"Lost" documents because they're uploaded to task instead of to project's Documents tab

[NikkiTo1]

Wondering if anyone else is having trouble in the New Workfront Experience with users "losing" documents that are added to a task vs. being uploaded to the project's Documents tab. We are getting reports of "lost" files because users are confused/not aware that they're uploading documents to a task and then someone needing those files is looking in the Documents tab and can't find them. I'm trying to find a way to best remedy this situation (it may just be a training issue) and looking to see if anyone else has experience with this and what worked for your team.

I am also trying to find out if it's possible to disable the ability for users to upload documents to a task, but I haven't been able to find any documentation around this.

Thank you.

[CalvinFold]

When I tested in Classic, I swore uploading documents to a task DID proliferate them to the project level.

Did this change in NWE?

[NikkiTo1]

According to my teammates, you're right. I still need to look into this more (clearly!) and just wanted to start here to see if anyone else was having this issue. Seems like it's an education issue and not a NWE issue. Thanks for your input!

[SamanthaIsin]

@Nikki Tomlinson‚ We have had reports of this happening as well, but we want users to upload documents to tasks when our tasks function as subprojects. I did group and one-on-one training for this and most of my users picked it up quick, but I have several who still struggle and keep reporting 'lost documents.'

Uploading documents in the task does proliferate them to the project level, but it can quickly get confusing. The new update to NWE that makes the project and task icons bigger and more obvious has been very helpful in helping our users who struggle know what they're looking at.

Honestly, that's the biggest problem I have with NWE (and I'm happy to say it's minor). Tasks and projects look almost identical!!! For a user who is just going through doing their job it's easy for them not to notice.

[NikkiTo1]

Hi @Samantha Isin‚

Thanks for this great feedback! I think it boils down to educating our users on this function, and it should help clear up "lost document" issues. How did you train your users? I was thinking to just show them that documents uploaded to a task also show in the Documents tab, but wondering if you have any insight from feedback given by your users or anything else helpful I can incorporate into training our users.

Also, when you say it can quickly become confusing and that NWE makes the project and task icons bigger and that helps your users -- can you show me what you're talking about? I've just added a test doc to a task and another test doc directly to the Documents tab, but I'm not seeing any difference between those icons. Unless I am not looking at the right thing.

Thank you so much for your time and help!

[SamanthaIsin]

I walked them through the process of uploading documents to projects (which they were already familiar with) and pointed out the indicators (breadcrumb trail, name of the project on proof upload, project icon, etc.) as I did so. Then I walked them through the process of uploading documents to tasks and pointed out the indicators that they were on a task. It was comforting to a lot of my users to know the process is almost identical save for opening the task.

What I mean about the icons...

Here is a project opened to the documents tab. That big purple icon wasn't there 3 weeks ago. Instead there was a smaller colored oval before the star that was easy to miss.

Here is a task open to the documents tab. (You'll see that this is the same proof that was the top option on the project. Aka, task-project proliferation) There is that nice big teal task icon. Those icons are the key indicators I use to train my users.

[NikkiTo1]

Ahhh, now I see it. I never would have noticed those icons if you hadn't shown them to me. Thanks! This all makes sense and it's good knowing your users are now more comfortable with this functionality after you trained them. Makes me feel confident my users will be able to better navigate this with some education/training.

Again, thanks so much for your help and for taking the time to respond to me multiple times. Much appreciated. 😃

[NikkiTo1]

@Samantha Isin‚ Ahhh, now I see it. I never would have noticed those icons if you hadn't shown them to me. Thanks! This all makes sense and it's good knowing your users are now more comfortable with this functionality after you trained them. Makes me feel confident my users will be able to better navigate this with some education/training.

Again, thanks so much for your help and for taking the time to respond to me multiple times. Much appreciated. 😃

[SamanthaIsin]

Happy to help!