1 October: Improved diff view, synced blocks and more

We’re adding reusable content to GitBook, along with a better way to view edits in a change request, improved change request previews, and more.

✨ New and noteworthy

Synced blocks

We’re slowly rolling out a new way for you to create and reuse blocks across all your content in GitBook — synced blocks.

Create a synced block by selecting and copying it, then add it to other pages from the insert menu. When you update it one place, those changes sync across all instances, making it easy to update published and internal docs faster than ever.

You can view, edit and manage all your synced blocks from a new section at the top of the sidebar.

Synced blocks will be available to everyone on a Pro and Enterprise plan soon.

Better diff view

This update brings an improved diff view, with a new option to only show edited pages in the table of contents. So if you prefer, you can easily browse changes without scrolling past other pages with no edits.

We’ve also changed the design of diff view to be more in line with other tools that use diffs. Modified blocks are now highlighted with a colored line, and text is highlighted using a background color rather than a text color to make edits clearer.

Finally, you can now add comments to individual blocks when viewing content with diff view enabled. This should make it easier to review content and add feedback without switching between view modes.

Insert integrations faster

We’ve updated the insert pallet to include installed integrations for the space you’re editing. Now, when you hit / on an empty line, you can scroll or search through the palette and see block integrations that are already installed on the space, making it easier than ever to add them to your content.

Improved

• We’ve improved content previews when you edit published content in a change request. Firstly, it’s more consistent — so after a change, if you reopen the same preview URL it should show the latest content. Plus, we’ve improved the preview toolbar, with more controls and extra detail about the change request you’re viewing.

• You’ll notice a more prominent Help button in the sidebar, so it’s easier to view our docs, get support, or find other resources. We’ve also hidden the Trash button when the trash is empty, to save space in the sidebar.

• We’ve made it easier to customize your docs sites by adding a Customize button right on top of the site preview when you view the site’s overview page.

• We’ve also removed Snippets from the sidebar for orgs that weren’t using them, to make more space for the new Synced blocks section as we roll the feature out to more users.

Fixed

• Fixed an issue where some organizations on legacy business plans were losing access to site features.

• Fixed a crash that could occur when using diff view when viewing the version history of a space with deleted pages.

• Fixed some major performance issues for spaces with large amounts of content.

• Fixed a bug that stopped team owners from being able to add or remove team members, or change their team’s roles.

• Fixed a crash that could happen when members with creator permissions opened the Share modal from a space.

• Fixed a bug that meant moving a task list item to anywhere else in the doc turned the list into an unordered list.

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We’re constantly working on improving the way you and your team work in GitBook, and value your input on features, bugs, and more. Make sure you head to our official GitBook community to join the discussion.