I am trying to update my portfolio with a new folder but cant

[#1]

I am trying to update my portfolio with a new folder but when i click on the plus symbol all i get is create a specialized profile, when i click not yet it just returns to my profil page so i can't seem to just add new work?

[#2]

Frankly it an appalling change. It totally restricts us as users to control
what we show. You are only allowed two specialized profiles which is not
good enough. Why cant we just add our work to our portfolio as we would
prefer. We know our business and clients better than Upwork could

Gary

[#3]

Are we kidding here? Why on earth do I need to create a separate profile from the one and only profile I need just to add portfolio items? If one has multiple specialities they need to promote then differing profiles makes sense. From your own documentation:

Specialized profiles allow you to tailor your profile to your audience and to create variations of your profile that showcase your experience within specific categories. For example, you can separate out the work you've done as a mobile game developer from your work as a translator or graphic designer. 

So from the above, what if you don't have any need to separate things out? You are forced to create what is essentially a duplicate profile just so that you can add portfolio items? The announcement of these profiles and the documentation about them all suggest that they are for segment of people who need them. This is great but if you are admitting that it isn't for everyone, then why on earth are you preventing people from creating portfolio items from their main? Essentially you are now demanding that everyone has to have a speciality profile if they at all want to show their work. 

I try hard to just sigh and move on, but when the platform keeps making these kinds of arbitrary decisions that NO ONE asks for and that just adds more work and time for no benefit, I get extremely frustrated. 

[#4]

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Scott B wrote:

[…]

From your own documentation:

Specialized profiles allow you to tailor your profile to your audience and to create variations of your profile that showcase your experience within specific categories. For example, you can separate out the work you've done as a mobile game developer from your work as a translator or graphic designer. […]

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Are you serious? A freelancer specializing in both mobile game development and translation? How's that even specializing??? C'mon, that's a terrible example!!!

[#5]

Olga, what else you expect from a company who charges you 20% of project , plus wants you to pay 10 dollars a month, plus wants you to buy connects with money, charges you to withdraw your hard worked money to your account and even after all of this,

They don't provide you customer support dierctly and forces you to put a post in community forum site, forces you to not to have portfolio items as you want in your profile.
I understand that upwork has large user base, so does facebook and so does paypal, other companies do provide support directly to the customer.

Some years ago they were charging clients as well, not sure they are doing now or not,

With all of this, they are saying, "work if you want, we don't care about you at all"

[#6]

Hi, I also met the same problem. I can't add portofios to my profile. When I click the plus sympol, there is a instruction let me to make specialize profile and after I made, I can' t add portfolios to my general profile. It was affected my job seriously.

[#7]

This is utterly infuriating. This is not encouragement. Will I be able to update my portfolio once I do what I'm being forced to? Thanks. 

[#8]

Valeria -

You make it sound like this impacts those who want/need a specialized profile. You say "We will soon be launching a new feature that allows freelancers with specialized profiles a more modern way to showcase their work to potential clients – portfolio templates."

However, the current process FORCES a specialized profile if you want to add any portfolio items. Why was this change made? Why do I need to create a specialized profile when my main profile covers everything I need? UW is forcing people to create a specialized profile if they want to display their work even if they only do one thing. This makes no sense. 

[#9]

There is no such thing as a specialized profile in my field of endeavor.  Sigh. I'm missing all the fun.

[#10]

LOL @ Mary.  You can supply the popcorn ... that way you'll not feel left out.

Offerng specialized profiles is a service some genres of work can benefit from.

Requiring them is an all together different matter. 

We all know that U has been pushing (read basically demanding) agency affiliation as they seem to be convinced it is more lucrative.  Requiring specialized profiles was the first tangible step to this. 

If we are unable to add portfolio items to primary profiles OR are able to add portfolio items only to /if the same item resides in a specialized profile U.'s shift to agency-only is confirmed. It might take a while ... but we're rather adept at ferreting out intentions by now.

[#11]

Hi Scott, Mary and Wendy, 

I moved your posts from the Portfolio Templates announcement thread to this one, discussing the recent changes you mentioned in your comments, which weren't directly related to the subject of the Templates announcement thread but are relevant to the recent discussion in this thread.

To all,

Thank you for sharing your feedback and sentiment around the recent changes affecting the process of adding new Portfolio items. We've shared your views with our team and will follow up with an update on this thread soon. 

[#12]

Thanks for letting us know, Vlad -

Speakng for Mary and Scott as well.  🙂

[#13]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to add to the general sentiment.

I was having issues adding work to my portfolio and had to google the problem.

Specialized profiles should be OPTIONAL.

This shouldn't be made more difficult than it has to be.

[#14]

I have a few items in my portfolio but I don't think I'm at my max, assuming there is one. I was trying to add another article and it's not letting me. It's trying to get me to set up a specialized profile, but I don't want to.  This hasn't been an issue in the past so I don't know if this is a new change?  Is there any way around this? I just want to add it to my general portfolio. Any way to do this?

