Add a native Show/Hide toggle as part of the 'box' feature in new record layout

[CarsonRedCliffLabs]

We LOVE the new possibilities available with the New Record Layout.
However we’ve started to find several use cases that we are repeating often, and could be handled in a much more skillful way that would benefit all users, and probably use less system resources.

It’s very handy to use the Box feature to group similar fields on the page.

There is also high demand for an ability to have a toggle that will show/hide those different sections on the page at any given time. Usually we pair this with the set of fields grouped together in a box.

At the moment, this is totally doable, but requires setting up additional fields, rules and steps.
We add a single select category field.
Then we set that field to display as a checkbox, show without label, and a caption of show or hide.

Then we set a rule on the specific box area to display or hide depending on the selection.

As a cherry on top, we sometimes use a show or hide all checkbox, and tie that to some additional rules which overwrite the others. Or we could use an automation to say when that box changes, apply that update to all the other toggles to get the desired result.

After doing this many many times, we realized that Tape’s interface already handles a show/hide feature using a very simple built in chevron toggle option on the new references field.

Would it be possible to have a similar show/hide toggle added as default part of ANY Box that is created?

This would save so many steps for building extra fields, extra rules, and extra automations all over the place.

I’m not a designer, but used AI to try and display the idea simply, something like this:

Full video explanation for anyone who is bored and wants more context on the use case of this request:

Simplifying show and hide boxes in apps

https://www.loom.com/share/dacaa8f6eada42179ecb4cf755298f91

[CarsonRedCliffLabs]

This would also solve an issue when multiple people are collaborating to interact on the same record. With the show/hide rules being set on a category field, one person changing it means that it will consequently show/hide to all other users.
If Sales is busy working on updating their activity portion of the page, and support comes to log notes about a new contact at the same time, they want to see different sections…but the currently available workaround forces both to open more than they technically want at that moment.

I would hope that a native toggle is embedded on the user interface, not an automation rule and therefore solves this problem.

[Leo]

Hi @CarsonRedCliffLabs,

thank you very much for the detailed feedback and for the Loom explanation. This is a really valuable use case, and you are absolutely right: a native toggle option for showing and hiding sections would be super useful

We already have this topic planned, but we still need to carefully analyze the best way to implement it so that it stays simple and does not become too complex for users.

There are a few possible directions here. One option would be to enable this directly on the field frame or box, so no additional block would be needed. Another option would be to introduce a dedicated block type, something like a toggle list, where boxes or other content blocks could be placed inside. In general, if one block gets too many settings and options, it can quickly become complex. That is why dedicated block types that can be combined with each other are often the better and more flexible approach.

Your point about collaboration is also very important. A native UI toggle should not behave like the current workaround with category fields, rules, or automations, because that changes the record state for everyone. Ideally, each user should be able to open or close the sections they need at that moment, without affecting what another user sees while working on the same record.

In addition to this, we also plan to provide a tab block, which would make it possible to structure records into different tabs. These tabs could also have dedicated permissions, which would allow even more flexible and powerful layouts.

We still need to consider the interaction between all of these concepts, because we are also planning so-called block links. With block links, users will be able to link directly to a specific block or field and scroll to it. This will also make it very simple to build custom tables of contents using the new text formatting, where users can add links directly to text and jump to the relevant content inside a record.

This is similar to what was often built in Podio with calculation fields and anchor links, but in Tape it would be much more native and much simpler to set up. In some cases, this may also require a toggle to open automatically or a specific tab to be selected. So this is highly relevant for navigation, and we want to solve these topics together in a clean way.

The good thing is that with our new block canvas concept, Records, Forms, and Dashboards can all benefit from these improvements once we release them.

Thanks again for sharing this so clearly. Really appreciated.

Best,
Leo

[1F2Ns]

For what it’s worth, the box having accordion options (none, opened, closed) would be intuitive for me as it is a similar play like the conditional logic. Then all items within would be included.

Lately, whenever someone brings up a new feature or functionality the team is like “oh, you mean like this” and it still blows my mind.

[CarsonRedCliffLabs]

@Leo - I forgot to bring this one up on today’s call. But this concept is starting to have a larger and larger impact on us each week as we convert more apps to the new layout.
I’m just curious if this would be something that is part of finalizing the new layout, or if this would be something further down the road?

As more apps are getting converted, and more users are collaborating on records with these workarounds, the weaknesses with today’s show/hide box options are becoming more painful.