ThingLink updates & announcements

This article contains a short description for each new update or announcement for ThingLink. Check out the links to learn more!

 Note that bug fixes & minor non-editor changes are not listed here.

Updates & Announcements

Minor editor update: Grid feature

August 10th, 2022.

The new grid feature allows you to place tags precisely in line with others. The grid will appear when you click & drag a tag icon.

New editor feature: Info Panel

July 11tth, 2022.

You can now add in instructions, explanations or just a little initial information for your viewers with the new optional ThingLink Information Panel. It is a small window of text, with web or social media links, which automatically appears when a viewer opens a scene or clicks on the Information icon thereafter. Learn more here!

Editor update: New text formatting options

June 28th, 2022.

We've expanded the number of text formatting options and made them easier to use! You can now use italic, bold, inline links, ordered lists (1, 2, 3, ...) and unordered lists (bullet points). Learn more here!

Editor update: Mobile responsiveness and icon scaling

June 23rd, 2022.

ThingLink icons now scale to your content - meaning better legibility and accessibility on smaller screens. Learn more here.

Editor update: Simplified scene translations

March 25th, 2022.

You can now upload translations for any ThingLink scene you create instead of creating multiple versions of each scene. See this article for more information.

New feature: Accessibility player

March 24th, 2022.

All images and 360° images can be opened in accessibility player - a new special viewing mode that was designed to improve the accessibility of all ThingLink content. You can get a link to the accessibility player by opening the Share menu and checking the 'Include web accessibility link' box. See this post for more information.

ThingLink's WCAG 2.1 accessibility statement can be found here.

New feature: Organizational statistics

March 1st, 2022.

The organizational statistics page provides main insights into how your organization (be it a content team or a school) is using ThingLink. Learn more here.

New feature: Archiving

January 27th, 2022.

Whenever you are about to delete a user account, you'll see an option to transfer their content to a different user in your organization. This update is aimed to help organizations that rotate their staff but need to preserve all content. Learn more here.

New feature: embed ThingLinks in PowerPoint

January 26th, 2022.

You can now embed ThingLinks in Microsoft PowerPoint presentations using ThingLink Add-In. Please see this article for more details!

New feature: Trash bin

January 20th, 2022.

Any file, folder, or user you remove from your account will be moved to a trash bin. This is done to reduce the number of accidental deletions and give you a chance to recover deleted content.  Learn more here.

Editor update: Tag anchors & Unsplash integration update

This update adds two new features to the editor:

• You can now add an anchor - a simple line connecting your icon with any other point of the image. This can be useful if the icon would otherwise obstruct an important part of the background image. You can learn more about this feature here.
• You can now add images to text & media tags via Unsplash instead of uploading them from your device.

Major update: ThingLink introduces Scenario Editor

November 2nd, 2021

ThingLink’s new Scenario Builder offers a radically simple interface for building linear or non-linear immersive online experiences using interactive visual elements; images, videos, 360 media, 3D models as well as “options” that introduces the viewer a choice or a question that they need to respond to continue their journey.

Check out this post to learn more.

Editor update: New icon designs and tag layouts

October 20th, 2021

This update adds more than 1000 new icon designs & color variations as well as 10 new layouts for text & media tags. You can learn more about new layouts here.

Minor update: In-editor zoom

September 28th, 2021

This minor update adds a new button that lets you fit the image to screen width in editor mode. This essentially allows you to zoom in when editing 'tall' infographics and photos.

Poll tag & ability to export your user list

September 20th, 2021

This update adds two minor features:

• Poll tags are a new tag type that allows you to collect anonymous feedback or viewers' opinions using single-choice questions. See this article for more information.
• Organization & school admins can now export the list of all users connected to their ThingLink license via Organization > Users > Export users.

Mobile app rework

September 2021

The September 2021 update for ThingLink mobile apps aims to make sure that you get the full ThingLink experience no matter what device you are using. Please see this article for an FAQ and more information.

Major update: you can now annotate 3D models with ThingLink

July 22nd, 2021

We are proud to present a brand new editor that allows you to tag 3D models. Please see this post for use cases and more information.

New integration: Create & modify your ThingLink designs via Canva

April 13th, 2021

ThingLink's newest integration with Canva allows you to create the base images for your interactive content without leaving ThingLink. Learn more here.

New integration: use Unsplash images with ThingLink

February 25th, 2021

We've partnered with image library Unsplash to give you instant easy access to over a million searchable, free images for use in all your ThingLinks. See this page for more details.

New feature: 360° image library

February 9th, 2021

ThingLink’s 360 Image Library is a curated collection of professional 360 images from culturally relevant natural and historic sites. You can use the images to build immersive learning experiences and to travel virtually across the world. See this page for more details.

Major update: new user interface

January 2021

ThingLink is happy to present the new interface version called Saimaa. The update aims to make the interface easier to navigate & brings a number of functional improvements. Please see this article for an FAQ and more information.

