Message clients in the client portal

Client messages let your firm and its contacts message each other in the client portal. Each client has one conversation, and it arrives in your Inbox in the Client messages team mailbox.

Messages are for anything that isn’t about one request. Comments on a request stay with that request and its Job.

Client messages are part of the Pro plan and are off until you turn them on. See pricing.

Turn on client messages

Only firm Owners and Admins can turn on client messages.

1. In the firm app, open Settings.
2. Select Client portal under Customize.
3. In Client messages, turn on Show Messages in the client portal. It saves straight away.

Contacts then see Messages in the client portal. Turning client messages off removes Messages from the client portal. Your firm keeps the conversations and can still read them from the client’s Messages tab.

Who is told about a client message

When a client writes and nobody on your team has the conversation yet, everyone following the client is told, and the conversation pins in their Inbox. It’s the same Follow that tells you about the client’s uploads and requests. See Follow a client and get notifications.

Once a teammate replies or is assigned, only that teammate is told about new messages from the client. If nobody who can see the client follows it, your Owners and Admins are told instead.

The person who adds or imports a client follows it automatically. To hear about fewer clients, unfollow the ones you don’t look after.

Teammates restricted from a client never see that client’s messages and are never told about them.

Find client conversations in the Inbox

Every client conversation is in the Client messages team mailbox, under Team mailboxes in the Inbox sidebar, with a count of unread conversations. Anyone who can see the client can open the conversation there.

Who owns a client conversation

The first teammate to reply is assigned the conversation. It stays pinned in their Inbox and clears from everyone else’s, so two people don’t answer the same client.

To hand a conversation to someone else, open it, click the People icon in the conversation header, and choose the teammate. To take an unassigned conversation yourself, click Assign to me.

If the client writes after the conversation was closed, it reopens and goes back to the assigned teammate’s Inbox. If that teammate is archived or loses access to the client, the conversation becomes unassigned and the client’s followers are told about the next message.

Tidyflow doesn’t reassign conversations or chase unanswered messages on its own. When someone is away, reassign their client conversations from the People icon.

How client message notifications reach you

When a client message comes to you, it pins in your Inbox, and you also get:

• A desktop notification straight away, if you’ve turned on desktop notifications in this browser.
• An email after a few minutes, only if you still haven’t opened the conversation. Several messages in a row send one email.

Both say who wrote, not what they wrote. Open the conversation in Tidyflow to read the message.

To turn either off, go to Settings > Notifications and change New client message or Client message desktop notification. See Choose how Tidyflow notifies you.

The firm mobile app doesn’t show client messages yet, so reply from the firm app in a browser.

Reply to a client message

1. Open Inbox, then select the conversation in your pinned threads or in Client messages.
2. Write your message. The box names the contacts who will read it. You can attach files.
3. Press Enter or click the send button. Shift+Enter starts a new line.

Everything you write in a client conversation goes to every contact on the client with client portal access. To talk it over with your team first, use a comment on one of the client’s Jobs.

Files you attach are saved to the client’s Files.

What clients receive when you reply

Contacts see your reply in the client portal straight away. If a contact hasn’t read it within a few minutes, they get an email saying who replied, with a link to Messages in the client portal. The email doesn’t include your message, so the conversation stays in the client portal.

Contacts whose language is set to Spanish see Messages and the email in Spanish.

Message a client first

You don’t have to wait for a client to write.

1. Open the client, then select the Messages tab.
2. Click + (Message client) at the top right.
3. Write your message. You can attach files.
4. Press Enter or click the send button.

You become the owner of the conversation. If the client already has a conversation, + opens it instead.

If you see No contacts on this client can sign in to the client portal, click Invite a contact and invite a contact to the client portal first. You can’t reply in a conversation until a contact on the client has client portal access.

What contacts see in the client portal

Contacts open Messages at the top of the client portal, or in the bar at the bottom of the screen on a phone. On a phone, Return starts a new line and the send button sends. A message can carry up to five files. A count beside Messages shows replies they haven’t read. A contact linked to more than one client picks the account at the top of the page.

Every contact with client portal access to a client shares that client’s conversation, including its earlier messages. For example, both spouses on a joint client see each other’s messages, and a contact you add later sees the conversation so far.

Files a contact attaches are saved to the client’s Files in Client Uploads.

The client mobile app doesn’t show messages yet, so contacts use the client portal in their browser.