ForemanFOREMAN

Messaging

Message your team directly, start a thread about a project or a contact, and comment right where the work lives — on records, tasks, daily logs, and files.

Messaging keeps your conversations inside Foreman, next to the work they're about — so decisions don't get buried in texts and email threads. You can message a teammate directly, open a thread about a project or a contact, and drop comments right on the records, tasks, daily logs, and files you're already working in.

Open your messages

  1. From the sidebar, click Messages.
  2. You'll land on your inbox — Slack-style: your conversations in a list on the left, with the latest message and time for each.
  3. Click a conversation to read it in the pane on the right. The list stays put, so you can hop between conversations without losing your place, or Mark unread to send one back to your unread pile.

Every project also has its own Messages tab — open a project and you'll see just that project's conversations (its project thread, group chats linked to the project, and threads on its records, daily logs, tasks, and files). The new thread button there can post to the project's conversation or start a private group chat linked to the project.

Don’t see this?

If you don't see Messages in the sidebar, your role may not include messaging. Ask your organization owner to grant it. Clients and vendors can always read and reply to conversations they're part of.

Start a new conversation

  1. Click the new thread button at the top of the conversation list — the new message opens right in the reading pane, Slack-style.
  2. To — add the people: teammates, clients, or vendors, one or a whole group.
  3. About — what the thread is for (it starts as a plain direct message):
    • Direct message — just a conversation with people, no subject.
    • Pick a project and To fills with Everyone on that project — your message posts to the project's shared conversation and shows in its activity. Swap in specific people instead, and you get a private chat linked to the project.
    • Pick a record the same way: keep Everyone to post to the record's conversation, or pick people to chat privately with the record attached as a reference card.
    • Pick New RFI to ask a numbered question (RFI-001, RFI-002…) on a project. Add the people you're asking — an architect or engineer can read and reply from their portal — and your team can always see the project's RFIs.
  4. Write your message in the box at the bottom and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter for a new line).

Reply in a thread

On any message, open its menu and choose Reply in thread — your reply nests under that message, Slack-style, so side questions don't bury the main conversation.

Note

The To line is always the truth about who sees a message. Everyone on… means the shared conversation; specific names mean a private thread. When you message a client or vendor, they get an email and can read and reply from their portal — so quotes, questions, and decisions stay on the record instead of in text threads.

Send and reply

  1. Open any conversation from the list.
  2. Type in the box at the bottom and press Enter to send (Shift+Enter for a new line).
  3. To loop someone in, type @ and pick a teammate — they'll be notified.
  4. Use attach to add a file to your message.

Messages support formatting via the toolbar, and you'll see an (edited) marker if a message was changed.

Find and filter

  1. Type into Search messages… to match a conversation's title, a sender, or message text.
  2. Click Filter to narrow the list — All, Unread, Sent, or Direct.

Fix or remove your own messages

On any message you sent, open its menu to Mark as unread, Edit comment, or Delete comment.

Comment right where the work is

You don't have to come to the inbox to start a conversation. Open the discussion panel on the thing you're working on and the comments there become a thread, tied to that item:

  • A record you're building (proposal, invoice, change order, and so on)
  • A task
  • A daily log
  • A file

These in-context comments are for your internal team, and they also show up in the project's activity feed so nothing gets lost.