What's new in Handyout
Weekly shipping log — features, fixes, and improvements to interactive handouts. New entries most weeks.
Improved privacy masking and clearer onboarding and availability messaging
Viewer names, comment text, and feedback comments are now masked from session-recording tools to better protect audience privacy. The onboarding completion screen and presentation detail page also show clearer, more accurate status messages.
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Get the latest updates and improvements to our platform.
Improved privacy masking and clearer onboarding and availability messaging
Viewer names, comment text, and feedback comments are now masked from session-recording tools to better protect audience privacy. The onboarding completion screen and presentation detail page also show clearer, more accurate status messages.
Expanded email notification preferences and upload progress indicator
You can now control email notifications for a wider range of events — including new comments, comment replies, reported comments, handyout generation status, expiring public links, and referral credits. The onboarding upload step also now shows an inline progress bar while your presentation is being processed.
Custom logo on QR code cards, smarter publish status, and audience-filtered comments
You can now add your own logo to QR code cards. The presentation detail page and comments feed now reflect publish status more accurately, and the Analytics page pre-loads published handyout data for a faster experience.
Redesigned QR Code Editor with Full Color Palette Support
The QR code editor has been redesigned with a new workspace layout, richer design controls, and the ability to color your QR card using any color from your handyout palette. Visual style previews now show exactly how each dot and card style will look before you apply them.
QR code editor in the workspace layout, with palette colors
The QR code editor now works like the handyout editor and analytics: design options on the left, a live stage preview in the middle, and sharing and downloads on the right. QR cards can take any color from your handyout's palette.
What's included:
- Dot styles and card styles as tiles with a live preview of each option
- Card color picks from your primary color and the five palette colors, like module accents in the editor
- Dots switch between black and white on their own so the code stays scannable
- Publish straight from the QR editor, with the share status always in view
- On smaller screens the options and downloads move below the preview
Images and videos served from our CDN
Images and videos across the website and dashboard now load from cdn.handyout.com with long-term browser caching, so repeat visits reuse files your browser already has.
What's included:
- Every file gets a content-based address, so updated images show up right away
- Pictures and videos come straight from the CDN instead of passing through the web server
Redesigned QR code editor, notification settings, and billing page improvements
The QR code editor has been redesigned with a cleaner layout, more download options, and a live stage preview. A new Notification Settings page lets you control which emails Handyout sends you. The billing page no longer shows a credits waitlist when payments are not yet active.
What's included:
- Settings
Improved onboarding profile setup and removed auto top-up
The onboarding flow now uses cleaner, icon-prefixed inputs for your website and social links, matching the style of the main profile editor. The auto top-up feature has been removed from the billing page.
Cleaner presentation upload experience during onboarding
You can now cancel a presentation upload mid-flight during onboarding, and cancelled or replaced uploads are automatically cleaned up so no stale data is left behind. The onboarding preview also respects your light/dark theme.
More reliable onboarding progress saving
The onboarding flow now saves your progress more reliably as you move between steps, avoids redundant saves when nothing has changed, and clearly shows an inline error message if a save fails so you know to try again.
PDF support for presentation uploads
You can now upload PDF files — including PDFs exported from Keynote or Google Slides — in addition to PowerPoint (.pptx) files when creating a handyout or going through onboarding.
Dark mode support across the dashboard
The dashboard now renders correctly in dark mode. Text, borders, backgrounds, and interactive elements across the Billing, Analytics, Comments, Onboarding, QR editor, Contact, and email-confirmation pages all adapt properly to your system or manually chosen dark theme.
What's included:
- Comments
- Dashboard
Redesigned dashboard home, comments, analytics, and handyouts pages
The dashboard home, comments, analytics, and handyouts pages have been significantly redesigned with improved layouts, richer at-a-glance information, and better interactivity across all screens.
Comment moderation tools and improved editor experience
Presenters can now moderate audience comments directly from the Comments dashboard — view report details, see who liked a comment, and restore hidden comments. The handyout editor also gains a smarter module chat with contextual suggestions and more reliable real-time updates.
