Offline use and the installable app
Next Boards can be installed like an app on a computer or a phone, and it keeps working when the connection drops: you can read the boards you opened recently and carry on editing, and your changes are sent when you are back online.
This is switched off on a new install. A site administrator turns it on under Configuration → Apps → PWA. The site must be served over HTTPS; browsers do not allow installation or offline storage on plain HTTP (except on localhost).
Installing the app
Once PWA is on, an Install app button appears in the header (in More on a phone). Click it and confirm in the browser's own dialog.
| Browser | Result |
|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge (desktop and Android) | Next Boards opens in its own window, with its own icon in the taskbar, dock or home screen. |
| Safari on iPhone and iPad | Use the browser's Share → Add to Home Screen. |
| Firefox on desktop | Has no install; offline use still works in a normal tab. |
Installing changes nothing about your account or your data. It is the same site in its own window.
Working offline
When the connection drops, a banner says so: You are offline. Showing cached data. Changes are queued and will sync when the connection returns.
What you can do while offline:
- Open the boards, cards and pages you visited recently on this device.
- Edit cards, move them, tick them done, comment, add checklist items, and most other everyday changes.
What needs a connection:
- Opening a board you have not opened on this device before.
- Opening or uploading attachments.
- Actions that would be unsafe to repeat if they were sent twice: duplicating or importing a board, creating a board from a template, copying or mirroring a card, creating a card from a template, bulk changes in the List view, copying a stage, and converting a checklist item to a card.
How changes are synced
Changes made offline are stored on the device, in the browser's own storage, and survive closing the tab or restarting the browser.
The sync indicator in the header shows the state:
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| n change(s) waiting to sync | You are offline; the changes are stored. |
| Syncing changes... | You are back online and they are being sent, in the order you made them. |
| All changes synced | Everything reached the server. |
| Some changes failed to sync. Tap to retry. | The server refused something, for example because the card was deleted meanwhile. Tap to try again. |
A change the server refuses is kept and shown to you. It is never dropped silently.
Shared computers
Stored board data and waiting changes belong to the person who was signed in. When someone else signs in on the same browser, the previous person's stored data is cleared before the app starts, and changes that were waiting are only ever sent under the account that made them.
On a shared or public computer, sign out when you are done, as on any website.
Updates
When a new version of Next Boards has been installed on the site, the app shows A new version of Next Boards is ready with a Reload now button. Reloading takes a second and loses nothing that was already saved.
Switching it off
With the PWA app switched off again, the app can no longer be installed and offline storage stops on the next page load. Already installed copies keep opening the site, as a normal online page.