What’s new
Spreadsheet Makeover
We like to think we’ve improved many a spreadsheet here at Grist, but none more than our co-CEO Anais. Now she’s started a series where she helps those in need get a spreadsheet glow-up. Anais’ makeovers are a fun look at common spreadsheet pitfalls and how to address them. Check out the first episode!
External attachment storage
Previously, files in attachment columns exist in Grist documents as blobs (which is the technical term, by the way). Now self-hosters or those on our Enterprise plan can host attachments externally.
This means that your .grist files can remain small even with large attachments, and that attachments have less of an impact on general and snapshot performance. More details can be found in the Help Center.
A huge thanks to DINUM for roadmap sponsoring this feature!
Nicer link previews
If there’s one thing we love, it’s people sharing Grist documents. This has been made lovelier thanks to a recent PR that updates the look of shared link previews from getgrist.com. Not only does it look nice, it’s much more informative and descriptive than the previous preview, which we decline to share or remind anyone of. 
There have been three grist-core releases in the last month, but here are the notable changes present in the most recent v1.4.2 release.
- Externally-stored attachments are now available.
- There is a new interface for managing Enterprise subscriptions.
- In an effort to prevent certain kinds of malicious activity, there is now a limit to the number of invitations pending acceptance that a user may send.
- Added
GRIST_MAX_NEW_USER_INVITES_PER_ORGenv variable.
Full changelogs are visible on our releases page.
Other news
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We’ve officially announced the upcoming end of Python 2 support. Check out Paul’s full post on the Community Forum for more details and migration tips.
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Natalie has written up an excellent summary of the very powerful
PREVIOUS()function, particularly helpful with running/cumulative totals. -
We’ve added a small tooltip to help describe the very cool “view as” functionality that is extremely helpful when testing access rules.
Community highlights
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Sylvain_Page has shared an exciting Excalidraw custom widget (with image support!). We also appreciate the very flattering demo chart he created, which we eagerly share below.
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Heloise_Ouvry is looking for potential contributors to a community hub for widgets and templates. Take a look if you’re interested!
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Based on nikobako’s initial work, Emanuele Gissi shared his version of a simple Mermaid.js chart viewer using Vue.js. Check out his example with a very nice approval workflow.
Working on something cool with Grist? Let us know by posting in the Showcase forum or our #grist-showcase Discord channel!
Learning Grist
Webinar - Access Rules for Distributed Organizations
Access rules, accidents drool!
Join us for Access Rules for Distributed Organizations, where we’ll cover how to secure and manage data across multiple locations—without the headaches. Whether you’re a retailer with multiple stores, a business operating in multiple regions, or a team managing client projects with different access levels, you’ll learn how to lock down tables, columns, and rows to keep sensitive info in the right hands.
Thursday March 20 at 11:00am US Eastern Time.
To our regular attendees: Please note that the time for this webinar is different than usual!
Grist 101
In February, Natalie hosted an introductory webinar designed to help new users navigate the basics of Grist. This session provided users with the essential tools and knowledge to get started. We covered key features and best practices to maximize your productivity. Perfect for beginners!