Handyout pages now include Key Takeaways and FAQ sections
Handyouts now display Key Takeaways and FAQ sections generated from your presentation. These sections appear in the editor, presentation detail page, comments view, and analytics view.
What's included:
- Handyout Editor
Stay on presentation page after saving or extending a handyout
After saving changes or extending a handyout, you are now taken back to that specific presentation's page instead of the general presentations list.
Clearer empty states on the dashboard
The dashboard now shows helpful guidance when you have not yet created a handyout, and the sidebar no longer displays a Recent Activity panel that was redundant with other parts of the app.
Improved billing history with richer transaction details
The billing history table now shows more descriptive transaction types and displays both credit changes and dollar amounts together in the Amount column.
Improved AI chat, comment reporting, and UI polish across the dashboard
The handyout editor AI chat now shows live tool activity and thinking steps as the agent works. Several pages received UI refinements including an upgraded loading indicator, animated status badges, a stacked activity feed, and a cleaner presentation selector on the Comments page.
Improved comment reporting and editor phone preview
Reporting a comment now opens a single, consistent dialog from the discussion view instead of one per comment. The editor phone preview now shows all slides at once, letting you scroll freely between them without losing context.
What's included:
- Creating a Handyout
Comment reporting, analytics pricing improvements, and checkout success dialog
Audience comments can now be reported directly from the dashboard with a reason selection dialog. The handyout setup flow also received several improvements: analytics tier prices are now fetched live, language selection uses a searchable multi-select, credit costs are shown more clearly in the order summary, and a checkout success dialog appears after completing a purchase.
What's included:
- Comments
Comments page only shows presentations with handyouts
The Comments page now correctly filters out presentations that do not have a handyout, both in the default selection and in the presentation picker dropdown. The phone preview in the slide panel is also displayed at a slightly smaller size for a better fit.
Setup progress bar now visible across more dashboard pages
The setup progress bar now appears consistently on the Handyouts, QR Codes, and Comments pages, making it easier to track your onboarding progress no matter where you are in the dashboard.
What's included:
- Handyouts Library
- QR Codes Library
- Creating a Handyout
Guided Dashboard Tour and Handyout Setup Improvements
A new interactive guided tour walks you through the dashboard for the first time, highlighting key areas like your presentations, editor, analytics, and QR codes. The handyout creation flow has also been redesigned with a cleaner step-by-step wizard, analytics tier selection, and a better order summary.
What's included:
- Dashboard
- Presentations
Language selection for Handyouts (early preview)
A language search field now appears on the Handyout creation form, letting you find and select the languages you want your handyout delivered in. Support for English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese is being introduced.
Simplified handyout creation form with usage stats
The handyout creation form now displays community usage statistics and has a cleaner layout. The separate description field has been removed to streamline the creation flow.
Safer module drag-and-drop with automatic rollback
Dragging a new module onto a slide now shows a live placeholder immediately and automatically removes it if the AI fails to generate content. Slide navigation in the preview panel also scrolls more reliably with a single gesture.
Handyout creation dialog cannot be dismissed while processing
The confirmation dialog for creating a handyout can no longer be accidentally closed while the creation is in progress. The close button, Escape key, outside clicks, and the Cancel button are all disabled until the operation completes.
Inline "Buy more credits" link when credits are insufficient
When you do not have enough credits to create or extend a handyout, a "Buy more credits" link now appears directly next to the "Missing" credits line, making it faster to act. The previously separate standalone button shown below the summary has been removed.
Real-time streaming responses in the module chat panel
AI responses in the module chat panel now stream in word-by-word as they are generated, so you can read the answer as it arrives instead of waiting for the full response. The "Extend Expiration" button on the presentation overview page now also correctly navigates to the Handyout settings.
Clearer credit prompts and expiry notice when creating or extending a handyout
When creating a handyout, you now see upfront that it will be available for 30 days. When extending a handyout without enough credits, the missing credit count, cost breakdown, and a "Buy more credits" button are shown immediately — no need to dig for that information.
Handyout form improvements: description field, title limit, and smarter date picker
The Handyout creation and edit form now includes a dedicated description field, enforces a 50-character title limit with a live character counter, and no longer pre-selects a date range when extending availability. Recent activity timestamps in the presentations sidebar now display as human-readable relative times (e.g. "2 days ago").
