Staff Messenger - Video

Staff Messenger can be used to send voice, text or email messages to selected staff members.

Video Transcript

Click here to expand...

Audio Narration

Visual Description

Staff Messenger can be used to send voice, text or email messages to selected staff members

Video starts with the Staff Messenger page.

Messages may be sent based on a template or created as needed. Creating and sending from a template will be demonstrated later in the video.

A callout box highlights the User/Group and template selection dropdowns.

Select the message type. 

The Message Type dropdown is opened. Options include General and Priority.

Staff can choose to have different message types routed to different contact devices.

A screenshot fades in of a staff member’s messenger contact preferences, showing general messages should be sent to email, and priority messages as text messages to their cell phone. Screenshot fades out

Select the recipients- based on an ad hoc filter or all staff at a select school.

Options in Deliver To are selected, showing the list of Ad Hoc filters, then the All Staff of a School.

If multiple ad hoc filters are selected, set the filter operation- union to merge the filters, or intersection.

Screen fades to having 2 Ad Hoc filters selected. The Set Filter Operation callout is called out, then opened to show the options Union or Intersection.


Screen fades to a single Ad hoc filter of All Teachers selected, page scrolls down.

Select the Delivery Devices.

Callout on the Delivery Devices selection area; all 4 devices (inbox, email, voice and text) are selected.

Options in reply to email and caller ID are set in messenger settings; these may be editable in some districts.

Callout on the Reply To and Caller ID fields.

Enter the message subject.

A Message Subject (Staff Development Schedule for Monday) is entered.

The message body is the message as it will be delivered to staff’s process alerts inbox and email.

A message body of a hypothetical teacher in-service day scheduled     is added.

If the message will be delivered by phone, the text will be read by the text-to-speech tools. To use an audio file of your voice, either record a message by calling a phone number that displays on a new tab, or upload a recorded .WAV file.

Callout on the “Record a Message” and “Browse and Upload a Recorded Message” options

Enter the body for any text messages. Keep this short, ideally less than 140 characters.

The Text Message is added, providing a short message and a bit.ly link for more details.

Set what time to send the message to email or inbox recipients. Phone calls and text messages will go out when you click send.


To send a test message, enter a phone number and email address .

The Test button is clicked to open the Send Test option, showing fields to enter a phone number or email to receive a test message.

The Sent Test option is closed without sending a message.

Click Preview/Send to send the message.

The Preview/Send button is clicked.

The total number of staff members being contacted and the number of messages being sent by each delivery method display in the pop-up. 

The Preview Message pop up shows the number of recipients and the number of messages being sent to process inbox, email, and as voice/text messages.

Click Review Recipients to see what staff members are to receive the message and their contact method. A select device can be deselected, or individuals can be deselected.

The Review Recipients button is selected. The screen shows the list of staff receiving the message and where they’ll receive the message. Checkboxes next to each contact method and person to allow them to be deselected.

Click the Preview icon to see the message as it will be delivered to their inbox or email address, including any personalization.

The Preview button for the first recipient is selected. A pop-up displays the message they will receive, then is closed.

If you make any changes, click Save & Return.

The Save & Return button is clicked to go back to the Preview Message pop-up.

The message can now be sent. Use the Sent Message Log to view details.

The Send Message button is clicked to send the message. The screen changes to show a Sending Message progress spinner.


Screen fades through black to a new staff message being created. The message would be sent to all staff at all schools. The subject is “potential weather day tomorrow” and the message text is details for a potential e-learning day tomorrow due to weather.

Staff messages can be created and saved as templates for future use.


Templates save filter criteria, delivery devices, and message text.


To save a template, select if the template should be saved to your user account or a user group you’re a member of; then give the template a name.

The Save button is selected to open the save/copy template popup. The user/group dropdown is opened and the “Administrators” user group is selected. The template is then named “eLearning Day Tomorrow Possible” and the Save button is clicked.


The screen fades through black to show the staff messenger with nothing set up yet.

To use a template, select if it is saved to your user account, or to a user group, then select the template name.

The User/Group drop list is opened to show options, then User is selected.

In the Template list, a message called Grading Window Open is selected.

Double check the text and make any edits needed before sending the message.

The window is scrolled down to review options, then the message is sent.