the original table experience is still fully supported and maintained. You should have a close relationship with your users in the early stages of testing. This is so that you can set good expectations with them on what is and out of scope and so they can funnel feedback that you can ultimately convey to us. Updates to this feature will not go through regular release cycles. We may reach out to end users who have toggled back to the old report to gather feedback from them. This may include a brief survey. Builders in the early access program should be able to dedicate time to review the feature with Quick Base staff as needed. Feature access may be turned off at any time, without notice. It isn't a decision we take lightly, but it could happen if we notice issues! It is important to remember that the new table report component is using our modern continuous deployment model. During early access, you should expect frequent bug fixes and enhancements that will come without any notice. These could be weekly or daily. We are rigorous about quality but expect there to be hiccups along the way as we tackle such a large and critical piece of Quick Base. If you are interested in working with us to test and provide feedback, we ask that you carefully consider which of your applications make the most sense for this. For most people reading the post, the next steps are simply to get excited and talk to your user base to make sure their expectations are set. You will hear from us with directions on how to apply for EA within the next few weeks. Remember to stay tuned to our release notes, as that is our official channel for product features. ------------------------------ Harrison Hersch ------------------------------Qrew Champion Profile - Laura Linssen, J.J. Keller
2 MIN READ Introducing a new blog series, Qrew Champion Profiles, where we get to learn a little bit more about our Qrew Champions. Our Champions program is open for registration. Sign up today, start taking those challenges and climb the rankings until you reach Champion status! Qrew Champion Profile: Laura Linssen, J.J. Keller Hailing from the great state of Wisconsin, Laura Linssen is a connoisseur of cheese curds and all the things that help streamline. Laura is a Quickbase Developer II at J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc., the nation’s leading provider of safety and regulatory compliance solutions. When she is not using her creativity to problem solve at work, Laura uses her skills to come up with new superstitions to get her favorite, legendary Green Bay football team to another championship. Here are a few more fun facts about Laura, as well as a glimpse into how she discovered Quickbase, and some tips for those starting their Quickbase journey today! Favorite book or TV show (or both)? I absolutely love Lucifer, iZombie or Ghosts. Dream Vacation Locale? Europe. What's a superpower you want? Teleportation. When and how did you discover Quickbase? I was working as a Workflow Management Specialist and needed a way to keep track of what our offshore team was working on and sending them work. I started playing around [with Quickbase] and next thing I know, I'm certified, building and creating new positions for myself within my organization all based around what I have built. Describe your 'a-ha' moment - what was the breakthrough moment for you with Quickbase? When I finally conquered and mastered formulas. So many things you can do with a good formula. What's something you have learned from being a member of The Qrew? That we all come from different walks of life, but have a great thing in common: we are nerds who love Quickbase and want to see people thrive using it. What advice do you have for new Qrew members? Speak up, reach out, ask all the questions. What does being a Qrew Champion mean to you? It means that I can be a mentor to someone just starting out, or someone who has used Quickbase for years and give some fun and creative insights into what they are trying to achieve.Qrew Champion Spotlight - Tammie King
4 MIN READ If there’s a process at Mintz that runs smoothly, chances are TammieKing had a hand in it. As a Systems Analyst and longtime Quickbase builder, Tammie has quietly transformed the way her firm works, one workflow at a time. What started as an attorney’s side project has grown into an ecosystem of more than fifty apps that power everything from ticketing and scheduling to expense tracking and workload management. But behind all that technology is Tammie’s trademark blend of curiosity, creativity, and care. Her favorite kind of challenge? The one that starts with someone saying, "That can’t be done." How It All Began Quickbase first arrived at Mintz thanks to one forward thinking attorney who had already been using it in his own practice. "It took a little while to catch on," Tammie recalls, "but once people saw how quickly we could turn ideas into working apps, it became our go to for building workflows fast." It was a perfect match for someone like Tammie: part analyst, part problem solver, all persistence. Though not a developer by title, she’s always been the person who can see the bigger picture and find the fastest path forward. "Automating repetitive tasks and simplifying processes just comes naturally to me," she says. "I love helping people spend more time on meaningful work and less time wrestling with spreadsheets." The Power of Quickbase at Mintz Today, Tammie’s Quickbase footprint at Mintz is vast. Over fifty apps support everything