Using Your Inbox¶
Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation
Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation
Important
You are viewing documentation for Alation’s Classic User Experience.
In Alation, your Inbox serves as a central hub for all your interactions with other catalog users. It keeps records of your past messages and notifies you when another user contributes to something you’re invested in.
Your Inbox contains Conversations that you’ve participated in, notifications from workflows that you review and notifications from Curation Automation in the Updates section. The sections below will help you to recognize Inbox notifications, access your Inbox, and view its contents.
Note
You can choose to notify specific users, Stewards assigned to objects in defined Curation Automation scope, and users watching (watchers) objects in scope. For details, see Manage Curation Rules.
Inbox Notifications¶
Your Inbox notifies you when you receive a workflow task, one of your Conversations is updated, or you have a notification in the Updates section. If the Inbox contains new notifications, a number will appear on the Inbox icon in the top toolbar indicating how many notifications you have.
Access your Inbox to view your new Conversations, workflow task notifications, or Updates. Once you view the notifications, the number will disappear from the Inbox icon.
Your Inbox notifies you when you receive a workflow task or one of your Conversations is updated. If the Inbox contains new notifications, a blue dot will appear on the My Inbox icon in the top toolbar.
Access your Inbox to view your new Conversations or workflow task notifications. Once you view the notifications, the blue dot will disappear from the My Inbox icon.
Accessing Your Inbox¶
To open your Alation Inbox from any catalog page, click the Inbox icon displayed on the right side of the top toolbar.
To open your Alation Inbox from any catalog page, click the My Inbox icon displayed on the right side of the top toolbar.
In some cases, you can also open your Inbox from a Conversation that you’re viewing in full-page view or inside a Conversations slideout.
If the Conversation is one that’s in your Inbox, there will be an Open My Inbox icon in its upper-right corner. Click the icon to access your Inbox.
Inbox Contents¶
Alation organizes your Inbox according to the different types of messages it contains. Notifications about workflows you review go in the Tasks section, the Conversations section contains all the catalog Conversations that you’re a part of, and the Updates section contains notifications from Alation features such as Curation Automation.
The sections below describe the contents of the Conversations, Tasks, and Updates sections in detail.
Alation organizes your Inbox according to the different types of messages it contains. Notifications about workflows you review go in the Tasks tab, and the Conversations tab contains all the catalog Conversations that you’re a part of.
When you open your Inbox, Alation automatically displays the Conversations tab. You can go to the Tasks tab by clicking the Tasks tab label.
The sections below describe the contents of the Conversations and Tasks tabs in more detail.
Conversations¶
The Conversations section allows you to view and interact with the Conversations in your Alation Inbox in multiple ways:
Find a Conversation in your Inbox using the search box.
See all of your active Conversations in the My Inbox area. You may also see Agile Approval notifications here.
View all the Conversations you started or had assigned to you in the Started by Me and Assigned to Me areas.
Move a Conversation from My Inbox to the Deleted area.
The Conversations tab allows you to view and interact with the Conversations in your Alation Inbox in multiple ways:
Open a new Conversation page with the + Conversation button. See Posting a New Conversation for instructions on creating a Conversation.
Find a Conversation in your Inbox using the search box.
See all of your active Conversations in the My Inbox area. You may also see Agile Approval notifications here.
View all the Conversations you started or had assigned to you in the Started by Me and Assigned to Me areas.
Move a Conversation from My Inbox to the Archived area.
When a Conversation you’re interested in appears in your search results or an Inbox area, click it to expand it in the reading pane. From the expanded view, you can see the Conversation’s contents and interact with it just as you would in the catalog.
The sections below provide more details about using the search box, viewing Conversations in the Alation Inbox areas, and moving Conversations to the Archived area.
Using the Search Box¶
To find a Conversation based on its content, enter text in the search box on the My Inbox page. As you type, the reading pane will be populated with Conversations from all four Inbox areas. When you see the Conversation you’re looking for in the search results, click it to expand it inside the reading pane.
To find a Conversation based on its content, enter text in the search box below the Conversations and Tasks tab labels. As you type, the reading pane will be populated with Conversations from all four Inbox areas. When you see the Conversation you’re looking for in the search results, click it to expand it inside the reading pane.
Note
The Conversations tab search box lists Conversations as results if they have a subject line, body text, reply, assignee, author, or participant who’s posted a comment that matches your search terms. To learn more about these Conversation components and user-interaction roles, see Conversations and Interacting with Conversations.
