Exploring an @mentions folder

How do you use @mentions today, as both the mentioner and the mentionee? Can you give a brief example?

We use them mostly within our workspaces to communicate with direct team members. Our internal support team also asks users to tag us so we gain access to view conversations within other workspaces we're not normally a member of. 

When you're deciding what to focus on in your inbox, what role does being mentioned play in your prioritization?

I don't use mentions specifically. I use my inbox and snooze to manage things. I may choose to snooze a message I was mentioned in for follow up, but I don't use the mention itself for anything. For items that will take longer I use a tag to keep those on my radar. 

Imagine you open the mentions section for the first time. What pieces of information would you need to see immediately to understand what it is and what you need to do next?

I think seeing the last mention in the conversation, and a clear indication of what inbox the message is in would be helpful. 

If this mentions section worked perfectly, what would it help you accomplish? Alternatively, what problems would it solve for you today?

I would personally only use a mentions section to look up past mentions when I can't find a conversation, but recall that I was mentioned in it. 

Let's say you are mentioned in a single conversation five different times over the course of an hour. What would you need to see in a mentions section to efficiently deal with those five mentions?

Personally, the last mention would be the main thing I'd need. 

Regarding the mock up, I'm not sure I understand the purpose or intended use case. Seeing the mentions stacked isn't as helpful as seeing them in the flow of the conversation, IMO. Maybe I'm missing the point though. Lol

Ah, let me provide a bit more context. In this mockup, we’re just showing a case where you happen to be mentioned in a comment and an email. This is just a regular conversation thread! I’m more interested in your thoughts on the blue box around the comment mention.

I was confused by the 1/2 mentions in the upper right of the blue box. Is it aggregating mentions? If I'm not mistaken doesn't an at mention in an email just add you as a recipient now? I'm not seeing the connection between the mention in the email vs the internal comment mention. 

​@rmace Yes, it is aggregating mentions. The 1 of 2 is meant to show you that you are mentioned twice in this conversation, once in a comment and once in an email. One of the use cases for mentions in emails is to draw your attention to an action or something you need to do, so this aggregation experience would encompass both comment and email mentions.

I can definitely see where that would be helpful to some. We don't currently use mentions in that way so I'm not sure how we'd possibly be able to incorporate it. Always nice to have new ways to explore though!

​@conniechen 
I personally do not think the segregation of @mentions into a separate folder is an ideal design.

In my view the “Open” inbox should contain all items that require attention, and to remove @mentions out is to suggest that they are of lower importance. Often with @mentions there is a team member that is liaising with a customer that is seeking input or guidance from another team member. So to me they are of equal importance to attend to as personally received or assigned conversations.

It would also remove the utility of the “hide sidebar” feature, as you would not see the @mentions come in at all unless you expand the sidebar and look for them.

To your other questions see below response:
 

1. @mentions are used for cross collaboration across team members in solving messages from customers. This can be for action required by another team member to progress the enquiry, seeking input/guidance, reviewing draft emails, and FYIs
2. To me they are of equal weight/importance as other messages (per my comment above). If my inbox is under control I will just leave on the Open tab and attend to enquires as they come in. At times when I am behind, I might filter my view by @mentions and attend to these in bulk (as they are often of a similar theme)
3. When you open the @mention section for the first time, normally there are 2 things you are looking for: the comment; the context. This is a scenario where I think AI summaries are actually useful because the context is not clear without reading the chain. Appreciate that this can get messy when messages and comments pile up and it can be difficult to identify where you need to come into the conversation. 
4. I think the current @mentions is a reasonably strong feature, so do not believe it requires major overhaul. I think the weakness in @mentions is that people tend to stay subscribed longer than they need, and end up drowning in excessive conversations. Perhaps modifying the Archive button to give the option of “Archive and “Unsubscribe” or “Archive and stay Subscribed” would encourage users to take the most appropriate course of action at the time they are Archiving (similar to how you have Send, Send and Snooze, Send and Archive). 
5. Ideally I want to come in at the first “unread” @mention, so I can work my way down from there (rather then the last @mention). This way you can get the context from above, and then understand the development moving down. Ideally this is dynamic and if a conversation is re-opened in your Subscribed by new Activity (once it has been archived/snoozed) then it takes you to the newest @mention for the reopen.