from ticketing systems and photoshoot scheduling to change management, expense tracking, and workload utilization. "If there’s a process that needs structure or automation," she says, "Quickbase is where it happens." Her favorite part? Building things that make other people shine. Reports that once took hours, now build themselves. Annual surveys that used to take a week, now process automatically. "It’s a lot of work behind the scenes," Tammie admits, "but seeing how easy it becomes for others makes it completely worth it." And those so called "impossible" requests? "Those are my favorite," she laughs. "It usually takes some creativity and a few pipelines working hard in the background, but finding a way to make it work is such a thrill." A Culture Shift in Action Quickbase hasn’t just improved efficiency at Mintz, it’s changed the way people think about work. "It’s helped us streamline processes, reduce errors, and spend less time rearranging data," Tammie explains. "People are more strategic now. Quickbase lets us focus on the work itself instead of the busywork." That shift from reactive to proactive, from chaos to clarity, is what drives her. Why the Qrew Matters Tammie became a Qrew Leader because she knows how isolating it can feel to start from scratch. "When I first started with Quickbase, I felt completely on my own, with no one to ask or brainstorm with," she says. "I don’t want anyone else to feel that way." Through her local Qrew, she has created the kind of community she once wished she had: a welcoming space where builders of all levels can learn, share, and grow together. The same spirit extends online, where Qrew meetings connect people from across the country. "Those sessions are not only fun but full of great ideas," Tammie says. "I have met lifelong friends through the Qrew, people I know I can call anytime I run into an issue or need a fresh perspective." "The people make it worth it," she adds. "Our little Qrew has such great energy. It is supportive, curious, and fun and the more comfortable we get with each other, the more we can tackle challenges and celebrate wins together." Beyond the Keyboard Outside of work, Tammie brings the same curiosity and playfulness to her hobbies. On Tuesdays, you’ll find her playing Cribbage, a lifelong favorite. Thursdays are reserved for Mah Jongg, her latest adventure. "It’s not nearly as intimidating as it looks," she says. "I’ve found an amazing group of people to learn with, and we have a lot of laughs every week." Connecting with Tammie Tammie's warmth, ingenuity, and problem-solving instincts have made her an essential voice in the Quickbase community. Whether she’s helping someone debug a tricky pipeline or cheering on another builder’s success, she’s all about making others feel empowered to create. You can connect with Tammie and other builders in the Community Discussions Forum, or meet her in person at her local Qrew Meetups, where knowledge-sharing, laughter, and "aha!" moments are always on the agenda. If you are in the Boston area on the third Wednesday of the month, plan to stop by the Boston Qrew Meetup and join the fun. All are welcome!Qrew Champion Profile - Sherry (Blackburn) Morris
2 MIN READ Introducing a new blog series, Qrew Champion Profiles, where we get to learn a little bit more about our Qrew Champions. Our Champions program is open for registration. Sign up today, start taking those challenges and climb the rankings until you reach Champion status! A frequent flyer in Customer Networks meetings, Sherry Blackburn has been a longtime Quickbase advocate working for PeaceHealth. She was active in our Quickbase Heroes program, and has already jumped into the fray taking all on challenges within Quickbase Champions. Sherry is also a newlywed! Per Sherry, after decades of "fiercely independent singledom", Sherry's sister re-introduced her to a lifelong friend, and this past March the two tied the knot! Sherry accepted the challenge to share a little bit about herself. Additionally, we've shared a few quotes from the Quickbase staff members who have worked closely with Sherry. What's your favorite book or TV show (or both)? That's like asking me to pick my favorite child... What's your dream vacation locale? Anywhere with white sand/blue water or mountains. What's a superpower you would want to have? I want to fly! When and how did you discover Quickbase? I was looking for anything that would help me not have to use MS Access and someone said "Psst, go talk to Dan in engineering..." Describe your "a-ha" moment - what was the breakthrough moment for you with Quickbase? When I was able to turn a federal reporting task from a 3 month search of miscellaneous spreadsheets in 10 different places into a 3 click process. What advice do you have for new Qrew members? Dive in and don't be shy. The more we all ask and share, the more we all learn and grow. What does being a Qrew Champion mean to you? It's an honor to share, learn, and grow in this community. Quotes about Sherry from those at Quickbase who know her well: "I had the pleasure of working with Sherry for roughly two years and was blown away every time we connected. She is a Quickbase expert and always willing to dive in to learn more about the platform. She is one of the most positive, engaging and helpful builders I've had the opportunity to work with." - Jill Breitner, Senior Customer Success Manager, Quickbase "Sherry has been working in the Quickbase platform for almost a decade and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone with more skills. She is intelligent, strategic and organized with the best sense of humor. Working with Sherry is an absolute delight." - Tonya Shriver, Senior Tech Enablement Consultant, former colleague to Sherry at PeaceHealth Feel free to drop @Sherry Blackburn a message and connect with her 1x1. She's a passionate Quickbase advocate and is always open to sharing how to maximize Quickbase apps!Upcoming Changes to JavaScript in Quickbase
