We’ve received lots of requests for a public API to Shareflow. A public API will allow developers and consultants to integrate systems they already use with Shareflow and come up with new ways to use the service.

The good news is we’re putting the finishing touches on the API. We’ll be posting details on this blog within the next two weeks so watch this space!

We’ve also received a lot of requests for real-time notifications in Shareflow when you’re not logged into the web site. We already provide RSS feeds of your Shareflow activity, but we’re working on three new features to help keep you up-to-date:

1. An unobtrusive desktop application (written in Adobe Air so it will work on Windows, Mac, and Linux) that notifies you whenever there is new activity in flows you are a member of. The desktop app will also allow you to drag-n-drop files from your computer to easily upload to Shareflow.
2. The ability to email a Shareflow post to any member of the flow. Currently all of your teammates can receive a daily digest of Shareflow activity, but sometimes you want to be extra-sure they read one of your posts if they don’t check Shareflow that often.
3. Real-time email notifications: Several people want to receive an email any time anything happens on Shareflow. We’re working on a system to support this.

All of these features are designed to help you and your team get the most out of Shareflow.

In case you missed our previous announcement, check out Shareflow’s new search capabilities.

The feedback on Shareflow has been terrific.  Like us, diverse teams in all walks of digital life have been frustrated by complicated,  poorly implemented collaboration tools, and are finding Shareflow to be a solution they can use.

We want to hear more about what you think of Shareflow.  To give you and your colleagues a little extra incentive, we are having a contest!  Original, huh?

Twitter your thoughts and experiences on Shareflow, we will pick our two favorite tweets, and each winner will receive TWO tickets each  for CRUE FEST 2!!!!!

That’s right! Two creative, thought-provoking Shareflow fans will win  a total of four tickets for the  18 August performance  at PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ.  Read all about this inspiring show at www.cruefest2.com.

Details: Put  the phrase “#getshareflow” in your tweet before 5 pm EDT  next Thursday, 13 August.  We will contact the winners on twitter Thursday night, and overnight the tickets to you.  If you would prefer some awesome Zenbe Fleece pullovers, we can make that happen too!

We look forward to your posts!

Today we are pleased to announce the addition of Search to the suite of tools that Shareflow provides to help you focus on your most important conversations and stay organized.

At Zenbe, we’ve been using Shareflow internally since February.  Over the past six months we’ve built up a rich database of important conversations, documents and media spanning a wide variety of topics.  Although Shareflow automatically keeps your conversations organized by topic or “flow”, sometimes you want to search through your conversation history for a specific message or group of messages related to a specific topic. Shareflow search makes it easy to find the exact message or file you are looking for regardless of when it was posted or what topic it was posted under.

Search Tips

The next time you login to Shareflow you’ll see the new search box in the top left corner of your screen.

From the search box you can search across all post types or choose a specific post type from the drop down list on the left.  Clicking the “go” button or hitting return will provide you with a list of all posts matching your query in the flow you have selected from the flow list.  If you want to search all of your flows, just be sure to select “All Flows” before running your query.  You’ll be able to search all of the text in any post or comment.  We also index emails, file names, file extensions and meta data about events and maps.  You can even get a list of all posts by a certain user by just searching for their name.

So how can you use this feature to improve your productivity and organization?

Here’s just one example of how we use search at Zenbe.  As we’ve built out Shareflow we’ve generated a lot of documentation about the system. Sometimes I need to refer back to a specific design document or user guide we’ve created as a pdf and stored on Shareflow.  To find these files all I have to do is search in “All Flows” for “pdf shareflow”.  If I know the document I’m looking for is stored in a specific flow, I can drill down to that specific topic by selecting the flow in the left sidebar.

Getting creative

Although Shareflow is great at helping you organize and search the conversations your team is collaborating on, it’s also a flexible tool that can be used in a variety of ways.  I like to use Shareflow as a personal information database for notes to myself, blog posts I want to read later, and files that people send me.  The new search feature makes it possible to mine this personal journal for specific notes or files.  This in conjunction with our mobile application makes Shareflow a great way to keep all your important information at your fingertips.

We’d love to hear your creative ideas on how Shareflow helps you focus on what matters.