In terms of general feedback about the “outlined” box and the counter, I think these are both good improvements.
 

I like the idea of having a Mentions folder. If I archive a thread I am mentioned in, I have trouble finding it again. If they are in a folder, I can look at “done” and better find what I need.

When I am mentioned in a thread, I prioritize this, as it is used by my team when they need my eyes on something, they are asking how to proceed, or needing me to step in as an escalation.

We operate in a high-volume, fast-paced environment, and @mentions are one of the most critical ways we communicate internally. Right now, the only options available are either relying on an unstable workaround or requiring users to manually apply filters in the Subscribed section every time they need to check for @mentions. Neither approach is feasible, the workaround is inconsistent, and filters reset after app refreshes or device changes. This creates unnecessary friction and significantly increases the risk of missing time-sensitive communication.

A dedicated Mentions section would eliminate these issues entirely by giving our team a consistent, reliable way to see and respond to @mentions in real time.

How do you use @mentions today, as both the mentioner and the mentionee? Can you give a brief example?

@mentions are our real-time communication channel for internal support, escalations, and quick updates. A quick simple example If someone needs technical help, they’ll @mention my team directly in a thread, and we do the same when we need another team to take action or when an issue is resolved.

Because we work out of Shared Workspaces, where our rules for tagging, archiving, and routing function correctly, the Subscribed section ends up filled with duplicate conversations from all 50+ shared inboxes. The only conversations we actually need to see there are @mentions.

To make @mentions visible, we created a workaround using user-specific tags and a rule that applies the tag whenever someone is mentioned. Team members then filter their Open or Subscribed view by their tag. This worked for a while, but it has become unreliable: tags don’t always apply, unrelated messages show up in filtered views, and filters reset when the app refreshes or when switching devices.

When you're deciding what to focus on in your inbox, what role does being mentioned play in your prioritization?

@mentions are the highest priority in the Subscribed section. Everything else there is already visible and managed within our shared inboxes, so an @mention is the only indicator that someone specifically needs our attention. Missing one directly impacts our ability to respond quickly or escalate an issue.

Imagine you open the mentions section for the first time. What pieces of information would you need to see immediately to understand what it is and what you need to do next?

• A list of conversations where I’ve been @mentioned.

• A detail pane showing the thread with the mention highlighted.

• An Open / Archived tab 

• Ability to archive that’s independent of the original inbox’s status, similar to how the Open Subscribed section works today.

• The ability to respond directly and archive the mention once completed.

This layout would match other Front folders and make the section immediately intuitive.

If this mentions section worked perfectly, what would it help you accomplish? Alternatively, what problems would it solve for you today?

A dedicated Mentions section would eliminate all of the inefficiencies caused by our current workaround. It would:

• Allow us to instantly see @mentions without applying filters or scrolling through hundreds of unrelated conversations.

• Reduce the risk of missed communication, especially during high-volume periods.

• Remove our reliance on tag-based rules, which are inconsistent and sometimes fail.

• Provide a clean, reliable space to respond to and complete mention-related tasks.

• Eliminate the noise created by duplicate conversations in Subscribed

Our workflows today rely heavily on speed and clarity. A functioning Mentions section would restore both.

Let's say you are mentioned in a single conversation five different times over the course of an hour. What would you need to see in a mentions section to efficiently deal with those five mentions?

Ideally, I would see the conversation only once in the Mentions section. If I archive it after the first mention and get tagged again later, the conversation should reopen automatically and appear again with a new indicator showing additional mentions.

what do you think of this treatment of multiple mentions in the same conversation?

I really like the mock that displays a “1 out of X mentions” format — that’s a clean, simple, and intuitive way to show multiple mentions within the same conversation without cluttering the list.

1. How do you use @mentions today, as both the mentioner and the mentionee? Can you give a brief example?
   On our team, mentions are primarily used for internal collaboration prior to the response to a customer. Being able to keep all of the conversation within the thread ensures that we can get input from all of the necessary voices while keeping all of the context together. At this time, our team does not use the standalone discussion feature - mentions are always within the context of a customer-facing email thread.
    
2. When you're deciding what to focus on in your inbox, what role does being mentioned play in your prioritization?
   I treat mentions in the same way I do any other message in my inbox. I appreciate seeing all of the conversations I’m involved in (whether internal or external) in one location. From there, I can triage everything and respond/archive/snooze accordingly. 
    
