What's new in AFFiNE - December 2024 Update

1. Login Self Host Instance via Desktop App

It still needs some polishing, but per popular request, we decide to release it early behind a toggle called "Multiple Cloud Servers". Switch it on in Settings/Experimental features, restart client, and you’re all set.

To add your server, click “Add Server” in workspace picker and enter the address of your self-hosted server. This will allow you to log in using the client, and be able to import and export workspaces using the client.

2. Team Workspace Reveal

Want a collaborative, open source and selfhostable workspace for your mission-critical work? Affine is now the only choice to go. Create or upgrade your existing workspace to team workspaces, featuring unlimited members, increased storage space, and enhanced member roles for better team collaboration.

3. AFFiNE AI Improvements

Prompt anything on top of existing AI actions. An universal prompt input is now avaiable with any selected content. You can now generate presentation, mindmap and insert it automatically directly in page mode.

4. Toggle Headings

You can now collapse and expand all headings directly without adding toggle headings block, making it easier to organize and navigate through your doc content.

5. @Menu Improvements

We’ve enhanced the @Menu functionality. You can now reference today’s Journal or specify a Journal from any given date. Additionally, we’ve improved the document search capabilities.

6. New Backlinks

Backlinks have long been in a rather “underdeveloped” state. We understand their critical role in bi-directional linking, so in this update, we’ve redesigned and enhanced Backlink capabilities. Now, you can see the relevant context of references directly within Backlinks, giving you more information to refer to when reviewing linked content.

7. Single-Page Layout Customization

Customize page layout per page without affecting global settings—choose between Full Width and Standard Width for an optimized view or editing experience, ideal for content like Database Kanban view or Table view.

8. Customizable Linked Document Display

You can now edit linked doc alias through 'edit' while maintaining references, whether it's an inline view, embed view, or linked docs within embed views. This gives you more control over how linked content appears in your docs.

9. Lock & Selection

Lock has been one of the most requested features in the AFFiNE community, and we’ve heard you loud and clear! In 0.19, we’ve introduced the Lock feature. Now, every element on Edgeless can be locked in place, securing both its position and state. This makes managing and organizing content on Edgeless more convenient than ever.

Additionally, Selection has long been a frustrating experience for many users. In 0.19, we’ve optimized the selection functionality on Edgeless. You no longer have to worry about accidentally selecting the Frame itself when trying to select content within it.

10. Enhanced Sidebar-Editor Drag-and-Drop

You can now drag docs from sidebar (Favorites, folders, Collections) to insert them as linked docs in the editor, and drag existing linked docs from editor to sidebar for quick organization. This feature works in both Page mode and Edgeless mode.

11. Mind Map Improvements

Improved mind map drag and drop

Rebuilt drag and drop interactions to make node placement more predictable and intuitive, helping you better organize your thoughts in mind maps.

Collapsible mind map nodes

You can now expand and collapse child nodes in mind maps, making it easier to focus and manage complex mind map structures.