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kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Improved Speed and Modernization of Messages on Desktop: Feedback and Questions

Over the coming weeks, you may see changes to Upwork Messages on desktop as we test improvements to this crucial piece of Upwork infrastructure. These changes reflect, in large part, technical modernization. In addition to a new look, the Messages page should load much faster due to backend improvements. 

Check out the announcement 
here for more information and feel free to share your feedback and questions in the comments below.

~ Valeria
Upwork
71 REPLIES 71
davydkoff
Community Member

Hi,

If there are several people in the chat, and the names are no longer shown in the new version (except at the top of the screen). How do I know who I'm talking to?

 

Thanks

Hi Ilia,

 

Thanks for your question. The names of people you're chatting with will show next to their messages. Below is an updated screenshot of what a room with multiple participants would look like. Your own name won't show next to your messages.

 

 

kochubei_valeria_0-1638290998301.png

 

~ Valeria
Upwork

IMO the bubble layout is going to make life a lot easier and I look forward to its permanent, universal implementation.

 

Otherwise, I concur 100% with everything Douglas Michael M said. 

itqadesigner
Community Member

Awesome Improvements Thanks Upwork 

researchediting
Community Member

Upwork continues to test half-baked updates ("Some less commonly used features will not initially be available in the new version") on the live production system on which we depend for our livelihoods, rather than maintaining a test system and running a proper opt-in beta testing period.

Fingers crossed.

I just have this vision of a panorama screen (my next investment) and going full-screen. Reading messages will be like watching a tennis match.

researchediting
Community Member

I should add that I've never encountered "speed," per se, as an issue with Messages. I occasionally have conversations there in real time.

 

Reliability, on the other hand, has always been and continues to be a problem, ranging from disappearing messages to days' delay in transmission. If you're tackling the latter problem under the rubric of "load[ing] much faster," more power to you! If not...well, you have a reliability problem that I would argue is a higher priority than speed.

dreamingfilms
Community Member

1GB attachments is life changing to video editors! Up the work!

maximnz19596
Community Member

I don't see which particular user is online, if there are several users in the chat. Also, I cannot hide or archive the chat. Just, there is no such option. It doesn't look like improvement. 

Hi Maksym,

 

Some features will not initially be available in the new version. However, both features you noted - an option to archive a room and online presence indicator - are on the roadmap and will be added to the new version soon. Meanwhile, you will have the option to switch between the old and new versions.

~ Valeria
Upwork
kashifpmt92
Community Member

Please add message seen feature like WhatsApp. We have been waiting for months after applying for the job and no response receives from clients. At least let us know if the next person has seen our message or not.

Hi Kashif, 

 

"Message seen" feature was something we explored a while ago, however, based on the feedback we've received, decided not to move forward with. You can check the discussion here for more information. Currently, I'm not aware of any plans to add this feature to Upwork Messages. 

~ Valeria
Upwork
jtrtdesigns
Community Member

Hello,

 

I want to be able to hide conversations in the Messages tab but since the new UI, I can't right click on a conversation and click "Hide". Is there a new way to hide conversations or did Upwork remove this feature?

Hi Erick,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. You should be able to click on three dots on the message you sent and there you should find an option to delete your message. Here is a screenshot for reference. 

 

You can find more information in this announcement thread

 

Let us know if you need further assistance. 

~ Nikola
Upwork

It doesn't have to do with the message, but the conversation. The section that you send messages in. 

image.png

(red scribbles for client privacy)

dianefox
Community Member

  1. I used to be able to set an away message by clicking the "gear" icon in the Messages screen, but with the updated Messages screen, there is no gear icon to click.  How can I set up an Away Message? Thank you!
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Diane and Erick,

 

We're testing a new version of Upwork Messages on Desktop. Some less commonly used features will not initially be available in the new version, but, for the time being, you will have the option to switch between the old and new versions.

 

Thank you! 

~ Bojan
Upwork

Thanks for your reply! This helps 🙂

 

I would request to add it back anyway, if there's a way to do so. It's very useful because new message threads open up every time my client starts a contract.

dianefox
Community Member

Thank you for your reply but it is not letting me switch back to the old version.  I click on to where it says to use older version, click "go back" and then submit my feedback and it still keeps it at the current new messenger settings.

