The Private Message System has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. I invested a few weeks into it and that's a pretty good indication of how much rebuilding I actually did. It was basically the last big page (or set of pages) I had left to migrate to the new site code.


A New Side by Side Layout
This is something I've been wanting to do for years. A seamless and organized way to navigate through Private Messages that doesn't make reading and responding to them feel like a chore. Everything is nearly instant and it all loads within the page without a page refresh or having to leave the page.

When you click a message, it opens up in a box to the right, shrinking the left box to make room for the new one. When you respond to a message, another box is displayed on the right, allowing you to read and respond to the same message on the same page (this was kinda difficult before). If you need to type up a big response, simply click the 'Reply in New Window' link and it'll give you a full page dedicated to typing up that response.

Clicking the Red X at the top right of the Message window and Reply window closes those windows so that your Inbox goes back to full screen. If you have some messages that you don't want opened in the Side by Side layout, simply right click a message and choose 'Open in New Window' or Middle Click it with your Mouse (if your mouse has a middle button or a scroll wheel) and the message will open up in a new window in full page mode. In fact, you can pretty much do this with almost all of the links on the Inbox page.


Search and Filter Functionality
The previous Private Message system had no way to filter through your Private Messages at all.

You can now search for messages based on the message name using the search box. This search functionality isn't as powerful as other areas of the site but it does at least highlight your search phrase within the message topics.

You can also now filter your Private Messages based on sender. The drop down box at the top will display the users who have messaged you the most, in order, and it also shows how many messages that user has sent you.

The message search and user filter also work together. When you search for messages based on a keyword, the user dropdown will only show the users who have sent messages using that keyword. You can also select a user and then search with keywords based on messages that user sent.

All of the above can also be further filtered based on your selected inbox folder. If you've moved a lot of messages to a folder, then going to that folder will narrow down the message searching and user filtering.

It gets even better. When you go to view your sent messages, all of this search and filtering functionality is then based on messages you've sent. Easily find any message you've ever sent. It's also pretty cool seeing who you've messaged the most.


Don't like the Side by Side Layout?
If you don't the Side by Side navigation, then you can click the 'Messages' link at the top of your inbox and you'll be brought to a full page with your Private Messages that functions similar to how it use to function. You can also go to that page from here:
https://www.vizzed.com/user/messages.php

I'll eventually add an option to the Settings page that lets users use that by default. From this page, you should have all of the same functionality. I should point out that the Side by Side layout isn't used when you're on a Phone.


Folder Managing is Back
The ability to create folders was discontinued years ago, I think because of an exploit that I never got around to patching. The feature is back and you can now create folders in your inbox and then move Private Messages to those folders.


New Message Editor
The editor for sending messages is the same one used for posting. This means that it has almost all of the same features and functionality which includes clickable buttons and message saving.


Adaptable Layout
The layout adapts to your window and monitor size. The height of the windows will never exceed the height of your browser window which eliminates unnecessary scrolling and helps make the experience more seamless. If you have a narrow display, it'll shrink down to compensate by shortening unnecessary info.

The rows that display your messages are by default very minimal. Hovering over them expands the details and reveals additional information and options.


Batch Move / Delete Messages
This isn't a new feature but I figured I'd explain how it works in case it's now confusing or in case you never used it previously (it does work better now).

If you want to move or delete a bunch of messages at a time, highlight over a row and click the checkbox to the very left of all of the messages you want to perform an action on. You can also click the 'Mark All As Read' to have it automatically select all of the boxes (and you can then go through and uncheck whatever doesn't need to be checked).

The dropdown at the very left will let you choose what you want to do with the selected messages. You can move them to a folder that you've created or you can delete them by choosing the 'Delete' option (you cannot undo a deletion).


