Message clients outside a request

Messages can be used for a direct conversation with a client outside a request: a question, a follow-up, a quick hello. Each request keeps its own conversation about the work in it; Messages is for everything else. You open it from Messages in the sidebar.

Send a direct message

1. Open Messages in the sidebar.
2. Find the conversation with the client or client team. Search by client name to find it faster.
3. Choose Reply to write to the client, or Note to write something only your team sees.
4. Write the message. You can format it with bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, a link, a bulleted list or a numbered list.
5. Attach files if the message needs them.
6. Press Enter to send or Shift + Enter to create a new line.

Bring more people into the conversation

The Chat information panel on the right lists the Participants: the people from the client's team and from your team. To add someone from your team, select Add participants. A conversation in Messages cannot be closed; it stays open for as long as the client is in your workspace.

Notes and files stay with the conversation

Each client or client team has one conversation in Messages. Notes you write there are collected on the Notes tab of the conversation, and clients do not see them. Files attached in the conversation are collected on its Files tab. Use View as client in the conversation to see the client portal as that client sees it.

Move to Messages when the topic is not the work

When you are on a request and want to say something that is not about the work in it, select Message client in the request's Request Details panel. It opens your conversation with that client in Messages, so you do not reply inside the request.

Messages and request conversations have separate notifications

In the notification defaults, the Chats group covers Messages, and the Requests group covers the conversations inside requests. You can turn each group on or off separately, for your team and for your clients. See Set notification defaults for your team and clients.

To reach every client, send an announcement or show a banner

To write to many clients at once instead of one conversation at a time, select Send announcement in Messages. The Announcement banner on Settings › Workspace › General does not send a message. It shows a line at the top of the client portal for every client. The banner works well for a notice that should stay visible, and an announcement for a message. See Announce something to every client at once.

Related

• Announce something to every client at once
• Work a request from arrival to done
• Set notification defaults for your team and clients
• Share files with clients
• Use the client profile

Updated on: 09/11/2026