Brendan W 100% multiple windows. I'm using the desktop app as the "action center", and then a browser window for chat.

The entry point has been helpful, but most of our team defaults to the "Home" section, and chat communications are easily unnoticed or lost. The option to pin chat specifically to a part of the app, or pop out entirely, either way so that its more visibly forward.

Brendan W Not sure why this is even a question. Of course we want the chat to be a separate window. And when you click on CU links in the chat, it opens it in your main CU window.

I generally have a separate CU window open for tasks and chats. Having a dedicated chat experience would make it so much easier.

Brendan W not really, the issue is that when I'm working on something I don't want to loose my spot to quickly respond to an ongoing chat. It used to use slack separately and it was nice that it was it's own window and messaging system. So i could respond without loosing my spot. It would be great for this to operate like that. As a independent app for windows too.

Brendan W unfortunately, the global nav is just not obvious enough for our team, so we haven't migrated into Clickup chat yet (despite wanting to do so). Chat badge count will be nice, but I don't think it solves the fundamental problem. Chats are meant to be something that is answered quickly by the team. If it's not SUPER OBVIOUS that a chat has come in, the team misses it, and the entire point of the chat is undermined. Maybe it needs to be floating window. Maybe it needs to be chat trays like gmail or floating heads like FB. Or maybe it just needs a separate desktop app dedicated to the chat specifically (I'd actually really like this – especially if there were a notification badge count on it). Bottom line: It's just too hidden now.

Brendan W I use multiple windows of the desktop app. The main problem I run into is that I want to look at a notification or chat and when I do that I lose where I was. I know I can arrow back but its inconsistent how it works. If each of the nav buttons on the left side had their own memory of where I last was that might help. But I think what would be better is if the ui supported tabs so that I could organize my workspace based on what I am doing. For example, when I working on Chrome, there are activities I do that only needs one tab. However, there are other that need many.

Brendan W I haven't found anything that helps address this problem. Even with multiple ClickUp windows, at some point I will inevitably click on something in my "chat" window that takes me to a task, or click on a chat notification that takes my "task" window to a chat message. As a result I either end up with two chat windows or two task windows.

Also, since both windows have the same icon, I often end up clicking on the "wrong" one. Two windows is just clunky, and actually makes my workflow less efficient.

I would love to see a separate chat app that handles all chat links so that the main app can be used for tasks. If I click a chat notification or a chat link in the main window, it would open the chat app. If I click a task link in the chat app, it would open the main ClickUp app.

Brendan W Yes we use separate windows, but since it's still all "clickup", links get opened in my "Chat" window and then I move away from chat to a task, etc, or vice versa. Super irritating. I usually have to have 3 windows open and TRY to keep a chat window static, but it's tough. A separate window with a link-targeting solution unique to chat would be great. An option to live in an expandable tab in the bottom-right corner of the existing window would be good to have as well if I'm in a task and want to just pop it up to respond quickly or something. As long as I could expand it to be large enough (or smaller if I want) - similar to the notepad's two sizing options.

Brendan W Most of our company fell back to using Whatsapp, Slack or any other standalone messenger because workarounds with opening different instances of ClickUp isn't intuitive to everyone and often fails when someone clicks a link to a shared ClickUp task through other messengers, it either opens up in your chat window and steals the focus or opens in the other window with tasks. A separate pop-out for Chat would be huge for us to get adoption back.

In my opinion, a separate chat system from the rest of the clickups is needed.

The update improves the experience a little bit but it doesn't solve the problem.

Thank you!

Not really using the chat entry point in the global nav to go back and forth at all as I would loose my place too often.

I use multiple windows. I keep chat with the team running on the desktop application while I use the browser version to keep what I'm working on/task list/meeting agendas on the browser version. Maybe it's because I use multiple screens but having the chat window open on my peripheral monitor consistently where as the work I'm focused on is on my main monitor always.

