Notable in Notebook: 3 new Benchling Notebook features you'll love

As Community Manager here at Benchling, I see all sorts of ideas from Benchling users flooding into the Community with ways to improve our product. One trend that it doesn’t take a bioinformatician to notice is that so many of these product ideas are about the Benchling Notebook. And it’s easy to see why — our electronic lab notebook is the place many scientists spend a ton of time each and every day.

Benchling admins are often carefully curating thoughtful templates that guide users through workflows that mirror their scientific processes. And when they hit a snag? They share it with me on the Community in our Product Ideas thread. That’s why it brings me so much joy to share these major improvements to our ELN functionality.

Here are three recently shipped features designed to make scientists’ lives easier — two of which came directly from Community submissions. For me, few things are more satisfying than marking an idea in our Community as “Shipped”! 🎉

Reorder and resize columns and rows with ease

For those designing templates in the Benchling Notebook, this feature is a game-changer. Setting up custom columns takes time, and if they’re in the wrong order, having to delete and re-make them can be a burden.

Now, you can simply drag and drop using the grabbable bar on the column or row — no more tedious rework.

🔗 View the Community Idea

Annotate images directly in Benchling

Previously, if you were working with images as part of your data, you had to rely on external tools to highlight key details or add written context. Moving between tools is a hassle, so we’re eliminating that.

Now, you can add text, arrows, and circles directly to images in notebook entries, templates, and documents — without ever leaving Benchling. Plus, these annotations have versioning, so you can view and revert changes as needed.

🔗 View the Community Idea

Automatically apply the same cell value to an entire column 

If you’re still dragging values down through entire columns or entering the same value one by one, stop what you’re doing — now there’s a better way!

With Single Input Columns, structured table columns can be converted into single input fields. A value entered in one cell is automatically applied to all rows in that column, saving time and reducing errors.

Constantly improving the Benchling Notebook

We know how important notebook functionality is to your daily work — and that's why we're constantly working to make the Benchling Notebook even easier and more seamless for you to use. These updates are a testament to the impact of Community-driven feedback. When you share your challenges and ideas, it directly shapes the future of Benchling. Got an idea for how to improve Benchling? Join the conversation and share your feedback on the Benchling Community. Who knows? Maybe your idea will be the next one we mark as “Shipped”! 🚀