Guide

Why we decided to improve Link-to-Entity and turn it into Highlight?

Fibery has Entity mentions and bi-directional links which are ad-hoc connections that work for all database entities in Fibery.

There are two ways of creating a bi-directional link

Create a Mention, or
Select text and use the Link-to-Entity feature

Both result in a backlink, which can be found in the Reference section of the Entity that was linked to.

These bi-directional links work well in many scenarios, but some limitations exist.

References are not easily accessible

The Reference database is not accessible like other Fibery databases are.
This means you cannot easily analyse/query data within references. For example, you cannot easily create a formula to extract properties from entities connected via Link-to-Entity or Mention.

References do not support attributes

Attributes cannot be added to bidirectional links. This means you cannot determine whether a link between a Conversation and a Feature expresses a positive or negative sentiment.

Seeing these limitations, we upgraded the Link-to-Entity functionality while keeping the Mentions the same as today.

https://demo.arcade.software/TZleai2cyafFsTcL9wre?embed&show_copy_link=true

You can find more information in the Highlights user guide.

Options for Existing Workspaces

It is not possible to utilise both Link-to-entity and Highlights functionality in the same workspace, so you need to decide if you want to upgrade.

Upgrading to Highlights is not mandatory for existing workspaces. All the new workspaces have only the Highlights option.
If you choose to upgrade, it is important to understand the consequences since the upgrade from Link-to-entity functionality to Highlights is NOT reversible.

Advantages

Highlights are stored in an accessible database and can be used in normal Fibery Views .
Highlights can have attributes, formulas, and rules similar to any other database in Fibery.

Limitations

Highlights can only be created from selected types of entities (a.k.a. source databases) as determined by the Highlight settings.
Highlights can only point to selected types of entities (a.k.a target databases) as determined by the Highlight settings.

Note: You are limited to choosing up to 6 databases as Highlight sources and 6 databases as Highlight targets

Highlights can, therefore, not be used to link to/from Documents or Views

Considering the advantages and limitations, you can decide whether to move to Highlights based on your Reference usage.

Remember, you can continue to use Mentions even if you upgrade to Highlights.

If you are unsure, don't hesitate to contact Support through Intercom — we can help you to figure it out together.

Upgrading

Once the Highlight database is created, the Link-to-entity feature is changed to Highlight creation, and there is no way back.

The Highlights configuration is found under Settings. Here, you can define the possible sources and targets.

Once the Highlight database is created, the following things change in the workspace:

Link-to-Entity Feature: the Link-to-Entity feature will no longer be available and will be replaced by the Highlights feature.
Highlights Feature: the Create Highlight option will only be enabled if the entity is in a database set as a source in the Highlights settings. It will only be possible to link to entities in one of the target databases.
Documents: Only the Mention feature can be used in Documents; the Link-to-Entity will be disabled and cannot be re-enabled. The existing References in the Document are still available and can be deleted, but new ones cannot be created.
References: non-migrated Link-to-Entitty references will remain visible. They can be found in the Reference section of the Entity view, but new Link-to-Entity references cannot be created.
Mentions: Mentions can still be used in databases, entities, and documents. There are no restrictions, and they can be found in the reference section of the referenced entity's view.

Migration

After the Highlights database is created and the source and targets are set, the system begins to find references that can be migrated. Only those references that match the source and target settings in the Highlights database can be migrated.

In the following example, the Reference Migration Tool found 279 references between Feedback and Feature or Product Line or between Slack and Feature or Product Line.

Once you start the migration, you cannot convert back the Highlights to References. Please consider this carefully before starting, or seek help from support if needed.

Clicking the "Migrate" button initiates the migration, and you can track its progress through a counter. The entire process runs asynchronously, so you can leave the settings page if you don't want to wait for it to finish. It could take a long time when you have a huge amount of References.

Once the migration is complete, you will see a notification message that you need to close in order to access the Highlight settings again.

You do not have to migrate existing References; you can start using Highlights without any migration. In that case, existing References will continue to be available in the Reference section of the Entity view.