Have a location for 'draft' messages, like there is for 'saved'.
f you write an email and don't send it, the window stays open and it's saved in your drafts folder.. If you write an IM in SFB and don't send it the window or tab stays open.... end of the day when you are closing down you find you've got maybe several emails and chat messages you didn't send.
With Teams and it's single pane, if you are distracted when writing a message (channel, 1:1, or group), and you navigate away, there is no way to know unless you go back.. but if I'd gone to the bottom of my 'recent chats' to somebody I don't often talk to, or one of the many many channel posts that I was half way through replying to.
There is no way I can see to know they exist.
It would be awesome to have a 'drafts' view, like how there is a 'saved' view at the moment.
Also, having this across devices would be great, start a post on mobile, and finish on desktop etc
Graham Cropley
shared this idea
29 comments
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Andreas
commented
This happened to me most of the time when the answer is longer and the change for distraction ist higher.
I found this solution for me. Before starting to write the answer I mark the message as unread. Then write the message. If I'm distracted and didn't send it the chat shows an unread message and the answer didn't get lost.
It would be great, if the unread flag would be set automatically, when you have an unsend message and select another chat, team etc. or end teams.
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Anonymous
commented
Just happened to me again. We really need this handled better!
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Wesley
commented
I've just noticed I've got the same issues with my team as well. Please add this feature in Teams! It would help us out allot!
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Owen Blacker
commented
I keep coming across exactly this issue.
An easy part-solution might be to update the single-line preview of the latest message (see attached), so that it reads "Draft:" with the start of the message instead of showing the previous message, and sort that user to the top, using the timestamp of the last Draft save instead of the timestamp of the last message sent or received.
That way if I forget about a draft message for several days, it might still fall off the top screen-ful of messages, but at least I'd be able to see if for a while.
And it has the benefit of (probably) being quicker to implement that a Draft messages view, so you could roll it out sooner, whilst you're still finishing the larger piece 😉
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Donna
commented
My team recently switched from Slack to Teams and this is driving us crazy!! We have missed sending so many messages and not realized it until much later. We really need a drafts view like Slack has.
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Anonymous
commented
There should be a filter for unsent messages. There is one for unread messages.
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Anonymous
commented
Teams needs a very visible alert for unsent draft chat messages.
For example, I draft a message, and my attention gets redirected, leaving an unsent message.
The only way I can find it again is by 1) remembering that I didn't complete the message, 2) Remembering to whom I was sending it, and 3) locating that person's chatThere should be some "in your face" alert "Hey buddy, you didn't send this message yet!"
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David Watkin
commented
Not sure why I can't log in with my work email account.
absolutely. this is a major issue for me.
With so many Teams chats coming in as distractions it is difficult to remember to complete and hit send. -
Graeme Jack
commented
Agreed. This happens to me so often with new chats that it's counterproductive and just plain frustrating as heck. I would never opt to use this software if it wasn't for the employers preferring this product for who knows why. But seriously, how can a billion dollar company be happy with this horrible interface and functionality and not have a team of people fixing these things immediately. it's brutal.
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Janet
commented
Yes, this would be helpful
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Tori
commented
Also a place to find a drafted post that was erased when a computer restart is required...
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Anonymous
commented
Yes please! Myself and colleagues frequently find we've written a message and not pressed enter!
Any other package would prompt you in some way, but in Teams the message can sit forgotten and unfinished for weeks!
Nice that it seems to retain the draft text OK, but frustrating when you find it, or a colleague says "Oh I forgot to press enter!". -
Dom
commented
Completely agree, this is also a feature that some competing products have, I get too get distracted and then have to hunt down my unsent / draft messages which is a painful process. Highlighting these, maybe by moving them to the top of the chats in the chat list (or other visual indicator) would save me time and frustration.
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Todd J.
commented
Yes. It would be ideal to see an indicator in each respective chat in the left panel notifying users that a draft has been written.
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Val
commented
This is similar to another post (https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/37883389-allow-draft-chats-to-persist-in-the-recent-nav-b) and I'll add the same comment to this thread that I did for that thread:
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE add this to the Teams functionality! At least a couple times a week I open a chat from someone and see an old draft reply I started to write but then forgot about due to other incoming chats, etc. When I start a chat with someone I've never chatted with before, it moves it to the top of the list on the left with a "draft" indication. However for someone I've chatted with in the past, drafts are not indicated, there is absolutely nowhere to go to see what still remains incomplete or unsent. This is maddening!!!!
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Anonymous
commented
It also happened to me, lost an important draft full of pictures and links! This feature is a MUST.
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Anonymous
commented
Oh my goodness please give us this functionality. I navigated away from a very well-written message (that I did not post yet) to join a call in Teams and poof - my message was gone when I tried to go back. Not cool, Microsoft. You need to recognize that today's Teams user is very dynamic and so your application needs to reflect the real-world user experience.
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James
commented
Very annoying as teams says save draft, but then it disappears and doesn't show up in outlook application
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Gideon12
commented
How could Microsoft miss such an *OBVIOUS* feature? How can the Product Group not be embarrassed by this?
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Anonymous
commented
I just lost a long message due to this functionality shortfall.