13 MIN READ If you’ve ever used JavaScript to modify UI or enable a non-native workflow in a Quickbase app, this post is for you. We know that adding custom code to an application can be a valuable way to extend Quickbase. However, we need to provide this capability in a secure and supportable way. To that end, Quickbase provides the ability to use custom code in code pages. On the other hand, we also see builders inserting custom code into places it was never intended to be used. To improve the security and stability of the platform, we are changing the way Quickbase handles custom code. Specifically, we are changing how the platform handles JavaScript and unsupported HTML tags in places other than code pages. Code pages are where custom code has always been supported, and we encourage app builders to insert it there. We will roll out these changes throughout 2021. This post will cover the background on where custom code is supported in Quickbase, and why it’s important for us to make a change. You can also find details about our plan below, and how that impacts you. Table of Contents Background Upcoming Changes Product Alternatives Next Steps FAQ Background For years, Quickbase builders have inserted JavaScript outside of code pages. This has been done to customize the UI or to automate workflow (such as reloading the current page). Yet custom code such as JavaScript was never intended to be used in a Quickbase app, except in code pages. Builders have shared many solutions like this on our community forum. You might see them called "Image OnLoad" or "Branding OnLoad". Because the added JavaScript code cannot be sanitized by Quickbase, it could open a security vulnerability that a sophisticated, malicious, builder could take advantage of. “Sanitizing” is simply making sure that an input into a field is what the software intended. For example, to sanitize a field that says “Image URL”, we would ensure it only accepts a format like https://mywebsite.com/images/banner.png and that it only contains secure content. None of the code within a code page can access the native Quickbase document object model (DOM). When you write custom code such as JavaScript in a code page, you are creating a new web page from scratch. This is why it is more secure to restrict JavaScript to being used only in a code page The Quickbase platform includes many security measures which protect you against the risks mentioned above. For example, when you create a new app, any API call pointed at that app must include an application token. We have put in place policies to control cross-origin resource sharing (CORS). And we allow realm admins to restrict what type of content may be embedded as an iFrame within their apps. But the work of building a platform with world-class, enterprise grade security never stops. Our software engineers and system architects are always searching for opportunities to improve. Changing how JavaScript is handled in Quickbase apps is the next step in that journey. Besides this security issue, it's impossible for us to test inserted JavaScript as we make changes to the Quickbase platform. A routine upgrade to an open source library, a change to styling, or to the DOM may cause these custom solutions to break without warning. As we progress with projects like the UI Refresh in 2021 and beyond, these kinds of changes will become more frequent. In order to move the platform forward in a safe, secure, and sustainable way, we must close the loopholes that allow builders to insert unsanitized custom code into their apps. Upcoming Changes There are three areas of the product that need to have the loophole closed. We will close one area at a time, every two months starting in April 2021. Rich Text Fields, where customers could unintentionally allow end users to insert JavaScript. This area was closed in the April 2021 release. Note: This does not include Formula-Rich Text fields. Custom Branding, where customers typically insert JavaScript to modify the UI in non-native ways. This area was closed in the June 2021 release. Formula Fields, where customers can write scripts to automate workflows. Examples of these include cascading deletes and executing multiple actions when a user presses a button. This area will be closed in the August 2021 release. This includes Formula-Rich Text fields. When an area is closed, builders will no longer be able to insert new JavaScript or edit the JavaScript that has been inserted into the area. With these series of changes, we will not remove or modify any existing custom code. We will not intentionally break any existing solutions that leverage these techniques. But a change to styling, a change to the DOM, or an update to a technical library could cause a solution to unintentionally break without warning. And, if a solution breaks for one of these reasons after the area has been closed, builders will not be able to edit the JavaScript to fix it. After we close each loophole, builders will no longer be able to insert or update JavaScript in that part