Guide
This tutorial is deep. We will explore the most important Fibery features and build a detailed workspace from scratch.
This tutorial is also long. But if you are not an experienced Fibery user, I highly recommend to follow all steps, at some points Fibery will click (or not). We will build a workspace with CRM and Projects Tracking spaces, you can explore it here.
Video version of this tutorial → is here.
🪐 Spaces
Fibery consists of Spaces. A Space holds everything together (Databases, Views, Automations and Documents). A Space usually represents a process or a department, like Software Development, Candidates tracking, Vacations tracking, CRM, HR.
CRM Space
Let's create our first Space.
Click + near Spaces icon and choose Create from scratch.
Name this newly-created space CRM and press Enter.
Projects Space
Create a second Space. Name it Projects Tracking. Change space color and icon.
📦 Databases
Space usually includes one or several Databases. A Database represents a type of data you want to have in Fibery: Task, Feature, Project, Vacation, Meeting, Asset, etc.
CRM space → 'Account' database
Now let's create our first database.
Click on CRM space in the sidebar.
Click on Database 1 name.
Type Account and press enter.
Now we can store accounts in Fibery. Click Open in the first record to see how it looks.
Rename sample account to Account 1 here.
By default, we have Name and Description fields. We need more fields to capture relevant data, so let's add them.
Navigate to CRM space.
Click + column and select Email field.
Type Email to name the field and click Add Field button.
Add Workflow field and edit its values: New → Negotiating → Paid → Lost.
Projects Tracking space → 'Project', 'Task' databases
Now we will add two databases in Projects Tracking space.
Navigate to Projects Tracking and rename Database 1 to Project.
Click + New Database and rename it to Task.
Let's add some fields to Project. We want to track planned dates, so we are adding Planned Date field with Include start & end dates option checked.
Add People and Workflow fields as well.
For Task, we are adding Estimated Effort Number field, People and Workflow fields.
Rename sample entities to Project 1 and Task 1.
🤝 Relations
Relations are very useful if you want to connect your data. Here we have Accounts and Projects for these accounts. We also have Tasks that we want to connect to Projects. Let's add these relations.
Navigate to CRM Space.
Click Relations.
Click + below Account badge. Thus we will indicate that there will be many projects inside a single account.
Select Project and click Link button. You will see Projects column in Account database. Click it and select Project 1 to link Project 1 to Account 1.
Now let's link Projects and Tasks using a different UI screen.
Navigate to Projects Tracking space. Make sure that you are in Project database.
Click + New Field and select Relation to…
Select Task database, set directions as shown below and click Add Field button.
It's interesting to check Workspace overview now. Click sidebar and select Workspace Map. It shows all Spaces, Database and Relations you created.
🎹 Add some data
You can add data manually or import data from CSV. Let's import a list of Accounts.
Here is the CSV file we have, with Name and State columns.
Click sidebar and select Import CSV.
Choose file with Accounts data.
Select Existing database option and select Account as a database.
Fibery tries to map fields automatically, but make sure that mapping is correct and modify it if needed.
Click Import button.
Now you can add several tasks and projects in a similar way or just do it manually in Projects Tracking space.
🌁 Views
Space usually has several Views. A View is a way to visualize information from Databases. For example, you can see tasks as a Table, create a Board View to see tasks by state, create a Timeline view to see tasks' duration better.
Views just show data (data lives in databases), so you can safely create and delete views. For example, if you create a Table View that shows tasks, add some tasks, and then delete the view, tasks will still be there in tasks database.
Accounts board
Let's create a Board View that shows Accounts by states.
Find + icon near CRM space and click Board.
Select Account database in Cards.
Select State in Columns.
Click Fields in top menu, select Projects Count and Database Abbreviation Badge, remove Database Icon. Click States and select Objects Count.
Rename view to Accounts Flow.
On Board view you can click on cards to open them and see details, drag cards from state to state, filter and sort cards. Play with the options on top and see how the board view changes.