Hi Diane,

 

One of our team members will reach out to you via ticket as soon as possible and will assist you further with your messages. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Yes, I want to switch back to the old version until the new one is fully functional, but it's not letting me. I've clicked "go back" several times now, and it still loads the new layout.  It's very annoying not to be able to hide/archive whole conversations/rooms - it was a very useful feature in the old message center. The sorting thing / filter doesn't suffice - I don't want all recent contracts displayed, I want only the active ones. Should I open a ticket to get back to the old version? 

I was automatically switched back to the old version. To tell the truth, it is still better. At least, more functional.

Hi Bojana,

 

I checked with the team and it sounds like it's a known issue that they are working on fixing as soon as possible. No need to create a ticket but I'll keep an eye on it and can update you here once it's fixed.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Bojana,

 

This has been fixed and you should be able to switch to the old version and access the functions that aren't yet availble on the new version. Let me know if you run into any issues doing that.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Thanks, Valeria, I was able to switch back to the old version and submitted feedback for the missing feature. Hope it gets added - the new layout is otherwise an overall improvement. 

kvardaman
Community Member

I general I like the "new and improved messages". They make it much easier to follow the flow of conversation. The one complaint I have is that the markdown-ish styling is not different enough from plain text in most cases. Particularly for a less technical client that may not have a trained eye.

10bee5db
Community Member

Please fix these issues. You've taken away many aspects of Upwork that I use daily and now it's becoming a problem in my business.

mktg360
Community Member

I think it's a serious problem for me as a freelancer .when replying to a client now there are a few links that have disappeared for example

 

1.  the view proposal ( link ) in the messages interface is no longer showing ( maybe it's just in my profile ) 
2. this leads to the next problem to remember how much was the quoted price or quoted hourly rate 
3. This also restricts me to looking into where the client is from, hence no backreference to their location which leads to problems when we do have a discovery call with a client 

If I can't locate a clients location, say a discovery meeting happens in days/ weeks going forward, I have no way to refer back to my proposal rate / his or her country / their job requirements, which leads to awkwardness with a client. 

I am not sure if it's a permanently disabled feature or just a temporary situation. 

I would love to hear from the Upwork community or Upwork team how they intend to resolve this issue. 

thanks

Harp

jr-translation
Community Member

This just sucks. I am trying to read the latest replies to a thread with 139 replies. It always shows 21 messages and when I choose load more replies I get the next 21. So I have to scroll all the way down and extend the thread 6 times until I read the end. Where does the speed aspect come in?

richardcoda
Community Member

All of the sudden a few days ago, messages stopped being forwarded to my email. I have already lost one job because I didn't get an email. When are you going to fix this?

Hi Richard,

 

Sorry to hear you weren't notified about messages recently. This sometimes happens if Messages are left open in a browser window and as a result get marked as "read." That said, I'll have a team member create a support case for you so that we could check into specific messages you weren't notified about and investigate the issue. 

~ Valeria
Upwork

No… wrong answer to a different question.

MY messages are NOT getting forwarded to my email since 3-4 days ago. WHY? Please FIX IT!

ejagos
Community Member

I generally haven't noticed much difference in the way I use messages until recently. Several times in recent days, while typing a response to a client in messages on the website, it seems I've run up against a character limit. 


This didn't happen when I was submitting work for payment for a milestone as I was able to compose a very lengthy message describing the work done.

 

However, for other messages as part of interviewing I've had them suddenly cut off and not accept more. There's no character countdown, so I'm not sure if this is just me, my browser, or something new? I've never run into this before. The limit seems to be somewhere around 750 characters. Any advice?

Hi Emily,

 

Thank you for reaching out to us and bringing this to our attention. I shared your report regarding the character limit with our team and they are looking into improving it. 

 

~ Nikola
Upwork
be3d78ac
Community Member

Really, do i have to write in a window with the height of 5 rows now? Please, make this adjustable or at least double the size.

olaemma
Community Member

Bhavisha, I have the same problem. Did you manage to figure yours out?

olaemma
Community Member

The interface of Upwork messages changed suddenly on my phone and it now appears different. It says this is 'messages lite'. Please, is there a way i can change it back to the previous layout? I'll really appreciate a response from you. Thanks.

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Victor,

 

At the top of the Messages tab, you should see the "You're using new and improved messages. Switch back to the previous version." Feel free to use it and switch back to the previous version.

 

Thank you! 

~ Bojan
Upwork
adehm
Community Member

Old messages would not even load for me so the new messages is a step up since the site went public and started falling apart. However I don't get emails anymore and the messages have no date; just a time.

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