CommCare Change Log (Updated Quarterly)

2020
October - December

CommCare HQ

1. Improved password error handling.  This is only for projects which have "Require Strong Passwords for Mobile Workers" set.
   In case the password entered is not acceptable, now users will see an error message and the alert "Password was not changed".  
2. Fixed calendar help text.  In Web Apps, this improvement ensures only the calendar help text appears when clicking the help button.  Previously, the calendar pop up would also appear.  

CommCare HQ

1. Switched combobox to select2 on Web Apps. Completed by USH.
2. Added the ability to bulk download web users on the Web Users page. Completed by USH.

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed bug where web apps tiles get mis-aligned at screen resolutions approximately 990-1200px, now alignment will not be broken for screens wider than 1200px. 

2. Expanded unsupported browser notification so that additional warning messages are displayed when users are using unsupported browsers.

CommCare HQ

1. Added ability for web users with the permission to view web users to view pending invites

2. Fixed web apps tile display for medium-width screens.

CommCare HQ

1. Track role update. Now for role updates, we also track how the update was done - either via web/bulk upload. 

2. Added jump to top of page on navigation in web apps. Previously, when you went from one menu page to the next, like menu list to case list, the scrollbar position did not change. We added a jump to the top of the page every time you switch pages seems cleaner than picking out that specific scenario. 

CommCare HQ

1. Track role update. Now for role updates, we also track how the update was done - either via web/bulk upload. 

2. Added jump to top of page on navigation in web apps. Previously, when you went from one menu page to the next, like menu list to case list, the scrollbar position did not change. We added a jump to the top of the page every time you switch pages seems cleaner than picking out that specific scenario. 

CommCare HQ

1. Better UX when switching pages in Web Apps. Previously when you go from one menu page to the next, like menu list to case list, the scrollbar position doesn't change. This change adds a delightful jump to the top of the page every time you switch pages. 
2. Added a 'clear' button to combined multiple choice questions in web apps. 
3. New recipient for Conditional Alerts: This change adds two new recipients for conditional alerts. 1) Specify mobile worker by username 2) Specify email by username. The first works for both SMS or email alerts. Completed by USH.
4. Added a new "domain" option to API keys to scope the key to only have permission for that domain. 

2020
July - September

CommCare HQ

1. Added Portuguese translation to CommCare HQ. 
2. Added web_user column to exports. Adds a `web_user` property to exports to show the web user who submitted a form using 'login as.' For mobile submissions, this will display nothing. For web submissions using login as, `username` will have the mobile username and the new column will have the web user. For web submissions not using login as, both `username` and the new column will be the same, regardless of whether the person logged into HQ as a web user or as a mobile user.
   
3. Overwrite Case Lists/Case Details in Bulk. Enabling Bulk overwrite of case lists and case details along with filters. This update changes how the 'overwrite' add-on works so that app builders are now able to 'push' overwrites to multiple case lists/case details instead of 'pull' changes from a single case list/case details. This feature is documented in more detail here.
   
4. Added 'App User Profiles' to enterprise subscription. App User Profiles is now a GA feature available on the enterprise subscription. This feature is documented in more detail here.
   
5. Rename "Automatically Close Cases" to "Automatically Update Cases." Renamed an item in the HQ menu in the data section. Since the feature allows one to update/close or do custom actions on the case, updated the title to reflect that better.
   
6. Web Apps form UI update - collapsible groups. Adds three appearance attributes: 1) `group-collapse` indicates that a group should use the new collapsible styling 2)`collapse-closed` means the group will be collapsed when the page loads 3) `collapse-open` means the group will be open when the page loads. Appearance attributes are space-separated, so an open group should have the appearance attribute `group-collapse collapse-open`. If the group doesn't specify open/closed, it will default to closed. Collapsible groups are displayed in panels, with an angled icon, and clicking the panel header will show or hide the questions in the group. Groups without a label still show the icon and header. These attributes only apply in web apps and only apply to groups - not question lists, and not repeat groups. You can make collapsible question lists / repeat groups by putting a collapsible group inside the question list / repeat group.

CommCare Mobile: CommCare 2.50 

The most important changes in this release are:

• We’ve added support for markdown tables.
• We’ve added support to selectively rate limit app resource requests.
• We’ve added support for app updates without multimedia using lazy downloading.
• We’ve increased the limit on the number of allowed CommCare apps on a single CommCare instance to 4!
• We’ve moved Mobile Privilege option behind Advanced Developer Options.
• We’ve added landscape orientation support to Gregorian date widget.
• We’ve added a custom property cc-disable-file-oversize-warning on HQ, which when set to yes will disable file-oversized warnings in mobile.
• We’ve added a button to clear choices in single-select questions.
• We’ve added a retry button in Recovery screen.
• We’ve made improvements in capturing location.
• We’ll now use CommCare’s in-built audio widget by default for audio capture question.
• We’ll now show an error on saving a form when any of case_name, case_type, owner_id and external_id for a case is greater than 255 chars in length.
• We’ll now delete any erroneous forms on form save by user rather than later quarantining them at the time of form submission.
• We’ve added support for tiered lists and barcode scan in Case Claim prompts
• Hide the manual form Quarantine option from the scan record integrity dialog.
• We’ve made group label font size consistent with question text.
• Recheck button on the Update Screen will be enabled always.
• We’ve updated Required version comparison to include the minimal app version as well.

CommCare HQ

1. Added error notification to all data forwarders. Before this update only OpenMRS and DHIS2 data forwarders supported error notifications. 
2. The default geocoded location in project settings is now visible only if your project space has access to Web Apps. 
3. Added ability to download the case summary by making an API request with an API key. 
4. Added support for Markdown tables on Web Apps. 
5. Added a new column 'Number of unsent forms in user's phone' column to App status report.
6. Increased the number of recent case uploads to 10,000 and added a search box, which searches comments and filenames. 