Brendan W I'm glad the Chat entry in the nav has been cleaned up, but I still need to use a separate browser window for chats. It's not feasible to click back and forth in one window btwn chats and tasks. Please - just add the ability to pop it out somehow.

Brendan W - I'm currently having to use multiple desktop apps, one in Chrome and from Brave web app because not only can we not have chat open while we work, but being in multiple workspaces with the same email address, we can't easily toggle between them with a single chat/channel notification system (like Slack). I have my workspace, but also encourage my clients to use Clickup and I assist them with setting up their workspaces. So I open web apps from different browsers for chat/channels and have those open while I work using different browsers to be able to see activity from multiple workspaces.

Brendan W we use desktop, and yes, some of us use multiple windows so we can have chat going while working in a task or whatever. While I think you guys have done a great improvement with the chat integration compared to the first iteration, I feel that having some type of dockable window would be great. One that can float around the page or get pinned to an area would be a bonus

Brendan W Basically, yes. I keep a separate tab open for Sync Ups and chats if it is an ongoing conversation. The principle of the entire thing is that if I'm having hte chat inside ClickUp, it almost always is about something that is happening inside ClickUp. So I'm navigating around for information.

An additional iteration of this tool would be a popup in the top right corner (similar to MacOS) that allows a few quick features, like pin, snooze, react and reply.

Brendan W I've got about at least 5 different windows open for ClickUp all the time. Would be really great to have tabs within ClickUp so you can toggle more easily.

Brendan W As per most of the other comments, desktop app for chat and work on tasks in the browser. I need to see notifications as they arrive, the chat window is always in a fixed position on my monitor.

Not a great solution though:

Brendan W I tend to open a lot of windows, but the biggest issue is that I often lose track of where I’m keeping my chats. Because it's so easy to navigate away to another part of ClickUp, I end up opening even more tabs just to find my way back. I don't have a dedicated window for communication. I think a good solution would be the ability to 'freeze' the chat view or lock it in place, so I can't accidentally navigate away from it.

Brendan W, we are using multiple browser or application windows, but since it is not persistent, it is too easy to navigate away from chat and end up with lots of windows that are not a persistent chat.

Brendan W We use chat (and channels) in a separate window, would prefer it as a pop up option that lives at the bottom/top/side of my screen that does not take over the screen. Similarly would love this feature with SyncUp when calling it takes over my window so I have to open another.

Brendan W Absolutely multiple windows. The biggest issue, though, is that every window uses so much memory that I'm constantly being told my system usage levels are high. Even worse when using SyncUp.

Brendan W - I feel like using Brain Max is a missed opportunithy here

Brendan W right now i use the desktop app as my chatbox and browser for all other functions.

Brendan W Chat entry point is helpful but it is not a solution. We migrated from Slack to ClickUp chat and it is really great to have everything in one place but the main problem I encounter is when working on a task I need to go to chat to check something out, returning is a real pain in the ass unless I remember to minimize the task to tray. My usual way to handle this is having multiple ClickUp windows open - one for tasks, other for chat or handling chat on mobile. I don't think there is really a smart way of integrating chat in same window with tasks/lists that would function as well as separate apps/windows.

Brendan W Desktop nav is perfect. Mobile, I think, is where the real UX improvement can be made. I only have 1-2 'beefs' with the mobile UI, and having to nav out of the current thing you're looking at to get to the menu bar for quick adding and opening tools like Chat or Docs or Brain is what gets me. I think that's the real UI improvement lever to pull: maybe the bottom Nav Pill always being accessible, if not just hidden but expandable, when you go away from the home page?

Brendan W Unfortunately, multiple tabs because I didn't like the performance of the desktop app. One tab for chats, one for work. And yes, I mix them up frequently, so it is kind of a disaster.

Chat entry point only messed up my workflow.

Brendan W Also came from Slack and migrated to ClickUp chat. Right now my workaround is running two windows stacked vertically on a second monitor, one for tasks and one for chat. I only discovered ClickUp app allows two windows recently.

