Resources menu

Working offline

buildIt.social keeps a copy of your recent messages, pages and work on your computer or phone. Screens open from that copy, so the app is quick, and most of it keeps working when the connection drops. What you write while offline waits on your device and goes out by itself when you’re back online.

When you’re offline#

A thin bar under the top of the screen tells you about connection problems, and only then:

  • Offline. Showing what’s on this device. You have no connection. The bar also says when the copy was last updated.
  • Connecting… The app is getting back in touch with the server.
  • Sending is taking longer than usual. You’re online, but your changes haven’t gone out for a while. They’re saved on your device, so check your connection.
  • 2 changes weren’t sent. The server refused some of your changes. See When something isn’t sent.

When there’s no bar, everything is up to date.

What works offline#

You can read everything that’s on your device: your channels and direct messages, recent history, threads, pages you’ve opened, and your projects’ items. You can also:

  • Write messages and thread replies, with files, photos and videos attached. They show at once, a little faded until they’re sent.
  • Edit and delete your own messages, and add or remove reactions.
  • Mark things read, follow or unfollow threads, and use Mark all read.
  • Pin, move and unpin channels and direct messages in your list, and change a conversation’s notification level or mute it.
  • Vote in polls. Your vote shows as Your vote, not sent yet until it’s sent.
  • Edit pages. The save status says Saved on this device, and the edits go to the server once it can be reached.
  • Change your schedule. An entry that hasn’t been sent yet shows a small Pending marker.
  • Work on items: create items, change their status and fields, edit descriptions, comment, and watch or unwatch them.
  • Keep your drafts. What you’ve typed but not sent is kept on the device.
  • Search what’s on the device. Results found there are labelled On this device.

Changes go out in the order you made them, as soon as the connection is back. You don’t need to restart the app or press anything.

What needs a connection#

Some things only the server can do, so they need a connection. Offline, many of their buttons are turned off and say Needs a connection:

  • Creating a channel or starting a direct message, joining a channel, and every change to a channel’s members or settings.
  • Calls and meetings.
  • Pinning or unpinning a message, and forwarding one.
  • Deleting someone else’s message, if you’re allowed to.
  • Creating, moving, reordering and deleting pages.
  • Inviting people, and the organization’s settings.
  • GIFs, apps, agent access and GitHub.
  • Setting your status or pausing notifications.

Older messages that aren’t on your device show Older messages need a connection when you scroll back to them. Link previews that haven’t loaded yet show Shows when you’re online.

When something isn’t sent#

Most changes just wait until they can go out. Now and then the server refuses one for good: for example, you were removed from the channel, or the thread you replied to was deleted. Then:

  • The connectivity bar says how many changes weren’t sent, with Retry or discard it where it says “Not sent”. You can close the bar.
  • The message shows Not sent. in red, with the reason when there is one, and these buttons:
    • Retry sends it again.
    • Delete throws away a message that was never sent. For an edit or a delete that wasn’t sent, the button is Discard, and the message goes back to how it was.
    • Copy text copies what you wrote, so you can keep it or post it somewhere else.

Items, schedule entries and polls show their own “not sent” notes in the same way. A page whose offline edits clash with someone else’s shows Conflict: select it to choose which version to keep. See Pages.

Tip: If you see Sending is taking longer than usual., your changes are safe on the device. Move somewhere with a better connection, and they go out by themselves.

Your device’s copy#

What’s kept#

By default each device keeps, for each organization:

  • the last 90 days of messages in every conversation, and at least the latest 50 in each, however old (unless your organization sets a limit);
  • up to 1 GB for messages and pictures;
  • up to 500 MB of files you’ve opened.

Thumbnails and pictures are kept for everything that’s on the device. A full file is kept only once you’ve opened it. When the space runs low, the oldest messages and least recently opened files are removed first. They’re still on the server and download again when you open them.

Change how much is kept#

On a computer or a phone, open Settings → Storage on this device:

  • Message history: the last 7, 30, 90, 180 or 365 days, or Don’t keep data on this device, which keeps it only while the app is open.
  • Space for messages and pictures and Space for opened files, or Don’t keep opened files.
  • Space used by your organization shows what the copy takes up now.
  • Clear this device’s copy deletes the copy. Messages, pages and files download again when you open them, and nothing is deleted on the server. If changes are still waiting, you choose Clear, keep changes or Clear, discard changes.

If your organization has set a limit, Limit set by your organization shows it, and you can keep less but not more.

Admins: Org owners and admins set the most any member’s device may keep in the organization’s Offline data settings: no limit, 90, 30, 7 or 1 day, or None: no copy on devices. The app enforces it. See Org settings.

Kept safe#

  • On Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad and Android, the copy is encrypted. Each copy has its own random key, kept in your device’s secure keychain, not next to the data.
  • Signing out deletes this device’s copy of every organization, and anything still waiting to be sent. If changes are waiting, the app asks first: stay signed in until you’re back online to send them, or choose Sign out anyway.
  • If you’re removed from an organization, its copy is deleted from your devices. If you leave a channel or are removed from it, its messages and files are removed.
  • If the copy can’t be opened (for example after restoring the device from a backup), the app downloads it again and tells you that changes that hadn’t been sent couldn’t be kept.

In a web browser#

In the browser, buildIt.social keeps its copy in memory only. Nothing stays on the computer after you close the tab, so there’s no Storage on this device in Settings. Changes made offline wait only in that tab: keep it open until they’re sent.

Tip: If you often work with a poor connection, use the desktop or phone app. It keeps your history between sessions and sends your changes even after a restart.