Conversation Threading:
The Biggest Change to the GroupWise 18 Client

One of the biggest changes end users will notice is the conversation threading feature that’s on by default in the GroupWise 18 client. This feature collapses responses to messages underneath the original message that started the conversation, reducing in-box clutter.  User can quickly identify new responses to the thread too.  Here’s how it works!

End-users of the Windows client will see messages with both green and blue notification badges with numbers in them in front the subject line.  The blue notification badges indicate how many replies or messages have been “rolled up or collapsed” into the thread.  The green notification badges indicate how many unread messages are in the thread itself.

Notification Badges let you quickly know the state of the thread.

When opening the threaded conversation or viewing them in the quick viewer—the messages appear in the order they were received, from oldest on top to newest on the bottom.  Unread messages are encircled with a green border, making it very easy to visually identify what messages are currently unread.  Simply scrolling up and down the message thread (in either the message thread itself or the quick viewer) will cause the messages to be read and the green notification badge will disappear from your inbox once the message is no longer selected.

Using the Quick Viewer lets you see what messages are unread.

It is also important to know that the latest response to the thread is displayed as the message content in the inbox itself—making it very easy to see what the newest information is without having to even open or view the entire thread in the quick viewer.

For those accessing a threaded conversation through the iOS native mail app-- a double blue arrow appears on the right hand side of the screen.  Clicking on the double arrow will show the entire thread.  The message preview will display the content of the first unread message in the thread-- and will change depending on which messages have been marked as read.  A blue dot on the left of the screen will indicate if there are unread messages in the thread-- but there is no indication of how many unread messages there are.   While not strictly a part of the new desktop client-- it bears mentioning here.

Disabling or Enabling Conversation Threading

Turning conversation threading on or off is easy for end-users.  They simply have to go to the Tools menu on the top of the client window and select Options from the drop-down menu.  A pop-up window will appear of various Options available.

The Options Pop Up Menu allows you customize your GroupWise client.

Select Environment—and then under the General Tab—the option of enabling conversation threading appears as a checkbox on the right side.

You can easily turn conversation threading on or off.

Why Use Conversation Threading?

While it may take users just a bit to get used to interacting with threaded conversations—there are some key benefits they will enjoy once they understand what is going on.

• • Reduced Inbox clutter
    Collapsing messages into threads reduces the number of messages that appear in the mail inbox. This is especially helpful for messages where many people have replied.  When conversation threading is enabled, only a single message with a notification icon appears in the inbox rather than multiple unread email replies.

• • Easily located historical messages
    Because all replies are included in the thread, it is easy to locate all the messages related to the conversation—rather than trying to search back through the inbox. This is particularly helpful for conversations that have been going on over the course of weeks or months.

• • Most recent responses are front and center
    Knowing what the latest reply contains is easy when conversation threading is enabled. The contents of the last reply to the thread are displayed as the message body when scanning messages in the inbox.

• • Inclusion to message history
    When a new user is added to the threaded conversation—they get a copy of the entire threaded conversation, so they have the entire history as part of their first message.

Next up in this series: Integration Enhancements