Messages

Messages is where you talk to people inside the product: direct messages, named groups, a channel for each site, and the comment thread on every work order, asset or other record you have taken part in — all in one list, so there is one place to look.

If you don’t see this in your navigation, your administrator can switch the module on under Administration → Modules, or it may not be included in your plan.

Messages with a group conversation open, its members listed on the right

Reaching it

Messages sits at the top of the sidebar, under Today. The messages icon in the header carries a count of conversations with something new for you — not individual messages, because “three conversations are waiting” is something you can act on and four hundred unread lines in a busy site channel is not. Clicking it previews the newest conversations; Open all opens this screen. A link to one conversation opens it directly. Who can do what is set by roles:

Permission (as shown on your profile)	Allows
Open Messages and read the conversations you are in	Opening the screen at all
Send messages	Writing in a conversation
Start conversations and add people to them	New, Add somebody and inviting a vendor contact
Remove other people’s messages	Remove on messages you did not write

Vendor-portal users can use Messages too, but only see the conversations they have been invited into.

The list

The left-hand column lists every conversation you are in, newest activity first.

Element	What it shows
Search messages	Finds conversations by name and by what was said
… unread (for example 1 unread)	How many conversations have something you have not read
Icon	A person for a direct message, people for a group, a building for a site channel, and the record’s own icon for a record discussion
Name	The other person, the group’s subject, the site, or the record’s number
Last line	Who said what last. A record discussion is prefixed with the record type, for example Asset ·.
Time and badge	When the last message was sent, and a count of unread messages
Show archived / Hide archived	Brings conversations you archived back into the list, or hides them again
Older conversations	Loads further back when the list is long

When nothing is open the right-hand side reads Pick a conversation — or start one. A message can point at any work order, asset or requisition.

Two kinds of thread

Kind	What it is	Right-hand panel
Conversation	Something somebody started — with a person, a group, a role, a crew or a site	In here — who is in it, and what you can do to it
Record discussion	The comment thread on a work order, asset or other record you have commented on or been mentioned in	About — This is the discussion on a record. Everything else about it is on the record itself. — and Open the record

A record discussion is the same thread you see on the record’s own screen. Replying here or there is the same reply.

A record discussion on asset P-102 open in Messages, with an internal note and the About panel

Starting a conversation

Click New at the top of the screen.

Field	What it means	Notes
Recipients — A colleague, a crew, a role, or a site	Search and click to add people, crews, roles or a site. Each shows a detail beside it — a role or crew says how many are in it (role of 12, crew of 4), a site says site channel.	Required. Click a chosen chip to remove it. A site cannot be mixed with people: choosing a site replaces everything else.
What is it about	The group’s subject, for example Compressor shutdown, Saturday	Appears, and is required, when you start a group

The product works out what you are starting from who you picked, and says so above Start:

You pick	You get
One person	A direct message — Just the two of you. If one already exists with that person, it opens.
More than one person, a role, or a crew	A named group with a subject. A role or crew reaches whoever is in it, including people who join later.
A site	That site’s channel — Everybody who works at that site. Every site has one channel, and its membership is the site’s access list.

Click Start.

Reading and writing

Messages show the author, when they were sent, and · edited if they were changed. Show older messages loads further back in a long thread.

Action on a message	Who	What it does
React	Anyone in the conversation	Adds a quick reaction — 👍 ✅ 👀 🙏 ⚠️. Click your reaction again to Take it off.
Edit	The author	Changes the text; Save or Cancel
Remove	The author, or somebody allowed to remove other people’s messages	Replaces it with Message removed
Seen by	Shown on your own messages	How many people have read it — asked only of what you sent

The box at the bottom reads Write a message. # points at a record, @ names somebody.

Composer control	What it does
# (a record)	Points at a work order, asset or requisition. It is shown as a chip the reader can click — or as plain text to somebody who cannot open that record.
@ (somebody)	Names a person, who is notified
Attach	Adds a file or photograph. Say what it is asks for a caption, because a photograph nobody wrote a sentence about cannot be found later.
Internal — kept from anybody outside the company	Appears only when somebody from outside your organisation is in the conversation. Tick it to hide this message from them; it is marked internal for everyone else. The tick stays on for the next message until you clear it.
Send	Sends the message

Managing a conversation

The In here panel lists the members: people by name, and roles or crews with how many people they cover. Somebody from outside your organisation is marked outside, and an invited contact who has not signed in yet is marked not signed in yet. A site channel says Everybody with access to this site.

Control	What it does	Notes
Add somebody	Adds a colleague, role or crew to a group	Not on direct messages or site channels
Invite from a vendor	Brings in a supplier’s contact — see below	Groups only
Mute this / Notify me again	Stops or restarts notifications for this conversation, for you only
Archive / Put it back	Moves the conversation out of your list, or back in, for you only	Archived conversations stay reachable through Show archived
Leave	Takes you out of a group	Not offered on a site channel, whose membership is the site’s access list

Bringing in somebody from a vendor

Invite from a vendor opens a short form.

Field	What it means	Notes
Who	A contact of one of your vendors — Pick a contact…	Required. Only contacts recorded against a vendor can be invited, never a free-typed address. A contact who already has a login is marked has a login.
Which sites they may see	The sites their account may reach	Required — at least one, because an account with no site restriction would reach every site

Click Invite. A contact without an account receives a sign-in link and can then see this conversation and the sites you ticked. While they are in the conversation a banner says somebody from outside is present, and the Internal tick appears on the composer.

Notifications

What gets emailed, texted or pushed about a message or comment is set separately from the conversation it sits in. How it reaches you is on your profile.

Get started

Work

Maintenance

Assets

Sites

Inventory

Procurement

Workforce

Vendors and contracts

Finance

Property

Gatehouse

Analytics

Knowledge base

The field app

Release notes

Reaching it

The list

Two kinds of thread

Starting a conversation

Reading and writing

Managing a conversation

Bringing in somebody from a vendor

Notifications