Desktop app
Messaging your team from the desktop app
How to message a colleague, a group of colleagues or one of your organisation's groups from the Cradle desktop app, and what to do if you cannot see it.
Important
Team messaging is switched on per organisation, and arrives with the 26.9.0 update. If you cannot see your colleagues in New message, your organisation does not have it yet. Ask your administrator to contact Cradle.
Your conversations with colleagues sit in the same Messages list as your conversations with clients. Talking to a client about a job and talking to a colleague about that same job are the same piece of work, so there is one list to check rather than two.
Before you start
- You are signed in to the Cradle desktop app on Windows or macOS.
- Your organisation has team messaging switched on. There is nothing to install and nothing for you to enable yourself.
Finding your conversations
Open Messages. Above the list are three chips:
- All shows everything, newest first.
- External shows conversations with people outside your organisation: your texts and WhatsApp conversations with clients.
- Internal shows conversations with colleagues.
Each conversation shows a small mark for the channel it is on, and the list is grouped by Today, Yesterday and This week, the same way your call log is.
Messaging one colleague
- In Messages, press New message.
- Start typing their name. Colleagues appear alongside your contacts.
- Press their name. Their conversation opens with the cursor ready.
Your colleagues are one press from a message wherever Cradle shows them, so you can also start from their row in Contacts, from a search result in Calls, or from the record of a call you had with them.
Messaging several colleagues at once
- Press New message.
- Press the plus beside each person you want. A bar appears showing who you have picked.
- Give the group a name if you want one. With two or more people a name field appears; with one person it does not, because that is just their conversation.
- Press to start it.
Messaging one of your organisation's groups
Your organisation's groups, the ones calls are routed to, can be messaged too.
- Press New message and type part of the group's name, or
- Open Contacts, Groups, and press the message button beside the group.
Anyone in your organisation can write to a group, and everyone in the group sees what is written. Who is in a group is set by an administrator, so there is nothing to join and nothing to leave.
Sending files and voice notes
- Press the paperclip, or drag a file straight onto the conversation. You can drop it anywhere on the conversation, not only on the paperclip, and several at once is fine. Dropping attaches the file; it does not send, so the message is still yours to write.
- Press the microphone to record a voice note. See Sending a voice note.
Reading and being read
A message you have sent shows when the other person has read it. Opening a conversation marks it read for you, on every device you use Cradle on.
Deleting a message
Press and hold, or right-click, your own message and choose delete. The message is replaced by "Message deleted" for everyone in the conversation. You can only delete your own messages, and there is no edit.
If you cannot see it
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| No colleagues in New message, only contacts | Your organisation does not have team messaging. Ask your administrator to contact Cradle |
| A group is missing | Groups are managed by your administrator in the admin portal |
| A colleague is missing | Their Cradle account may be inactive. Ask your administrator |