7. Added a new filter option for Report Builder called "Case Owner (Location w/ Descendants and Archived Locations)."

CommCare HQ

1. 1. Wait a minute before requesting confirmation email again. This PR adds a check for a user to wait at least 60 seconds before requesting another confirmation email.  If a user re-requests within 60 seconds of requesting a confirmation, they would see an error message. 

   2. Updated the bulk user upload process to allow for editing of web users with pending invites. Updates the bulk upload process so that editing the role of a pending web user edits the existing pending invite instead of creating and sending a new one. This eliminates the problem of multiple invites sent to a user when their role is changed prior to accepting the invite. When adding or modifying the role of a new web user that is not part of the domain, it checks if an invite already exists and, if so, modifies the role of the existing invite instead of creating a new invite. 

   3. Clarified disable vs. remove Two-Factor Authentication in UI. This clarifies the use of "Disable Two-Factor Authentication" on two UIs that use it but do very different things. In the User Account Settings > Two-Factor Authentication page, "Disable Two-Factor Authentication" is changed to "Remove Two-Factor Authentication" . And then in the admin view for looking up users it makes sure to emphasize that the Disabling action is Temporary.

CommCare HQ

1. Added default location for WebApp project spaces.  Under Project Settings-> Project Information -> Basic, this update allows you to configure a default project location for your WebApps.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved naming convention for App Summary downloads.  Under applications -> App summary, this update improves the naming convention when downloading a file with a long name.  Specifically, if the name exceeds 31 characters, this update truncates the middle values in the file and tab names.

2. Updated Case List search.  Under Reports -> Inspect Data -> Case List, this update improves the user experience when searching the case list.  Specifically, the terms used in the search box will remain when you complete the search. 

3. Displaying bounced invitations.  On the invites page, this improvement displays the delivery status including bounced invitations.  Note: most mail providers will show the message as "delivered" but then will later change to "bounced" if the message fails to send. 

CommCare HQ

1. Improved Report Builder error messaging.  Before this update, under Reports -> Report builder, an error message appeared when you built a report that included default filtering options.  This improvement removes the incorrect error message that appeared with the default filters.

2. Added View Apps permission.  Under Users -> Project Users -> Roles & Permissioning, this update adds a new "Can View" to Applications permissions.  Full roles & permissioning documentation can be found here. 

2020
April - June

CommCare HQ

1. Added link to "Import Template Application." Under the Applications tab, a new link was added that allows you to import template applications from the COVID library.

2. Improved API authentication. This update fixes an issue with using API token authentication for a small number of APIs when multi-factor authentication is enforced.

3. New API for bulk case data uploads. This new API endpoint allows you to upload Excel sheets in order to automate creating cases in bulk.

4. Additional functionality for bulk SMS alerts. Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts -> Bulk Upload SMS Alert Content, this update allows you to upload blank messages with the bulk uploader. Previously, you could only set blank messages in individual conditional alerts.

5. Improved translations user interface for Messaging. Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts, this improvement ensures that conditional alert translations will display in the same order used on the SMS languages page. 

6. Additional functionality for the Data Export Tool. This improvement allows you to sync locations and users using the Data Export Tool. 
   

7. Fixed phone number verification workflow. This fix updates an issue so that you are able to verify your phone number via SMS as expected. 

8. Added views in mobile mapping. This update adds a default property setter for mobile maps, which allows you to select "terrain" or "satellite" to be used in rural or poorly mapped locations.

9. Improved location upload error. Under Users -> Organization, this update makes the error message in location uploads more accurate. Previously, if you uploaded a file with unrecognized columns, you would get an error saying columns were missing. The new error message exposes the problem that occurs with that specific column. 

10. Added error detail for mobile worker creation. Under Users -> Mobile Workers -> Create Mobile Worker, this update displays an error when the creation of a mobile worker fails.
    

11. Added detail on COVID-19 template library page. In the COVID-19 template library, added release date for each of the apps, external help links, and button to toggle app versions.

12. Added text to edit alerts on the Messaging page. Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts, this improvement adds the text "Editing a conditional alert will cause it to process each case of the alert's case type.

13. Improved auto-generated passwords for mobile workers. Under Users -> Mobile Workers -> Edit Mobile Workers -> Password, this update fixes an issue when you edit a password for a mobile worker. Specifically, before this update if you enabled "Require Strong Passwords for Mobile Workers" in the project Privacy and Security settings, HQ would not auto-generate a password. With this improvement, a strong password can be auto-generated as expected.

14. Added permissions for OData (PowerBI/Tableau) feeds. Under Data -> PowerBI/Tableau Integrations, this update adds a role that can access and view form/case data but cannot create new exports. 

15. Updated text formatting for sensitive data in OData (PowerBI/Tableau) feeds. Under Data -> PowerBI/Tableau Integrations, this update changes the text formatting for de-identified data in the feeds. Instead of listing the data as [sensitive] with brackets, it is now listed as *sensitive* with asterisks. 

16. Increased limit for case import history. Under Data -> Edit Data -> Import Cases from Excel, this improvement increases the number of recent uploads displayed from 100 uploads to 1000. 

2020
January - March

CommCare HQ

1. Improved behavior for Tableau/PowerBI integrations.  For Tableau/PowerBI integrations that are set-up through the OData feed, this update ensures that "formid" or "caseid" columns that are tagged as deleted cannot be selected in the feed.

2. New COVID-19 template library.  To support the rapid rollout of applications for COVID-19 response, you can import application templates directly from the new COVID-19 template library.  This confluence page explains more about these applications.  

3. New columns in Mobile Worker download.  Under Users -> Mobile Workers -> Download Mobile Workers, this update added new columns to the exported file.  Specifically, the mobile workers "last sync" and "last submission" data is now available in the export.

