Hi all of you!

I'm happy to say that the team has finally pushed the new message center live. They know this was a big, big issue for you guys, and that you've all been fairly patient with the temporary fixes they've pushed while they worked on this. I wanted to go over some of the changes here with you today, so you can all feel comfortable using the new UI.


There are now 3 Different places to accept gifts - If you like keeping track of your gifts, please keep in mind that the limits are total, across all methods.

Method #1 Requests Page
You can go directly to your Apps/Games page to see all your requests and accept them from there.




Method #2 App Preview Panel
Some of you may have noticed that you can see small thumbnails on the upper right side. Those are your most used apps, and the number indicated new messages/requests. Click on the Gardens of Time icon and a drop down list will appear, where you can click to accept gifts. This will take you to a confirmation screen, where you can choose to send back a gift if you like.





Method #3
In-Game Message Center
This has recently been updated so you can view all of your gifts and help requests on one page, or view them separately. A quick refresher - Gifts are items you get to keep, sent by your friends, and Help Requests are where you will see your friends plead for your help building their Buildings/Wonders or other items they need.




Some of the new actions you can take are:
  • Accept and Send (return) all of your gifts in One click
  • Accept and Send individual gifts
  • Accept (and close) a gift - without reciprocating
  • Some gifts are "collapsed." Click the small arrow to see a list of thumbnails for each friend


If you have an inordinate amount of friends, and you’re drowning in Gifts and Help requests ~ you may want to pick and choose certain items to claim, or certain friends to help (or ignore, by pressing the X in the right corner of the request) -then- go and choose Accept and Send all Gifts.

If you want further control, while still saving off minutes of your time,
1) pick and choose the gifts/requests you want,
2) and then choose either Gifts, or Help requests, and mass reply.

For example, if you’re the chivalrous type, after you’ve accepted what you need to, you could go mass reply to all your help requests before mass replying to your gifts - that way, if you reach your limit somewhere, you know that all or most of your friends have been helped first.

If you often receive dozens of gifts and help requests, it’s best to accept them all - you’ll get more, and messages can and do expire. It also can make your inbox a tad unwieldy to navigate if it’s filled with old mail. (So be nice to the mailman)

About Refreshing!
If you think you’ve got more that need to load, hit the circular icon with the arrows (up near the green question mark icon). This will take a few seconds or longer for those with lots of mail, so hold off on the clicking for just a bit, or you might accidentally sign for an ugly lawn ornament from your cousin that you just didn’t want. (kidding)


I'm going to share this with the team, so this article will be available in the Knowledge center as well.
Happy gifting!

=Stripes=