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Create a new text message

Main Menu > New text message


(Note that staff accounts must specifically be given permission to send text messages by entering a number of ‘Maximum message recipients’ under the text message settings in the account. The number is the maximum number of text messages the user can send in one go. Staff only see the New text message link in the main menu if they have a number saved in this field).

Choose recipients > Enter message > Hit Publish


The options for choosing recipients are exactly the same as those described in the section about creating a new publication. The only significant differences with text messages are that they have a standard 160 character limit (or will spill over into 2 or more messages if exceeded), there are no attachment options, and there is not usually a reply option (although incoming texts and replies can be enabled as an additional feature; contact us for details). The send time will always default to the current time, but you can set a future date/time if you wish (for example to create a reminder message in advance of when you actually want it to go out).



The ‘From’ name will usually show your school’s name (or an abbreviation of it – max 11 characters) and this will be displayed as what’s called the ‘sender id’ on the recipients’ phones, with no reply option. If you would prefer to be able to receive replies by text we can set up an incoming SMS number for you and this will then replace ‘YourSchool’ as the default ‘From’ number. Recipients can then reply to this number and the messages will be delivered to an additional ‘Incoming text messages’ area within the SchoolPost system. Alternatively, if your own SchoolPost account (i.e. the logged in user) contains a mobile number this can optionally be set as a from/reply number – this would mean that text replies go directly to that specific mobile phone. (So obviously not recommended for a personal phone, but could be used to direct replies to an ‘office’ or ‘trip’ mobile phone).


‘Snippets’ (if available in your system) are short templates for messages (or parts of messages) that you can pull into your text by selecting from the drop-down list. This is usually used for common messages such as absence or commendations – please contact us if you would like to add some templates to your system. (‘Snippets’ or templates are not editable by the school at present, but this will be added in a future version).


‘Snippets’ can also be used to insert personalised fields such as {FirstName} {LastName}, {Salutation} or pupil name(s) into the body of your messages. If you would like to use these but do not already see them in the drop-down list please contact us; we will need to check that the correct fields are being imported from your MIS before enabling them.


View messages opens a preview of the first five recipients’ messages including any personalisation fields so that you can check the data is being pulled in correctly before sending.



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