# Count new private messages instead of the total number

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729>\
**Category:** Feature\
**Created:** [2016年二月17日 11:26 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729 "2016-02-17T11:26:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sander78](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sander78/32/296615_2.png) [@Sander78](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sander78)\
**Post date:** [2016年二月17日 11:26 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729/1 "2016-02-17T11:26:27Z")

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Now that we can send mail to groups, I noticed that every time a new message appears, I get a notice. That’s good. But the notice counts the total number of messages, in stead of just the new ones.

![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/meta/original/3X/d/8/d885ab6a217b214f6dd941d15f32f41118e55ebc.png)

I’d rather have it say: _2 new messages in your contact inbox_

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**Author:** ![mcwumbly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/mcwumbly/32/103861_2.png) [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)\
**Post date:** [2016年二月17日 11:32 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729/2 "2016-02-17T11:32:19Z")

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> [@Sander78](#):
>
> I’d rather have it say: 2 new messages in your contact inbox

What is your definition of new? (When does a message become not-new?)

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**Author:** ![Sander78](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sander78/32/296615_2.png) [@Sander78](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sander78)\
**Post date:** [2016年二月17日 11:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729/3 "2016-02-17T11:33:39Z")

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> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> When does a message become not-new?

Well, after I’ve read it I suppose… 🙂

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**Author:** ![jomaxro](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/jomaxro/32/126216_2.png) [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)\
**Post date:** [2016年二月17日 23:21 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729/4 "2016-02-17T23:21:00Z")

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I agree with this request. A good deal of confusion among the mods at my site when we first saw this appear. We all though that stuff was forgotten. I think read/unread is a good flag to check when counting “new” messages. I don’t know of any messaging or email clients that tell you how many total messages are in your inbox…

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**Author:** ![sam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sam/32/102149_2.png) [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)\
**Post date:** [2016年二月17日 23:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/count-new-private-messages-instead-of-the-total-number/39729/5 "2016-02-17T23:42:42Z")

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I would like to try it out, and see how it feels. It gets a bit tricky cause you need to update that message quite a lot.

- When users in the group archive a message
- When a message gets deleted
- When you read the message