of their apps. For example, imagine you have a formula that contains JavaScript. You need to update the formula, so you open the field properties. In that case, we would pop up a message warning that the field contains unsupported content. If you click Save without removing the JavaScript, you will see an error message preventing the save. You may hit cancel at that point, to back out and keep the previous configuration of your field. We encourage you to continue extending your ecosystem of apps using custom code. You can use custom code such as JavaScript in code pages, even after we close all the loopholes above. NOTE: The vast majority of custom code that's inserted into Quickbase apps outside of code pages is JavaScript code. However, the product changes above will not just restrict where JavaScript can be used. Those restrictions will apply to all custom code that is unsupported outside of code pages. The only custom code that may be used outside of code pages is: Simple HTML tags such as "a", "div", and "img". (See a complete list of supported HTML tags) Any native HTML attributes for those tags. (Such as the "width" and "height" attributes of the img tag) CSS style code which is included in-line, as part of one of the supported HTML tags above As a reminder, iFrame HTML tags are not supported outside of code pages and they will be affected by the product changes above. Product Alternatives Many agile companies extend their Quickbase apps today using custom code. This is a crucial tool for flexing and adapting to a fast-paced business environment. The intended workflow for Quickbase to interact with custom code is by having a formula-url or formula-rich text field as a button or link. Clicking on one of these would open a new browser tab, or redirect the current tab, to the code page. Custom HTML, CSS and JavaScript can be included in this code page. If desired, the page can close itself and redirect to the original page. For example, see the animation below: We will also work to make this even easier in the future. Over time, we will address the majority of extensibility needs in a few ways: Our ongoing product initiatives have an increased focus on customization and power natively. We know will not be able to build a native setting, switch or toggle for every possibility. Yet we conduct research and make data-informed decisions on where more flexibility makes sense. We will continue to absorb small items into future product iterations that customers need so custom code isn’t needed. Examples of this include, but are not limited to: Ability to use Now to get the live time a formula-url was pressed, rather than when the first page loaded New formula functions like UserRoles() and NameOfMonth() More control over the behavior of formula-urls Allow app builders to use JavaScript in certain areas outside of Code Pages. These would not allow arbitrary code to be inserted. Instead, they would support specific methods of extending a Quickbase app with custom code. For example, let's consider the new dashboards in beta as of February 2021. These new dashboards allow app builders to create filters which apply to all reports and charts on the page. We could allow a developer to create a custom chart type, which connects to the dashboard filter. So when an app user clicks that filter, all the reports and charts on the dashboard would update - including the custom-coded charts. This would allow builders to create their own chart, and have it behave natively and seamlessly for their users. We have many plans in this area. While this is not an overnight deliverable, we are confident in the research we have done and our roadmap to deliver on this promise. Programming languages like JavaScript are powerful because they are open-ended. You can use JavaScript to solve virtually any problem if you have the time and technical know-how. But Quickbase is a no-code platform. Quickbase is powerful because of how fast it allows you to build and update apps, deliver value and unlock insights within your data. So we will always focus on accelerating that speed and ease of use. We do not intend for Quickbase to become a full-fledged integrated development environment (IDE). Next Steps First, we want to be as transparent as possible, so app builders are aware of any risks in their applications. To that end, builders will begin seeing a warning in areas that have unsupported content in the near future. This will not prohibit changes to these areas of the platform. Are you already thinking about some of your apps which use these JavaScript techniques? If so, please start planning how you can migrate to supported solutions. We have been logging Quickbase apps that contain unsupported custom code. Those logs are only able to cover apps where you've updated the app’s structure recently. So if you have an app you're unsure about, you can update the properties of any field or table to get it added to the logs. That way, if that app does contain JavaScript or other types of unsupported custom code, it will appear in the logs the following day. On February 11th, we'll send an email inviting account admins to a Quickbase app so you can see where inserted JavaScript is being used. If your account admin does not receive that email, it means that our logs do not show any inserted JavaScript in your account. Review the list of FAQs below. If you still have questions or need help, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Care team by submitting a ticket. We're happy to