ConstructionOnline provides several different communication tools you can use to disseminate and discuss critical project information with your project team:

📨 Messages: ConstructionOnline Project Messages were designed to eliminate the frustrations that come with using your email inbox or text messages to conduct communication about your projects. With ConstructionOnline Messages, you can organize conversations—which are limited to your ConstructionOnline Contacts only—based on the Project they are relevant to so that you don't have to worry about keeping files sorted in a drawer, reading page after page of emails to find one thread, or searching through your phone for certain conversations. ConstructionOnline keeps all project discussions in one place so they can be easily referenced with intuitive search and filter options.

🔊 Announcements: ConstructionOnline Announcements make it easy to ensure your team is always up to speed by allowing you to share important information with your entire team. Think of Announcements like an online sticky-note—a way for you to post critical information company-wide or for a specific Project that your team can view, but not respond to.

📫 Inbound Emails: ConstructionOnline's Inbound Email tool provides each of your Projects in ConstructionOnline with a dedicated email address you can use to receive external emails straight into ConstructionOnline. By managing external emails and documents with your ConstructionOnline Inbound Email, you'll be able to have organized, searchable, and filterable historical records of your project correspondence safely stored in one place, not buried amongst other emails and documents. Additionally, you can control inbound access by designating approved senders and setting permissions for your employees—eliminating junk mail and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

💬 Envoy™ Chat: ConstructionOnline's Envoy Chat tool is an internal chat tool that allows your team to instantly send messages, attach files, and keep accurate records of communication all within ConstructionOnline. You can easily send messages to your team members individually or as a group through both browser access to ConstructionOnline and the CO™ Mobile App. Additionally, you can send direct links to ConstructionOnline features so that your team can maintain clear communication and easy access to your project information.

Which ConstructionOnline Communication tools can I get through the CO Mobile App?

ConstructionOnline Messages, Announcements, and Envoy Chat are available on the CO Mobile App. The Inbound Email tool is available exclusively through browser access to ConstructionOnline.

When should I use Messages vs. other Communication tools in ConstructionOnline?

ConstructionOnline Messages are intended to be used to share and discuss critical project information with the Contacts in your Company Contact lis t. By keeping these important conversations internal and organized within the relevant ConstructionOnline Project, all of your project discussions can be safely stored and easily referenced—without having to worry about searching through siloed emails.

To learn more about and compare the other ConstructionOnline Communication tools available to you, visit this FAQ.

Can I integrate my ConstructionOnline Messages with Gmail or Outlook?

ConstructionOnline Messages are limited to your ConstructionOnline Project/Contacts by design and cannot be integrated with any other platforms; however, by default, all ConstructionOnline Messages are also delivered to your email inbox where you can directly respond to the Message by selecting the option to "Reply Directly by Email" on the message. This Notification Setting cannot be adjusted for Company Admin Users and Company Employees; Messages created by someone else will always trigger an immediate email notification for these users.

Do I have to be logged into ConstructionOnline to respond to a Message?

No! As all Messages are also delivered to your email inbox, you can directly respond to a Message by selecting the option "Reply Directly by Email" on the message. You can reply to the message using your preferred email client, and your sent response will appear within the associated Message conversation in ConstructionOnline.

How do I Message my Lead if the Project is won?

There are a few different ways you can message your Lead in ConstructionOnline:

Lead Contact Page - Leads can be Messaged from their Lead Contact Page by navigating to Lead Tracking, clicking on the desired Lead Name within the Leads pane, and clicking the "Messages" tab.
Opportunity - If you have not yet converted the Lead's Opportunity into a Project, you can Message your Lead within their Opportunity by navigating to Opportunities, right-clicking on the desired Opportunity & selecting "Manage Content", and then clicking the "Messages" tab.
Project - If you've converted your Lead's Opportunity to a Project, you will have been prompted to invite your Lead to join the Project as a ClientLink User. If you invited them upon conversion, or at a later time, and they are added to the Project as a ClientLink User, you can send them a Message through Project Messages.

For step-by-step instructions on how to create a new Message once you've reached the desired location in ConstructionOnline, visit this article.

Does a Contact have to be assigned to a Project to be sent a Message?

No. ConstructionOnline Messages can be sent to any Company User, ClientLink User, TeamLink User, Lead, or Basic Contact in your Company Contact list from any ConstructionOnline Project.

Please keep in mind that ClientLink and TeamLink Users must have Messaging permissions enabled in order to view Messages in ConstructionOnline. If Messaging permissions are not enabled, ClientLink and TeamLink Users will still receive Messages in their email inbox, but will not have access to Messages in the Project Portal. Additionally, please keep in mind that Messages will always be linked to the ConstructionOnline Project they are sent from.

Can I send a Message to a user that is not in the system?

No. By design, ConstructionOnline Messages are limited to the Company Users, ClientLink User, TeamLink User, Leads, and Basic Contacts in your Company Contact list.

If you wish to send a Message to a Contact not in ConstructionOnline, follow the instructions in this article to add the Contact to your Company Contact list. Once added, you can send the Contact a Message via ConstructionOnline.

Whose Messages can I see?

