Captured outbox

While the church is practising, nothing leaves the back office. Every text and email (from the composer, a test send, a form's confirmation, a volunteer reminder, a statement or a reply to STOP) is captured here instead, word for word.

When to use this

• After a test send, to read your message as a recipient would.
• To check what a form, an event registration or a reminder would send automatically.
• To see the replies the church's number sends to STOP, START and HELP.

Read a captured message

1. Open Messages › Captured outbox. The newest messages are first.
2. The list shows who each message is to, their number or address, the type, where it came from and when it would go.
3. Select a name to read the full message on the right, shown as a phone text or an email.

Clear empties the outbox in your browser.

Sender lanes

Each message shows the lane it would go out on:

• Announcements: news, invitations and reminders written in the composer. This is the number people text STOP to when they don't want church news.
• Operational: messages people need whatever they've chosen about news: check-in pickup texts, volunteer reminders, gift receipts, statements, registration confirmations and alerts to staff.

The lanes use separate numbers and senders, so opting out of announcements never blocks a pickup text or a receipt. Every message still follows the consent rules for its own lane.

Held messages

A message marked Held is waiting for the end of quiet hours (8 am in the recipient's time zone) or the Sunday noon hold for promotional texts. The Would go column shows when it will be sent.

Good to know

• In the live system, this screen becomes a sending log. In the sandbox it's the only place messages ever go.
• Test sends go to the sandbox's own test phone and inbox, and are labelled Test send.
• Prayer request notifications say only that a request is waiting, never what it says.

Top tips

• Open the outbox after setting up any new form or event, and read its confirmation email: it's the first thing a guest will receive from the church.
• Use Clear before a demonstration, so only what you send shows.