3. Imagine you open the mentions section for the first time. What pieces of information would you need to see immediately to understand what it is and what you need to do next?
   Personally, I don’t see much use for a dedicated mentions area. I like having everything together.
    
4. If this mentions section worked perfectly, what would it help you accomplish? Alternatively, what problems would it solve for you today?
   See #3
    
5. Let's say you are mentioned in a single conversation five different times over the course of an hour. What would you need to see in a mentions section to efficiently deal with those five mentions?
   Knowing that I’ve been mentioned in the conversation is enough for me. Just like any other conversation in Front, I know that there may have been multiple messages exchanged since the last time I viewed the conversation.

How do you use @mentions today, as both the mentioner and the mentionee? Can you give a brief example?

I am mostly mentioned than a mentioner, from my team needing guidance, suggestions or wanting to highlight a snippet of an email in a comment for reference. 
 

When you're deciding what to focus on in your inbox, what role does being mentioned play in your prioritization?

As the manager of a client-facing team, my current “subscribed” is the first thing I open, before anything else in the “Open” section, starting with anything that I see on the conversation list has a comment at the bottom (so basically mentions to me) and once that’s done, I will move to the conversations that don’t have a new comment, because for those I have actioned something and I want to follow it until I know everyone’s fine and I can unsubscribe. 
Therefore I think a separate Mentions section would be extremely useful for the separation, but I would like it to be closer to Open than the mock-up.

Imagine you open the mentions section for the first time. What pieces of information would you need to see immediately to understand what it is and what you need to do next?

Workspace and inbox, a preview with the comment that has the mention I haven’t yet seen (note - in the event of multiple comments, I would prefer the preview to be the mention first, then when I expand the conversation, see the other comments), tags, assignee, time stamp so in essence not that different from the current conversations list. 

If this mentions section worked perfectly, what would it help you accomplish? Alternatively, what problems would it solve for you today?

I think right now I am used to the flow with my Subscribed but it could help me see mentions and other things more clearly so it’d be a bit more efficient. It would only help though if there is no overlap as otherwise it’d make it worse. 

Let's say you are mentioned in a single conversation five different times over the course of an hour. What would you need to see in a mentions section to efficiently deal with those five mentions?
Definitely like the mock-up and not separate comments - potentially a mentions counter per conversation/task etc on the list. I’d like to have the option to ​​​​​​​acknowledge the mention/mark it as read (as in this case I may make 1 comment to reply to everything and everyone). I would also like the option to switch between first unreplied/unread mention and not the latest (in my use case it would be because that person may have a client waiting the longest).

Extra: Mentions and Subscribed Q
With the above use-case I would then want to avoid duplication in the “Subscribed” - if that’s already part of settings/preferences that you have already taken into account, that’s great (or perhaps I’ve missed some settings on mine) but if not I’d want to make sure that there is a clear differentiation in how subscribed and mentioned work as they are not always correlated (i.e. not all mentions mean I need to remain subscribed to a conversation; equally I may subscribe to a conversation a team member is having if I want oversight, but they haven’t called me to action with a mention). 
This is also why I would want them to be in Open, but after today’s webinar I know I can potentially customise the sidebar myself to make them more prominent 

​@anthonyv Good callout. To clarify, our thinking now is that what shows in @mentions also still shows up in Open, ensuring Open is truly representative of everything. The mentions folder would behave the same as the tasks and discussions folders we’re re-introducing, essentially serving as quick access to that specific list of conversations.

​@marta In our current implementation, there would be duplication between Subscribed and @mentions. A conversation that mentions you would also show up in your Subscribed (that is also the behavior today). With this change, the benefit is you would have one place to view only the conversations where you are mentioned.

I think what you’re saying is, if you are @mentioned in a conversation, then you would not want to see the conversation in subscribed. Would your ideal workflow then be to manually subscribe to the conversation only if needed?

Thanks ​@conniechen all clear! 
Based on this, the difference between manually subscribing and manually unsubscribing feels minimal, so it’s likely that I wouldn’t use the dedicated @mentions section that much, other than potentially being able to search a conversation I remember I was tagged in quickly. But then this may as well be easier to do in the search bar than to have a dedicated view.