Ability to collapse Inbox so only new notifications appear

[B_Sp]

Hi, I wanted to request the ability to collapse the new inbox’s displaying of multiple notifications per entity that I was discussing here:

@mdubakov

We can do it only if we will have some demand. So far this is the first request like that, if we will get more eventually we will add this option.

Since this has been implemented, I have had a lot of issue with the previously very useful inbox:

I can only see on average 1 or two actual new updates. Most of the entities I deal with have multiple older comments, some that I (and my team) will read, but we don’t religiously mark them as “read” because the implementation of read notifications disappearing from our inbox is not as easy as we would like - for example you can’t quickly move through notifications with your keyboard and “mark as read” like in gmail for example. This is a typical view of my inbox - this is just one entity taking up the entire inbox!

The whole top 1/2 is consumed with activity around the entity like linking or referencing.

This situation has also led us to miss a lot of notifications, because it is now hard to see the new ones since they are not actually called out, with a highlight or anything. So in looking at the inbox at a glance, you can’t see easily what are the notifications that caused the entity to enter the inbox. True there’s an indentation, but with the colored icons around users who are also showing up close to the left margin along with the entity icons themselves, it’s easy to miss actual new notifications.

I hope somebody else will emerge who is having this issue so the functionality to collapse the entities, or at least not show old notifications, would be worth building.

Thank you.

[Matt_Blais]

Perhaps we could have a “Group by Entity” checkbox in the Notifications Inbox header, and then have (optionally?) all entities appear “closed” by default (hiding their individual notifications until toggled open).

Ideally we could then easily navigate this hierarchical list with the keyboard, with hotkeys for:

• Move to Next/Previous item
• Toggle current item open/closed
• Mark-as-read current focused item
• Archive current focused item

[B_Sp]

Thanks Matt appreciate the support and excellent expansion of the request!

[YvetteLans]

I do like the group function because I can move all notifications in that group to done.

But I experience the same visual clutter. For me, I think it would be helpful

• to still have grouped notifications per entity
• but then only see the last notification in a group fully
• the rest is auto collapsed, user can expand the group

[B_Sp]

I wanted to refresh this again - possibly I’m the only one having this issue, but my inbox is now useless due to the proliferation of extended content around each entity every time one generates a notification. One thing my team does NOT do is religiously click each notification within an entity, thereby removing it from the inbox. So I now have entities which can span 2/3 of the real estate on my 27" screen with things like “x user linked this entity,” “x user deleted reference from” etc. I have resorted to looking at the Slack feed now to see just the most recent action in entities so I can keep myself up to date and not get stuck seeing notifications that are irrelevant. I have also missed a lot of notifications due to this new set up.

Curious if anybody else is having this issue? The old way the inbox worked was great I wish I could get it back

[Chr1sG]

@B_Sp

One thing my team does NOT do is religiously click each notification within an entity, thereby removing it from the inbox.

Can’t you mark all Done for a given entity, and clear them all at once?

[B_Sp]

Hey yes, but this is a quality-of-life issue at this point - having to do some sort of extra activity to reproduce the previous set up is just cumbersome. And what we’d really like is for the most recent one to only show, that’s the most relevant. So having to make the most recent one, and all others as done, is just an extra step that wasn’t previously needed.

I’ve grayed out most of this but you get the idea here, this is just one entity taking up the entire inbox!

I appreciate that unless others request this it won’t come back, but I’m wondering if there are some others who prefer the old set up because over the last 6 - 8 weeks the situation has gotten to the point that the inbox is just not useable for us! Maybe the way we link stuff is part of that - either way, it’s just not working and it used to be a highlight of Fibery!

[Chr1sG]

@B_Sp

So having to makemark the most recent one, and all others as done

I don’t get it. Isn’t it a single step to mark all as done?

[B_Sp]

Yes that’s right, and that’s a step we didn’t need to do previously. In the past you didn’t even have to mouse over and click anything, just read. Question of personal preference - some people have 1000’s of unread emails, some have a clean inbox. Bottom line it’s an extra step. Like I say, not sure if any other users feel strongly about the size of the inbox, but one thing for sure is that I know there will be others that feel strongly that how you work with keyboard shortcuts, etc is most definitely a big deal when using a computer in any fashion.

I just have to say that it would be nice once in a while that instead of questioning me and why I’m asking for something, you tried to understand. I literally can’t remember when you actually said “OK makes sense understood” regardless of whether what I’m requesting is supported by others, or not.

[Chr1sG]

@B_Sp

I just have to say that it would be nice once in a while that instead of questioning me and why I’m asking for something, you tried to understand. I literally can’t remember when you actually said “OK makes sense understood”

Please don’t take it the wrong way.
I am not questioning why you want something, I simply didn’t (don’t) understand what you want.
I am literally trying to understand, and I don’t honestly recall what the previous behaviour was, since it was so long ago.

Are you saying that you want each notification (within a group) to disappear (= get moved to Done?) simply by the user clicking on it (without specifically clicking on the Done button)?