Projects timeline
Let's create a Timeline View that shows projects duration grouped by accounts.
Click + near Projects Tracking space.
Click Timeline.
Select Projects as Items.
Select Planned as Dates.
Select Account as Lanes.
Tasks table
Now create a Tasks table for yourself. Check Table View guide if stuck.
🔪 Smart folders and Context Views
Smart Folders show a list of entities in the right menu. You can display only relevant entities there, using filters and sorting. For example, you can display a list of teams or a list of projects in sidebar using Smart Folders.
You can also create Context Views in Smart Folders. Context View is filtered by a selected entity. For example, if you have a list of teams in sidebar, you can create Backlog View that will filter tasks automatically by team.
Accounts → Projects smart folder
We want to show not-lost accounts in sidebar to quickly access them and see all relevant information for the accounts. First, let's create a smart folder.
Click on + near CRM space name and select Smart Folder.
Select Account as a top level Database.
Click Filter and add a filter State is not Lost.
Click … near smart folder name and select Rename option. Type Active accounts.
Tasks board view
Now let's play with Context Views. A Context View automatically filters data by the current entity. Here we will create a Board View that will show us all Tasks for all Projects for some Account.
Put cursor on any account in smart folder, for example, Tesla. Click + and select Board.
Click Mirror to every Account icon. Thus this view will be available for all accounts.
Select Task as Cards and State as Columns.
Click Fields and enable Project and Avatars of Assignees fields.
Rename view to Tasks board.
Now you can expand accounts in sidebar and explore Tasks board for every account. Thus you can quickly explore state of work for every account.
Now setup Active Projects smart folder in Projects Tracking space.
✍️ Whiteboards
A Whiteboards is a canvas where you can create various diagrams, brainstorm ideas and convert these diagrams into real work. We will create a Whiteboard to set a structure for some project.
Click + near any project in a smart folder and select Whiteboard.
Rename the whiteboard to Project structure.
Click Insert a Card tool, click on a board and select some project (A Poster in our case).
Click Shape tool, add several boxes to the whiteboard and name them as future tasks.
Connect boxes to the project. Click on a project box and start to drag a connector from the right blue dot.
You may create as many boxes as you want. Now we assume that structure is done and will convert these boxes to real tasks. Select these boxes and click Convert to Entity action. Select Task database.
Tasks are created, double-click on a project to see the tasks inside.
📄 Documents and Rich Text
Rich Text is a special Field where you can write text and do some fancy staff. It's a collaborative text editor, so write something, add some images, and collaborate. There are two ways to add long text in Fibery:
Using Documents that can be in any space or inside any entity
Using Rich Text field inside an entity. For example, you can write a task description inside a task.
Let's add a task description. Open any task and add a text with headers, try to insert an image, mention some other task or a user via # and @ commands. Type / to see what formatting options you have.
You can also create entities from text. Just select a text and click Create Entity (Cmd + E) action.
Reports
Reports in Fibery are powerful. You can create simple and complex charts, do custom calculations with the data, build table reports (including pivot tables) and share reports to the world.
Tasks by States
Let's create a report that shows how many tasks in every state we have.
Click + near Projects Tracking space name.
Select Report.
Select Chart to create a chart.
Select Task database and click Create button.
You will see an empty canvas for report creation. Now add fields to axis. Drag State field to X axis. Drag Count of Records field to Y axis. Drag Project field to Color.
Select stacked bar chart type.
Rename report to Tasks by State.
Click Finish button.
We don't have enough data to make this chart useful, but you see how fast you can create interesting visualizations in Fibery.
🧮 Formulas
Use Formulas to calculate various metrics. Here we will add a formula to calculate project progress based on completed and remaining tasks.
There is Estimated Effort field in every task where we put some value in hours, like 4 hrs, 12 hrs, etc. How to calculate project progress? We should sum effort of all completed tasks and divide it by effort of all tasks in a project.