4. Improved performance for Exports and Excel dashboard feed.  This update made some backend changes to improve the load times and reduce the number of time-outs when trying to edit or create new exports in Case Exports and the Excel Dashboard feed. 

5. Updated Messaging page to use new location search.  Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts, this improvement uses the new location search logic described here when you enter the "User Organization Recipient(s) (see attached screenshot). 

6. Removed re-processing for bulk Messaging updates.  This improvement prevents conditional alerts from re-processing when they are edited via the bulk upload user interface. 
   

CommCare HQ

1. Added ability to edit parents in Organization Structure.  Under Locations -> Organization Structure -> Edit Location, this update gives you the ability to edit the parent of a location, even if the location has children.  This update also removes the ability to edit the "Organization Level" of a location with children.

2. More powerful location searches.  This update makes the filtering logic more powerful when searching for locations.  This confluence page describes the changes, and in summary: 

   1. you can use more than one slash
   2. you don't need to use quotes to use slashes
   3. you can partial match ancestors (eg, "mass/mid/cam" to get "Massachusetts/Middlesex/Cambridge")

   4. quotes give you exact name matches, but still return descendant matches

3. Updated pages to use new location search.  This change updated the search algorithm for locations to use the new query referenced in Update #2 above.  The pages include:

   1. Organization Structure page 
   2. Mobile worker filter 
   3. Location assignment on edit mobile worker page
   4. Create new mobile worker
   5. Invite web user
   6. Filtered mobile worker download (feature flagged)
   7. Related locations (feature flagged)

   8. OpenMRS repeaters (feature flagged)

4. Removed ability to create redundant data exports.  Before this update, you could not re-trigger a data export if the same export was actively being pulled.  However, if you refreshed the page, it was possible to create 2 redundant data exports.  This improvement prevents the workaround where the redundant reports could be created by refreshing the page.
   

CommCare HQ

1. Improved List Forms API performance.  These updates makes the List Forms API more robust, specifically:
   1. Ensuring the field @name is never null.  Previously when this field was null, it would cause an error. 
   2. Ensuring that group ownership changes are reflected consistently in the API.  Previously, if you modified a users group, both current and previous data would show.
      
2. Additional options for data formatting in Excel exports.  Under Data -> Export Data -> Export Settings, this update adds a new checkbox to enable cell formatting in Excel 2007+ formats.  If enabled, Excel will format dates, integers, decimals, Boolean values, and currencies. 
   
3. Improved Zapier integration functionality.  This update fixes an issue in the New Form Submission trigger in Zapier where users were only able to access ~20 forms even if more were configured in their integration.  This improvement allows users to see all configured forms, as expected.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved configurations for Tableau/PowerBI integrations.  This update improves the ability to configure Tableau and PowerBI integrations with the OData feed, specifically allowing users to check or uncheck the "caseid" field.  Before this update, "caseid" was a default field in the configuration.` 
2. Fixed location-based access.  This update fixes an issue where users with location-based access weren't able to areas of the platform that they were intended to be able to access.  This fix returns the expected functionality.

CommCare HQ

1. Updated CCZ filenames.  This improvement changes the names for CCZ files from a 'commcare_v123.ccz` style to `MyDomain - MyApp - v123.ccz ` 
2. Fix for 2 factor authentication.  Recent changes prevented SMS messages from being sent when a user was trying to use 2 factor authentication during CommCare HQ log-in.  This update fixed the SMS behavior so that it worked as expected.

2019
October - December

CommCare HQ

1.  Changes to our Community Plan

• • Changes to the sign up experience 
  • Reduction of max number of users to 5
  • Downgrade flow to Community was replaced by ability to Pause subscription
  • Existing Community spaces were grandfathered

2. Re-allocation of Features across plans for better positioning and value alignment. (Existing project spaces were grandfathered)

CommCare HQ

No user facing changes. Minor maintenance updates and performance optimizations. 

CommCare HQ

1. Updated behavior when searching by location.  This improvement fixes the search results when you search by location in 3 places: (1) Users -> Mobile Workers -> Filter and Download Users, (2) Users -> Organization Structure, and (3) Users -> Mobile Workers -> Create Mobile Workers.  Before this update, not all the search results would appear if pagination was utilized.
2. Improved counts in the Worker Activity Report.  This update changes the date range for two columns of the Worker Activity Report so that the ranges are the same.  This ensures more consistency with the data shown in "# Cases Created" and "# Active Cases".  
3. Updated dropdown options when adding data exports.  Under Data -> Export Form Data -> Add Export, this improvement fixes an issue so that when you are adding a new export, the correct forms are shown in the dropdown menu. 

CommCare HQ

1. Removed reporting for Interactive Voice Response messages (IVRs).  IVRs were a previous option for messaging within CommCare.  Last year this feature was deprecated, and this update removes the Call Report and Expected Calls reports associated with IVRs.

CommCare HQ

1.  Improved user import validation.  Under Users -> Mobile Workers -> Bulk Upload, updates were made to simplify user import validation.  This also improved some functionality including if duplicate usernames are uploaded, the upload will now fail all of the duplicated rows.  Previously, the first user would be created and subsequent duplicate users would fail. 

2. Added deprecation warnings to CommCare Exchange.  Under commcare.hq.org/exchange and project settings -> CommCare Exchange, this update adds warnings to the top of the pages announcing that the Exchange will be retired in early December 2019. 

CommCare HQ

1. General release of PowerBi / Tableau integration.  The quick connect feature for CommCare -> PowerBi or Tableau is now generally available for partners on Advanced plans and above.  This allows partners to easily build visualizations of their CommCare data.  Read more from the blog post here and the documentation here.

