The headline change in VisibleThread 7.3 is that proposal work no longer must leave Microsoft Word. A new Word Add-in puts VisibleThread analysis, AI assistance and your proposal outline directly inside the document your team is already writing in.
Around that, the release adds a rebuilt proposal outline with requirement traceability, a full capture pipeline (Kanban boards with stage gates, timelines, dashboards), collaboration (assignment, notifications, threaded comments) and financial tracking (opportunity values, multi-currency).
The current version is 7.3.7. The upgrade is included in your subscription at no extra cost.
What you get by upgrading
Microsoft Word Add-in for Proposal Writing
Writers can now run VisibleThread from inside Word, on the live document, instead of uploading a copy to the web app and switching back and forth. Readability and language analysis runs on the live document, and rephrase and simplify suggestions are applied directly into the document.
Visi is available in the panel, including Creator mode for drafting, with citations you can open and download.
An Outline tab shows the proposal outline and lets writers pick the section they are writing. Headings added in Word flow back into the Proposal Outline in the web app.
You can upload and manage a library of Word templates. Your own headers, footers, bullet styles and automatic heading numbering carry through to every generated document.
Proposal Outline, Traceability and Coverage
The Proposal Outline has been rebuilt around requirement traceability, so you can see at a glance which requirements each section answers and where coverage is missing.
A trace indicator shows which sections carry traced requirements, with a details drawer for the requirement itself and the source text alongside. The Coverage tab gives reverse traceability from a requirement to every section answering it.
Outline generation now detects the document type first, then classifies each paragraph by requirement type (submission, pricing, compliance, technical etc.) before building the outline.
You can assign users to outline sections and set section status, with both cascading to sub-sections. Combine into one document merges section documents into a single working Word document.
Capture Pipeline: Kanban Boards, Stage Gates and Timelines
Tracked opportunities and proposals can now be managed as a visual pipeline rather than a list. Kanban boards have configurable stages, and card details show the information capture managers need at a glance, including estimated value.
Stage gates let you define gate questions per stage. Soft gates prompt on a card move but allow it, and hard gates block the move until answered. Every response is recorded as audit history.
A timeline view shows proposal and tracked opportunity stages with deadlines plotted, and you can open a proposal or opportunity directly from the timeline.
Dashboards and Reporting
Three new reporting areas were added: a BD and Capture dashboard, a Proposals dashboard, and Usage Stats in the main navigation. The Proposals dashboard gives a proposal manager a single view of how many sections are complete, in draft and not started across every live proposal.
Collaboration
Users can be assigned to opportunities, proposals and contracts from the Kanban card, the list view or the detail view. In-app notifications cover assignments, approaching deadlines, comment activity and changes to an assigned outline document.
Threaded comments and @mentions work on Compare Docs results, Acronym Report entries and Proposal Outline sections.
When the same document is open in Word and in the web app, VisibleThread now shows who is actively editing and blocks conflicting saves rather than losing work.
SharePoint Site Access Control
Administrators can now choose which sites in a connected SharePoint tenant VisibleThread users are able to reach. The allow list is a ceiling, never a grant: a user still only sees sites they personally hold SharePoint permission for. Collections can also be pointed at SharePoint files and are re-indexed when those files are updated.
Security, Performance and Platform
This release includes a security review and remediation program across the codebase, SAML and FIPS fixes, and performance work so Capture, Timeline and Technical Alignment pages stay fast as data grows. LiteLLM provider configuration is available for on-premise deployments, so the AI provider and model are yours to choose.
Opportunity and Portfolio Management
Tracked opportunities now carry an Estimated Value, an Awarded Value and an External Link. You can set a workspace default currency and maintain your own conversion rates. When archiving a tracked opportunity, proposal, contract or misc analysis, you can capture a reason, for example a no bid decision.
Using AI in VisibleThread 7
AI is optional. VisibleThread 7 does not include an AI model. Only the AI assisted capabilities, namely outline generation, requirement classification and Visi drafting, need you to connect your own provider, such as Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock or LiteLLM, which comes with its own infrastructure or usage costs. Everything else, including the Word Add-in with its templates and readability analysis, is independent of generative AI and is available on the subscription you already hold. For on-premise, GovCloud and air-gapped deployments, no step in the proposal workflow requires outbound internet access. Setup guides are in AI & Integration.
After you upgrade
Some capabilities are enabled per workspace rather than on by default, notably the BD and Capture Dashboard, and some require a role or permission to be granted (Template Management, Pipeline Stages, Edit Currencies, Edit Archive Statuses). An administrator also needs to install the Word Add-in for your writers: customer-hosted or GovCloud.
How to upgrade
- Book an upgrade call and we will plan the upgrade with you, including a walkthrough of the Word Add-in and the new Proposal Outline on your own content, or
- Follow the guide for your operating system: Windows, RHEL 8 and 9 or Ubuntu 24.04. If you upgrade yourself, email support@visiblethread.com so we know which version you are on if you ever need help.