Beta features
Section titled “Beta features”Some new SyRF features are tried out as betas before everyone gets them. You choose whether to use a beta, and you can leave any beta at any time. Your work is never lost when you leave.
Beta features appears under My Account only while at least one beta is open to you. If you don’t see it, there is nothing for you to join yet.
The three lists
Section titled “The three lists”- Using now: betas that are on for you.
- You’re in means you joined it.
- Turned on for you means SyRF turned it on for you as part of a gradual rollout.
- Stopped means it has been stopped for everyone while a problem is fixed. You stay signed up, and it comes back on for you when it resumes.
- Open to join: betas that stay off until you join. A beta you left is listed here too, as You left, with Rejoin.
- Coming soon: betas that are opening to more people in stages and haven’t reached you yet. You can join, or it turns on for you, once it reaches you. Nothing you do changes when that is.
Use the search box to find a beta by name, and the All, Using now, Open to join and Coming soon filters to show one list at a time.
Joining and leaving
Section titled “Joining and leaving”- Choose Join (or Rejoin) to turn a beta on for yourself. If the beta hasn’t reached you yet, nothing changes and the page says so.
- Choose Leave this beta to turn it off for yourself. It stays off, even as the beta opens to more people, until you rejoin or the feature moves from beta testing to generally available. Once a feature is generally available it is no longer a beta, so it is on for everyone it is released to, including people who left it.
SyRF saves one choice at a time: while a choice is being saved, Join and Leave are turned off on every beta, and come back on as soon as it is done.
After each choice the page checks with SyRF and shows the result, so what you see is what is really in effect.
“New to you” marks a beta whose announcement you haven’t seen yet. If the beta has a What’s New entry, it is shown under the beta; opening it marks it as seen, and Hide removes it for you.
Betas for a whole project
Section titled “Betas for a whole project”Some betas change how a whole project works, so everyone in the project sees the same thing. For these, the project’s administrator decides: they are listed under Beta features in the project’s Settings → General page, which only administrators see. If you’d like your project to try one, ask the project’s administrator.
Because the choice affects everyone in the project, SyRF asks the administrator to confirm each Join, Rejoin or Leave first. The confirmation explains that the change applies to the whole project and may change how the project behaves for its members. Choose Cancel to change nothing.
When someone is helping you through support
Section titled “When someone is helping you through support”If SyRF support staff are using your account to help you (support impersonation), they can join or leave one of your betas on your behalf. The page shows them a warning, and each button names you, for example Join (on behalf of Sam Smith). SyRF records that the choice was made for you during impersonation, and which member of staff made it. You can change it again yourself at any time.
While support staff are only viewing your account (read-only), Join and Leave are turned off. Betas for a whole project can’t be changed through support impersonation at all.