Communications

Manage private conversations with residents from one inbox. Communications threads are one-to-one with a resident, delivered by email as well as in the portal, and trackable with statuses, priorities, and assignments.

Who is this for?

This guide applies to Owners and Managers (staff). Residents see the same conversations in their portal under Messages — see the resident guide.

The Communications Inbox

Go to Communications in your board portal. The top of the page shows four summary tiles:

• Active threads - Total conversations in the current view
• Unread inbound - Threads with resident messages you haven't read
• Unassigned - Open threads with no manager assigned
• Delivery issues - Threads where an email bounced or failed

Filtering the Inbox

Use the Filter inbox card to narrow the list:

• Search subject - Find threads by subject text
• Status - Open, Pending, Resolved, or Archived
• Type - Direct, Maintenance, Announcement Followup, or System
• Owner - "Assigned to me" or "Unassigned"
• Delivery - "Needs attention" shows threads with bounced or failed emails

Click Apply to filter. Each thread in the inbox shows its subject, latest message preview, unread count, and status badges. A red Delivery badge means at least one email to that thread's participants failed.

Starting a Conversation

Use the Start a conversation card to open a private resident thread that is also reachable by email reply:

1. Enter a Subject
2. Select resident from the dropdown
3. Choose a priority: Low, Normal, High, or Urgent
4. Write your message
5. Click Send

The resident receives an email with your message and a link back to the thread in their portal. If your community has reply addresses configured, they can also answer directly from their email client.

Using the AI Helper

Both the new-conversation form and the reply box include an AI helper panel. Type an instruction (for example, "remind them the pool closes Friday, friendly but firm") and click Generate, or use the quick actions:

• When starting a thread: Draft opener, Make friendly, Make firm
• When replying: Draft reply, Soften tone, Shorten

The AI uses the subject, recipient, priority, and (for replies) the recent conversation context to produce a draft. The draft is inserted into the message box for you to review and edit — nothing is sent until you click Send or Reply.

tip

The AI helper rewrites whatever is currently in the message box when you use Soften tone, Shorten, Make friendly, or Make firm — so you can draft rough notes yourself and let the AI polish them.

Working a Thread

Open a thread from the inbox to see the full conversation. Staff messages appear on the right; resident messages on the left.

Replying

Write your reply and choose its visibility before sending:

• Visible to resident - The default. The resident sees it in their portal and receives an email.
• Internal note - Visible only to staff. Use it for private context, hand-off notes, or decisions. Internal notes are marked with an Internal badge and are never emailed to the resident.

Thread Status, Priority, and Assignment

At the top of an open thread, you can update:

Field	Options
Status	Open, Pending, Resolved, Archived
Priority	Low, Normal, High, Urgent
Assigned to	Any owner or manager, or Unassigned

Click Save to apply. Assigning threads keeps the Unassigned tile at zero and makes it clear who owns each conversation.

Thread Types

Threads are tagged by how they started:

• Direct - Started by staff or by a resident from their Messages page
• Maintenance - Linked to a maintenance request; the related request appears as a source badge on the thread
• Announcement Followup - A resident asked a question about an announcement; the announcement appears as a source badge
• System - Automated updates

Delivery Audit

Every outbound message is delivered by email to the thread participants. The Delivery audit panel at the bottom of a thread lists each recipient with a delivery status (queued, sent, delivered, bounced, or failed) and the error message if something went wrong.

Bounced or failed deliveries also surface as the red Delivery badge in the inbox and the Delivery issues summary tile — use the Needs attention filter to find and fix them (usually a wrong or dead email address on the resident's account).

Best Practices

• Assign every thread: An unassigned thread is a thread nobody answers
• Use internal notes for context: Keep the resident-visible history clean and professional
• Watch the Delivery issues tile: A bounced email means the resident never saw your reply
• Resolve, don't delete: Mark finished conversations Resolved so the history stays available
• Let the AI draft, but always review: The helper produces a starting point, not a final answer