What's New
Fixed: Duplicate and Delete Template menu commands
These commands, found in the Edit menu, were broken in v4.0 and now work correctly.
What's New in Version 4.1
Changed: New window layout
The Templates list has been moved to the right side of the window. It is shorter and placed above the Card Items list and the Tags List. It no longer appears in the Styles tab (where it was useless).The new layout makes better use of space, fits on the smallest Mac screens, and offers a larger Card Layout panel.
In addition, the Item Info panel has been made smaller and simpler by moving the Table controls into a popup dialog triggered from the Table Format button at the lower right of the Item Info area.
Changed: Better behavior when opening old .sscm documents
The .sscm format was the format of Multideck documents prior to v4.0 (the version that introduced the Content Editor). When you first open a .sscm document in v4.0 or later, you are asked to save a copy of the document in the new .ssmd format. Prior to this release v4.1, opening the .sscm document again would have the same result, and offered now way to cancel.Now, if there is an existing .ssmd document with the same filename, that document is automatically and silently opened instead of the .sscm. There is also now a Cancel button that you can use to abort the creation of a .ssmd version of your .sscm document.
Tell me more about Switching to the Content Editor.
Changed: Show Grid is less annoying
When Show Grid is turned on for a Text or Image Table, the grid line width is now automatically set to 1 if it was zero before. Formerly the width remained zero, and the grid would not be visible until you manually set a non-zero width.Tell me more about Text and Image Tables.
New: Outline Options toolbar button
A new button in the Layout toolbar (the column of buttons at the left edge of the Layout panel) allows you to choose among four display options. Click the button to cycle through all the options.The options are to show or not show the Safe Border outline, and to outline or not outline the card itself, in any combination of either, both, or none.
This button replaces the Show Safe Border button that used to be in the Preview panel. Your choices only affect display in the Layout panel, and will not affect the final appearance of your cards when printed or exported.
The Outline Options button
New: Preference to suppress automatically opening a new, untitled document
By default, Mac apps including Multideck will open a new, untitled, and unsaved document when you launch the app, if no existing documents were already open. A new option in Multideck > Settings will prevent new documents from being created and opened automatically.Fixed: ⌘S in the Content Editor
Typing ⌘S when the Content Editor window was frontmost and there was text in its Search field would cause the search to be repeated, instead of saving the document. This has been fixed.In addition, the Content Window now responds to ⌘G and Shift-⌘G for "Find Next" and "Find Previous" (the standard Mac keyboard shortcuts for search functions).
Tell me more about Search and Replace in the Content Editor.
Fixed: Tagged Rotors now cycle their content correctly
A bug was introduced in v4.0 that could cause tagged rotors to repeat their first value on their second use, instead of cycling correctly to the next value. This has been fixed.Fixed: Columns in the Tags List now have reasonable widths
Previously, the Tag List in the Layout tab had some columns that were too narrow to properly display their titles or content.Fixed: Saving edits to column titles in the Content Editor
Clicking outside of the cell after editing a column header in the Content Editor could cause your changes to the column title to be lost, unless you remembered to first press Return or Enter. Now your changes will be automatically saved if you simply click elsewhere.Tell me more about the Content Editor.
Fixed: Cropping of exported card images
Artwork that bleeds outside of a card's bounds is now properly cropped out.Fixed: Settings window is always available
The Settings window can now be opened and used even when no document window is open.
What's New in Version 4.0.2
Fixed: False positive in Validation that could prevent printing and exporting.
Tell me more about Validation.
What's New in Version 4.0.1
Fixed: Excluding and including templates in the Filter tab
Deselecting the inclusion checkbox for a template in the Filter tab causes all cards in the template to be filtered out. Due to a bug, in v4.0 attempting to re-include the template's cards by selecting its checkbox would fail. This has been fixed.What's New in Version 4.0
New: .ssmd File Format
The changes in this release were too much for the old .sscm file format to handle. Multideck v4.0 uses a new file format, with .ssmd instead of .sscm as the filename extension. When you open an old document in v4.0, you will be asked to save it in the new format. (Your old document will not be changed or deleted, but you may want to archive or trash it so that you don't try to open it again with v4.0.)New: The Content Editor
In previous versions of Multideck, content could only be kept in external files in CSV format. Version 4.0 now offers the Content Editor, which allows creating, editing, and keeping your content right in your Multideck document. No more spreadsheets, exporting to CSV, or remembering to "Reload Data"!You can still keep and use your CSV files just as before, if you wish. We think the Content Editor will be better for most users, but you can decide for yourself which to use.
Benefits of the Content Editor include:
- Easy Import - Select a CSV file and import it into the Content Editor. You won't need the CSV file again!
- Live Preview - See your cards instantly update as you type, in the Layout tab in Preview mode.
- Easy Rich Text - Click a button to insert markup. No more remembering or typing annoying syntax.
- Insert Images - Click a button, and select your image from a list of filenames in your Image Folder, or click a thumbnail in the array of recently-used images.
- Quick Navigation - Click in the first column of a card row to immediately see its card in Preview. Select a card and item in the Layout Tab, and go to its row and column in the Content Editor with a single button click. Click 🔎 icons in errors and warnings in the Validation Report display to see the item or content causing the problem.
- Display Options - Choose the font and font size that the Content Editor will use. You may also specify the background color for selected cells: this will not affect card appearance but can help you visually organize your content.
- Search and Replace - Find text easily in your content, and replace occurrences singly or all at once.
- Flexible Sorting - Sort rows (either all rows, or only selected rows) by the content in up to three columns. Sort per-column either alphabetically, numerically, or by cell background colors.
Tell me more about the Content Editor.
Tell me how to convert my CSV-based project to use the Content Editor.
New: Show Handles in Preview
The Layout Toolbar has a new button which toggles the "Show Handles in Preview" feature on and off. When on, selected items are outlined in red even in Preview mode. This allows you to easily move and resize them by dragging, while seeing what the end result will look like.
Tell me more about the Card Layout Toolbar.
New: Validation Links
Validation errors due to problems with card items or content now show a 🔎 icon in the Validation Report window. Click the icon to select and display the item in the Layout display, and/or the cell in the Content Editor (if you are using the Content Editor).Tell me more about Validation.
Changed: Validation Improvements
Automatic validation is now triggered in more cases, and validation is better at detecting used vs. unused columns.Tell me more about Validation.
New: Markup for canceling font and font size changes
Two new Rich Text markup commands are now available.{/f:} restores the default font (without affecting font style or size)
{/fs} restores the default fontsize (without affecting font or font style)
The markup command {/f} is still available to restore all default font characteristics.
Changed: Optional Image Folders
It is no longer an error to fail to select an Image Folder, if your template and its content are text-only and make no use of images.Changed: Tagged Rotors
Tagged rotors can now be referenced by using the span directive in any row, not just in rows below the row where the rotor is defined.Changed: Style Markup
Style markup is now more robust and flexible.Tell me more about Style Markup.
Changed: #CardSets now allows leading spaces
Multiple card set names within a single field must be separated by commas; now the commas may be followed by whitespace, for easier readability in the source.Example: fee,fie,foe,fum and fee, fie, foe, fum now have the same result.
Tell me more about #CardSets and Filters.
Fixed: Print Panel Controls
The controls in the Multideck section of the Print Panel are now laid out correctly.Fixed: Miscellaneous
Assorted bug fixes and stability improvements.
Previous Version History
What's New in Version 4.1.1