Basecamp 4 New Features Overview

Summary

Jason Fried provided an in-depth walkthrough of the new features released in Basecamp 4, now available to all users as of yesterday.
Key product enhancements include a redesign of the home screen, introduction of Cards Table (Kanban), Lineup (timeline view), participation types, and features like Doors, Out of Office, recurring to-dos, and All Access projects.
The session served as an official product update and onboarding guide for current and potential Basecamp users, summarizing both high-level improvements and hands-on demonstrations of new capabilities.

(No specific action items, owners, or deadlines were identified in this product update walkthrough.)

The Basecamp home screen has been completely redesigned for clearer navigation and utility.
Users now have a simplified process for creating projects and inviting new users directly from the home page, with roles clearly differentiated.
Pinned projects remain at the top, followed by recently visited projects (up to 16), a personal schedule, and assignments—all designed as a dashboard for easy access.
A new list view is available for users preferring a non-graphical approach.

Basecamp 4 introduces Cards Table, allowing users to manage workflows visually using a Kanban-style board.
Features include a Triage area for unsorted cards, customizable columns, color options, and drag-and-drop capabilities.
Multiple Cards Tables can be used within a project, offering flexibility for different workflows.

The new Lineup feature provides a timeline view of all projects with start and end dates, enabling high-level progress tracking.
Users can easily adjust project dates to reschedule work.
Provides managers and teams with an at-a-glance overview of ongoing, completed, and upcoming projects.

Users can now be marked as "On" a project (active participant) or "Just Following" (observer).
Those "On" a project receive notifications and are visible in project lists, while "Just Following" participants receive no notifications unless directly mentioned or assigned.

Projects can now include "Doors" to external tools and services (e.g., GitHub, Figma, Google, Dropbox), making Basecamp a unified hub.
Multiple integrations per project are supported, and users can request additional services.

Users can mark themselves as 'Out of Office' with visible status across the platform and specify date ranges.
The system alerts others if they try to mention or assign tasks to someone currently out of office.

A "Don't Forget" section was added to the notification panel, allowing users to earmark important notifications or comments for later action.
Items remain visible until manually cleared, helping users manage follow-ups.

To-dos can now be set to recur (daily, weekly, monthly, custom intervals).
Projects can host multiple instances of the same tool (e.g., several message boards or to-do lists), each of which can be renamed for clarity (e.g., "Heartbeats," "Kickoffs").

Adding people to projects is now handled with a single, streamlined input field.
Batch selection by company is supported for faster onboarding.

Users can link to files on cloud services (e.g., Figma) within project docs and files sections, with Basecamp-specific discussion threads attached to each link.

A new project type, "All Access," allows anyone in the company to join without invitation.
Projects can be toggled between "Invite Only" (default) and "All Access."
All Access projects are indicated with a special tab and can be joined at any time by eligible users.

Release of Basecamp 4 to all users — Basecamp 4 is now officially available with a suite of new features and improvements, aiming to enhance project collaboration and user flexibility.

None identified; attendees are encouraged to visit basecamp.com/new for full feature details or comment with questions.