**Tech Support Best Practices

Always be sure to check status.upwork.com to determine if there is a site wide issue impacting Upwork customers. This will help us determine if this is already known, impacting our customers widely, and a great place to check for immediate updates.

 

If a customer is reaching out about a site wide issue showcased on status.upwork.com:

1. Use Triage > Incident Ticket SITE WIDE macro (verbiage posted below if chat or call)

If FL / HV FL - check the PT first (if one is available) and utilize the verbiage in the PT (if

shared) otherwise the verbiage in this macro is ok to use.

We have received reports of trouble accessing certain areas of Upwork. We're aware of the issue and the team is working diligently on fixing this. We apologize for the impact this is causing and we’ll send you a reply as soon as an update is received. I have set the status of your ticket to "on-hold," but you do not need to provide additional information at this time. 

To help you stay in touch with any updates real-time, please visit status.upwork.com. 

2. Use categories Systems Issues or Bugs > Site Wide Issue / Impact
3. Find the proper PT and connect ticket for tracking (see Search & Link Problem Tickets drop-down for How To, if needed)

 

Before moving to the following sections in this drop-down, ask yourself these questions: 

1. Is the problem related to responsiveness? e.g. when a customer clicks a button and nothing is happening… If so, this may likely be a browser issue, so this drop-down may be helpful!
2. Is there an Upwork error message displayed? If so, it's likely not browser related and this drop-down will likely not solve the issue, please revisit the Tech Support map above
3. Can you replicate the experience? If so, it’s likely not browser related and this drop-down will likely not solve the issue, please revisit the Tech Support map above

Important - we have a macro setup that addresses the below for ticket-related cases, CS > Potential Tech Issue, incognito / delete cookies. If using this macro, be sure to “solve” the ticket. If the customer responds, an auto-responder will go to the customer asking for additional details so we can work to identify next steps. Please be mindful of using this macro only if you addressed the above 3 questions, completed basic research, + ensured the TS map steps were followed above first. 

 

When to suggest to delete cookies: This can be identified by first suggesting using incognito / private mode first and/or using an entirely different browser e.g. if they’re trying in Safari, ask them to try in Chrome. If everything works in incognito / private mode or an entirely different browser, deleting cookies / cache will likely fix the issues the customer is experiencing. If the issue still persists in incognito / private mode - deleting cookies / cache will NOT fix the issue.

If deleting cookies (after reading the above): Recommend deleting Upwork only cookies first > suggest closing browser > reopen it > try again. It’s important, when deleting cookies / cache, to close the browser entirely and reopen it after. 

If the above does not work, but incognito / private mode worked: they may need to delete their full browser cookies / cache. External websites that can assist further for deleting cookies (if needed):

• How to Delete Cookies (Chrome / Firefox / Safari / Edge)
• How to Delete Cookies (Opera)
• How to Set Browser to Incognito / Private Mode (Edge / Chrome / Firefox / Opera)

Troubleshooting Help Pages (if these do not help, continue with map above):

Troubleshooting Help Pages (if these do not help, continue with map above):

 

• If CAPTCHA, see **Site Security Features > CAPTCHA drop-down (INTERNAL article)
• If Desktop App aka Tracker, see Desktop App Troubleshooting (HC article)
  • If this does not help the user and it’s determined a ticket needs to be sent to TS, see **Upwork Team App TS Reporting (FL / HV FL Support - see #cs-freelancersupport)
• If Work Diary, see Work Diary Troubleshooting (HC article)
• If Mobile App, see General Mobile App Troubleshooting (HC article)
• If Messages, see Upwork Messages Connection Troubleshooting (HC article) or **Message Center (INTERNAL article)
• If related to Upwork Calls, Zoom Meetings, or Phone Calls, see **Messages Call Troubleshooting (INTERNAL article)
• If 500 Error, see **500 Errors (INTERNAL article)
• If a Job Feed / Search issue, see **Job Feed / Search Issues (INTERNAL article)
• If a CL isn’t seeing certain badges or a FL isn’t, check here to see who sees what kinds of badges 
• If a FL/CL reports no notification of emails, see **User report no email communication received (INTERNAL article)
• If a FL is unable to accept an offer - please check if the CL is suspended. If so, please send this macro: CS > Trouble Accepting an Offer

 

If you’re asked to provide the Story ID and/or Room ID in order to research an issue with Messages (including rooms and the messages within).

For example: upwork.com/messages/rooms/[room_id]/[story_id]

The room ID is the specific room, while the story ID is a specific message within that room.

Example scenarios: 

• User acknowledges that they did not receive a notification for a specific message
• Client advises that attachment provided by a freelancer is being blocked by virus scan

Find in a browser:

• Room ID: To get the Room ID to appear in the URL, please select the appropriate room in Messages
• Room ID and Story ID: To get the Story ID to appear along with the Room ID in the URL, please select the particular message
• Copy the entire link from your browser’s address bar or right-click the message and select “Copy Link Location” from the dropdown menu (both will achieve the same result)

Find in the UTA app on desktop:

• Room ID and Story ID: 
• Select the appropriate room in Messages
• Right-click on the particular message
• Select “Copy Link” from the dropdown menu that appears

Technical Support (TS) has set up a special process for certain question tickets that will be treated as TASK tickets in an effort to have a faster turnaround time on specific tickets.