2. Fix for submenu naming convention.  This resolves an issue where a submenu set to "display only forms" would sometimes override the name of the parent menu. 
3. Added label support in Web Apps.  This update adds label support to Web Apps, which allows the ability to configure advanced CommCare android formatting as outlined in this article.  Before this update, this configuration could be done in mobile apps but not in Web Apps.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved SMS error messages.  When CommCare is hung processing a previous request by an SMS user they will receive this new message "Our system is receiving a lot of messages now.  Can you re-send in 15 minutes?  Apologies for the inconvenience!".  Previously they received this message "An error has occurred.  Please try again later.  If the problem persists, try restarting the survey."

2. Fixed visuals used in report builder's map reports.  In report builder, if you created the type of report "Map", the pins for the locations did not show as expected.  This update ensures that the locations are shown on the map as intended.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved error messages for bulk translations.  Under Applications -> Applications settings -> Languages -> Bulk CommCare translations, this update improves the error messages you receive when attempting to upload new CommCare UI translations.  Specifically, if a default translation can't be found (i.e. if a translation was present in an older version of CommCare but not the current version) previously you would have received an error.  With this update, instead of an error message, you will see a warning message instead.  Similarly, if the translation doesn't have the parameters HQ expects, this will be shown as a warning rather than an error message.  

CommCare HQ

1. Speed improvements for Group API.  This update made changes to the Group API so that it is ~50% quicker!  

2. Updated message for new scheduled reports.  Under reports -> my scheduled reports, this change fixes the message after you create a new report.  Previously it read "Scheduled report updated" and now reads "Scheduled report added".

3. Improved error message for case list registration and end of form navigation.  This update improves the error messages when you try to use end of form navigation on a case list registration form.  It modifies the message text on the form settings page (where you select EOF navigation) and adds a new message on the menu settings page (where you select case list registration).  

4. Updated user interface for end of form navigation.  When you choose end of form navigation, this update removes the "End of Registration Action" options which are not relevant.  Instead you will see an informational text box. 

5. Improved consistency in Report Builder reports.  This update fixes an issue where Report Builder reports based on cases with date filters had different values for the web report versus the exported version of the report. 

CommCare HQ

1. Improved user interface for multimedia reference checker.  Under application settings -> multimedia -> multimedia reference checker:

   1. Adds pagination for applications with several multimedia references and adds a column with a link to the menu/form (see attached screenshot).  
   2. Adds a filter to the top of the page when apps have more than one language (see attached screenshot). 
   3. Adds media type filter and path search (see attached screenshot)
   4. Removes columns like status and the "view larger" button.

2. Updated error message for validation errors.  When you have validation errors when building a form, this update provides error messages in a user-friendly format instead of showing less friendly server errors.
   

2019
July - September

CommCare HQ

1. Sub menus available as an add-on.  This update moves sub menus (previously known as child modules) from a feature flag to a publicly available add-on.  Sub menus simplifies app navigation by allowing you to nest one menu inside of another menu. 

CommCare HQ

1. Improved filtering behavior in reports.  This update fixes several bugs with multi-select report filters not working properly, particularly in saved reports for standard reports and UCRs. 

2. Improved SMS count in enterprise dashboard.  Some enterprise partners with multiple project spaces have access to a dashboard that summarizes activity from their different project spaces.  This update improves the column called "# of SMS (last 30 days)" so that it includes both incoming and out-coming messages.  Before this update, only incoming SMS messages were included in the count.

3. Updated conflicting user roles.  Before this update, you could not delete a user that had been assigned a web user role, which was later promoted to a domain admin.  This improvement fixes a bug where the user roles page still had that web user assignment and prevented you from deleting the role.

CommCare HQ

1. Speed improvements for Group API.  This update made changes to the Group API so that it is quicker.  Specifically, it is now paginated and groups now appear in alphabetical order (by group name). 

2. Improved error messaging in excel case importer.  Before this update, when you imported cases using excel you would sometimes receive the wrong error message for invalid case owners.  Specifically this improvement will show correctly if you have issues with the "owner_name" column rather than confusing it for "owner_id". 

CommCare HQ

1. Additional validation for bulk translations.  Under applications -> settings -> languages -> bulk commcare translations, this update adds additional validation for User Interface translations.  Specifically, translations are already validated for bad syntax and this change will also validate if the uploaded translation contains the same parameters as the default translation

CommCare HQ

1. Improved options for reassigning cases.  Under data -> edit data -> reassign cases, this update improves the dropdown locations that populate after you select a case for reassignment so that the menu shows: individual mobile users, individual web users, case sharing groups, and locations

CommCare HQ

1. Improved multimedia error messages for releases.  This update adds a step when making a CCZ file during a release.  It verifies that all multimedia expected to be in the application are indeed included in the CCZ file and shows an error message in CommCare HQ if the multimedia is not present, indicating a bug.  Note: this error message will not be shown if you add a multimedia reference and decide not to upload a file.

2. Fixed opening cases from advanced modules.  This update fixed an issue that was preventing you from opening new cases from advanced modules.  After this update, you can open cases as expected.
3. Added ability to copy a specific version of an app.  Under Applications -> Settings -> Actions, this update allows you to specify a version of the app to copy.  Before this improvement, you could only copy the latest updates made in an application.

CommCare HQ

1. Updated inputs for form exports.  Under data -> export form data, this improvement adds the ability for you to select "unknown module" as a filtering criteria.  This allows you to export deleted forms from apps that still exist.  Before this fix, you could not select "unknown module" due to a bug in a drop down menu.

2. Improved interface when publishing apps with multimedia.  When publishing an app with multimedia, this update removes the link to the multimedia reference checker.  The intent was to let you know how to deal with missing multimedia, but for builds, this isn't actually a fixable problem. You can add multimedia to the current app, but you can't retroactively add it to old builds.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved data cleaning behavior: Minor bug fixing and improvements.

