Send and receive texts

Your number has to be registered before texts get delivered. If you haven't done that yet, see Set up text messaging.

Where to text from

The Inbox. Every text conversation is in the Inbox, on the Texts tab. Open one to read it and reply. To start a new one, click New message and pick Text.

A contact or company record. Open a record with a phone number and click Text. This opens the existing conversation, or starts a new one.

Ticket replies. If a ticket's customer has a phone number, you can reply to them by text from the ticket.

The phone. The Messages tab on the Phone page (and in the Windows desktop app) lists your conversations. Open one to reply, or click New text to text someone new.

Pictures (MMS)

To send a picture, use Attach in the reply box. Pictures customers send you show in the conversation.

Drafts

If you type a text and leave the conversation without sending it, Hey Quad keeps it as your draft. It's there in the reply box when you come back, on the web and in the mobile app, and the conversation shows Draft in the Inbox list. Click Discard to drop it.

An AI app connected to Hey Quad can write a text for you, but it never sends one. Its text waits as a draft in the conversation, marked Draft by and the app's name. Read it, change it if you like, and press Send. If nobody has recorded that this person agreed to get texts and they have never texted you, a note under Send says so. See AI apps.

Drafts are yours alone. A teammate who opens the same conversation doesn't see them.

If you have the same conversation open in two places, say two browser tabs or the web and your phone, and the draft changes in one of them, the other doesn't overwrite it. It shows "This draft was changed elsewhere" with the other version, and you choose Load the new version or Keep mine.

Who sees which texts

Each number has its own Text messages go to setting. It's separate from where the number's calls go. Texts go to one person's extension, a shared inbox, or the AI receptionist. Owners and admins see every conversation. Where texts go explains the setting and the defaults.

Taking and sharing a conversation

The top of a text conversation in the Inbox shows who it's assigned to.

• Assign to me: take it, so a colleague doesn't answer it too.
• Assign: click the assignee and pick a teammate. From then on, they get the notifications.
• Move to shared inbox… (under More): share it with a team. This adds the team; it doesn't take the conversation away from whoever had it.

Which numbers you can text from

The From list shows only the numbers whose texts come to you: your own extension's numbers and the numbers of any shared inbox you're in. Owners and admins can text from any number. This keeps people from texting a customer from the wrong line.

What the statuses mean

• Sent: Hey Quad handed the text to the carrier.
• Delivered: the carrier confirmed it reached the phone.
• Failed: the carrier refused it or couldn't deliver it. The reason shows next to it when the carrier gives one, and you can Retry.

"Sent" doesn't promise the text arrived. Only "Delivered" does.

Why a text might be refused

Hey Quad stops a text before it goes out when:

• The person opted out. They texted STOP to any of your numbers, or someone added them to your do-not-contact list. See Opt-outs and consent.
• The number isn't registered yet, or its registration hasn't reached the carriers. You'll see a warning in the reply box.
• Your organization handles health information and the text doesn't match an approved template. Approved templates are under Settings → Privacy & PHI. Use one, or ask an admin to add one.
• It's a marketing text sent outside quiet hours, without written consent, or past the daily limit. See Opt-outs and consent.

Notifications

When a text arrives, the people it goes to get a notification: the extension's owner, or everyone in the shared inbox. Once someone is assigned the conversation, only they're notified. If a number has no owner (for example, its extension was deleted), owners and admins are told instead.

Good to know

• Replies go where the conversation lives. If the customer's number is tied to an open ticket, their reply lands on the ticket. If not, it's a conversation in the Inbox.
• Missing a colleague's conversation is on purpose. If you expect to see a conversation and don't, the number sends its texts somewhere else. An admin can point it at you, or add you to the shared inbox.
• The SMS / messages report is for owners and admins, because it covers every conversation. Your own conversations are in the Inbox. See Understanding the reports.
• Long texts cost more. A text over 160 characters is split into two or more segments, and each one counts. Texts you receive are free. See How texting is billed.