Missing Features in The New look of the Messaging

[youssefbahaa]

We lost the feature of being able to mark the important chat rooms as favorites. Also, I used to star some important messages to be able to find them easily in the Favorite messages; Now this feature is missing as well!

Is there any way to leave the option of returning back to the old version of messaging? Or can you please add these features to the new version?

Thanks!

[26e63ea4]

Hey there,

I'm trying to Un-Hide or Un-Archive some of my old Chat Rooms with clients that I used to work with or just chat to be able to propose them my services now.

Since Upwork dropped this new updated Messages section, I can't seem to find the workarounds and be able to unarchive that.

I tried to turn-off all adblockers I had, but it seems like that old pop-up window asking If I want to switch back to old messages has now dissapeaed.

Can you give me a hand with that? Is this still possible within the new UI?

[759e32fa]

Hi Artyom,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I shared your report with our team and one of our agents will reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you further. You can access your support tickets here.

[26e63ea4]

Thank you

[anna_babicheva]

Youssef, I totally agree with that. The new messages are a mess. 
At the moment, there's no structure to them.

I miss the "Favourite" feature.
I've tried to edit a particular message today and couldn't figure out where the 3 dots menu is. Then found the dots, but they are just randomly placed and do not highlight the message that I want to edit. (I know that they are placed at the top of the message box, but nothing highlights it, so if you have a few messages dropped into the chat, the menu doesn't make it easier to find a message you want to edit) 

please fix some design issues you have here, Upwork. 

[lizablau]

Talk about a terrible user experience!  What on earth was Upwork thinking??   

The message box is now split into three sections -- and makes it difficult to both read and write new messages.  The client info on the right is taking up too much space, and is NOT necessary or helpful!  And to close it, first you have to click on an arrow and then an "X" -- two steps -- and that must be done with each new message, wasting precious time.  

There was nothing wrong with the old message system, which is much preferable to this disaster.  Please bring it back. 

[ArjayM]

Hi Youssef and Anna,

We truly appreciate you reaching out to us here with feedback and suggestions. We always respect your opinion and they're extremely helpful for us to improve our service. I'll pass this over to the appropriate department for review and action if necessary. Thank you!

[anna_babicheva]

Arjay, thanks for your quick reply. 
Hope these and many more issues will be fixed.

[bookcoverdesign]

What is it with the UpWork programers? Why do they continually insist on "fixing what ain't broken"???? When something works.... LEAVE IT ALONE!!! We freelancers have work to do! Stop wasting our time and trying our patience by screwing things up just because you're bored and want to play "change up"! I have three jobs in the works and I can't scroll my messages!!!! And I can't attach files!!!! PLEASE, give me back the option to use the old system which was PERFECTLY FINE!!!!

[johnluton]

I have also had scrolling up/backward problem. If I want to scroll back beyond what I can see on the screen the only way is to reduce the size of the display setting, but after doing this twice I am down to a screen size view of 33%. I am actually age 76, and it means basically in reality I cannot scroll back at all. I mean what the hell are you up to here Upwork? ....a disaster. 

[bookcoverdesign]

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John B wrote:

I have also had scrolling up/backward problem. If I want to scroll back beyond what I can see on the screen the only way is to reduce the size of the display setting, but after doing this twice I am down to a screen size view of 33%. I am actually age 76, and it means basically in reality I cannot scroll back at all. I mean what the hell are you up to here Upwork? ....a disaster. 

---

Apparently, the UpWork techs have no idea HOW to fix the glitch or they just have no intention of even TRYING to fix it. The only solution for me was to switch over to the Chrome browser when I need to scroll back to previous messages. Maybe that will work for you, too. Other than that, I don't know what you can do. Honestly, I can't help wondering what disasterous and completely unnecessary "upgreade" UpWork will come up with next.

[bookcoverdesign]

Is there any option to revert back to the old message room format??? PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!! PLEASE!!!

[pgiambalvo]

And on mine, whenever I send a message, the same few words from the beginning of it appear in a new message window beneath that message the next time I open it and I have to delete it.

[jasna17]

I can't even scroll through the middle section, how am I supposed to visualise all the previous messages and the rest of the conversation?

[ivan_gavrilovic]

As of this morning, Upwork decided to kill the old message board (website), while they did nothing to improve the functionality of their new message board despite all the complaints throughout the community. I'm using Safari on an iMac. New messages never worked, so I stuck with the old version - it was functional, at least. Now, I can't have messages in my web browser, and I'm forced to combine the desktop app with the web browser.

Annoying.

Bad experience.

Fix this.

[759e32fa]

Hi Ivan,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience regarding the update on Message Center. Rest assured, that I will share this with our team. Thank you for sharing your feedback.

[bookcoverdesign]

Yup. Doesn't work with my Safari browser either. The old (PERFECTLY GOOD) message system worked fine with the Firefox browser but now won't work with that browser either! The only browser it seems to work with now is Google Chrome and I HATE the Chrome browser, mostly because it seems to conflict with my Macbook Pro operating system.

And now I've noticed even with the Chrome browser if I attach a graphics file, the image partially obscures the message I'm writing!

Why Upwork decided to screw everything up instead of just leaving well enough alone is one of the great mysteries of the Universe. And so far they've offered no explanation as to WHY they did this! It's just stupid and aggravating.

[bookcoverdesign]

Can't scroll my messages for any of my jobs.

(Sorry this is a repeat of my post. Forgot to click the "Email me when someone replies" button and couln't figure out a way to get back to it. So had to post it again.)

