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How to unlock everything on a board?


Userlevel 2

We have a huge board that we’re using for workshops, where all elements are locked individually. It would take hours to unlock every element, which we need to do when we’re now translating the course to english.

 

Is there a way to unlock every element of a board at once, if they’re all locked individually?

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Best answer by Kate Ivanova 22 October 2020, 17:12

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Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@Andreas Gorm Tungland -

I’m not aware of any way to do this - while locking can be done on multiple objects at once, unlocking is done on a one-by-one basis. I’d recommend adding a wish list post for this - I’d definitely vote for it!

Kiron

Userlevel 1

Yep - I hit this one today - wanting to copy a template from one team to another - but losing lots, cos items are locked.  Manually going through and unlocking every single element is super time consuming!

Would be a great feature enhancement.

Thanks!

Userlevel 7
Badge +5

+1     Been even thinking about building a hacky app to accomplish this.  

UI Suggestion:

In other tools like OmniGraffle (one of the better diagramming UIs) … you can lasso select all items within the lasso- locked and unlocked alike.  All items get bounding boxes, but the locked items get a bounding box of a different color.  If you drag those items to a new place, or scale, or whatever… the locked items do not respond.  However, if you select ‘lock/unlock’ you first lock all then unlock all (  I recall ..). This means that you can accomplish what this post asks for with: ctrl + A ,  ctrl + L(x2).  

 

What this ends up leading to is … the other system (which I believe and hope Miro is working on) that minimizes the need for locking and unlocking so many objects is layers (which lock as layers).   This lets you separate the ‘background’, ‘board templates’ from their ‘contents’ any group ‘collab pads’, ‘annotations and highlights’ etc.. into different layers and lock and unlock them at will. I mean.. this is basically illustrator. Layers are key, esp for advanced users and can confound new users.. keep it simple. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Brilliant, @Max Harper! I was going to submit a Wish List Idea myself for quick unlocking all of locked objects, however, with this shortcut, do you even think there is a use case for such a feature?

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Unless

  • there is an option selected in the mix; and
  • the lock action does not appear on a context menu; and
  • Ctrl + A and Ctrl + L cannot be used (or the user is using a client/device with no Ctrl input option.

Thoughts?

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

After a quick test of putting a number of objects on the board to lock them, I think I found a bug, but probably also confirmed that there may in fact be a use case for a “unlock all” feature. It seems I can lock/unlock both a User Story Map and a sticky note, but apparently not at the same time. I guess a User Story Map is referred to a widget:

 

@Max Harper / @Kiron Bondale - you either of you have experience in submitting bugs to Miro? If so, where/how have you done this in the past? The support form as a “Problem”?

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

@Robert Johnson -

Marina has opened bugs on my behalf before but I think the support form approach is the official method.

Kiron

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@Andreas Gorm Tungland - there is a Wish List Idea posted for the functionality you are describing. I suggest adding your vote and any comments if it is not exactly what you are looking for: https://community.miro.com/wish-list-32/wish-list-multiple-unlock-1136

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

+1     Been even thinking about building a hacky app to accomplish this.  

UI Suggestion:

In other tools like OmniGraffle (one of the better diagramming UIs) … you can lasso select all items within the lasso- locked and unlocked alike.  All items get bounding boxes, but the locked items get a bounding box of a different color.  If you drag those items to a new place, or scale, or whatever… the locked items do not respond.  However, if you select ‘lock/unlock’ you first lock all then unlock all (  I recall ..). This means that you can accomplish what this post asks for with: ctrl + A ,  ctrl + L(x2).  

 

What this ends up leading to is … the other system (which I believe and hope Miro is working on) that minimizes the need for locking and unlocking so many objects is layers (which lock as layers).   This lets you separate the ‘background’, ‘board templates’ from their ‘contents’ any group ‘collab pads’, ‘annotations and highlights’ etc.. into different layers and lock and unlock them at will. I mean.. this is basically illustrator. Layers are key, esp for advanced users and can confound new users.. keep it simple. 

Strange. I thought I tried this [ctrl + A ,  ctrl + L(x2)]  and it worked, however, right now when I tried to either Shift + drag or Ctrl + A, locked objects are not being selected - I friggin’ swear it was! haha. Oh well.

 

Just noting that I’ve just found that, when duplicating a frame all the duped objects within the new frame are unlocked regardless of whether they were locked in the original.

Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@Dan Hopewell - We can’t say for sure if that is a defect, bug, or missed requirement, but I say it is unexpected behavior. However, even though this would allow the duplication of a locked object, the new object is just that: new and not the original. I just tested browsing a board as a Guest Editor and put a frame around a locked sticky and when I delete the frame, the sticky remains. Even though as a Guest Editor I can’t copy a locked stick on its own and can then put a frame around it and copy-and-paste and have an unlocked copy, I guess there’s no harm if the original is intact.

I could see this becoming an issue, though, if Miro adds additional restrictions on locked objects, e.g., you can’t download the object, but then the user creates a duplicate using the frame → copy method.

On a side note, I just tested putting a frame around a hidden frame and a copy and paste of the new frame does not duplicate the hidden frame (so that’s good). I believe that any locked object should not be able to be duplicated using the workaround you have found.

I think this should be noted to Miro support to submit to submit for review. @Dan Hopewell - 

I’ll gladly report it unless you want to?

@Robert Johnson For my immediate use case it was actually beneficial behavior.

(I was looking to copy several existing shapes and text blocks from one frame and convert them to sticky notes in a new frame. Most of the shapes in the original frame were locked, making the selection of them for duplication and conversion laborious on its own terms. Copying the frame, though, wound up making easy work of it. And I was already looking to work on copies, rather than the original.)

This behavior seems like could also be a workaround for @Donna Benjamin’s use case, too (selecting objects to copy them between teams). I’m not working between multiple teams so can’t say for sure, but duping a frame first seems like it should allow you to select everything, including anything that was locked in the original.

Userlevel 4

Hey there!

I am happy to announce that from now on you can unlock all elements on the board with just one click

There are 2 ways how to do that:

 

  1. You can go to the dropdown menu of the Locked element https://gyazo.com/d23d59c17cedf6ae12498adb274b8c34
  2. Right-click on Canvas and choose the option in the dropdown menu https://gyazo.com/55967d7676bc3bb126af92f08fb8a99e
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

@Kate Ivanova / @Jonathan White 

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +6

That’s awesome @Kate Ivanova - that’ll save me lots of time when I’m copying and pasting objects from one board to another!

Kiron

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

I am so stoked @Kate Ivanova, thanks for the update!!!

I would like to suggest two improvements to the UI of this type of function:

  1. Adding a Re-lock (or ‘Reset Previously Locked’) button, that might behave like this: 
    1. The function needs to know all the objects that were previously affected by the ‘Unlock All’.
    2. After launching the command, the bounding boxes of all the items going to be locked again will be highlighted.
      1. This will allow to exclude the ones not wanted to be affected by the ‘Re-lock’ through a selection, or individual pick. 
        1. In the process of selection, the already ‘free-to-move’ objects will not be affected.
          Only the items that are going to be locked again will be involved, saving our nerves from picking the wrong object in a cluttered space.
      2. In this phase, the map in the left corner pops-up highlighting the box of the items that are going to be locked in a different colour.
        1.  This is to avoid the need for zooming-out, conveying a general idea of what is going on before deciding to modify it.  
    3. Finally, a lock-shaped icon is pressed at the top of the screen to validate the action of re-locking the intended objects. 

It would be especially useful when there is a need to move things around while keeping the structure created between the objects when needed.

 At the moment, you solved the problem of painstakingly selecting every item we wanted to unlock before moving things around.

Yet, you left the need to do so to put the structure designed back together.

  1.  Sorry for repeating, but, after all, I think the suggestion of @Max Harper to copy OmniGraffle is valid.
    1.  I would not go into the ‘Layers’ rabbit-hole, because once you start with it you only want more and it actually creates an extra step that the user would get distracted managing, which is far from the ‘Get-Go’ philosophy of Miro.
    2. The OmniGraffle way does not need you to unlock everything, but only what you have selected (which, anyway, can be ‘all’).
      1. This proves useful in case I bring a group of things over a space with a mix of objects.
      2. Adding a ‘Re-lock’ function linked to the unlocked selection would still be a good idea, for the same reasons above mentioned. (and It would also need to memorize fewer items)

Userlevel 2

I can’t get it to Unlock at all :(

I tried Kate’s version and it didnt work!
WHY am i so lame!?

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