How do real-time updates work with active filters and sort orders?

When collaborating on shared media and documents in zipBoard, filtering your comment list is a powerful way to focus on specific tasks, such as sorting by date and filtering the user. However, understanding how active filters interact with the green "New Updates" button is crucial to ensuring incoming feedback doesn't seem to disappear after you refresh your view.

During live review sessions or multi-stakeholder calls, collaborators often apply narrow filter parameters to clean up their workspace. This introduces a common point of confusion:

• The Trigger Is Universal: The "New Updates" button fires whenever any activity occurs on the asset (annotation changes, replies, or status updates), regardless of what filters you currently have turned on.
• The View Is Filter-Restricted: When you click the update button, zipBoard pulls the latest activity into your session data. However, if a new comment or reply does not match your active filter criteria, it will remain hidden from your visible list.
• Perceived Missing Feedback: Reviewers frequently wonder why a teammate claims to have added a note when nothing new appears in the panel right after clicking update, usually because an active status or assignee filter is screening it out.

How to Configure Your Filter to See All New Comments and Updates

1. Configure your comment panel to show specific items (such as users, color, and types).
2. Collaborator adds a comment or status change that falls outside your current filter parameters (e.g., they leave a general comment or assign it to someone else).

3. The green "↻ New Updates" button appears above your comment panel because background activity has occurred on the asset.
4. You click the button to load the changes. The data is pulled in successfully, but the new comment does not appear in your list because your active filter is hiding it.
5. To see the item, you must clear or adjust your filter parameters to match the incoming feedback.

Real-World Use Cases

1. AEC Design Coordination & Triage

An engineering team is reviewing a multi-page CAD blueprint. To keep their screens clean, the lead engineer filters the comment panel to show only Open items assigned to the structural department.

• Why it matters: While an electrical contractor adds a note regarding a conduit clash, the structural lead sees the "New Updates" button and clicks it. Because the electrical note doesn't match the structural filter, it remains hidden. Knowing how filters work prevents the lead from assuming the update button malfunctioned.

2. Technical Writing & Sprint Reviews

A technical writer filters documentation review threads by Unresolved status during a frantic release sprint.

• Why it matters: If a subject matter expert marks an item as Resolved, clicking update will pull in that status change, causing the thread to vanish from the writer's filtered active list. Understanding this behavior clarifies why resolved items instantly leave the triage queue.

Best Practices for Live Sessions

• Keep filters loose during live calls: When participating in real-time coordination meetings or workshops, set your comment filter to "All Comments" or clear active sort orders. This ensures that every incoming annotation or reply is immediately visible the moment you click "New Updates".
• Use filters for post-meeting triage: Rely on granular filters and custom sort orders after the live review session concludes, when you are systematically working through assigned action items or reviewing specific categories of feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

If I have a filter active, will the "New Updates" button still appear when a teammate adds a comment?

Yes. The "New Updates" button tracks all asset-level activity. It will appear regardless of whether your comment panel is filtered or unfiltered.

Why did I click the update button, but nothing new showed up in my comment list?

This happens when the incoming comment or status change does not match your current filter or sort criteria (for example, if you are filtering by a specific assignee or status). Try resetting your filter view to "All" to reveal the newly synced items.

Do filters affect guest reviewers and external clients the same way?

Yes. External clients and guest reviewers are subject to the same filter rules. If a client applies a custom filter, incoming updates that fall outside those parameters will remain hidden until the filter is adjusted.

Learn More about Real-Time Sync

1. Does zipBoard show real-time updates on comments? - zipBoard Help
2. What is the Best Way to Run Real Time Reviews with External Clients? - zipBoard Help
3. What to do if comments aren't updating live? - zipBoard Help
4. Do external clients need an account to collaborate in real-time? - zipBoard Help
5. What happens if an annotation is edited or deleted while I'm replying? - zipBoard Help
6. How does the New Updates button differ from the zipBoard email notification? - zipBoard Help