mSecure Support
'Untagged'
@Mike, please ignore point 3. I just realised (embarrassingly) that I can tap onto the tags just below the quick filters to remove all tags or individual ones. Apologies, user error, it does exactly what I wanted :-)
Mike - mSecure
Hi Ai,
Thank you for the continued feedback, and no problem on point #3! I'm hoping the new filter bar at the top of the iOS version will become more intuitive on the user's part as you get more acclimated to it. That's sort of a cop out though from a UX perspective, because, of course, it should be intuitive from the get go. It's one of those features where because of it being a change from an older style of UI, I think it's less intuitive than if it was implemented the way it is now from the beginning, but that's still our problem to solve. I hope it's implemented in a way that shows what's happening with filtering in a good way, but I know there's always room for improvement. So please do provide any ideas you might have that would make it easier to see what's happening.
One thing people have asked for is an X to the right of the menu filters that have been applied to the main view, and I do think that would be helpful for removing all the active filters, but since that can be done by simply tapping on one of the filters, I didn't really like that additional icon. In the end, I think the best thing to do would be to implement a little tutorial overlay when you first set up the app. That's not trivial, of course, but I do think it would be the best way to get everyone acclimated as to how the filter bar and filtering in general works on the main view.
Here's answers for your other points...
1) The "untagged" filter will be implemented on Windows and Android in an upcoming release. It hasn't been implemented yet for the beta releases, but it will be coming soon.
2) I didn't run into the record count issue you're describing on iOS, so that would definitely be a new bug. If you don't have any records that don't have tags, the number should be zero. Of course, as is almost always the case when someone finds an issue like this, when I look at my data in mSecure on my iPhone, I actually have untagged records, and the number looks right. Are you seeing 379 (or any number really) next to "Untagged" in the menu right now, or was it a temporary problem? Also, if you tap that tag and apply it as a filter, does mSecure actually show you records that aren't tagged in the main view?
4) I just saw this issue when looking the "Untagged" issue above. I'll get this written up for our developer to fix in the next release.
Thanks for your quick response @Mike. I get what you are saying that a good UX shouldn't need any instructions, sometimes a little training wouldn't go amiss. Now that I'm aware of it, I do find it intuitive, I guess its that initial 'knowing' hurdle first. I think the X to clear all the filters does make it more intuitive to first time users myself, but like I said, now I know how to clear them by pressing any of the tags, that doesn't matter so much to me.
One suggestion for the filter would be to have a standard filter icon (a funnel) which I think most people will understand alongside the search (magnifying icon). I feel that the tag filters at the moment are a bit out of the way in the menu and having a filter icon on the main page will bring it more prominence. Once the filter icon is clicked, you can have a drop down menu with the list of tags which you can select and also an option to clear all filters. Once in the filtered main page, the funnel icon can be highlighted to indicate that it is a filtered list. Something on those lines if it makes sense. Only a suggestion, you guys are the ones with the know how.
Point 2) With regards to the record count, it is still incorrectly showing 379 on both my iPhone and iPad even though there are no 'untagged' records, so the count should be 0. When I tap onto 'Untagged' no records are showing which is correct.
Point 5) I think you mentioned before that the quick filters on Windows will be made editable? At the moment only iOS is editable. Find this feature very useful.
Thanks!
Mike - mSecure
Hi Ai,
Ok, we've figured out the issue with the "Untagged" filter showing a number. I believe the problem is you have a bunch of deleted records in the system. I should say that the problem is not something you're doing wrong but that mSecure is taking deleted records into consideration when calculating the number for the tags in the menu. It will be fixed in the next update =)
For your questions about Windows, I'm not sure when the quick filters will become editable. Our first priority after getting everything settled from the v6 release is to port over the Chrome and Firefox Browser Extensions. However, this might be a good thing to add for our first feature release, because it shouldn't be a terribly difficult feature to implement (crossed fingers/knock on wood). All that to say, it's on the radar, but I don't have a timeframe right now.
@Mike, thanks, that would make sense. I went to check but found something else. I went to have a look at the deleted items to see if it matches up with the record count of 'untagged' and suprisingly saw my deleted folder empty! I'm pretty sure my deleted folder did have around 300 records, so the record count for 'untagged' should be that figure. However, like I said, I've uncovered another issue that all my deleted records are gone (the record count for that folder is correct though at 0).