Other Stuff
-You can click the circular icon in the Message box header to 'Clear' and 'Reload' the Messages box
-The dropdown at the bottom right lets you view messages based on folder and even based on sent messages
-The Messages box refreshes with new messages
-The bottom of the Messages box not only shows how many messages were found, but it also shows how many have not been read
-A user's layout is only shown with their message if you choose to read the message on its own page


If anyone experiences any issues with the new Private Message System, let me know ASAP. I haven't thoroughly tested it yet and I couldn't get any staff members to help test it so I'm kinda launching this blindly.

This is definitely the last big project I'll be working until after summer. After this week, my focus will be off of development and will be primarily on posting and community related interactions. And also finally going through ALL of my Private Messages, which will be a lot more appealing and organized thanks to this massive update

Awesome I do have a suggestion to make this more dynamic. When you click on a message in the split view there is a ton of space there below the message box. Below that message box you should include a list of private messages that user has sent you. This would save users even more time and would eliminate them having to perform a search for messages from said user.

EDIT: Nevermind

no 8120 sent me a private message he immediately deleted-probably his big trick to try to force people to visit a page he has a trap on. No big deal there... but because he deleted it, I cannot view my PM to get rid of the notification, nor mark it for deletion without reading to eliminated it that way.

Noyb42 : Is that still an issue? If so, could you take a screenshot of what you're seeing?

JigSaw : Took some time to program that in but done At first I wasn't sure about the idea but now I like it.

Davideo7 : AWESOME, yes this is exactly like I envisioned it. Thanks for adding that! I'm sure it will help out everyone find information and messages much faster.

It's still showing a [message not found] message, but at least one of the things I did made it stop showing that I have an unread message waiting for me. Unfortunately I don't know what it was that did it.



https://snag.gy/K3ZHeG.jpg

Noyb42 : It's most likely your birthday message from Vizzed as seen in screenshot below. I checked your photo and it's same date as your birthday.

Can confirm the birthday PM bug. Just logged on and got the PM, but I can't actually open and view it. PM was sent same time as I logged in, and it is my birthday, so it would be the birthday PM.

Davideo7 : I can now confirm the cause of MESSAGE NOT FOUND bug. If you put no title in message it will deliver to other users inbox as "MESSAGE NOT FOUND". They are unable to access message unless they find ID in source code.

How can we access the 'sent' messages?

Davideo7 : It's a small thing, but when a system user private messages someone, it says that you don't have permission to read the message.

So I currently have a message from the Local Moderators account that I cannot open, and I can't open any of my past ones as well.

-This doesn't include the Vizzed system user account (I guess it's just power ranks above us?)

Oh and whichever local+ replied to my PM, if you could PM me directly, so I can actually open it, I'd appreciate it.

Actually, the bug of the system users is quite heavy, because not even I can see messages sent through the Local inbox despite having access to it and actually being able to reply through it.

The message it displays is different, though. When trying to read a system user's PM sent to me it says "You don't have permission to read this message", whereas when trying to read a message sent via a system user account I have access to it says "You can only read your own PMs".

I've had that second message pop up even on PMs I myself had sent through a system account, so it's either not recognizing who sent it (if that's the original idea, even though I don't think it's such) or they're entirely inaccessible.

Barathemos : I can't view the specific PM for some reason but I was basically saying that I had already taken care of it literally just a few minutes before I read and replied to your PM. I'd copy/paste the contents directly to you, but it seems I cannot view the sentbox of any system user.

EX Palen : I sent the PM being referenced and I can't access it either so they're entirely inaccessible both from a system user standpoint and also from the standpoint of the one who sent the PM as the system user.

When you read this thread David, also know that 1) users with access to the system users cannot view the system user sentbox, and 2) although there seems to be a new issue where people can't read system user PMs, before (a month or two ago) if I had replied as a system user it would just send the PM under my own name instead. Multiple people tried this with the same result to ensure I wasn't just being dumb.

Hello David, if you're reading this I currently am getting the same bug that multiple users have mentioned about the [Message Not Found] message displaying in their PMs and not being able to access it. I couldn't make an alternate thread about this cause I only have 1 thread per day at the moment being a novice. Sorry for digging this up just to message you about it but it's a bit of a problem and I can't exactly find out how to fix it.