My Inbox¶
In the Conversations group of the left navigation, select My Inbox. The My Inbox list contains Conversations where:
You posted a comment.
You were named as an assignee.
You were @-mentioned in the initial post or a comment.
You started the Conversation and someone else replied.
For each Conversation, the list shows the Creator, the object the Conversation is Referring to, the Last Updated time, and the Status. Use the Search box to find a Conversation, and use the Show only updated and Show resolved toggles to filter the list. The number next to My Inbox shows how many new or updated Conversations you have.
When you open the Conversations tab, the reading pane automatically displays your My Inbox area in the reading pane. The My Inbox area contains Conversations where:
You posted a comment.
You were named as an assignee.
You were @-mentioned in the initial post or a comment.
You started the Conversation and someone else replied.
The My Inbox area lists Conversations according to user interactions, with the Conversations that users have interacted with recently at the top of the reading pane.
Alation will display the number of new or updated Conversations My Inbox contains beside My Inbox in the list of Inbox areas. Inside the My Inbox area, new or updated Conversations will be displayed in bold.
Assigned to Me¶
In the Conversations group, select Assigned to me to see the Conversations assigned to you. The number next to Assigned to me shows how many are open. By default, resolved Conversations are hidden. Turn on the Show resolved toggle to include them, or turn on the Show only updated toggle to show only Conversations with new activity.
The Assigned to Me area contains only catalog Conversations that have been assigned to you. Alation displays the number of open Conversations assigned to you next to Assigned to Me in the list of Inbox areas. Inside the Assigned to Me area, new or updated Conversations are displayed in bold.
Note
By default, the Assigned to Me area only displays Conversations that haven’t been marked resolved. To include resolved Conversations, click the Show Resolved checkbox displayed above the reading pane. The reading pane will be updated to include both resolved and open Conversations that are assigned to you.
Started by Me¶
In the Conversations group, select Started by me to see every Conversation you started. By default, resolved Conversations are hidden. Turn on the Show resolved toggle to include them, or turn on the Show only updated toggle to show only Conversations with new activity.
The Started by Me area contains every catalog Conversation that you’ve started. It displays new or updated Conversations in bold.
Note
By default, the Started by Me area only displays Conversations that haven’t been marked resolved. To include resolved Conversations, click the Show Resolved checkbox displayed above the reading pane. The reading pane will be updated to include both resolved and open Conversations that you started.
Archiving Conversations¶
The Conversations tab allows you to make any Conversation in your Alation Inbox less visible by moving it to the Archived area. When you archive a Conversation, Alation removes it from the My Inbox area and places it in the Archived area instead.
Note
Archived Conversations are still included in the Assigned to Me and Started by Me Inbox areas.
Archiving a Conversation also doesn’t change its visibility in the catalog. Archived Conversations still appear alongside other Conversations in the Conversations panel, Conversations slideout, and on the search page.
To change a Conversation’s visibility in the catalog and discourage future users from adding responses, delete the Conversation or mark it as resolved.
To archive a Conversation inside your Inbox, follow the steps below.
Select My Inbox from the list of Inbox areas.
Click the Conversation you’d like to archive. It will expand inside the reading pane.
Click the Archive icon in the upper-right corner of the Conversation. The icon will turn green, and Alation will move the Conversation to the Archived area of your Inbox.
You can also unarchive a Conversation that you previously moved to the Archived area. To unarchive a Conversation from inside your Inbox, follow the steps below.
Select Archived from the list of Inbox areas.
Click the Conversation you’d like to unarchive. It will expand inside the reading pane.
Click the Archive icon in the upper-right corner of the Conversation. The icon will change colors from green to gray, and Alation will restore the Conversation to the My Inbox area.
If a Conversation is included in your Inbox, you can also archive or unarchive it from inside a Conversations slideout by following the steps below.
Navigate to the catalog page that includes the Conversation in its slideout.
Click the slideout tab to open the Conversations slideout.
Click the Conversation you’d like to archive or unarchive. It will expand inside the Conversations slideout. If the Conversation is included in your Inbox, there will be an Archive icon in its upper-right corner.
Click the Archive icon to archive or unarchive the Conversation. The icon will be green if the Conversation is currently archived and appear gray if it is not archived.
Deleted Conversations¶
The Conversations that you remove from your Inbox appear under Deleted, where you can review them or restore them to your Inbox. The number next to Deleted shows how many Conversations it contains.