If one of the cases listed, follow the process below (for FL / HV FL, please see your Lead / SA):

If NOT on this list, see “Reach out to TS / Request PT Creation” drop-down

• accepting/sending a proposal
• accepting/sending an offer
• accepting/sending a job interview
• posting a job

Process:

1. Customer Support (CS) detects ticket about the affected cases and assigns to TS as task
2. CS agent should select this macro - CS:: Tech Support Escalation: Task Ticket to Tech Support
3. TS reviews and will directly change ticket type to Incident and link to PT
4. It will be assigned back to CS

Note: It is recommended that CS agent CC themselves in the ticket so that they can update the status of the ticket.

In cases where the freelancer is reporting their active contract or feedback is not showing on their profile, the agent should generate the freelancer profile.

To generate a profile in OBO:

• Go to the “Contractor” box, hover your mouse over the “Wrench” icon in the top right of the box
• Click “Generate Profile”

Once completed, double check the contract and/or the feedback is now showing on the profile.

If still sudoed into the account, you will need to refresh your page to see the changes.

If the issue persists, the user may need to delete cookies and/or cache - see the “Deleting Cookies or Use Incognito/Private Browser” dropdown

 

Remember to check the Known Issues and Workarounds Community page if we have a PT. If the customer’s issue is on this page, this is a great resource to share with them so they can keep an eye on their issue while they await an update from us.

 

IMPORTANT - it’s critical to also be sure to read the PT itself to check if there are additional details / workarounds added that can help the customer.

Process Map

 

IMPORTANT - If with FL / HV FL Support, only SAs & Leads will reach out to TS directly. Everyone else should see #cs-freelancersupport channel for assistance.

 

Process Map

If users are not able to download a file and get something like: "It is not safe to download this file. If you really want to access this file please contact Customer Support", Customer Support Team Leads & Senior Agents can retrieve the file for them.

1. CS Preparation Work: Finding the File UID

Three ways to get it:

• Either click on the file and inspect its URL.
• OR right-click on the file to copy it, paste it into a text editor and inspect its URL.
• OR hover the mouse other the file to get the URL at the bottom of the page and inspect the URL.

2. The file UID in this URL is 1177227823556968448

https://www.upwork.com/att/download/openings/1177228196166586368/attachments/1177227823556968448/download

 

 

3. Go to https://int.upwork.com/obo/ng/tasks/ >> TASK 44, paste the file UID you need to download (e.g. 1177227823556968448)

4. Click Search to get the link to download the file.

5. Copy the link from the "Link to file" and provide it to your customer

6. Use other information shown on File Info page above that can help you

• UID file UID
• Created at when the file was uploaded onto Upwork by its owner
• File name the name of the file
• Content type what the file contains
• Size, bytes how big the file is in bytes
• Owner the username who uploaded the file on Upwork
• Virus Scan status the reason why Upwork considered the file suspicious/malicious
• Link to file the link you should copy to provide it to your customer
• Link expires at the date when the link becomes not valid (6 hours from the time you click the Search button to generate it

If you get STATUS 1 and see INFECTED, attach it to the ticket anyway so they have access, but do also share with them that our scan checks showcase the file may be infected so if they choose to open, please open at their own risk. They can also try to ask their client or freelancer for a new file or use a 3rd party scanner to check for themselves, but keeping in mind that when using a 3rd party scanner, they’re giving the file contents to that 3rd party.

 

If you see STATUS 1 and see BLACKLISTED it is only about forbidden file extensions. Please provide the file to the user with description that the file was blocked due to restricted file extensions.

If you see STATUS 1 and see UNSCANNABLE [15:Password Protected Document] it means this file is protected by password and cannot be scanned. Please provide the file to the user with description “File protected and cannot be scanned. This file may contain a virus.”

 

If a Problem Ticket is shows Won't Fix:

• Link your ticket to the open PT
• If there is messaging for the customer in the PT to use, use that messaging and solve the ticket
• If there is NO messaging for the customer, reach out to SA/TL (FL / HV FL, see #cs-freelancersupport) to confirm what we can share with the customer

Solved PT’s will never reopen. If a linked incident ticket is reopened by user, agent assigned to ticket should work with user to confirm resolution fixed issue. If users indicate issue not resolved, create a brand new PT after confirm with TS in “Ask-TS” dash room.

• Problem Ticket Dashboard
• Updating PT Tracker Dashboard (cheat sheet)
• Scheduled TLs to Work PTs - The scheduled TL will need to prioritize in updating or solving high impact PTs such as withdrawals, application, messaging, or any issue that affects a very high number of our customers.
• PT Update - Dash Room - TLs to use to communicate the last updated PT.
• If TS agent asked question in ticket, always reassign it to that same TS agent (this applies to all ticket type, PT, Incidents or Question/Task tickets, assign to the same TS agent that asked the question).
• When reassigning PTs, make sure to also update the "Owner Group" field to TS. This will ensure that the ticket is shown in their queues.

Process Map