help identify alternative solutions. However, please note that we will not be able to interpret or troubleshoot custom code. If you find yourself in need of more hands-on assistance, we recommend engaging with one of our QSPs, whom we can help you connect with. FAQ What is JavaScript Insertion? JavaScript Insertion occurs when custom JavaScript code is added to any part of a Quickbase app other than a code page. Some examples include formula fields, rich text fields, and custom branding. While officially not supported, these techniques are used to more deeply customize an app’s UI or workflow. While this has never been officially supported, the platform was not explicitly blocking this as it should have been. As we have added features to the platform over the years, many of the reasons why these techniques were used have become obsolete. What is changing with regards to JavaScript Insertion? We will begin restricting app builders from inserting JavaScript in formula fields, app branding, and rich text fields. Builders will no longer be able to insert new JavaScript code in those areas. We will also block edits to any existing JavaScript in those same places. These areas were never intended to allow for JavaScript insertion. You can still insert JavaScript in a Code Page, which is the appropriate place in a Quickbase application. Will these changes only affect inserted JavaScript code? The vast majority of custom code that's inserted into Quickbase apps outside of code pages is JavaScript code. However, the product changes above will not just restrict where JavaScript can be used. Those restrictions will apply to all custom code that is unsupported outside of code pages. The only custom code that may be used outside of code pages is: Simple HTML tags such as "a", "div", and "img". (See a complete list of supported HTML tags) Any native HTML attributes for those tags. (Such as the "width" and "height" attributes of the img tag) CSS style code which is included in-line, as part of one of the supported HTML tags above As a reminder, iFrame HTML tags are not supported outside of code pages and they will be affected by the product changes above. When will these changes take place? Throughout a series of releases in 2021. After the April 2021 release, users will no longer be able to insert JavaScript into Rich text fields. After the June 2021 release, users will no longer be able to insert JavaScript into Custom Branding. After the August 2021 release, users will no longer be able to insert JavaScript into Formula Fields. Why do we need to make these changes? Custom JavaScript inserted into these areas is not sanitized by Quickbase. This opens the platform up to potential attacks from malicious users, to modify pages or gain access to protected data. Such custom code is also impossible for Quickbase to test. This means routine changes to the platform could (and do) cause a solution to break without warning. Closing these loopholes allows us to provide a more supportable, enterprise-grade platform. It also enables our support resources to triage and troubleshoot more effectively. How are we informing customers of this change? On February 11, 2021, we will email Account Admins who will be affected by this change. The email will include a link to a Quickbase app which will help you locate inserted JavaScript in your apps. We will email those Account Admins before we make each of the product changes above. Those changes will take affect with our product releases in April 2021, June 2021, and August 2021. Application Managers will also see warnings in apps that include inserted JavaScript. For example, a message will appear if you edit the properties of a formula that includes inserted JavaScript. What will happen with existing JavaScript solutions? We will not be making any changes to existing objects that contain inserted JavaScript at this time, or during any of the releases mentioned above. That means that solutions that leverage inserted JavaScript should continue to work as they were designed. However, builders will not be able to save changes to these objects after their respective release. After the April 2021 release, you will not be able to make changes to JavaScript within Rich Text fields. After the June 2021 release, you will not be able to make changes to JavaScript within Branding. After the August 2021 release you will not be able to make changes to JavaScript within Formula fields. As always, these solutions might break as a result of a routine change we make to the Quickbase platform. For example, upgrading a technical library, or changing either our styling or our Document Object Model (DOM) could cause inserted JavaScript to stop working. What will happen if a builder attempts to save changes to an object with inserted JavaScript? After we close each loophole, builders will no longer be able to insert or update JavaScript in that part of their apps. For example, imagine you have a formula that contains JavaScript. You need to update the formula, so you open the field properties. In that case, we would pop up a message warning that the field contains unsupported content. If you click Save without removing the JavaScript, you will see an error message preventing the save. You may hit cancel at that point, to back out and keep the previous configuration of your field. What will happen if I copy an app with inserted JavaScript? Customers should be able to copy applications with unsupported JavaScript. The inserted JavaScript will carry