April 2026 Release
A round-up of the user-facing improvements and fixes that shipped to SyRF in April 2026.
Data export & annotations
Include annotation comments in quantitative exports
When exporting outcome data in quantitative format you can now tick the new Include comments option to bring reviewer comments out alongside the values. This is useful if your team uses annotation comments to record context (discrepancies, caveats, coding notes) that you want to keep next to the numbers in R, SAS, or Excel.
Enhanced annotation support for multi-stage projects
We have refined how annotation data is managed in projects that share annotation questions across multiple stages, particularly around stage completion and wide-format data exports. These enhancements ensure a smoother experience for teams running complex multi-stage review workflows.
Bulk study update
The Bulk Study Update feature has had a round of quality-of-life improvements.
More flexible screening values
The screening-decision columns used to require 1 (include) or 0 (exclude). They now also accept:
| Include | Exclude |
|---|---|
1 | 0 |
include / included | exclude / excluded |
yes | no |
true | false |
All values are case-insensitive, so Include, INCLUDE, or yes all work. This makes it easier to drop in a CSV produced by another tool without first normalising the values.
Clearer error messages
If a CSV row contains an invalid value or a column is missing, you now see a precise message that names the row, the column, and the values SyRF was expecting, instead of a generic “could not parse” error. The bulk-update dialog also shows the accepted values up-front so you can check your file before uploading.
No more stuck “validating” jobs
Previously, some CSV uploads could get permanently stuck in the Validating on server state if an unexpected problem occurred. They now fail cleanly with a visible error so you can fix the file and retry.
Reliability
- All Studies page now loads for every project role. We have expanded permission handling so the All Studies page renders correctly for all team members, including those with limited project permissions.
- Numeric timepoint spreadsheet initialises on first visit. The timepoint spreadsheet component now loads consistently without requiring a page refresh.
- Improved import processing for large literature searches. We have strengthened the import pipeline for projects with large numbers of annotation questions, ensuring each search upload is processed exactly once.
Behind the scenes
- Groundwork has been laid for a modernised sign-in system. You’ll continue to sign in exactly as before: the new infrastructure runs alongside the existing provider while we validate it. Future releases will build on this to deliver improvements like better session management, clearer “keep me signed in” behaviour, and single sign-on options.
- Security patches were applied across the platform’s dependencies.
- Under-the-hood database and build optimisations keep the application fast and costs predictable for the CAMARADES team.
Questions, feedback, or want to report something that still isn’t working as expected? Please use the in-app Contact Us form, or email your usual SyRF support channel.