[bookcoverdesign]

I can scroll my messages using the Chrome browser but not with Firefox. It has ALWAYS worked with Firefox until this evening.  I DETEST the Chrome browser! Why won't the messages scroll with Firefox anymore???

[759e32fa]

Hi Gary,

I'm sorry to hear about the negative experience that you've had so far with the update. Since we're still in the process of rolling it out, you might encounter some errors but rest assured that we are working towards fixing them. Nevertheless, thank you for your feedback. I'll share your report with our team.

[bookcoverdesign]

Why does UpWork continually insist on "fixing what ain't broken"???? When something works.... LEAVE IT ALONE!!!  Stop wasting our time and trying our patience by screwing things up just because some UpWork programer got bored and wanted to play "change up"!  😡I have three jobs in the works and I can't scroll my messages!!!! And I can't attach files!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give us back the option to use the old system!!!! It was PERFECTLY FINE!!!! 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

[youssef_houjeiri]

To switch to the old messages room you can use this link /messages/?forced

[bookcoverdesign]

The link doesn't work. Please repost it if there is still such a link. I'm sure we would all love to get back to the old message form!

[wp_bladymyr]

How do I put stars on my clients just like on the old update where I can mark them with a yellow star beside their name?

How can I also mark a star on the conversation? since the new update doesn't allow me to 🙂

Thanks

Bladymyr 

[NikolaS]

Hi Bladymyr,

I would be happy to help. Please know that we are gradually making improvements to the Messages Center and the feature you are referring to will become available soon. 

Thank you,

[m_terrazas]

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Nikola S wrote:

Hi Bladymyr,

I would be happy to help. Please know that we are gradually making improvements to the Messages Center and the feature you are referring to will become available soon. 

Thank you,

---

Why, if it is not finished developing, do you put it into operation?
If the job isn't done, at least let us continue to use the old messages while you fix everything.

By the way, was it announced anywhere that the final change was going to be made? With the new forums I never get to know where I am and where things are.

[jasna17]

Changes are great as long as they work. In this case it's insane to make something operational while still work in progress. I have a brand new, completely updated Firefox (which I started using as Upwork was being funny on Chrome) and now I can't even use that. It's holding back projects for a great amount of freelancers and we're finding it difficult to communicate with our clients. I think it's a big issue to be honest.

[bookcoverdesign]

Exactly! I'm having the same problem with Firefox that you're having. It worked perfectly with Firefox before Upwork's bone-headed attempt to "fix" what wasn't broken. I found the messages worked okay with the Chrome browser at first but now it looks like that's getting buggy, too.

PLEASE UPWORK! Give us back the OLD message program!!!!

[data_divas]

My question is why does my message room ALWAYS load a conversation from 3-18-22 when I open it.  I have messages as recently as yesterday, 5-23-22, yet it always loads the 3-18-22 conversation.

Why?

That conversation is probably never going to be updated because it's a client with an on-going contract and we have moved communication to their Slack.

[researchediting]

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Julie J wrote:

My question is why does my message room ALWAYS load a conversation from 3-18-22 when I open it.  I have messages as recently as yesterday, 5-23-22, yet it always loads the 3-18-22 conversation.

Why?

That conversation is probably never going to be updated because it's a client with an on-going contract and we have moved communication to their Slack.

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I have a similar issue with a dead-end conversation from 2016.

[youssef_houjeiri]

Quoting part of message in new messages room version not work.
it's very sad, does anyone know if this feature is in the new version? And how to use it?
ctrl+v not working

[youssef_houjeiri]

To switch to the old messages room you can use this link /messages/?forced

[a_lipsey]

As a client I cannot seem to block freelancers from sending messages anymore either? So now my message room is getting filled with continued messages from a freelancer who I just want to leave me alone. Great job, Upwork. /s

[peixotorms]

Copy paste to quote a previous message is a very basic requirement... no longer possible.

Deleting the annoying link previews... no longer possible.

Someone on Upwork making these decisions, must think that they know better to force this new system to everyone.

Sure new messages feel a bit faster, but this is obviously because features are missing.

[eric5037]

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Raul P wrote:

Copy paste to quote a previous message is a very basic requirement... no longer possible.

Deleting the annoying link previews... no longer possible.

Someone on Upwork making these decisions, must think that they know better to force this new system to everyone.

Sure new messages feel a bit faster, but this is obviously because features are missing.

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at least, it seems I can quote you here!

the copy/paste feature is not only basic but truly important. I hope it will resolved in the new few days because quoting between 2 double quotes creates a messy answer that feels unprofessional. 

that being said, slack does not have that copy/paste feature neither which is annoying. if anyone know that feature on slack and I have missed it, I am all ears!

[lizablau]

Also, I was unable to delete a link to a Word document to replace it with another -- it used to be easy to do that. 

[biswasin]

Could someone kindly let me know if there is a way to switch back to old messaging format? The new messaging is a headache to be frank and is too slow to load (using Chrome). I intentially kept the old messaging format till now as it was much better. But it seems upwork has switched me new messaging and I do not see the option to switch back to old messaging format anymore. 

This is a bit irritating as Upwork at times forces things that we may not want!

Would appreciate some help on this.

[aaf60a65]

So are we. The new version is really rubbish.😡😡😡

[biswasin]

Yes. and it seems there is no way to switch back to the old version.

[eric5037]

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Ritam B wrote:

Yes. and it seems there is no way to switch back to the old version.

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That is what I think, I tried /?forced I saw in a previous message but it didn't work for me. 

The copy/paste the old fashion way still not working.