over to the copied app. As with any inserted JavaScript, after we close down the area it is inserted in, builders will not be able to edit it. Should I remove all inserted JavaScript from my Quickbase apps? We are not removing or modifying any existing inserted JavaScript. You can continue to use your apps that contain inserted JavaScript. But, while we are not intentionally breaking any solutions that rely on inserted JavaScript, these solutions could break as a result of a routine change to the platform, like a change to styling, an upgrade to technical libraries, or a change to the Document Object Model (DOM). As we progress with the UI Refresh Initiative, these changes will become more frequent, increasing the chances that your apps could break. If you want to avoid that risk, you should explore alternative, supported solutions to the problems you’re solving with inserted JavaScript. What if I need help? If you’re still not clear on exactly what is changing, or have a specific question about your account, you can always submit a support case to our Care team. Also, our Quickbase Solution Providers (QSPs) are a network of professional services firms that you can contract with to help you plan for and execute any changes to your apps that you might deem necessary as a result of this announcement. They can help you identify and implement alternative, supported solutions to the problems you currently solve with inserted JavaScript. If you are working with a QSP already, you can follow up with that partner or find a potential partner here. We also have a list of partners who are providing services offerings to specifically handle JavaScript issues. If you would like a referral to a partner or potential partners, submit a support case, and a support representative can provide this for you. Can builders still insert JavaScript into code pages? Yes, users are encouraged to use code pages to leverage custom code for their Quickbase applications. These code pages should be used standalone, rather than attempted to be “injected” into a Quickbase page. What if I need help identifying my inserted JavaScript? The first place to look is the Inserted JavaScript Usage app. This is a Quickbase app that lists where inserted JavaScript is used in your apps. It includes details such as Field ID for formulas that include inserted JavaScript. On February 11, 2021, we will email a link to this app to Account Administrators. We will send this email only to accounts we've detected are using inserted JavaScript. Not sure whether a specific app includes inserted Javascript? You can check this by opening the app in question, then making any schema change. For instance, you could add a new field or update the properties of an existing field. Then, you can check the Usage app one day later. We update the Usage app daily. So if the app in question still does not appear in the Usage app then you do not need to take further action. Will Copy Master and Details buttons be affected? No, as long as you are using your Copy Master and Details button as it was originally generated (i.e. no changes were made to the formula) it should not be affected by these changes. If you have Copy Master and Details buttons, you may have received a warning in your application about the presence of unsupported content. To be clear, after the August release, you will not be able to edit these formulas. However, unlike other formulas that contain JavaScript, these buttons will continue to work as designed and do not need to be replaced with alternative solutions.
AMA on App Planning with Orientation Success Manager Lee Gilmore on September 26th from 2-3 PM EST
2 MIN READFor our September AMA (Ask Me Anything) we are going to be focusing on the ever popular subject of App Planning with the help of Lee Gilmore, one of our Orientation Success Managers, and the Orientation team. Whether planning a brand new app or getting ready for changes to one of your existing apps a clear plan can be a fundamental steps to turning an app into a huge success. Meticulous planning is one of the hidden secrets of the most successful apps in Quick Base and we are here to make sure it is no longer a secret. Whether you are brand new to app building or a veteran of creating apps this AMA is a great place to bring your questions and get the insight of an Orientation expert. On Thursday, September 26th 2019, we are hosting a live AMA (Ask Me Anything) featuring Lee. Lee will be here from 2-3 PM EST to tackle your questions about App Planning, whether it is planning a whole new application or making a plan to change the one you are using today as smoothly as possible. Are you curious to know how you can map out your process? Do you want to know more about how you can plan for the needs of all the different types of users who are going to be in your application? Have you heard about collecting requirements for an app before and wondering what that means? Maybe you just want to know a bit more about Lee and what exactly an Orientation Success Manager is? You can start right now by submitting your questions here on this Community thread between now and the event on the 26th of September. Then Lee and the orientation team will be right here in this community thread to tackle them all on Thursday at 2-3 PM EST along with any questions they get live. ------------------------------ Evan Martinez Community Marketing Manager Quick Base ------------------------------
How can we help you adapt to your new (and evolving) priorities?
