Help Center
New to VisionScaper?
Start here
Help Center › Admin screens, field by field › Settings → Messages & alerts: the message editor, field by field
Settings → Messages & alerts: the message editor, field by field
How to edit any automatic message or alert: on/off, channels, subject, email, text, timing, quiet hours, test and reset.
Where to find it: Contractor Hub → Settings & Integrations → Settings → group Messages and connections → tab ✉️ Messages & alerts. Owner screen.
What it controls: every automatic message your customers get and every alert you get. Each one is pre-written. You open one, rewrite it, choose how it is sent, and save. The list of all 28 messages, with when each is sent and its starting channels, is in settings-messages-and-alerts-catalog.
Before you start
- Texts only send when the website owner has set up Twilio and your plan includes texting. Otherwise the page says “Texting isn’t set up on this website yet, so text versions are saved but not sent” (or “Texts aren’t in your plan…”). See
get-twilio-details. - The tab opens with a short tip: open a message to rewrite it, and tap a detail like “Customer’s first name” to drop it in.
The list screen
Messages are grouped in cards: Requests, Appointments, Jobs & payments, Messages, 🔔 Alerts to you, Field operations, Purchasing. Each row shows the name, when it is sent, a small “Customized” tag if you changed it, and icons for its channels, or Off. Click a row to edit it. The Alerts card says: “How VisionScaper tells you about new requests, messages, signatures and payments. Texts to you follow your quiet hours.” The Field operations card explains that alerts go to you and, if “Alert managers” is on in Field work → Settings, to your managers. “Schedule change” goes to the employee.
Fields: inside the editor (one pop-up per message)
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| “When it’s sent” (read-only) | Plain description of what triggers this message. Some also post into your message thread with the customer. | Read only. | Different for each message. |
Send this message automatically (or Send me this alert for alerts) |
Master switch. Off means VisionScaper never sends it. | Untick to stop it. | On, except “Invoice overdue nudge”, which starts off. |
Send by: ✉️ Email |
Sends by email. | Tick or untick. | Per message; see catalog. |
Send by: 💬 Text |
Sends by text. Labelled “(not sending)” when texting is not set up or not in your plan. | Tick or untick. | Per message. |
Send by: 🔔 In-app |
Shows it inside VisionScaper (the customer’s project thread or your hub). | Tick or untick. | Per message. |
Email subject |
Subject line, up to 200 characters. | Example: How did we do on {job_name}? | Pre-written. |
Email (and in-app) message |
Body used for email and in-app, up to 6000 characters. | Write like you talk. | Pre-written. |
Text message (short version) |
Body for texts, up to 640 characters. Under it you see the length with sample details and about how many texts it will be. “Reply STOP to opt out” is added automatically. | Keep it short. | Pre-written. |
Find a detail |
A search box that filters the detail chips below it by name or code. | Type “date”. | |
| Detail chips (55) | Tapping a chip types its {code} into the box you last clicked. Hover shows an example. The full list is in the catalog article. |
Tap one. | Use {customer_first_name\|there} to give a fallback word. |
| Preview (right side) | Shows subject, email and text with sample details. Unknown codes are shown in red. | Read only. | A warning “Not a detail VisionScaper knows: {x}” appears for a misspelled code. |
Send me a test |
Sends this draft to you with sample data, marked [TEST], by the channels ticked (not in-app). | Click. | Limit: 20 tests per hour. |
Reset to the original |
After you confirm, puts the wording back to the original and discards your edits for this message. | Click, then confirm. | |
Save |
Saves on/off, channels, subject, email and text for this message. | Click. | Toast “Saved.” |
Extra box: ⏱️ Timing (only for some messages)
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Days after the due date (Invoice overdue nudge) |
Days after an invoice’s due date before the first nudge. | 3 | 3 |
Days after the job is marked done (Review request) |
Delay before asking for a review. | 3 | 3 |
Then every (days) (Invoice overdue nudge) |
Gap between nudges. | 7 | 7 |
At most (times) (Invoice overdue nudge) |
Maximum nudges per invoice. | 3 | 3 |
Save timing |
Saves these numbers. Each is kept between 0 and 365. | Click. | Toast “Timing saved.” |
Timing defaults are placeholders, not approved; set your own.
For Appointment reminder the editor shows a pointer instead: “When reminders go out is set in Settings → Reminders”, with an Open Reminders link. See settings-reminders.
Extra box: 🌙 Quiet hours for texts to you (alerts that use text)
| Field (exact label) | What it does for VisionScaper | What to enter and example | Default / notes |
|---|---|---|---|
No texts from |
The hour your quiet time starts. Texts to you wait. | Pick an hour. | 9 PM |
to |
The hour it ends. | Pick an hour. | 8 AM |
Save quiet hours |
Saves both. | Click. | Toast “Quiet hours saved.” |
Steps
- Open the tab and click the message you want.
- Decide on/off and tick the channels.
- Edit subject, email and text. Tap detail chips instead of typing names.
- Look at the preview. Fix any red code.
- Click Send me a test and read it in your inbox or phone.
- Click Save.
- If it has Timing or Quiet hours, set those and use their own save buttons.
Tips
- Texts over 160 plain characters become several texts. The counter tells you.
- Text with special characters (such as emoji) counts a smaller number of characters per text. The on-screen counter accounts for this.
- Reset is per message; nothing else changes.
If something goes wrong
- “Not sent” on test: the toast shows the reason. Check your email and phone in Business profile.
- “That’s a lot of tests”: wait an hour.
- Plan message after Save: a channel or feature is not in your plan. See
settings-plan-usage-and-credits. - A detail comes out blank: the customer has no value for it. Add a fallback with
|.