Richer comments panel, improved dashboard analytics, and better handyout management
The Comments page now shows live per-slide metrics (reactions, reply counts, latest activity, and chapter title) alongside a polished loading skeleton. The main dashboard gains real engagement stats, a per-slide engagement chart, a reactions ratio card, and a recent-comments feed. The handyout detail and settings pages received a redesigned property panel, a safer delete flow that requires typing the presentation name, date-range pickers for extending handyout availability, and more accurate credit activity labels in the sidebar.
Improved comment reply experience in Discussion view
Replying to a comment now shows a clear preview of the original author's name and message text in the composer. Replies are collapsed by default and can be expanded on demand, and user avatars are now displayed correctly next to each comment.
Relative timestamps on comments
Comment timestamps now display as relative time (e.g., "5 minutes ago") instead of a raw date string, making it easier to see how recent a comment is at a glance.
Smoother comment animations and improved reply controls
Replies in the comments panel now animate in smoothly when expanded. The "Reply" and "Report" actions are also now available on all comments, including nested replies.
New Comments Page with Slide-by-Slide Discussion View
The Comments section of the dashboard has been redesigned into a dedicated slide-by-slide discussion view. You can now browse audience comments per slide, reply to threads, and switch between presentations using a dropdown — all from one place.
Comments dashboard, email confirmation flow, and billing improvements
A new Comments dashboard lets you view and manage audience comments across all your handyouts in one place. Audience members who comment now receive a double opt-in email confirmation flow, with the option to create a free account afterward to track replies.
What's included:
- Comments
- Comment Reply Notification Confirmation
Consistent spacing and layout improvements across dashboard pages
Dashboard pages now have consistent vertical padding, taller engagement charts, a presentation thumbnail in the QR code editor preview, and a direct arrow icon link to full analytics.
Improved onboarding flow with auto-save and live upload feedback
The onboarding flow now automatically saves your progress as you type, pre-fills answers if you return mid-session, and shows a clearer live progress indicator while your presentation is being processed.
Clearer error feedback when a presentation fails to process
When a presentation fails to process during onboarding, you now see a descriptive toast notification explaining what went wrong, instead of the upload silently stalling or showing a generic state.
Refactored Analytics Dashboard and UI Polish
The analytics dashboard now loads data more efficiently, and step indicators across onboarding and billing pages have a consistent, polished badge style.
Analytics dashboard view switcher and tier-gated sections
The analytics dashboard now has a dedicated toolbar for switching between Overview, Per-Slide, and Feedback views. Certain analytics sections (drop-off, recent comments, module interactions, and all comments) now display a lock indicator when they require a higher plan tier.
What's included:
- Handyout Analytics
Cleaner dashboard layout and website validation in onboarding
All dashboard pages now display with a cleaner, borderless layout. The onboarding flow also validates your website URL in real time and prevents moving forward until a valid domain is entered.
Sharper, more consistent dashboard visuals
Rounded corners have been removed from cards, panels, and UI elements across the dashboard for a cleaner, more uniform look. Spacing and badge styles have also been tightened up throughout.
What's included:
- Dashboard
Upload now accepts PPTX files only
PDF files are no longer accepted when uploading a presentation during onboarding. Only PPTX files are supported.
First handyout is free for new users
New users can now generate their first handyout at no credit cost. The creation form and confirmation dialog clearly reflect the free pricing and show that your credit balance will remain unchanged.
Live phone previews on handyout cards
Handyout cards in the library now show a real phone mockup preview of your handyout's intro page instead of a flat slide thumbnail. Previews load lazily as cards scroll into view, so the page stays fast even with many handyouts.
Faster presentation detail loading
Fixed a fetching loop that could cause the presentation detail page to make more than a dozen duplicate backend calls, pushing load times past fifteen seconds.