2 MIN READ I spent some time this morning looking at how a variety of businesses are adapting their approach to continue to live their mission in this new reality. My son's elementary school is holding physical education class every morning online. Brené Brown is leading non-denominational prayer groups on Instagram. Veterans groups are posting daily workout challenges on social media to inspire physical and mental fitness during this stressful time. Fine dining restaurants are converting to touchless delivery literally overnight. Touching base with my team, I was inspired by the collaboration and partnership we've delivered to customers over the past week. State and local governments are spinning up apps to manage their response(s) to the COVID-19 crisis. Businesses are rapidly identifying business needs and developing applications to address them. Other clients have built apps to manage IT assets that need to be delivered to newly remote employees. The world is changing fast and we all are in a constant state of trying to adapt even faster. We know you are facing new priorities and evolving challenges right now. For our team at Quick Base that means we want to help more than ever. What can we do to help you and your team succeed in this new environment? What new problems have cropped up? How can we help you solve them? We can help with everything from app building advice to simply being a sounding board. We know the power of our community, and we know that you all are doing amazing things everyday; if you are creating an app that you think others could benefit from, please add it to our App Exchange. We look forward to connecting and collaborating with you soon. How To Publish An App ------------------------------ Neil Forbes ------------------------------Qrew Champion Spotlight: Sharon
6 MIN READ Intro Hi! I'm Sharon Faust, Quickbase Expert and Founder of Quick Base Junkie. I've been using Quickbase since 2011, when I first discovered it could transform projects from plodding, months-long nightmares into dreamy, ready-for-action solutions in days (or even hours!). Since 2018 I've been helping Quickbase builders learn fast and deliver more through my consulting, training, resources, and YouTube channel. And in 2025 I was presented with the Quickbase Qrew Legend award having been nominated by the Quickbase community for my contributions. Quickbase Beginnings How did you first discover Quickbase? I was introduced to Quickbase while working in process improvement at Intuit. At that time Intuit owned Quickbase and they were BIG Quickbase users. At Intuit it was not officially my job to build or maintain apps, but I had the opportunity to use apps that others built and in doing so I found many ways to leverage Quickbase support the work I was doing… which led me to building my own apps What was the first thing you ever built in Quickbase? My first app was a Learning Management System to track the Lean Six Sigma training and Kaizen events I was facilitating. Having struggled with Microsoft Access in the past, I was A-M-A-Z-E-D at how seriously user-friendly Quickbase was. The moment I discovered form rules that could dynamically show or hide fields based on another field's value, I was completely smitten. When did you realize you were hooked on Quickbase? In 2018 I left my successful corporate career to launch Quick Base Junkie. I'd been passionate about Quickbase for years, but committing to help builders full-time through training, consulting, and YouTube? That's when I knew I was all in. Now I literally wake up every day thinking about Quickbase (after dreaming about Quickbase formulas and Jinja code)… yeah you can say I'm hooked! Building and Impact What's your favorite app aspect to build out in Quickbase? It's hard to choose a single favorite! I think any time you solve a problem or create a new solution that takes some time to get just right there is a type of euphoria that is hard to describe. For me this can come from writing an API button formula that compresses a workflow into a single button click, building a pipeline that uses advanced jinja coding to dynamically adjust the output, or leveraging HTML & CSS to enhance the user experience. But my absolute favorite, is probably teaching others how to use capabilities like these to enhance their apps & workflows. What’s a build or project you’re most proud of? Over 14+ years there have been many projects I'm proud of. The one that comes immediately to mind is a Vendor Pricing Portal. I completed it a number of years ago and it is still being used without issue today. The portal allows for multiple external vendors to easily supply pricing on hundreds of items each quarter. The past method using email and Excel spreadsheets was time consuming, error prone, and lacked visibility. Now with