New in Basecamp: Collaborate seamlessly with All-access projects

Today, we've made working with people on projects much easier. We call it All-access projects. 

While working on a project, you often post links to it in other places. Maybe you're linking to a message in a weekly check-in, sharing a doc in your company-wide Campfire, or pinging someone to review a to-do list.  

Your co-workers eagerly click the link and... hit a dead end. They aren't on the project yet, so they're left to wonder if they're supposed to have access and even who to ask. It's a frustrating, multi-step process that slows down collaboration.

Now, when you create a project, you choose between Invite-only and All-access. Invite-only is how projects have always worked and remains the default. Invite-only projects are only visible to you and people on the project and someone has to be invited to join. They're perfect when a limited number of people need access.

A lot of day-to-day projects, though, are meant to be open to anyone who is interested. With All-access projects, anyone in your Basecamp account (except clients) can see and join the projects. Someone posts a link to a message in another project that you want to read? Just click the link to read the message and start following the project. It's that simple.

When you want to add people to All-access projects, you don't have to interrupt your flow and send an invite. Just @mention them wherever you are—while adding a comment or Campfire, scheduling an event, or assigning to-dos. They'll be added to the project and can immediately join the conversation. Imagine creating a project and just @mentioning 5 people in a kickoff message to get going. It's quick and frictionless.  

Joining from the directory
We're also making it easier to join projects you're not a part of yet. Now, you'll see a new filter on the A-Z directory for All-access projects. Click the row or the "Join" button and you're in.

Once a project is All-access, you'll see a new badge in the upper left. This makes it clear what you post on the project could be viewed more widely. Hovering over the tab shows a short explanation. 

Also, only the person who creates a project or an admin can change a project's permissions after it's created.  

Finally, all existing projects are set to Invite-only.

Heads up: Opt-in links are being retired in November

Opt-in links were a somewhat obscure way to share a special URL with others so they can join a project. With All-access projects, that's no longer needed. Just send a link to the project or better, @mention the person in the project, and they're in. So, we're going to retire opt-in links.

Some of you may have links that are currently being used, so we'll keep everything in place through October to give you time to transition to All-access projects where needed.

We hope All-access projects make collaborating seamless for you and your team. 

All the best, and thanks again for using Basecamp!