CommCare HQ

1. Added limits for multimedia exports. This update sets a 5GB limit for form multimedia exports.  This ensures better platform reliability by reducing the risk of a user trying to download large files and impacting the available resources.

2. Added in line editing for export names and descriptions.  Under data -> export data, this improvement adds the ability to edit names and descriptions of the exports directly in line with the descriptions.
3. New data export icons.  Under data -> export data, this change added new icons to the different export options.
4. Improved end of form navigation.  Under applications -> forms -> form settings -> logic, this update improves the behavior of end of form navigation.  Specifically, if "display only forms" is chosen, the end of form navigation option will not be shown and if there is an issue with the configuration, an error will be displayed.
   
5. Updated clean case data behavior.  Under reports -> case list -> clean case data, this improvement ensures that the case owner stays consistent, as expected, when the other data elements are edited.  Before this update, the case owner would be re-assigned to the user who was conducting the data cleaning. 
6. Improved app releases. With this update, if you start to create a new version of an application, another user cannot also start a new version of that application until your version is built. 
   

CommCare Mobile (2.47.1 Release)

1. This is a maintenance release and include various bug fixes and minor improvements.

CommCare HQ

1.  Removed ability to adjust case name and type when cleaning data.  Under Reports -> Inspect Data -> Clean Case Data, you now will not have the ability to change the case name or case type when cleaning the case data.  Previously, these pieces of data could get accidentally edited.  
2. Updated report filters using mobile workers.  Before this fix, if you filtered by multiple mobile workers or groups in your reports, this filter would not be saved as expected.  This update ensures that the query is saved and the field is not empty.   

3. Improved checks for password formats.  This update fixes a rare issue where Android apps see an error when making a build that has to do with the admin password format.  This app setting is only relevant for J2ME applications.  

CommCare HQ

1.  Improved Web Apps in handling connectivity issues.  Before this update, if you lost internet connection while submitting questions in a webapp, once you gained connection you would be unable to complete the form.  With this improvement, once you gain internet access, you will be able to resubmit the question and finish the rest of the form.
2. Updated feature preview page.  Under project settings -> project administration -> feature previews, this improvement adjusts the text found on the feature preview page.  The new detail explains that these features are under active development and we are gathering data to understand the perceived value and user experience

3. Changed username pre-population.  Before this update, your username would pre-populate in some fields like the "Custom Base URL" under the advanced settings.  This improvement prevents usernames from populating in these fields. 

4. Improved lookup tables performance.  This update made changes to how lookup tables are loaded on a page so that it happens more quickly.  It also prevents the page from showing a table header and partially blank rows while it loads.   
5. Removed conditional alerts flag.  Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts, this update changed the text from "upload conditional alerts" to "upload SMS alert content." 
   

2019
April - June

CommCare HQ

1. Improved language handling in form exports.  When exporting form data, this update changes the way module names are populated to minimize issues that can occur when content is translated.  It now pulls the module name based on (1) the user's preferred language, (2) all the languages in the app, then (3) a default "unknown module" name.
2. Updated views for location-restricted users.  For users that are restricted by location, this improvement makes adjustments to the case data page.  Specifically it allows these users to access: case cleaning, close case, undo close case, export case history, and view forms that updated a case.

3. Fixed filters when editing forms.  When managing form data, this update improves the filters used to fetch the forms.  Before this update, when you filtered by Advanced Options, the filter options seemed to change.  Now the Advanced filter options remain the same after they are applied.

CommCare HQ

1. Added bulk app translations support for case list menu item label. 
2. Added new column to the Web Users Report on the Enterprise Dashboard to track web user's last access date. 

3. Location-restricted web users can now import cases, as long as the location of the owner of an imported case is accessible to the web user.

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed bulk application translations.  Under Applications -> Views (gearbox) -> Languages, this update improves the Bulk Application Translations.  Specifically, there was an issue where translations were not showing as expected on mobile devices in some cases.  This fixed how markdown is handled so that the language translations would be reflected. 

2. Improved ability to edit Report Menus descriptions.  Under Applications -> Reports, before this update if a module contained a case list, you would not be able to edit its name or description.  This update allows you to edit the information associated with the report menu.
   

3. Updated API to support legacy date format.  This fix made an update to our API so that it supports a legacy date format as expected.  The specific parameter is "date_modified_start param". 
   

4. Fixed case filters when reassigning cases.  Under the Data tab -> Edit Data -> Reassign cases, this update fixes the drop downs when you are trying to filter by case sharing group.  Specifically, it improved the ability to filter by reporting group and case sharing group, when previously the filters did not work as expected.  
   

5. Fixed case management refresh.  Under the Applications tab -> (select a form) -> Manage case, this update fixes the refresh button located in the top right corner.  Before this fix, if you made an update in a separate tab, the case management page would not be updated with this new information unless you refreshed the whole browser tab.  Now you can refresh the page easily within CommCare HQ.
   

6. Fixed auto-populated list for reassign cases.  Under the Data tab -> Edit Data -> Reassign cases, this update adds a drop down list to choose from.  Before this fix, no users or groups would display when you wanted to reassign a case.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved error handling in case importer.  Under the data tab, this improvement makes several changes to error messages and behaviors for "Import cases from Excel."

2. Fixed multimedia attachments.  This update fixes an issue with multimedia where attachments that were uploaded into modules were not appearing on mobile apps.
3.  Fixed API parameters.  This update fixes a few API parameters so that they appear in queries as expected, including: format, case sensitivity, and date.
4. Updated filtering for APIs.  This improvement allows you to filter for exact terms in an API query, such as specifying lower case.
   

CommCare HQ

1. Added marker to map-based questions.  This improvement adds a pin to Google maps and allows you to see the location identified in GPS questions.  Before this update, only the latitude and longitude coordinates were displayed - but no pin.