[#15]

Hi Tracey,

Please know that this is working as designed. This is to encourage users to create specialized profiles as this allow freelancers to better customize their skills and experience. You may read more about it here through this announcement post. Thank you.

[#16]

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Goran V wrote:

Hi Tracey,

Please know that this is working as designed. This is to encourage users to create specialized profiles as this allow freelancers to better customize their skills and experience. You may read more about it here through this announcement post. Thank you.

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Goran, that post announces the new portfolio templates. Scrolling through the thread, we learn that all FLs who want to add anything to their portfolio are now forced to create a specialized profile even if they only do one thing and prefer to use a general profile. Questions about why this change was made remain unanswered. As Scott said, it makes no sense whatsoever.

[#17]

Hi,

I've noticed that the portfolio have changed, every time I try to create a new portfolio post, upwork asks me to make an specialized profile.  I don't want to create this specialized profile though, is there any way to just create an portfolio using the main profile?

Also I've noticed that on this specialized profile the image has to be inside within the rectangular format, which it's very boring because if the image is not retangular it's automatically cropped,  and this change did not happen on the main profile,  only on the specialized profile.

What is the reason for this change?

I really prefer to keep only the main profile, so how can I add an portfolio section without having to create an specialized profile?

Thanks

[#18]

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Dante H wrote:

I really prefer to keep only the main profile, so how can I add an portfolio section without having to create an specialized profile?

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Dante, you can't, unless Upwork decides to allow everyone to change their portfolio without creating a specialized profile.

[#19]

I have to agree with all of the complaints above. It is ridiculous that I cannot add portfolio items to my main portfolio. What happens if I DO create a specialized portfolio? Do all the items automatically migrate to my main portfolio? What if a client is just browsing freelancers and looks at my main portfolio and there's nothing there.

When I hear the statement that this is "working as designed" I want to know who did the UI/UX research on this "feature" and what methodology they used. They certainly didn't ask any users.

[#20]

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John M wrote:

...When I hear the statement that this is "working as designed" I want to know who did the UI/UX research on this "feature" and what methodology they used. They certainly didn't ask any users.

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Upwork introduced this feature for IT workers. When they saw an increase in either hiring or revenue in that segment, they made one of their infamously unsupported extrapolations, and made it a stridently and insistently promoted "option" across the board. Despite clamor from users reporting a poorly-executed implementation and users for whom specialized profiles make no sense, Upwork has now resorted to coercion for this "option."

[#21]

This is a big problem.  I echo the setiments of everyone above that forcing freelancers to add a specialized profile just so they can add portfolio items is ridiculous.  And while I hear "specialized proflies are better for searching and connecting freelancers to clients" it should be our decision to use them if it fits within our business.  A specialized profile doesn't fit within what I do so now I'm stuck not being able to add more portfolio items.

Portfolio items should be optionally tied to specialized profiles.  Not required.

Your limitation is hurting our business.

[#22]

I find the specialized portfolio too restrictive and the UI a bit clunky and tedious. I'd like to keep a general profile. Am I missing something with regard to adding new portfolio projects, without making a specialized profile? I can't upload any new projects without making a specialized profile first, then deleting the specialized profile after upload. See attached portfolio upload loop.

A note on specialized profiles - the skill options aren't open-ended enough and result in a pigeonholing that doesn't describe what I do. There's also overlap between specialization that I can't seem to display correctly given the UI - being forced to select one specialized portfolio for a project when in certain cases both apply, and in other cases neither specialization really applies but I'm forced to select between the limited two when uploading new projects. Also, aren't the skill tags supposed to cover specialization - why add this feature?

Old portfolio categories appear to be hanging around but I can't modify them or add applicable projects.

Is this a known issue being worked through? Been inactive for a while. Thanks ahead of time for any feedback.

[#23]

I had the same issue, I had to make a specialized profile based on my general profile just to add a new writing sample. The skills in my field were pretty limited, as well. I think my old profile was actually better than the new duplicate specialized profile. 

I am a little grouchy about some of the changes since I had three annoying notifications today and then discovered this "new feature."  I didn't know about the option of deleting the specialized profile afterward. 

[#24]

Everything appears to be fine on my end but not advising anyone else do so. Not sure how it impacts the algos... assuming poorly given the 30% exposure add advertised for specialized profiles.

[#25]

Hi Jacob, 

I merged your post to this masterthread as this is being monitored by the team. Regarding your question about adding portolio items to your general profile, please know that this is working as designed. This is to encourage users to create specialized profiles as this allow freelancers to better customize their skills and experience. You may read more about it here through this announcement post. 

Regarding your second question, I will have to check this with the team, and I'll get back to you once I have more information. Could you please confirm the specific skills tag you were referring to on your post so that I can share this with the team? 

[#26]

I understand that is the intention, but it's just re-tagging the same skills already tagged to my profile, and creating organizational issues. When adding a new project, I have to select a specialized portfolio that it applies to. Not all projects are applicable to either (or poorly described as such), and some are applicable to both categories, but I have to choose one to display it under. The issue isn't tied to one particular skill category, but universal, present wherever fields overlap and are not adequately described by forced specialization.