Let's add this field in Fibery.
Navigate to Projects Tracking space and make sure that Project database is active.
Click + New Field and select Formula.
Type Progress into the Name field
Type this formula into the formula field, type % into Unit, and click Save.
(Tasks.Filter(State.Name = "Done").Sum([Estimated Effort]) / Tasks.Sum([Estimated Effort])) * 100
Let me explain how it works.
In a project we have a collection of Tasks. We need to take only completed tasks and we Filter the tasks by state:
Tasks.Filter(State.Name = "Done")
Then we want to calculate a sum of completed effort and use Sum function:
Tasks.Filter(State.Name = "Done").Sum([Estimated Effort])
Then we divide this number to all tasks effort and multiply by 100 to get the value in percent.
Now when you open any project, you will see a Progress field.
🤖 Automation Rules
You can automate repetitive actions via Automation Rules. Let's create a rule that will notify assigned users about a deadline.
We will create a rule that runs every day and send in-app notification for any task with a deadline tomorrow.
First, you need to add Deadline field into Task database. It's just a Date field.
Now let's get back to the rule:
Navigate to Projects Tracking space and click Tasks database.
Click Automations - Rules - and start to create a new rule.
Type rule name, like Notify 1 day before deadline.
Select On Schedule in When section.
We want only tasks with the deadline tomorrow, so set Filter Deadline is tomorrow.
In Then section select Notify Assignees action.
Write notification text, like Deadline for Task {{Name}} is tomorrow. Note that you can use Markdown Templates and access database fields in messages. Here we access Task Name field.
Click Save Rule.
Set Deadline to tomorrow for some tasks and assign them to yourself, get back here and click Run Now. You should receive in-app notification
🦾 Action buttons
Buttons are somewhat like rules, but you invoke them when you want. Let's create an action to send emails to accounts.
Navigate to CRM space and click Automations.
Click + Add Button.
Type 📧 Send Email in Name field
Select Send Email action in Then section.
Type {{Email}} in To field, this is the name of a field where we store emails in Account database.
Click … near Subject field and select Ask user option. Thus we will type subject manually for every email.
Do the same for Message field.
It's time to Send some emails. Make sure that Email field is not empty.
Select several accounts and click Actions, select Send Email action.
First time you will have to connect new Gmail or SMTP account.
Fill Subject and Message fields (remember we set them to Ask user) and click Run.
🎁 Integrations
Integration templates are quite powerful. You can sync external data into Fibery. For example, you can create a list of countries by yourself, but we have World connector that fetches the data from a proven external source!
We want to link every account to a Country. Let's do that.
Navigate to CRM space and click Integrate link.
Find World template:
Click World and, make sure that all three databases are selected (Region, Sub-Region, Country) and click Sync.
As a result, three databases will be created and filled with data.
Connect Country to Account
Now we need to create a relation between Account and Country databases.
Click Account database and click Relations.
Click + above Account and select Country Database.
Click Link button.
Now you can go and select countries for all accounts.
Invite people and give them access to Space
It seems we are ready to invite other people to our workspace.
Navigate to left top menu and select Manage Users option (Admins only)
You can also find People space and there with plus icon add new users
Click Invite People button in the top right corner.
Type a user's email in every line, select user role, and click Invite People button.
Invited users will receive email notifications with the invitation link and will be able to login into Fibery.
Give access to Spaces
By default new users will not have access to Spaces. You have to set it.
Click Space name and click Share in the top right.
Change No Access to some other access level, like Editors.
Read more about Sharing & Permissions in Fibery.
😅 P.S. As promised, this tutorial was long and deep. If you followed all steps, you learned all the important Fibery building blocks and should have ideas about how to get value from Fibery for your own processes.
🎙 If you want to chat with a live person, book a demo at https://fibery.io website.
🧭 Browse the tutorial workspace