Dedicated tools for dedicated functions still feels like the most efficient workflow. Chat is something you need to access instantly, without breaking context. Having to close a task, navigate to Chat, then find your way back introduces too much friction. More often than not, I get pulled into something else along the way and lose focus. I wanted to stick with Slack for this reason.

Hi Brendan W,

the dedicated Chat entry point has helped, but it's difficult to distinguish direct communication (chat) from task communication (comments) in the badges.

Communication in chat often requires quick follow up in our company workflow and it would really help to be able see in a chat-dedicated taskbar badge if someone is trying to reach me on an urgent matter and then quickly navigate to that chat

Brendan W I actually find the most recent chat UI more confusing - it's something about the hover action on the sidebar, I feel like I'm often clicking on something but then not really being 'in' that part of the UI.

Like the other commenters I also rely heavily on multiple windows when working.

Brendan W Another entry point doesn't solve this. You want to be able to look into a ticket and chat at the same time rather than having to move back and forth. Using separate windows is 'the next best thing', but still doesn;t work if you want to share ticket links in the chat etc.

Brendan W, I use the desktop app as my go-to for tasks and managing my team, and have a window in the browser for ClickUp Chat

A count will be helpful, but ultimately won't solve the main issue of taking away from the current activity I am doing, and the notifications are not great either.

At this point, I think having a dedicated ClickUp Chat App (Desktop + Mobile) works better

Brendan W Multiple windows for sure.

I hate the global navigation. The UI is getting less and less user friendly with stuff all over the place. The UI is not multi-task oriented. It's procedural, one thing at the time forcing you to click 20 times to acheive a simple workflow.

Brendan W As many others have stated I also have been using two ClickUp desktop windows and have experienced many of the same annoyances that have already been mentioned. It all just feels a bit clunky this way. There's no need for me to have an entire window dedicated to chat when I'm not actively chatting, but when conversations do pop up it at least allows me to switch to chat without having to leave whatever is open in the other window.

All I'm looking for is a way to quickly view and respond to chat messages in a window without ClickUp unloading whatever page I am currently on. A floating window (Kind of like the Notepad) or side-bar (Kind of like My Work) would be a great solution. In fact, when I first started using ClickUp chat, my initial assumption was that there would be a chat button on the top right of the screen similar to these buttons.

Tim Dugan: What about the dedicated Chat entry point here? Has this helped you?

Bryan Garcia: Thanks for the feedback!

Carolyn McKinney: Thanks for the feedback!

Jeremiah Garcia: Makes sense, thanks, Jeremiah!

Bianca Shaffer: Thanks for the feedback! Browser and desktop to combat this definitely makes sense!

Susan Sloan: Thanks for that feedback! Its actually something as part of ClickUp 4.0 that we made that update, not Chat specifically.

Would more shadow or a smaller height of the pop-up when hovering be better?

Brendan W I think it's the hover action itself that doesn't work well for me to be honest. An example would be:

Hover over 'spaces' > Click specific list in hover panel > mouse moves away from panel to work in list > panel closes and main menu is still located in home, not in spaces or in the specific list.

For me this feels counter-intuitive and confusing as I have 'clicked' to enter the list but am still located outside of it in my sidebar. If you click on the 'spaces' icon first it will move you into spaces, so the logic is a bit mixed up.

The same thing happens with chat and I have removed the chat icon from my sidebar as it was too confusing for me to work with and am instead relying on pinned favourites and multiple windows.

EDIT: I have jus tried the chat icon again and can see that it does now drop you into chat in your navigation when you click on a sub item - which is good, but inconsistent with how other areas work. From what I can see:

So, just a bit inconsistent across the UI

Brendan W It has certainly assisted in knowing that there's a message I need to look for, and is a step in the right direction. I feel it is still too easy to be locked in while using the main content area and miss chat communications though.

It would also be helpful for a more prominent visual notification on the parent message when there is a new nested reply