2. Fix for nested repeat groups.  Before this update, you could not delete repeat groups that were nested within another repeat group.  This fix allows you to delete the groups as expected.

CommCare HQ

1. Added lookup table description.  This change added the ability to include descriptions for your lookup tables.

2. Improved formatting for messaging.  This change improves the user interface for messaging.  Specifically, under Messaging -> Broadcasts, it makes this page more consistent with the rest of CommCareHQ. 
3. Performance Improvements to the Report Builder. 

CommCare Mobile (2.46 Release)

1. Adds support for loading ‘GIF’ Images attached to a question
2. Adds a “Discard” button in Image Capture question to easily remove an already attached image
3. In the “Saved Form” screen, “Unsent Forms” filter now shows forms in the order of their submission number. So a form on the top of the list will get uploaded first by CommCare on next sync.

4. Bug fixes. 

CommCare HQ

1. Improved ability to load app translations.  This change adds a unique ID column to translation files.  This allows you to upload app translations for forms and modules where apps have been rearranged.

2. New API for large lookup tables.  This update created a lookup table API, so large projects don't have a huge excel file to upload.  Before this improvement, the excel uploads would often fail with little information sent back to the user. 
3. Exports defaulted to Excel format.  Before this update, if you exported form or case data, the file would be a CSV.  This change improves the default option so that your file will be Excel 2007+.
   

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed module ID reference in case lists. This update fixed a bug in case lists related to module IDs.  The bug caused incorrect error messages to show and information to be missing in the case list and case details.

2. Added inactivity timeout for web apps. This change logs you out of web apps after 30 minutes of inactivity.  After that time has passed, you will need to log back in to continue filling out the app.
   

3. Indented group questions in form summary.  In the app summary -> form summary, this improvement indents all related questions in a group.  This allows you to easily see related questions altogether
   

CommCare HQ

1. Error message for excel download.  When downloading a form export, there is a limit to how many rows can be supported in excel.  This update adds an error message when you try to download a file that is too large. 

2. Detect country when creating new account.  When creating a new CommCare account, this update detects the country you are in and defaults to your current country flag.
3. Allow free text when editing data.  Under reports -> inspect data -> clean case data, this change allows you to type in free text when you are editing data fields.  Before this fix, you could only choose drop down options when using a FireFox browser.  

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed case list display properties.  This update fixed an issue with how case list display properties appeared.  Before this change, the properties incorrectly defaulted to the case property names. 

2. Updated formatting for labels in nested groups. Before this update, questions appeared differently on web apps versus mobile apps.  This change improved how labels appear in nested groups and question lists.
3. Fixed automatic case update views.  Before this change, the case filters for automatic case closures were not visible or configurable.  This fix allows you to add case filters as expected.  

CommCare HQ

1. Improved buttons throughout app manager, SMS, and users.  This update makes minor visual changes to the drop down buttons throughout app manager, SMS, and users on HQ.

2. Improved navigation on conditional alerts.  When creating conditional alerts under messaging, this update changes your navigation through the process.  Instead of being able to save the alert with missing information, you are now guided through each tab until all the required details are filled out.
3. Added sorting to dropdown of build profiles.  When deploying your application and selecting application profiles, this update added sorting to the dropdown menu. 
4. Improved multimedia reference checker.  This update improves the load time for the multimedia reference checker and also adds a spinner on the page for when it is loading.

CommCare Mobile (2.45.2 Release)

1. This point release fixes a regression introduced in CommCare 2.45 due to which CommCare was not respecting the “Image Size” setting set for an Image Capture question and was uploading the original sized images to HQ irrespective of what “Image Size” was set to. It’s recommended to update CommCare from playstore in case your CommCare app utilizes “Image size” setting for image capture questions.

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed button when reporting an issue.  When reporting an issue directly from HQ, you have an option to (1) submit your report after you fill it out or (2) cancel it.  Before this fix, if you tried to submit two issues in a row you would not be able to click the "cancel" button.
2. "View Only" mode for user roles.  This significant update adds the ability to assign some users to "view only" permissions, which allows them to access but not edit areas of HQ.  An in-product notification was also added to highlight this change.
3. Combined errors in case list/detail configuration.  This update shows all errors at once in the case list/detail configuration.  Before this change, you would see only one error pop up, attempt a fix, and find other errors still remained.
4. Added SMS usage to Enterprise Dashboard report.  This change adds a heading to the Enterprise Dashboard report on Project Spaces.  The new column shows the number of SMS sent in the last 30 days. Note that the Enterprise Dashboard is available only on the Enterprise plan. 

2019
January - March

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed pagination alignment on dashboard. This improvement fixed how pagination is aligned on the main dashboard.  It is now left justified.
2. Updated selection buttons.  This update improves the buttons used for selecting options on certain pages, like in the "SMS settings" and "Edit scheduled report."
3. Added link to Status Page. This update adds a link in HQ directly to our new status page.  In the page you will find real time information about the availability of CommCare and its components, status updates on service interruptions and scheduled downtime. (see here for link to the status page and see attached screenshot for the HQ update)
4. Added comments when reverting apps.  When reverting an application version, this improvement adds a comment about the previous builds.
   
5. Added subscription notifications.  This update warns you if your prepaid CommCare subscription is running low.  You then have the option to extend your subscription or be reminded at a later time.
   

CommCare HQ

1. Added permissions error for data exports.  This update adds a 403 error when you try to download a data export, but you don't have permissions to "View Reports."  Previously this error was not shown if a user had permissions to "Edit data."
2. Stopped auto-completing input fields.  This improvement prevents Chrome from filling your saved username to the input text field
3. Removed "edit mode" when users do not have permissions.  This update removes the ability to edit data if a web user does not have permission to do so.