Deleting a Conversation from your Inbox does not change its visibility in the catalog, and the Conversation still appears in the Assigned to me and Started by me lists. To change a Conversation’s visibility in the catalog, delete the Conversation or mark it as resolved.
Tasks¶
In the My tasks group of the left navigation, select Tasks to see your workflow review tasks in the My Tasks table. You receive a task when a user suggests a change to a catalog object enrolled in a workflow and the workflow progresses to a step where you are listed as a reviewer. When you have a new task, a number appears on the Inbox icon in the top toolbar.
The My Tasks table lists each task with its Type, Details, Requester, and Created at time. Click Go to Workflow Center to open the Workflow Center and view workflow details there. You can also use the links in a task to open the catalog page where the change was suggested and approve or reject it. For more information about interacting with workflow tasks, see Workflow Review Tasks in the Suggesting Changes topic.
The Tasks tab organizes all of your workflow notifications in one place. You receive a notification in the Tasks tab when a user suggests a change to a catalog object enrolled in a workflow and the workflow progresses to a step where you are listed as a reviewer. When your Tasks tab contains a workflow notification, a blue dot will appear on the My Inbox icon in the top toolbar.
The Tasks tab contains a Go to Workflow Center button and a My Tasks table. The My Tasks table lists all of your workflow notifications with details about where the change was suggested, who suggested it, and when they made their suggestion.
From the Tasks tab, you can click the Go to Workflow Center button to open the Workflow Center and view workflow details there. You can also use the links in workflow notifications to open the catalog page where the change was suggested and approve or reject it. For more instructions about interacting with workflow tasks, see Workflow Review Tasks in the Suggesting Changes topic.
Guidelines for Optimal Performance¶
To achieve the best page load performance in the My Tasks UI, we recommend keeping the total number of tasks below the following thresholds:
Deluxe tier: Fewer than approximately 600 tasks
Enterprise+ tier: Fewer than approximately 9,000 tasks
Performance Considerations¶
MyTasks UI remains functional as the task count increases, though you may experience higher latency at larger volumes up to:
Deluxe tier: ~10,000 tasks Enterprise+ tier: ~125,000 tasks
When task counts exceed these levels specifically above 10,000 for the Deluxe tier and 130,000 for the Enterprise+ tier—users may encounter HTTP 504 Gateway Timeout errors due to request timeouts.
Note
Starting with the 2025.3.2 release, we have introduced a new feature flag <alation.workflows.dev_my_tasks_loading_optimization_enabled> which will be disabled by default.
When enabled, this optimization makes the My Tasks page load time independent of the total number of tasks, delivering significantly improved performance that consistently remains within SLA thresholds.
Updates¶
The Updates area of your Inbox collects notifications from Alation features such as Curation Automation, so you can track activity in the catalog without relying on email. A count next to Updates shows how many unread notifications you have.
Note
Updates currently include notifications from Curation Automation.
To view your notifications, open My Inbox and select Updates. From the Updates view, you can:
Turn on Show only unread to hide notifications you have already read.
Use the Source filter to show notifications from a specific feature, or select All Sources to show everything.
Click Mark all as read to clear the unread state for every notification.
Click a notification to open its details. Click an item again to drill into the specific changes it reports.
Curation Automation Notifications¶
When a curation rule runs with notifications enabled, Alation notifies the users, stewards, and watchers configured on the rule. For information on enabling notifications for a rule, see Manage Curation Rules.
Curation Automation sends two types of notifications:
Rule execution status: Reports whether the rule run completed. The notification shows the rule name, the source (Curation Automation), the time, and the run status (for example, SUCCESS). Click View Rule to open the rule’s execution report.
Field value changes: Lists the objects that the run updated with new values. The notification provides two views:
Object View: Lists each updated object with its Before value, After value, and the AI Confidence score. Click an object to see the specific fields that changed.
Field View: Flattens the changes to the object and field level. Click a row to see the change details.
Use the Search box and the Filter option to find specific objects within the notification.
Daily Digest Email¶
In addition to in-app notifications, Alation sends a daily digest email that summarizes your recent notifications. The digest lists the total number of notifications you received that day and shows the top notifications. Click Open My Inbox in the email to go to the Updates area.
Note
Alation sends the daily digest once a day at 9:00 am. You can’t change the schedule.
Next¶
You can learn more about Conversations and discover ways to participate in them by accessing these topics: