The Communications page brings your organisation's messages together in one place. Use it to read and answer SMS replies, see everything Volaby has sent, and manage bulletins.
Navigate to Communications from the main menu. The page has three tabs: Inbox, Bulletins and Sent.
Sending a message
Click Communicate at the top of the page, choose the recipients, then choose Email or SMS. If you can edit bulletins, you can also choose Bulletin. See Sending Ad-Hoc Communications.
Inbox
The Inbox shows replies to SMS messages that were sent with Allow replies turned on. Search replies or filter by the date received. The Inbox refreshes on its own while it's open.
Click a reply to open the conversation. From there you can:
Type in Write a reply and click Send to answer
Use Options to open the volunteer's profile, view all their communications, or copy their number
Some replies carry a tag:
Unconfirmed sender: the number belongs to more than one volunteer, so Volaby can't be sure who replied
No matching message: the reply doesn't match a message sent from Volaby
If a reply comes from a number that doesn't match any volunteer, you can read it but can't reply from Volaby.
The Inbox and two-way SMS are available on plans with Advanced Communications.
Sent
Sent lists every SMS and email sent from Volaby, both ad-hoc messages and automated ones such as reminders. Automated messages show "System" as the sender. You can:
Search messages
Filter by channel (SMS only or Email only), by type (Ad hoc or Automated), and by date sent
Click a message to see its content and recipients. Messages that accepted replies are tagged Replies on.
Bulletins
The Bulletins tab is where you add, edit and pin bulletins. See Curating Bulletins.
Permissions
Admins and Program Managers can use the Communications page.
Cross-links
Tracking Communications: a single volunteer's history