What's included:
- Migrated the presentation detail page onto the shared TanStack Query hook
- Cut /handyouts/full requests from 12+ per visit down to 1
- 30-second stale window means repeat visits reuse the cached response
Homepage: 'Who this is for' voices
A new marquee of presenter voices scrolls across four alternating rows on the homepage — from conference speakers to L&D leads — so it's obvious at a glance who Handyout is built for.
What's included:
- Four alternating rows, paused on hover
- Presenter-craft framing per row: the frustration, the segments, the product moments, the after-talk insights
- Sits between the industries grid and the feature carousel
Knowledge base: search, categories, FAQ
The knowledge base gets an overarching header with live search plus category filter, a full category overview at the bottom, a support CTA, and six most-asked FAQ items — all rendered on every knowledge page.
What's included:
- Live search across every article title and summary with a top-level category filter
- Category overview cards with icon, article count, and description
- 'How can we assist you?' block linking to the new /support page
- Six most-asked FAQ items at the bottom of every knowledge page
Support page
A new /support page pulls together the three ways to reach us — email, docs, enterprise — in a single, obvious landing spot.
What's included:
- Hero with quick email and knowledge-base CTAs
- Three contact channel cards: email support, browse the docs, contact sales
- Linked from the knowledge base's support banner
Contact support page, Handyout generation status cards, and profile Danger Zone
You can now contact support directly from the dashboard, see a live progress card while a Handyout is being generated, and access account deletion options from your profile page.
Industry pages: 'In practice', semester timeline, FAQ
Each /industries/[id] page picks up three new content sections — three concrete moments 'In practice', a semester-long horizontal timeline, and an industry-specific FAQ — plus a second composite persona voice rendered through the design-testimonial carousel.
What's included:
- Three scenario cards showing the same handout across different points in the semester
- Horizontal semester timeline with auto-advancing active card, adapted from the timeline-horizontal primitives
- Six most-asked FAQ items per industry
- Two composite personas in an animated word-by-word testimonial carousel
Industry pages: deep dives per segment
Industry pages get six new sections tailored to the segment — from 'By the numbers' hero stats to a workflow diagram showing how Handyout fits between your existing tools and your audience.
What's included:
- Restyled 'About' section matching the homepage pattern (eyebrow + h2 + description)
- 'By the numbers' block with three NumberTicker headline figures
- Bento showcase with image, stat, callout, and feature tiles
- Workflow diagram with an animated beam from Handyout to your existing tools
- Composite persona voice with disclosure line
- PreFooter CTA at the bottom
Live handyout generation status card
While a Handyout is being generated, the presentations grid now shows a live progress card driven by Supabase Realtime — step label, slide counter, and 'View progress' link, all updating without a manual refresh.
What's included:
- postgres_changes subscription on handyouts.processing_status for the presenter's own rows
- Auto-invalidates the presentations list when generation reaches 'completed'
- Gradient hero with animated spinner, step label, and slide-count progress bar
Public marketing pages accessible without sign-in
/industries, /blogs, /imprint, /knowledge, /privacy, and /terms were all silently redirecting anonymous visitors to /auth/signin. They're public now, as intended.
What's included:
- Six paths added to the middleware public-paths list
- No behavior change for authenticated users
GFM markdown in the knowledge base
Knowledge articles now render GitHub-flavored markdown correctly — tables, strikethrough, and task lists work as expected. Headings adopt the app's font-medium weight so nothing reads bold.
What's included:
- Added remark-gfm to the markdown pipeline
- Prose overrides so h1-h6 and strong text use font-medium
- Duplicate leading heading auto-stripped when the section title already announces it
Cached signed URLs & TanStack Query migration
The data layer moved onto TanStack Query with cross-consumer sync and cross-tab broadcast. Signed URLs for thumbnails and slides are cached for 30 minutes instead of refetched on every mount.
What's included:
- Replaced Profile, Presentations, and Referral providers with TanStack Query hooks
- broadcastQueryClient for cross-tab cache consistency
- useThumbnailQuery and useSlidesQuery with 30-minute stale, 55-minute garbage-collection windows
Ready to get started?
Turn your next presentation into an interactive handout
Upload your slides, let AI transform them into a mobile-optimized handout, and share it with your audience via QR code — at about ten seconds a slide.
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