Using Bolster Messages and Channels

Overview
Messages lets you chat with your team and your customers about each job, and see all the activity on a job in one place. You can view messages in two places: the company-wide Messages page, which shows every job's channel, and the Messages sidebar inside a single estimate or job.

View All Messages and Channels

1. In the left-hand menu, click Messages. The Messages page opens with a list of channels for your jobs.

2. To find a channel, enter a job, customer or message in the search box (Search jobs, customers and messages).

3. To filter the list, click the filter button next to the search box, then select a filter. You can filter by user (All users) or by status: Pending, In progress, Booked, Direct messages or Archived. For example, select In progress to see only messages for in-progress estimates.

4. Click a channel to open it. You see all the activity on that job from every user in your company, such as when a job was created, updated, sent, booked or backed up to a new version. Channels with no activity show No activity in the list.

Message Your Team

1. With a channel open, make sure Internal is selected in the top left of the thread. Only your team can see this thread.

2. In the message box at the bottom (Message your team...), type your message.

3. To tag a team member so you can collaborate on the project, click Mention user and select them.

4. Click the send button.

Message Your Customer

1. In the top left of the thread, click With customer. A message shows that your customer sees everything in this thread.

2. In the message box at the bottom, type your message to the customer.

3. Click the send button.

Your customer gets an email when you send and can reply right from it. They also get a text if you have their phone number, or they can sign in to their portal and reply in messages there. However they answer, their reply comes back into this thread.

To switch back to your team chat, click Internal.

Message From Inside an Estimate or Job

1. In the left-hand menu, click Jobs.

2. Click Job list and select the estimate. You can also click Pipeline and select it from there.

3. In the bottom left of the estimate's sidebar, click Messages. The messages sidebar opens on the right.

4. To message your team, type in the message box at the bottom, which is marked Internal note - team only, then click the send button. Only your internal team sees it.

5. To message your customer, click With customer at the top of the sidebar, type your message, then click the send button.

Why This Matters

• You can see every update on a job, company-wide, in one place.
• Your team can collaborate on a project by tagging each other in internal messages that customers never see.
• You and your customer can go back and forth on a job without leaving Bolster.

Summary

Use the Messages page in the left-hand menu to search and filter every job's channel by user or status, view each job's activity, and chat with your team or customer. Inside an estimate, click Messages in the bottom left of the sidebar to open the same conversation for that job. Select Internal to message your team only, or With customer to message your customer.