The Messages you can see depend on your user type and permissions for Messages:

If you are a Company Admin User, you can automatically see all Company Message Conversations. This includes Messages sent to and from Company Employees, clients, subs, or other users.
If you are Company Employee, you can automatically see any Messages sent to you. However, if your permissions for Messages have been set as "User can view all company message conversations, even if they are not explicitly added as a recipient", you can also see all Message Conversations within your Company Account.
If you are a ClientLink/TeamLink User, you can see Messages sent to you in ConstructionOnline if your ClientLink/TeamLink Permissions for Messaging have been enabled. If your Messaging permissions are not enabled, you will still receive Messages in your email inbox, but will not have access to Messages in the Project Portal.

Who all can see my Messages?

Company Admin Users can see all Company Message Conversations, which include any Messages sent to and from Company Employees, clients, subs, or other users. Any Messages you send can be seen by Company Admin Users. Company Employees can only see your Messages if they have permissions for Messaging set as "User can view all company message conversations, even if they are not explicitly added as a recipient". If a Company Employee does not have this permission enabled, they will only be able to see messages they are the recipients of. Finally, ClientLink and TeamLink Users can only see Messages they are the recipients of.

Can ClientLink and TeamLink Users send Messages?

Yes! If you have set your Company's ClientLink and TeamLink Permissions to give ClientLink and TeamLink Users access to Messages, your clients and subs will be able to send messages within the Project Portal. ClientLink and TeamLink Users can send Messages to the Project Creator, as well as any team members that have been assigned a Key Role for the Project.

Can my clients/subs send a Message to anyone?

No. Your clients/subs can only send Messages to users they see under the "Team" tab for their Project. This includes the Project Creator and any team members who have been assigned a Key Role. If no team members have been assigned a Key Role, your client will only be able to Message the Project Creator.

My client/sub can only message the Project Creator. Why can’t they message anyone else?

If your client or sub can only message the Project Creator, other team members for the Project have not been assigned Key Roles. ClientLink and TeamLink Users can only message users who have been assigned a Key Role for the Project. If no team members have been assigned Key Roles, they will only be able to contact the Project Creator.

Step-by-step instructions for assigning Key Roles to project team members can be found here.

Who can my ClientLink and TeamLink Users message?

ClientLink and TeamLink Users can only message the users they see under the "Team" tab for their assigned Projects. This includes the Project Creator and any team members who have been assigned a Key Role for the Project. ClientLink and TeamLink Users cannot freely message users within the Project Portal.

Can I edit a Message?

No. There is no way to edit a Message once it is sent.

If you are creating a Message that you would like to come back to before you send it, we recommend saving the Message as a draft by clicking the "Save Draft" button when exiting the "New Conversation" window. Your Message will be stored within the "Draft" tab for you to revisit at any time.

Can I save my Message and send it later?

Yes! Draft Messages are a convenient component of ConstructionOnline's Messages feature, allowing users to save partially or completed Messages and edit or send them at a later date/time. When crafting a Message or reply, users will see an option called "Save Draft". Clicking this option will automatically save the Message as a draft. Draft messages can be found under the Draft tab for Messages.

What are Message Templates?

Message Templates are pre-written messages and replies that can be sent to Company Employees, clients, subs, and other users within ConstructionOnline. Company Users can create professional, well-crafted emails and save them as Message Templates, which can be accessed & used by all users within the company account—improving consistency in communication company-wide.

To create a Message Template, navigate to Messages in ConstructionOnline and select the Templates tab. Click the green (+) Add Message Template button to begin customizing the message template.

Message Templates are not available for Legacy or Classic subscriptions to ConstructionOnline. If you are unsure which plan your company has, check your company's ConstructionOnline subscription level by accessing your Company Account details.

Can I search my Messages?

Yes! With ConstructionOnline's built-in search function, you can search your Messages to find a specific message or reply. ConstructionOnline will search the title and body of each Message to pull your search results. However, you can only search Messages that are contained within a specific section of Messages. For example, if you are in the "Drafts" section of Messages, only results from the Drafts section will populate.

Can I remove a user from a Message?

No. There is no way to remove a user from a Message that has been sent.

If you wish to remove a user from a specific conversation, we recommend creating a new Message without that user and archiving the current conversation.

Can I unsend a Message?

No. There is no way to unsend a Message once it has been sent in ConstructionOnline.

I created a Message for the wrong Project. Can I move it to a different Project?

No. If you've created a Message within the wrong Project, we suggest copying the body text of the Message and pasting it into a new Message within the intended Project.

Does archiving a Message conversation archive it for everyone?

No. When a Message is archived, other users will see a banner above the archived Message Conversation that says the conversation was archived by the user who archived it. The Message Conversation will not automatically move to the "Archived" tab for other Company Employees. Other Company Employees will have to manually move the Conversation to the "Archived" tab themselves if they do not want it to appear under the "Active" Messages tab.

What Messages do deleted users have access to?

Deleted users cannot access any Messages previously sent to them or by them in ConstructionOnline. When a user is deleted, they are removed from their associated Company Account and/or any associated ConstructionOnline Projects. Deleting a user does not delete their ConstructionOnline account, but they will lose all access to company and project data in ConstructionOnline—including any Company or Project-related Messages they used to have access to.

Does deleting a Contact delete their Messages?

No! If a Contact is deleted, any Messages they sent or responded to will not be deleted. However, the deleted Contact will no longer appear within the associated Message conversation.

Have more questions?

We're here to help! Chat with a Specialist by clicking the orange Chat icon in the bottom left corner or contact UDA support for additional options.