[B_Sp]

Ok understood @Chr1sG…for what it’s worth I think you could improve your approach in these forums with questions and your responses - they come off frequently as condescending and questioning the intent of the request. Also it’s off putting for you to correct my typos:

@B_Sp

So having to makemark the most recent one, and all others as done

I have other things to do with my time (as does everybody else in here aside from Fibery employees) so it’s a commitment for me to find time to create content in here, and taking even more time to proofread isn’t always possible. When you however don’t take the time to frame your comments with some common etiquette around them but simply write somewhat demanding statements that have no more than a few words, but find time to correct my type, you just contribute to the negative vibe. I’m sorry but most of my recent interaction with you is actually killing my traditionally high level of enthusiasm for Fibery…so I think you need to be careful about how you pound out your communication in here.

To the point at hand, I don’t have the full method documented of how the inbox used to work, but my recollection was that the latest notification/comment on each entity was what came into the inbox and stayed there until marked as “read.” I appreciate some of the functionality in this new set up, like using the “later” area to treat notifications as todo’s, but in the end it’s too much of a switch from a natural, original workflow in Fibery right now to manage the new set up.

Previously it was a simple approach around the inbox:

• click “inbox”
• start scrolling through the updates, you could see them at a glance because each entity’s took up one line
• react as you see fit - click, respond, or just read and leave untouched

With the last step, if “leave untouched” you wind up with some read, some unread, but bottom line is you can see everything around a lot of entities at a glance with basically just one click to get the inbox open in the first place.

Again, you guys as a team may not think this is an issue, that’s fine. But I want to get my feedback in here in case there are others experiencing what I’m experiencing. I assume that is something you guys want, too.

[Chr1sG]

@B_Sp

but find time to correct my type, you just contribute to the negative vibe

Sorry, I thought I was being helpful … trying to avoid any ambiguity, and to aid clarity for anyone who might read my reply out of context

[Illusory]

I’m just chiming in to help clarify what @B_Sp is expressing regarding the inbox (at least as I understand it).

I share the same sentiment as @YvetteLans. I appreciate the grouped notifications by entity, but as an admin, I receive so many notifications that it requires a lot of scrolling and feels somewhat cluttered.

For example:

This is just one entity, and it takes up the entire screen. I believe the simplest solution would be to add an option to “Collapse” all entity sub-activities so that each appears as a single row or line. This would allow for easier scanning of your inbox without individual notifications for one entity occupying the whole screen. Then, we can still show more or expand everything.

Additionally, @YvetteLans and @Matt_Blais have some excellent suggestions for further improvements.

[B_Sp]

Thank you @Illusory, yes exactly I think collapsing would really help here! Glad you see the benefit

[Chr1sG]

I’m not asking the following to cast doubt on what you are saying, but to understand how you use Inbox.

As far as I can recall, the previous Inbox behaviour was as follows, where ( * ) means a notification that you haven’t yet clicked on to read:

Entity A - Notification ( * )
Entity B - Notification ( * )
Entity A - Notification ( )
Entity A - Notification ( )
Entity C - Notification ( )
Entity D - Notification ( )
Entity A - Notification ( * )
Entity A - Notification ( )
Entity A - Notification ( )
Entity B - Notification ( * )
Entity D - Notification ( * )

(all notifications are displayed in order of arrival, newest first)
As I recall, the list would just grow and grow, so it would never be empty.

Now, the Inbox behaves as follows

Entity A ( * )
- Notification ( * )
- Notification ( )
- Notification ( )
- Notification ( * )
- Notification ( )
- Notification ( )
Entity B ( * )
- Notification ( * )
- Notification ( * )
Entity C ( )
- Notification ( )
Entity D ( * )
- Notification ( )
- Notification ( * )

with the entities sorted by which ever has had the most recent notification.
(clicking on a notification will remove the unread indicator, just like the old way).

This can mean that the ‘read’ notifications belonging to A are taking up vertical space ahead of the notifications from B (and D).
In other words, the first notification from B was previously in ‘2nd place’ but is now down in ‘7th place’.

If I understood @Matt_Blais’ suggestion, he thinks it might be useful to allow group-by-entity to be a toggle-able option, and when enabled, show the inbox like this:

> Entity A ( * )
> Entity B ( * )
> Entity C ( )
> Entity D ( * )

where each entity can be individually expanded/collapsed to show all the notifications contained within:

> Entity A ( * )
v Entity B ( * )
- Notification ( * )
- Notification ( * )
> Entity C ( )
> Entity D ( * )

If I understood @YvetteLans’ suggestion , she thinks it might be preferable to show it like this:

Entity A ( * )
- Notification ( * )
> ...
Entity B ( * )
- Notification ( * )
> ...
Entity C ( )
- Notification ( )
Entity D ( * )
- Notification ( )
> ...

I don’t personally have any idea for which (if either) would be more preferred over the current implementation by the majority of users, but I do have questions that help with my understanding of your Inbox usage:

• What is the value of keeping ‘read’ notifications in the ‘Do Today’ part of the Inbox?

