Team SMS txt broadcast channel

Wiki ▸ Documentation ▸ User Documentation ▸ Team SMS/txt broadcast channel

• Released in version: 0.3.0
• Also called: "Team SMS/txt chat"

Enabling the SMS/txt broadcast feature for a Team creates an always-on channel for confirmed team members to send txt messages to everyone else on the team. By sending a single txt message to a specially-configured email address, the txt will be automatically forwarded to every confirmed team member. Essentially, this feature is a free group txt thread for everyone on your Team.

ℹ️ A "txt message" is also called an SMS message. SMS stands for Short Message Service.

Not all Teams have an SMS broadcast channel enabled. It is up to the Team owner to enable the feature for their Team. If you are not sure if the Team has an SMS broadcast channel configured, ask the Team owner.

As a Team owner, you can use your Buoy Team(s) to send and receive txt messages to the confirmed members of your Team at any time, even without activating an alert. Any txt message you send to your Team will be delivered to every confirmed team member. Likewise, any txt message that team members send will be delivered to all other team members.

Overview

1. Create a dedicated Team email address
2. Enable IMAP support for your newly-created email account, if it is not already enabled.
3. Configure an existing Buoy Team with the dedicated email account
4. Enable the SMS channel for your Team
5. Troubleshooting

Create a dedicated Team email address

Buoy's SMS/txt broadcast channel uses an external, IMAP-enabled email account to store and forward messages. We strongly recommend creating a dedicated email mailbox for this purpose. Please do not use your personal or work email address as your Team email address.

ℹ️ IMAP is the Internet Message Access Protocol. It's the common language that lets Buoy talk to your email provider. If your email provider doesn't support IMAP, you will not be able to use that email account with your Team.

Creating an email account differs from one service to another. Popular free options that support IMAP include:

• Creating a GMail account
• Creating a Hotmail/Microsoft Live account
• Creating a Yahoo! account

Enable IMAP support for your newly-created email account

Your email provider must support IMAP to work with Buoy. Most email providers support IMAP. However, the procedure for enabling IMAP support differs from one service to another.

• Enable IMAP for a GMail account
• TK-todo: Microsoft IMAP guide?
• TK-todo: Yahoo IMAP guide?

Configure an existing Buoy Team with the dedicated email account

On the "Edit Team" screen, scroll down to the "SMS/txt messages" box:

Provide the IMAP settings given to you by your email provider.

Enable the SMS channel for your Team

The Enable team SMS/txt chat option enables and disables the broadcast channel. When the box is checked, the broadcast channel is open and txts will be relayed to every confirmed Team member.

When finished, find the Publish box and click the Update, Save, or Publish button:

Troubleshooting

Before you file a bug report related to this feature, please try the following remedies to various common issues.

I can't find where to enter any email account settings

1. Look for a box titled SMS/txt Messages when editing your Crisis Response Teams. So, first, make sure you are editing or adding a new Team.
2. If you still cannot find the "SMS/txt Messages" box, check to make sure the box is marked visible (checked) under the Screen Options tab, as shown here:
3. If the SMS/txt Messages box is visible but tells you that "You must set a phone number in your profile to use txt messages," then you should return to your User profile and enter your phone number and phone company, then return to this screen.

I get an error when I try to configure my Buoy Team's email address

1. Double-check the username and password for your email account.
2. Ensure your email provider supports the IMAP protocol.

I never get txts my team members send

1. Double check that your mobile phone number and carrier information is correct on your profile page. (How do I set my mobile phone information on my profile?)
2. Ensure you are using a mobile phone that has SMS (txt) message service enabled on your telephone provider's plan.

I get some, but not all txt messages from my Team

1. Ensure that your Team's email account is not being accessed by any other software.
2. Ensure that your Team's email account is not associated with any other Buoy Teams; each Team should have its own, unique email address.