I've just done added a test record onto it and deleted it. I can see it appearing in my deleted folder (record count 1) and I could also see that the 'untagged' folder count went up by 1 as well (380). So that does suggest 'untagged' is counting the deleted records. The mystery is now where are all my deleted records? Luckily I don't need any of my deleted records, so I'm not too bothered by it, but would be nice to know why.
re: the Windows editable quick links, no problems with that, was just making sure it was on the radar. Many thanks!
Mike - mSecure
Hi Ai,
I think what might be happening here is that the tags are getting counted for permanently deleted records as well. The problem is, I can't see the record in your account, since you're using Dropbox syncing. Because of that, I can't have no clue whether your database has access to any of your deleted records or not. If I could see them in our cloud system, I would be able to tell what state all your records were in, active, deleted or permanently deleted, and then I could make a better determination of what's happening with the "Untagged" filter number you're seeing.
With regards to your deleted records, again, since I can't look and see the record count or when they may have been modified, I don't know why you're not seeing any deleted records now. They could have been removed if you went from one sync feature to another, if you restored from a backup, as well as other use cases I would have to talk to our developer about, but I can't say for sure why they aren't in the Deleted area of the app.
Real quick, did you check for the deleted records in all of your mSecure apps or just on your one device?
Mike,
That's fair enough, if you can't see it on Dropbox, there's not much you can do about it. And yes the permanent deletion of the records is on all devices (iOS / Windows). It is strange with the deleted records being permanently deleted. Luckily I don't need the deleted records so it hasn't impacted me.
Could it be that the records get deleted after a certain amount of time? Am I imagining it or did you have a configuration in the past on how long you can keep deleted records for before it automatically gets deleted? I can't seem to find that setting anywhere on the app, unless of course it was never there in the first place and I'm getting confused with something else.
It's no bother to me, I'll keep a close eye on it over the coming days / weeks to see if that happens again.
Mike - mSecure
The only thing I can think of to explain the deleted record issue is that it's possible you restored from a backup or changed sync features. If you changed from Dropbox syncing to a different form of syncing and then changed back, that might explain what's happening, though that would probably be considered a bug and I would have to test it to make sure what I'm thinking actually happens. For backups, I would also have to test further to confirm what I'm thinking, but deleted records may get cleaned out when data is restored. Let me know if you think either of those things may be the cause.
For sure, deleted records are not permanently deleted after a certain time, so you don't have to worry about that happening. The records should stay in the Deleted filter until you permanently delete them.
Please do keep an eye on this part of the app, and if you see something like this happen again, let me know. I don't think there are a ton of people who make use of the Deleted bucket as a temporary storage space, but it should work perfectly nonetheless. If there's a bug here, we need to get it fixed.
Thanks for the response Mike. I'm pretty sure changing the sync feature isn't the problem. Through all the versions of mSecure I've only ever used Dropbox as my synch method, so I've never had a need to restore from backup or change the sync method. The last time I did this was just after the latest migration to v6 and the tags went missing and I had to restore from backup to get them back. Since then I've had no issues and the deleted items were definitely there, but now its gone. I can't explain it or have any theories. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know if it happens again.
Like you said, its only something I noticed and I can't remember having to use that space, so its not a big issue for me, if at all.
Mike - mSecure
Thank you very much for the follow-up @Ai. As you keep an eye on the deleted items, do let me know if you see them disappear again. It's something we need to figure out, but, of course, it's only possible to do so under the right circumstances. Take care, and I'm sure we'll talk soon!
Ai Tong
@Mike, I couldn't find the string from before that I started to ask for this request, but I noticed after an iOS update yesterday that you have implemented the 'untagged' group....brilliant! Thank you very much. I've already made use of it! The results have worked exactly as how I intended and I was able to mop up any untagged records.
A few points:
1) Will this update be available for Windows as well?
2) The record count on untagged for iOS seems peculiar. I had no untagged records but it was showing 379 against it (both iPhone and iPad). Couldn't work out what that number would refer to (it wasn't a total of all my records either). I would expect that to show 0 if there are no records 'Untagged'
3) I understand the logic of selecting multiple tags and for the results to be filtered on what you have selected. I noticed that this is persistent even after the app is closed down. Is there a way you can indicate on the front screen that the results you see are filtered results? I can see myself filtering the tags, closing the app, then coming back later and totally forget they are filtered results. If there could be an icon on the front screen somewhere to say its filtered and an option to clear the filters in one go (rather than going into the tagged section and individually deselecting all the selected tags, that would give a better UX in my opinion
4) Specifically on the iPhone iOS, after selecting a tag, when I try to type in the search field, the characters are hidden, looks like a bug there. Works fine on iPad.