• Are you choosing to not move them to Done, because you want to have a visual reminder of something that still needs attention? If so, why not move them to Later (since that is the intended purpose of the Later tab)?

• Are you just not moving them to Done (or Later) because it’s too much bother to click on either of the buttons?

• Would you prefer it if the mere act of clicking on a notification would automatically change its state (to Later/Done)?

I think the designer of the Inbox assumed that in most cases, a user would choose to take a deliberate action (move to Later or Done) at the time of reading a notification, or shortly thereafter.
So I feel like understanding the answers to the above questions will help figure out why this assumption (and others) might not align with your usage.

My original questions:

@Chr1sG

Can’t you mark all Done for a given entity, and clear them all at once?

@Chr1sG

I don’t get it. Isn’t it a single step to mark all as done?

were quick attempts at elucidation on these points, but I now gather that they were taken as dismissive attempts to suggest that you were using Fibery in the wrong way which was not my intention.

[Illusory]

@Chr1sG

I think the designer of the Inbox assumed that in most cases, a user would choose to take a deliberate action (move to Later or Done) at the time of reading a notification, or shortly thereafter.

I think this is the primary disconnect. Take, for example my Gmail:

I have many “unactioned” emails, and I don’t necessarily want to act on every single one, or at least right away. The information (email) is there if I need it, and I get a quick view of it (as a one-liner or row) as it comes in, but as an admin, I’m not interested in taking action on them (like moving them to Later or Done) as that is a massive waste of time. Imagine every email above showing 5 or more replies within each thread… it would take up a lot of real estate.

I suspect other users (obviously @B_Sp) may feel the same way.

The sentiment in the topic (so far) is that inbox features are extremely useful, but they can also feel cluttered and make it challenging to prioritize alerts (especially for situations like the screenshot I provided above).

[Chr1sG]

@Illusory

I think this is the primary disconnect. Take, for example my Gmail

I wonder if the analogy with an email inbox is also partly driving the differences in mental model.

By which I mean, unlike an email, a notification in Fibery does not itself contain any information. Rather it is a timestamped record of something happening, and may contain a pointer to another object (entity, user, automation, etc.). It is often a prompt to the user to do something.

In that way, it is more akin to an indicator message in the notification bar of a mobile phone.
“Something has happened, click here to acknowledge and/or dig deeper”

For some mobile apps, clicking on the notification (and getting taken to the relevant source) will implicitly clear the notification from the list. In other cases, the notification persists until deliberately cleared (e.g. by swiping). Fibery is like the latter I suppose.

Fibery’s notification system is clearly not an exact analog of mobile notifications though, since notifications can be moved (e.g. from Do Today to Later or Done) which is maybe somewhat similar to using email folders. But then again, maybe it is more like a to-do list

I only say all of this, because I think different people perceive notifications in different ways, so we need to be careful about making behavioural/design changes that might improve the UX for some but worsen it for others.

Of course, the community is the perfect place for people to express their preferences and describe their mental models. But if I (or others) ask questions to understand, it’s not because we don’t value a person’s contribution.

[Illusory]

@Chr1sG

a notification in Fibery does not itself contain any information.

Apologies, by “information”, I meant another object (entity, user, automation, etc.) Like from my screenshot.

“Deleted comment” (information/pointer?)
“Deleted comment” (information/pointer?)
… (information/pointer?)
… (information/pointer?)
… (information/pointer?)

Additionally, I meant information as in a comment.

e.g.
[o.O] Josiah mentioned

@ChrisG this is what I mean by information! You can see this right now in your inbox, which is great… but you will also see a lot of other comments below/above and other “pointers” → object; which is also great… but sometimes it can be a bit much, since it takes up a lot of real estate. (information/pointer?)

@Chr1sG

In that way, it is more akin to an indicator message in the notification bar of a mobile phone.
“Something has happened, click here to acknowledge and/or dig deeper”

Yes, but the difference between Fibery and Mobile Notifications is that alerts from the same app (or, in Fibery’s case, entity) are minimal or limited in size by default. All subsequent alerts from the same app are “grouped” but are behind each other and are limited to 5 lines of text (I believe).

Furthermore, you can expand or show fewer “object pointers” per app if you prefer.

@Chr1sG

I only say all of this, because I think different people perceive notifications in different ways, so we need to be careful about making behavioural/design changes that might improve the UX for some but worsen it for others.

Totally agree! Which is why I believe keeping the inbox as-is while adding a “Collapse All/Expand All” option seems like the simplest solution. This feature would allow users to minimize notifications for each entity, making it easy to see all alerts as one-liners. Additionally, the “Expand All” option would restore the original display.

[B_Sp]

Thanks again @Illusory this is a great analogy with the phone notifications! That might be the best example where you see the notification, but might not want to put in the time (split seconds count) to actually get rid of them. Your overall point of putting in the effort to remove the notification is key here. We like to just glance, period - I explained this here:

@B_Sp

• start scrolling through the updates, you could see them at a glance because each entity’s took up one line
• react as you see fit - click, respond, or just read and leave untouched

Thanks again!