Multiple chats sessions with same contact in S4B window ?

[Peter Okorn]

I see multiple instances of chats with the same contact.  This is really cluttering up my Skype for Business app window in both my mobile iOS and my desktop app.

Example:

Chat session with Joe at 10:00 for 10 minutes

Chat session with Joe again at 14:00 for 15 minutes

Now I see two separate chat streams with the same contact.  Why isn't this singular?  If I have a chat session with Joe and i do not actively remove/delete that chat session, shouldn't it just continue the next time one of us write?

Is this by design?  Do I need to adjust something in Skype for Business Admin on 365? 

I am using latest builds .  iOS Version 6.11.1.310 and Mac OSX 16.2.156

Please help, this is sure to cause complaints amongst staff and I expect will introduce user acceptance numbers to drop.  Especially if this is to be compard to WhatsApp, or any attempt to replace WhatsApp.

Cheers p

[#2]

Curious if this will also address the issue of deleted threads reappearing (happens on my iOS device, not Windows)?  It was mentioned previously, but I didn't see anything indicating if this will be fixed too.

[#3]

It's coming up to summer in the southern hemisphere now...

Really need all the same contact to have the same thread for all sessions. 

Should we expect an update or wait and hope for our orgs to be switch the teams?

[#4]

Summer has been and gone in the UK and the problem still hasn't been resolved.

[#5]

I don't believe M$ will ever correct this issue. As a System Administrator in the middle of a G Suite to Office 365 migration, it has been very disappointing to see that for now there is no comparable, reliable instant message option, in my opinion, offered by M$ 0365. Furthermore, they have already been indicating that they will be phasing out S4B into M$ Teams.  More information here. It doesn't make a lot of sense for them to put much more time or development into S4B when it will eventually go away.

[#6]

Hello, Loren:

We are working right now to fix the split conversation problem.  We are working to ship this in a client update before the end of 2017.

We are absolutely committed to continue supporting Skype for Business customers through client and server updates for the foreseeable future. Of course, we will encourage customers to move to Teams as they are able, but we recognize that many of our customers, especially on-premises customers, will not be able to make that move for years.  So Skype for Business is a long-term commitment for us.

Phil Garding

[#7]

Summer of 2017 has come and gone. Has this been rolled out yet?

It baffles me that S4B behaves like this and cant get it right after all these years while the regular Skype (free version) does a marvelous job at it

[#8]

Hi Phillip,

That fix is really a very important fix for my Company.

Do you know when it will be available?

There is any official roadmap for Skype For Business where the fix is listed?

Thank you,

[#9]

We are working on a solution for this, as I said.  We'll preview this in an insider build when it is ready.  Sorry, we don't have a public roadmap for the Skype for Business app.

Phil.

[#10]

Nick, summer 2017 has come and gone.  Where is this fix?  This issue makes the product all but unusable for standard Day-to-day use cases.

[#11]

Braedon - we are working on a fix for this, and it is internal testing right now.  Since there are many different combinations for multiple conversations, we want to be very careful to make this rock solid before we release the fix.  I expect to release a fix in Q1 of 2018.

[#12]

Where can we follow progress on this fix?

[#13]

We will release the feature for evaluation in the Insider Fast and Insider Slow builds before it is released generally.  Here is a link to the Insider release documentation.  Here is a link to documentation on how to opt-in to the insider program.

Phil.

[#14]

I am running on the Insider Slow build running 16.13.182 and this issue has not been resolved. 

[#15]

We haven't exposed the feature in the insider build yet. We are still testing this internally. We'll announce it in the release notes for the insider builds when it is available (possibly in January).

[#16]

"Possibly in January" --This thread was started in January. Initial timeline for the fix was "summer 2017", followed by a estimate of "October 2017", then pushed to "end of year 2017", and now "possibly in January", a full year after the issue was raised. I'm not holding my breath Phillip.

[#17]

I just wonder what kind of user research is done on these products.  Anyone who uses it would encounter the annoyance of having many instances of chats with the same person.  

Such functionality was available in AIM.

[#18]

Braedon Sziklasi - I understand your skepticism.  I look forward to surprising you.  This particular fix is very complex.  There are many combinations and edge cases with how IMs are exchanged, timing of messages, whether Server Side Conversation History and IM auto archiving are disabled, and so on.  We have been testing this internally, and we have had a lot of feedback that we need to evaluate and act on before it is ready to give out to Insider customers. 

@Michael Perla We get user input in many ways, including lab studies, preview programs, Insider releases, internal dogfood testing, forum comments, and product support.  You are absolutely right that this behavior has been an issue for a long time.  I apologize for the length of time it has taken to address it.

Phil.

[#19]

Still a problem after all this time. This is really a pain to use.

How about the Standard Desktop Skype team take over this problem for the S4B team. They seem to have no problem handling this issue ... 1 to 1 and Group conversations are all nicely organized ... and they can even be continued in the same thread at any time later.

... but saying that it's to be expected ... there's an awful lot that works better in the standard desktop app.

[#20]

I am on the latest code, and I still am seeing multiple chats sessions with same contact in S4B window.  Has anyone found that this latest code is resolving this?

[#21]

No, according to the latest post from an MS Dev, they are still working on this and don't have an ETA as to when it will be solved.