Recent searches
No recent searches
New Macros Admin pages's filter feature design is misleading and confusing
Posted Aug 05, 2024
I've seen a Macros Admin page redesign pushed to my Zendesk instance recently, and I've noticed a problem with the design of its Filter capability. The interface communicates information about the filtering state of the search to the user in a way that is both misleading and self-inconsistent, creating a frustrating and negative user experience, and impacting usability and efficiency for Agents. Overall, the interface: 1) Hides important information about the current search filter settings from the user; and 2) Misleads the user about the actual state of the search filters.
Description
When I load the Macros Admin page (in Admin Center > Workspaces > Agent Tools > Macros
), I see a consistent default state: the search bar is blank and a single filter tag is displayed, showing Status Active
.

This appearance communicates the clear implication—based on universal common expectations of how search and filter tools interact—that only the Status (Active) filter is being applied, and search results will be shown from the set [all macros with Status (Active)]. However, that is not what will occur. Entering a search term will instead show search results from the set [all macros with Status (Active) and Available for (All shared macros)].
Similarly, clicking the “Clear filters” button produces an interface that displays no filter tags, appearing to communicate the clear implication that the search results are no longer being filtered. However, this is false. Entering a search term will show search results from the set [all macros with Status (All statuses) and Available for (All shared macros)]. While the "Status" value “All statuses” indeed represents an unfiltered category, the “Available for” value “All shared macros” does not represent an unfiltered category.
The list of filter tags displayed does not accurately reflect the filtering state of the search results! The true filtering state includes another, hidden filter, not displayed with other filter tags.
Examples
Clicking the “Filter” button under the search bar brings in a side-panel overlay, showing two filtering categories currently available: “Status” (with states "All statuses", "Inactive", and “Inactive”) and “Available for” (with states “All shared macros”, “All agents”, “You”, and “Group”).

When the “Status” category filter is set to either “Active” or “Inactive”, a corresponding filter tag is displayed adjacent to the “Filter” button. However, when set to “All statuses”, no filter tag is displayed.
"Status" Filter Category Screenshots: (State of “Available for” category filter not changed from default value)
-
Status (Active)
-
Status (Inactive)
-
Status (All statuses)
Similarly, when the “Available for” category filter is set to “All agents”, “You”, or “Group”, a corresponding filter tag is displayed. But when set to "All shared macros”, no filter tag is displayed.
"Available for" Filter Category Screenshots: (State of “Status” category set to “All statuses” for visibility)
-
Available for (All agents)
-
Available for (You)
-
Available for (Group)
-
Available for (All shared macros)
When the “Status” filter is set to “All statuses” and the “Available for” filter is set to “All shared macros”, either by manually setting these filter states or by clicking the “clear filters” button—the interface displays no filter tags, even though two filtering states are actually set. This information is not communicated to the learner in any way by the interface.
It isn't a problem for the filter state Status (All statuses)
to show no filter tag, because that's the state in which the category “Status” actually is unfiltered). On the other hand, it is problematic for the filter state Available for (All shared macros)
to display no filter tag, because that is not an unfiltered state—the category is being filtered and only some of its total contents are being searched! In fact, there doesn't appear to be any unfiltered state for the “Available for” category.
I imagine that this behavior may have been inherited or carried over from historical display settings for Macro Admin, but because of the change in display to the search/filtering interface, the behavior now is problematic.
Why is this Problematic
The new interface clearly establishes a standard context (search feature with filters) that leads users to expect information about its functional state will be communicated in certain predictable ways (results can be filtered by the state of one or more filter categories; the filtering state of the search will be indicated by the interface somehow). However, as implemented, the interface:
- Silently subverts the standard expectations: The absence of a filter tag indicates the absence of filtering; and also
- Inconsistently communicates the standard expectations: The absence of a "Status" filter tag does indicate the absence of filtering in that category, but the absence of an “Available for” filter tag does not indicate the absence of filtering in that category
Additionally, the Macros Admin page's implementation of a “search with filter” system behaves quite differently from implementations of the same system elsewhere. For example, in the Help Center Admin's Manage Articles section, the “Filter” button itself acts as a selection tool, multiple state values are selectable from individual categories, and (to the best of my knowledge) the “Clear filters” button acts as expected—it removes all active filters, returning the search to an unfiltered state.

How Can This Be Fixed?
In short, either:
- Include an unfiltered state for the “Available for” category filter—"All macros"
- So that the default, unmarked state for this category filter communicated true information; or
- Ensure that the interface always displays a filter tag for the “Available for” category filter
- So that it is always signaled that the results are always being filtered by this category in some way
Given that the search-with-filtering capability appears to function as expected for the “Status” filter category, my preference would be to make changes to allow a true “all macros” state value for the “Available for” filter category. This way, whatever an individual Zendesk instance's defaults are, not only should the tags displayed by the filter function always display true information, but the functionality of the search capability would be enhanced. Users would be able to much more easily search across both Shared and Personal macros, for instance.
0
0 comments