🔒 To send messages on Famly, some permissions in the Communication section need to be enabled. For example, Start internal staff messages and View and write classroom messages to parents - but you can decide how much messaging access to give
The Staff Messaging Inbox
The staff messaging inbox is divided into three main sections: Private, Team, and All. Each section serves a different purpose and offers specific messaging capabilities.
Private
This section allows staff to send private messages to parents or other employees. Only the selected recipients can view these messages. To ensure the message is sent correctly, the recipient’s name must be selected so that a green tick appears next to it.
💡 You can send a message to a maximum of 50 recipients at a time. If you need to reach more people, we recommend creating a Newsfeed post instead
Team
The Team section is used for communicating with specific rooms. Messages sent here are visible to all employees who have marked that room as a favourite (indicated by a star). You can also attach photos and documents to these messages.
💡 There is no restriction on how many rooms a staff member can favourite. This means staff can view Team messages for any room they have favourited, regardless of whether they are assigned to it
All
This section is available to staff members who have permission to message parents directly. It provides a combined overview of messages across all rooms, including those not marked as favourites and your own private messages.
Message Permissions
Staff with the Send private messages to parents permission can message parents directly, and receive messages from them, without those conversations being visible to other employees.
Staff without this permission can only send messages through the Team inbox, where messages are visible to all employees associated with that room.
The Parent Messaging Inbox
Parents also have an inbox view where they can send and receive messages privately or through their child's room. A parent's view of their inbox may look something like this:
Messaging the room
Parents can message their child’s room directly. For example, in the screenshot above, their child's room is called Opal. These messages are visible to the staff members linked to that room.
Messaging management
Parents can also send private messages to Management. This is useful for questions or concerns they would prefer not to raise in a group conversation.
💡 The option to message Management is always available. It cannot be turned off
Attachments in messages
All major file types can be attached to a message, including PDF and JPEG for files and images. Famly does not currently support video attachments in messages. This applies to both staff and parent messages.
Search Within Messages
If you're looking to find a particular message or message thread, you can use the search bar within your messaging inbox to filter for:
Recipients of the message
Key terms within a message or thread
You can search for message recipients directly within your messaging inbox, or using the global search function in your app by selecting Messages:
Name your Conversations
You also have the option to name conversations in your inbox, which makes finding a particular thread a little easier. Conversation names can be searched for in the same way that recipients can be, via the search bar in your messaging inbox.
💡 Naming conversations in your inbox is only available for staff members, not for parents
To name a conversation
Navigate to your inbox
Click on the conversation you'd like to name
Click on Actions and choose Name conversation from the dropdown
A pop-up will appear where you can enter a new name
Remember to click Save to update your changes!
The new name will be displayed in the sidebar in your conversation overview, replacing the name(s) of the recipient(s)
You can rename conversations by repeating this process
If you'd like to remove a name from a conversation, just delete the name you entered in the pop-up so the field is blank and save it - the previous name will be removed
Archive and Delete Messages
The Actions dropdown also allows you to archive and delete messages.
To delete a message, click on Actions and select Delete messages. Then, select all the messages you'd like to delete. You can only delete your own messages in a thread, other people's messages cannot be deleted by anyone but themselves.
To archive a conversation, click on Archive conversation from the Actions dropdown. This conversation will be moved to your archive, which you can access by clicking on Inbox, then switching to Archived:
💡 If you need to delete several messages in one go, you can reach out to support@famly.co to bulk delete multiple conversation threads
Leave a Conversation
In the Actions menu, you can also select to Leave conversation. This will remove you as a participant in the message, and you won't be able to rejoin the thread.
Sometimes, conversations will appear locked. This happens when there is only one participant left in the message due to other participants leaving the conversation. You won't be able to send new messages in a locked conversation.
💡 Keep in mind, that you cannot add or remove conversation participants once a message thread has been started. If a conversation needs to include another participant, you will need to draft a new, separate message including this participant