Tour tag update: conditional transitions

November 17th, 2020

We've released an update that allows you to add simple questions to your tour tags. The viewer has to answer the question before they can proceed. See this article for more information.

Video controls update

October 27th, 2020

All videos uploaded into text & media tags now support video controls - see this post for more info.

Minor updates to tour navigation menu

July 21st, 2020

• You can now search for specific scenes in the tour navigation menu
• Added a 'Home' button that takes the viewer to the first scene in the tour

Tour tag & LTI updates

June 11th, 2020

• The tour tag now shows a preview of the destination scene and allows you to add a short text label
• The LTI app is now shown in the left-hand navigation menu in Canvas and other LMSes

Improvements to Microsoft SSO for Schools & eLearning organizations

May 27th, 2020

Microsoft/Azure SSO integration now uses GraphAPI to automatically detect user roles, allowing you to sign up news users with a single click. See here for more information.

VR updates

May 25th, 2020

• You can now scroll through long texts in text & media tags
• You can now scroll through multiple images in text & media tags
• Bug fixes

See this article for most up-to-date information on our VR mode!

Minor VR updates

March 31st, 2020

• Added support for videos uploaded into text & media tags
• Changed the player menu - added 'Exit VR' button and 'Back' button for tours

ThingLink editor is now available in French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic

March 5th, 2020

The editor interface now comes in several languages - see here for more details. We plan to translate the whole interface in the future.

Minor update - custom thumbnails for videos & 360 videos

February 10th, 2020

You can now upload a custom thumbnail for videos and 360 videos.

G Suite integration for simplified user registration

December 18th, 2019

If you have a School account and use G Suite, you can now enable a special integration that will automatically add any new users from your G Suite tenant to your ThingLink School account. Check out the link above for more details!

Shared folders rework

October 31st, 2019

Folders & Shared folders are now available for all account types. In addition to that, certain plans allow you to share a folder with select users rather than the whole organization - check out the articles below for details

• Folders for Classroom Learning (teacher, student and school) accounts
• Folders for Marketing & Editorial and eLearning accounts

This update also enables collaborative editing for all paid educational accounts.

Voice recording & offline viewing for desktop

October 10th, 2019

• You can now record your voice directly into the text & media tags. Use this to narrate your experience - or let the students use their voice!
• Certain plans allow you to download & view ThingLinks offline on your desktop - see this article for more details.

ThingLinks become interactive on Twitter

October 8th, 2019

ThingLinks will stay interactive then you post them to Twitter! Simply paste the share URL into your tweet or check out this article to learn more.

Minor updates - LTI for all School account & autorotation for 360 media

September 26th, 2019

• All Schools can use the LTI integration (previously in beta)
• 360 images & videos rotate to prompt the viewer to look around

Minor updates - upload videos directly into text & media tags

September 11th, 2019

• You can upload videos from your hard drive directly into the text & media tags, just like you'd upload images

Minor updates - improved scene selector for tours & changes to default scene names

August 28th, 2019

• All image titles now default to the file name instead of 'My Interactive Image'
• We've improved scene selector UI for users with shared folders

Minor updates - tag animation & custom icons for all

August 26th, 2019

• Custom icons are now available to all users
• You can enable pulsing tag animation for all tags in a scene

Collaborative editing - early release for eLearning Professional & Business Premium Teams

August 21st, 2019

We've rolled out an early test of collaborative editing for all content from shared folders, available to all paid eLearning users and as well as Marketing & Editorial Premium Team subscribers.  Now you can simultaneously edit any media with your colleagues. Read more & see a simple example by clicking the header link.

Embed.ly integration

August, 12th 2019

Since August 2019 ThingLink is one of Embed.ly providers. This means that you can now embed ThingLink content into websites that use Embed.ly, such as Medium and others.

Keyboard accessibility update

July, 24th 2019

On July, 24th 2019 we've added basic keyboards accessibility for viewing content created in our new editor. The update is available for all content, including 360° images & videos. Click the link above for a short description of controls.

ThingLink 2019: A complete visual content creation solution for schools and workplaces

June 27, 2019

The post contains an overview of all major changes & updates received by ThingLink's products in the first 7 months of 2019 as well as a few examples of their implementation.ThingLink Announces Major Accessibility Update With Immersive Reader Integration

June 20, 2019

ThingLink has integrated Microsoft's Immersive Reader, which means all text descriptions, lessons, virtual tours, infographics, and videos created with ThingLink’s new editor now come with an integrated reading tool and automatic language translation capability.

7 Feature Updates to ThingLink Editor

June 20, 2019

The article contains an overview of recent changes to all ThingLink editors, including new & updated tag types, a radar feature for 360 content & more! 

Introducing narrated VR images with sequential hotspots

April 25, 2019

'...The solution we came up with lets anyone record their introduction to a topic and save it in the background of a virtual tour. This also includes being able to define a sequence for informational hotspots that matches with the narration and guides viewers’ attention during a tour.'
See the full article for a how-to video, an inspiring example and more information.