CommCare HQ

1. Error message for translation file uploads.  This update adds an error message when you try to upload a translation file and it fails.  The message also informs you what sheet in the file is causing the issue.
2. Added links directly to questions in form summary. When viewing the form summary portion of app summary, this update adds links to the questions.  These links bring you directly to that question in the app builder. 
3. Updated message about unrestricted SMS.  This improvement changed the wording of the message shown for unrestricted SMS messages.  This message is shown when SMS restrictions were configured by not active.
4. Improved app filtering in submit history.  In submit history previously, the report would filter by app whenever the status was not blank.  This would cause forms to get excluded as the status was hidden and set to "active" by default.  This update improves this behavior by not filtering by app unless the advanced filtering options are shown or an app is selected.
   
5. Fixed case types in case importer.  Before this update, the case importer would not recognize upper and lower case text as expected.  This fix allows you to use different case types and the text uploads as expected.
   
6. Removed dashboard pagination when not relevant.  This update does not show pagination on the dashboard page when it is not needed. 
7. Improved bulk user uploads.  This change improves the speed and reliability of bulk user uploads. Previously, the upload would error out if you were trying to import or export too many users at once.  Now, the usernames on the back end are uploaded in batches to reduce the error rate.
8.  Updated user filters for report.  This change improved the user filters in reports to be more consistent throughout HQ.  Specifically, it ensures that deactivated users are part of querying, along with the existing web and active mobile users options.  This applies to regular and daily saved case and form exports, and the exports for the excel dashboard.
9. Updated filters for the excel dashboard.  This improvements shows all the data available when no filters are selected for the excel dashboard.
10. Linked multimedia to languages.  This update allows you to link specific multimedia to projects with multiple languages.  This option was previously a feature flag, and is now available in the core platform. See here for more info. 

CommCare HQ

1. Added pagination to conditional alerts.  Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts, this update improves the navigation of this page and makes it more similar to other areas of HQ.  Specifically pagination has been added and the formatting of the table has been improved.
2. Prevented scheduled reports to start in the past.  Under Reports -> Project Reports -> Configure Scheduled Report, this update prevents users from changing a report start date to be set in the past.  An error message is also shown to the user. 
3. Added ability to save "items per page" for pagination.  This update remembers your selection of "items per page" in order to streamline searching and filtering for specific items. 
4. Improved multimedia reference checker.  This update improves the load time for the multimedia reference checker and also adds a spinner on the page for when it is loading.
   
5. Added search box to conditional alerts.  Under Messaging -> Conditional Alerts, this update adds a search box to the page and standardizes how search works across several areas of HQ. 
   
6. Added start date for reports.  This update adds a "Report Start Date" field to the Configure Scheduled Report page.  This effective start date allows you to schedule reports to start in the future.
   

CommCare Mobile (2.45 Release)

1. Adds support for right to left languages

2. Revamps CommCare Recovery Mode to automatically initiate all recovery processes without any user intervention

CommCare HQ

1. Added "save to case" to form summary.  When using the form summary to view your app, this update allows you to view information related to "save to case" properties. Specifically, you can view each save to case question and which case property is updated by that particular question. 
2. Fix for location filter in message log.  Before this update, the location filter for the message log would return blank fields if a location contained punctuation.  This change fixes the issue so that the filtering works as expected.  
   
3. Fix for Daily Saved Exports text.  Before this update, Daily Saved Exports showed the message "No data is available yet. Please click 'update data' if the automatic scheduler hasn't picked up the changes in a while." This message was shown even when the data was recently updated.  This change implemented a fix so that the message is only shown when the data needs updating.

CommCare HQ

1. Improved new account confirmation emails.  This change improves the amount of time it takes to receive a confirmation email when creating a new HQ account.  
2. Surfaced errors during ccz creation.  Sometimes errors can occur when creating a ccz during the application publishing process.  This update exposes the error messages to help you in troubleshooting the issues with the file.
3. Shows calculated case list properties in case summary.  This change adds more detail to the case summary so that you can search for this information.  Specifically, it adds calculated case list properties so that you can see this throughout your app.
4. Added "search by version" to releases.  This update adds the ability to search by version in the app release page.  It will return results based on the version number and the version comments.
5. Improved report counts.  This update improves the counts for reports so that they are more accurate.  Previously, only report_id was used in the count but multiple reports could have the same report_id.  With this update, both id and report_id are used. 
6. Sync locations on app changes.  This change ensures locations stay consistent between app builds even when other changes are made in the application.  

CommCare HQ

1. Wider app preview bar. This update widens the app preview bar, so that it is easier for you to shrink or expand on the page.
2. Hiding full menu along with trial banner.  This improvement ensures when you click "hide full menu", both the trial banner and the menu are hidden.
3. Fixed language tags on mobile.  This update fixed an issue where you would see language tags like [en] on mobile.
4. Fixed errors on case list filtering and sorting. This improvement fixed issues with case lists and case details, where case data was not appearing as expected. 
5. Added pagination for case importer uploads. This update adds pagination to the case importer uploads.
6. Added case information to form summary. This update shows case properties on the form summary page, which allows you to trace dependencies within an application. This update is part of the first QA tool being built by Solutions: Enhanced App Summary.

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed error message for app builds.  Before this update, app builds were failing for applications that had an invalid case list filter and the wrong error message was populating.  This fix shows the intended error message.
2. Improved case properties in case summary.  This update solves a few bugs that existed with case summary, including: (a) fixing a longstanding issue where case properties referenced only in case details were not shown in the summary (b) showing an error message if you reference a parent property in a case list/detail, but the case type doesn't have a parent (c) Fixes a bug where the error popovers would not show (see attached screenshot). 
3. Added app summary button to form builder.  A button was added to form builder to link directly to the app summary page, allowing you to quickly navigate to the summary page while app building (see attached screenshot).
   
