How to de-activate 'Watch' Auto-default when selecting card due date

[crossropedave]

Hi all,

I've noticed some recent UI updates that have been very frustrating and I'm not sure why they were changed and how to disable.

I frequently add and change card due dates as part of my daily work flow.  I do not want to watch any of the cards on my board, but within the last 48 hours any card I add a date to automatically selects the 'Watch' function.

I do not want to have to de-select the function every single time I add or change a due date and this was never a function before.

Is anyone else annoyed by this?  Is there a way to disable?

[Jodi LeBlanc · Accepted solution]

Hi @crossropedave , the Trello Team received a lot of feedback about this autowatching feature that was recently enabled in Trello last week.  As a result they disabled the auto-watch feature on creation of new cards for now.  However as you know there is still an auto-watch enabled for any user that changes a due date on a card, that one will remain in effect for the time being. The Trello team will be monitoring the community to see user comments on any changes they have made.

I hope this helps and have a great day,

Jodi

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Also, to answer your question there is currently no way to disable this. 

[Katherine_Fox]

I'd like to second Dave's comment here - it's a very annoying feature!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Hi @crossropedave & @Katherine_Fox  The auto-watch card for date changes is still an experiment, at this time there is no way of disabling it. The Trello team is monitoring the threads, and once I know more I will update you.

Thanks so much for your patience.
Jodi

[Joseph_Nace]

Is there any update on this? I understand that it's an experiment but it is a major pain point for me and a lot of other users.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Hi @Joseph_Nace the Trello team indicated last week that this is still in experiment phase, thank you for your patience. @Eaniel Deads do you have an ETA on when this experiment will be completed? Thanks.

[Melissa Morrison]

This new "feature" is extremely frustrating and I wish the Trello team would either turn it off or give us an option to disable it on our end. I monitor/update over a hundred cards a day, which also includes updating the due dates on each card. This "feature" has become a big nuisance.

[crossropedave]

Guess I'm not the only one.  If we're all driven enough to post about, I can't imagine how many others out there are having the same issue, but not posting about it yet.

[Gary Clark]

I use Trello constantly and I noticed the auto watch feature when I change the date on a card for the first time today.  It's driving me crazy as I have 10s to 100s of cards that I change the date on constantly.  This DOES NOT WORK FOR ME.  Please help 

[Mark Limke]

@_Trello_Leader__Jodi_LeBlanc  - please, please turn this Auto-Watch feature off, or enable us to. This is so irritating to have to turn off a feature I have no use for. It seriously degrades the user experience. Test it on willing participants, not on the community as a whole. ANY feature like this needs an on/off switch.

Thanks

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Hi @Mark Limke I wish I could turn it off but I don't work for the Trello Team. I would encourage you to email support@trello.com to let them know your user experience with this feature directly.

Thank you,

Jodi

[Gary Clark]

Jodi, 

thanks for the contact info.  I have emailed them and hope for a resolution. 

Gary Clark 

[Deleted user]

I'm just going to chime in as well and say I would very much welcome an option to turn this off. Helpful for some, but certainly not for me!

Thanks

Jim

[Melissa Morrison]

I emailed them and got the following reply, which included a helpful way to turn off watching for each card without having to click on each card individually. It is something at least...

Thanks for reaching out! 

We recently enabled this change, as we found that many people didn't get the expected due date notifications because they weren't watching the card. 

There isn't currently a way to disable that, but I'll definitely pass your comments about the change along to the team. 

In the meantime, we'd recommend using Trello's keyboard shortcut to quickly un-watch the card. To do so, press the s key while the card is open or while hovering your mouse over a card like so: 

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns, and we’d be happy to help.

All the best,

Chris
The Trello Team

[Mark Limke]

Thanks, @Melissa Morrison. It's good to see a reminder about how to use keyboard shortcuts. I appreciate your sharing.

At the same time, it doesn't address the base problem. In my (and I think others') cases, the cards were not ON watch status before tweaking the date. Setting the date put them on that status, and is what we want NOT to happen.

In fact, it's just as easy after setting the date, which turns Watch on, to click to Off the Watch button right below the date set button. Easier than "s" in my opinion, since my hand is already on the mouse/trackpad.

So thanks, Trello, but that's not really helpful in addressing the underlying problem. 

[Mark Limke]

@_Trello_Leader__Jodi_LeBlanc - that's cool. I just thought that since you are labelled as Community Champion, you had some sort of channel to the Trello folks that we non-Champions lack. I do appreciate the suggestion you made and will add my voice to the ranks of the dissatisfied.

I wonder, does there exist a whole cadre of people who really were clamoring for Auto-Watch? I have a hard time believing that's true, but no data to help me know.

[Jodi LeBlanc]

 Thanks @Mark Limke yes i did contact the Trello team directly earlier this week and this has been an ongoing issue the last few months with the auto-watch feature. I meant I wish I could disable it myself for you. I have flagged the community threads to Trello team and they are monitoring them.  The support email was to be able to express your concerns around this feature directly.

I do believe this feature is useful for some  teams, but I’m unsure of the data behind it. I will keep you posted when I hear more. Thanks again for your patience on this.

Jodi

[E Clay]

Just wanted to add my vote to switch this off/make it customisable. It is driving me nuts! I don't really use the watch feature at all as I don't use trello as part of a team but I edit dates all the time. 

Now I've worked out what is causing the unwanted watches at least I can switch it off straight away but it's just an unnecessary step to remember.

I also tried to find a way to filter all the cards set to watching so I could quickly unset them but couldn't work out away to do that - is there one?

A tip for others frustrated by this - if you change the date by dragging a task in the callendar power up it doesn't seem to set it to watch. 

Liz

[Carson Buckley]

To quote above, "We recently enabled this change, as we found that many people didn't get the expected due date notifications because they weren't watching the card. "

This unfortunately means there's a problem with an intended feature (due date notification), and rather than resolve the root cause, auto-watch has been enabled as a workaround.

If this feature stays as the normal fix, then being able to disable this feature with a note that due date notifications will also be disabled, needs to be included.

Like many users, our team uses due dates for project tracking, and auto-watch causes the Lead to be flooded with notifications. We understand this being useful for some teams, but it should not be a mandatory feature.

[Dru Lockwood]

There was a similar backlash when Trello added auto watch after one would comment on a card. Then Trello added a way to disable that. Now, Trello has done the same annoying thing again, but now it's when one changes the due date? Super lame. Why not learn from the past, or at least give us the option of disabling it? We want the option to disable the auto-watch. That's a pretty easy thing to add. Please listen. Thanks

[Melissa Morrison]

That is good news but so far it doesn't look like it has rolled out to the PC desktop app. I just checked again and it is still auto-watching for me.

[Gary Clark]

My was on the online version of my PC

[Gary Clark]

Mine stopped auto watching.  Woohoo!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

That's wonderful news! 

[crossropedave]

Yes!!! Good work team.  Thanks for listening Atlassian!

[Melissa Morrison]

I wish that was true for me. I just tested it on my end, Mark. I'm using the Trello desktop app for PC and when I change a date it still auto-watches the card for me. I closed the app and restarted, still doing more of the same. :(

[Mark Limke]

Right this minute (will wait to see how the day progresses), the Auto-Watch feature is NOT auto-watching. I have changed several due dates, and the Watch function has remained OFF. 

I can still set it ON or toggle back and forth. It just isn't getting set without my wanting it.

Yea! Let's hope it stays that way!

[Jodi LeBlanc]

Fantastic to hear!