Project Messages
Talk with clients and teammates in project conversations, keep internal discussions private, and control who can see each conversation.
Messages keep every conversation tied to a project, so the history stays with the work. You can talk with clients, keep a conversation internal to your team, or limit it to a few people. This page explains who sees what and how to start and manage conversations.
How conversations work
Every conversation belongs to one project. When you start one, Who can see this sets its audience:
| Who can see this | Who sees the conversation |
|---|---|
| Clients and team | Everyone on the project, including clients with portal access. |
| Team only | Your team only. Never shown in the portal. This is the default for a new message. |
| Specific people | Only the teammates and clients you add. |
Each task also has its own conversation, its Discussion, which your team and the clients assigned to the task can see. See Tasks.
- In a conversation clients can see, the message box says Clients see this. Turn on the Team only switch before sending to make that one message visible to your team only; the box then says Only your team sees this.
- Type
@to mention someone. Mentions notify people who can already see the conversation; they never give anyone new access. In Team only conversations and internal messages you can only mention teammates. - Files you attach follow the same visibility as the conversation and the message.
How to use the Messages inbox
Messages in the sidebar is one inbox for every conversation you can access, across all projects.
- Filter by Project, by Source (Conversations or Tasks), or by Status: Unread, Mentions, Assigned, or Needs response.
- Search by title or message text.
- Select a conversation to read and reply.
A project’s Messages tab is the same inbox, filtered to that project. Conversations, filters, and replies work the same way in both places.
How to start a conversation
- Click New message in the Messages inbox or in a project’s Messages tab.
- Choose the Project if it isn’t already set.
- Under Who can see this, choose Clients and team, Team only, or Specific people. For Specific people, add the teammates and clients who should see it.
- Optionally add a Title. If you leave it blank, Upclient uses the first message.
- Write your message and click Send.
Check the audience before you send: Team only is selected by default, so clients don’t see a new conversation until you choose Clients and team or add them.
How to change who is in a Specific people conversation
- Open the conversation’s options menu and choose Manage access.
- Add or remove people under Other participants, then click Update access.
- People you add can read the whole conversation, including earlier messages and files, and are notified.
- People you remove lose access immediately, but this can’t undo what they’ve already read.
- Upclient posts a note in the conversation whenever someone is added or removed.
- A Specific people conversation always keeps at least one teammate. Only teammates can manage access; clients can’t.
- To leave the conversation yourself, click Leave in the same dialog, then Update access. You can only leave if another teammate stays.
Access to Clients and team and Team only conversations follows project membership. To change who sees them, change the project’s members.
Renaming and deleting
- Use Rename or Delete in the conversation’s options menu. Deleting a conversation removes all of its messages.
- Delete a single message from its menu.