4. Updated messaging for no web users.  This update adds a message if there are no users in the project and there is a query 
   

5. Improved case summary performance for complex apps.  Before this update, case summary would not work or take an extremely long time to load for complex applications.  A number of back-end changes were made so that case summary will now load as expected and it takes ~35 seconds for a complex app.

No user facing changes. Minor maintenance updates and performance optimizations. 

CommCare HQ

1. Show form and module display conditions in form summary.  This update adds more information in the app summary -> form summary page.  Specifically, it adds the display conditions for forms and modules so that this app logic is more clearly captured within the app summary. 
2. Improved app summary performance for complex apps.  Before this update, form summary would not work or take an extremely long time to load for complex applications. 
   
3. Updated delete and copy buttons on data exports.  This improvement swapped the location of the delete and copy buttons for data exports.  Now there is a "delete" button next to each row of exports, and the "copy" button is available when you click in to edit a particular export. 
   
4. Added pagination to data exports.  Before this update, the exports page would take a long time to load for project spaces with a large number of form, daily saved, or case exports.  This improvement added pagination to the exports page, so that a smaller number of exports load at one time and the page loads faster. 
   
5. Show message for no web users.  This update adds a message for a project without web users in the tab Users -> Web Users & Roles.  The message reads: "This project has no web users.
   
6. Added CommCare icons to HQ and Formplayer.  This improvement adds CommCare icons that can be used in both HQ and for formplayer.  This allows the icons to show up properly on iOS devices.

CommCare HQ

1. Fixed progress bar on daily saved exports.  This improvement fixed the progress bar that shows when downloading Daily Saved Exports.
2. Updated colors for active buttons.  This fix improved the colors used for active buttons on the data exports.  Previously, when a button was selected, the colors would not change to indicate activation. 
   
3. Fix for XForm download error.  Before this update, some users were experiencing an error when downloading the xml for a form.  This update made improvements so that the download occurs as expected. 
   
4. Added help text for saved exports.  This improvement added help text on the input screens for saved exports.  Specifically, the new text provides detail for "Date Range" to help you understand the type of inputs to apply. 
   
5. Improvement for bulk app translations upload for large applications.  Previously, when using bulk application translations with large apps, you would receive an error and not be able to upload the translations.  This fix ensures an error is not thrown and the functionality works as expected.
   

CommCare HQ

1. Updated error message for xls bulk exports.  This improvement adds an error message if you try to bulk export too many data columns.  The message reads "This file has more than 256 columns, which is not supported by xls. Please change the output type to csv or xlsx to export this file." 
2. Improved styling for navigation buttons.  Navigation buttons were updated to improve the look and feel of pages like the Release tab, Reports page, App form summary, and Custom data fields. 
3. Added alert bubble for new export fields.  This update adds an alert bubble on the data export tab which tells you that the fields "form_link" and "case_link" are now available in form and cases exports.  This allows you to access forms and case directly from your exports via a URL link. 
   
4. Improved app preview load times.  This improvement made adjustments to how files are created in order to reduce the time it takes to load app preview (see attached screenshot).  Note: since this release, we've seen significant improvement for load times in complex apps!
5. Fixed missing media attachments in exports.  There was a bug in how exports would handle questions that started as multimedia questions and were changed.  This update fixed the issue so that these questions could be exported as expected.
6. Aligned check boxes on Scheduled Reports.  On the Scheduled Reports edit page, the check boxes to select "Send to owner" and "Attach Excel Report" were previously near the middle of the page.  This updates the alignment, so they are better matched with everything else on the page and are moved below the Email Subject field. 
7. Improved error handling for saved exports.  Previously when a saved export failed, the progress was frozen for 24 hours and you would see an empty progress bar.  This update displays an error message when there is an issue, and allows you to try again. 
8. Added start date for reports.  This update adds a "Report Start Date" field to the Configure Scheduled Report page.  This effective start date allows you to schedule reports to start in the future.  
9. Fix location site code validation.  This update checks that the site code for locations does not include special characters or spaces.  If the site code is invalid, an error message is shows.  Additionally, new locations will fail if no organization level is present. 

CommCare Mobile (2.44.5 Point Release)

1. It removes the functionality to install a CommCare App by scanning a SMS. This is done in order for CommCare to comply with the updated Google Play developer policies.

2. This update also now targets Android 8 devices and provides full support for them. 

CommCareHQ

1. Updated wording when removing a user. This update was a small wording change that switched "domain" to "project space" when removing a user.
2. Improved text colors for sign-up forms.  The signup form has a light background, and this update changed the text color on the form to dark text for greater contrast.
   
3. Improved consistency of case history.  This change ensures you see the same case history when viewing the history directly in HQ and when downloading the case history file.
   
4. Fixed app summary download errors.  Before this update, you would receive a server error message when downloading app summary if questions had numeric options.  This fix resolved the issue, so that app summary could be downloaded as expected for apps with numeric options. 
5. Increased digits in app preview.  Before this update, integer and decimal questions could only be viewed up to 9 digits using app preview.  With this change, the maximum values were increased in app preview so they are in line with the limits used in mobile:10 digits for integer and 15 digits for decimal questions. 
6. Removed borders from modal popup.  This improvement removed borders from modal screens in order to improve the user experience. 
   
7. Removed link from the applications dashboard.  On the CommCare HQ dashboard, this update improved the "Applications" section.  When no apps exist, the box includes a link for you to create a new app.  If apps exist, only links to your existing apps are included. 
   
8. Improvements for timeout errors.  Timeout errors were being received when loading Mobile Workers on the Users tab.  Changes were made to the backend to minimize these types of errors. 
   
9. Fixed language switcher on app summary.  This update fixed the language switcher on the app summary page, so that the switcher worked as intended.