How to send and receive SMS messages in VanillaSoft

Using SMS in VanillaSoft

This article is intended for VanillaSoft Users. If you are a VanillaSoft Administrator looking for instructions on how to set up SMS on your VanillaSoft account, please click here.

Your VanillaSoft VoIP phone line can be enabled by your Administrator to allow you to send and receive SMS messages within VanillaSoft. Once your line is enabled you will receive a confirmation email. Please note that it usually takes 2 to 3 hours after you receive the email for the SMS activation to take effect. Once active you can send and receive SMS messages to and from US and Canadian phone numbers. SMS messaging is not available to non-US and Canadian numbers.

The sending and receiving of SMS messages within VanillaSoft only works for Contacts within VanillaSoft. You cannot send a message to an SMS number that is not listed in VanillaSoft, and you cannot receive an SMS message from someone if their phone number is not listed in VanillaSoft.

There must be a blue SMS icon next to one of the phone numbers on the Contact before you can send or receive messages with that Contact.

If there is no phone number with a blue SMS icon visible, either:

1. Your VanillaSoft VoIP phone line is not enabled for SMS.
2. Your VanillaSoft Admin has not designated a phone number field as being SMS enabled on the Project you are working on.
3. The Contact does not have a phone number for that Phone Field. In this case, you can add a mobile number to the Contact by clicking Edit and adding the mobile number to the Phone Field that has an SMS icon beside it.

Opt Out

• If there is an SMS icon beside a phone number but the icon is grey, this indicates that a Contact has opted-out of receiving SMS messages. You will not be able to send SMS messages to this Contact.
• If a Contact asks to be added to the SMS Opt Out list, go to the Contact Information page by clicking on Edit and checking the ‘SMS Opted Out’ box.

To send an SMS text message to a Contact:

There must first be a blue SMS icon next to one of the phone numbers on the Contact before you can text the Contact. Clicking on this icon opens an SMS tab, allowing you to either type a new message or access pre-defined SMS templates. Note that both sent and received messages are shown as a conversation in the SMS tab.

Tip: We suggest keeping each message to a maximum of 160 characters to ensure it does not get split into multiple messages.

Depending on how your Admin has VanillaSoft set up, there are two other ways SMS messages can be sent to a Contact. You should check with your VanillaSoft Administrator to confirm if one or both of the following are active:

1. A Result Code can be set to automatically trigger a pre-defined SMS message.
2. An appointment reminder SMS message can be sent out in advance of an Appointment made with a Contact.

Receiving SMS messages from a Contact:

When a Contact sends you a message, you will be notified in the following ways:

1. If you are currently working on that Contact, the message will appear in the SMS tab.
2. If you are working on a Contact different than the one sending you a message, you will see an orange icon next to the Project name, indicating that a message has been received. To view this message, click on the icon which will open the MySMS page and any Contacts with a new message will have a green indicator to the left of the Contact name. Click on the Contact and you will see the message thread including new messages.
3. At any time, you can open the MySMS tab at the top of the page, and view messages conversations for each Contact.