New in Basecamp: References

Conversations happen everywhere in Basecamp. Questions get answered and decisions are made in pings, messages, comments on to-dos, and everywhere in between. That means sometimes similar things are discussed in different places.

Wouldn’t it be helpful if related conversations were automatically connected for easy reference? We think so.

That’s why today we’re introducing References.

Now in Basecamp, linking to a message, to-do, card, event, document, or file automatically creates a Reference, instantly tying related things together. You can see where else something was discussed, so you have the full context no matter where the conversation happened.

For example, let’s say someone pitches an idea for a new approach to your company meet-ups. Later, after the meet-up is over, someone else posts about how well it went and references the original message. Basecamp will automatically add a Reference, so you can follow the thread from the idea to the result.

Or, maybe you link to a to-do in your daily check-in. When someone visits the to-do, they’ll see that it was also referenced in your check-in, along with anywhere else it was mentioned.

References work within a project, across projects, and in chat and pings, too. Plus, it’s all automatic.

You'll find References in a separate tab alongside comments. Of course, you only see References from projects and conversations that you can access.

Basecamp’s always been a library of your company's knowledge. But now the library is linked up and cross-referenced wherever one thing is mentioned somewhere else. It’s like a living bibliography. 

References are live in your account. We're also backfilling References since the start of the year to help you get going.

Watch this short video to see References in action.

We've been using References for a few weeks at 37signals and it's been invaluable. We hope you find them as useful as we have.