a few selections and the click of a button the quarterly bid packs are generated and links are emailed to the vendors. The vendors can carry forward the prior quarter's price or enter new pricing directly in Quickbase. Once they finish and submit the bid pack, it copies the details in the internal only Pricing App and allows the whole team to review and approve pricing by item across multiple vendors. I was able to share how I made lightning fast pipelines to support this workflow at the 2024 Empower Pro event. You can watch the replay and read all about it on the Quick Base Junkie blog: https://www.quickbasejunkie.com/blog/empowerpro24 If you were a QB superhero, what would your special power be? I think it's a two-part special power: 1) The ability to see wasteful inefficient workflows and instantly reimagine them as cost saving / revenue driving streamlined workflows. With my Lean Six Sigma background and Quickbase expertise, it's hard to watch people struggle with the ineffective tools when I've seen firsthand how Quickbase could solve their problems in a fraction of the time. 2) Teaching others how to leverage the various aspects of Quickbase to create valuable apps and workflows. I often receive positive feedback on the way I break down complex topics and demonstrate them step-by-step with examples that are easy to understand. What’s one process you’ve automated that made life easier for your users? I recently completed a project for a client that involved creating complex estimates in Quickbase. These estimates used to be developed in Excel using a template. Moving it to Quickbase brought a lot of benefits, but just the other day the Project Manager told me that the team that reviews the estimate before the final proposal goes out is now twiddling their thumbs because there is no need to verify all the totals/formulas since Quickbase does the work without the need or possibility of the user making edits to the underlying template. They now have hours at their disposal for more value-added work. Yassssss! The Qrew Experience How did you discover the Qrew? Back when I first started using Quickbase there was no Qrew. I'm not even sure if there was a community forum. In the beginning there were training webinars and not much else. Over time the Quickbase community has grown and evolved to support new and seasoned builders alike. As someone who can't get enough of Quickbase and all the nuanced, fun, creative strategies and tips I try to stay informed and participate in the Qrew events and forums. What’s your favorite part of Qrew Meetups or the community? The collaborative spirit. Everyone genuinely wants to help each other succeed, whether you're a beginner or an expert. I love seeing builders have "aha!" moments when they learn new ways to solve problems. I also get really tickled when someone shares a link to a Quick Base Junkie video or resource to help another builder 😊 Why should others join or attend Qrew Meetups? If you're the only Quickbase builder at your company, the Qrew becomes your extended team. You'll learn faster, build better apps, and discover creative solutions you'd never think of on your own. Plus, it's good to connect with people who understand why you get excited about building an API button or conditional drop-down! If you could describe the Qrew in three words, what would they be? Collaborative, creative, passionate. Beyond The Keyboard What do you like to do when you’re not building in Quickbase? I'm currently reading my way through Agatha Christie's 66+ detective novels (I've completed 28). She has a true mastery of the mystery genre. I also enjoy sampling the skills of the vibrant craft brewing community in Southern California. My favorite brews are typically hefeweizens, red/amber/brown ales or stouts, and the occasional funky sour (sorry, IPAs you are not my cup of tea). What’s your go-to focus or creativity booster? I like to use good old-fashioned pen and paper. When I feel a little stuck on an app design or need to get my thoughts organized, I gravitate towards the tangible and unrestricted aspect of writing and drawing my ideas (often in multiple colors). It can look very messy but, in the end, I often have the breakthrough I need. How do you like to unwind after a full day of Quickbasing? Typically, after working you'll find me relaxing with my husband on our back patio enjoying the view of the valley. I love the dusky time when it is still light out enough to see the color of the trees and houses but dark enough that you start to see the city lights. How can people connect with you? You visit my website at QuickBaseJunkie.com for training courses, consulting, and free resources or subscribe to Quick Base Junkie on YouTube. I'm also active in the Quickbase Discord and love connecting with fellow builders!
