Messaging clients through the portal
Two places to message from
You can message a client from either of two places in Accupe, and both show the same conversation because there's only one thread per client, not separate threads per topic or per job:
- Messages (Sidebar > Messages, /dashboard/messages) - your main view of every client conversation at the firm.
- Contacts > (open a client) > Messages tab - the same thread, scoped to that one client, useful when you're already looking at their record.
Finding a conversation
On the Messages page, the left-hand list shows every client at your firm, not just the ones you've already messaged. Clients you've messaged before appear first, most recent message on top; clients you haven't messaged yet follow, sorted alphabetically by name. If you're a staff member rather than an admin or manager, you'll only see clients delegated to you; admins and managers see every client's conversation. A client's delegated team member is shown on their Contacts record under a "Manager Delegation" or "Staff Delegation" label (which one you see depends on whether that person is a manager), holding the assigned team member's name.
Use the "Search conversations" box to filter the list by business or contact name. If nothing matches your search you'll see "No conversations match your search"; if your visible client list is empty - either the firm genuinely has no clients yet, or, for staff, none are currently delegated to you - you'll see "No active conversations".
Each row gives you a few signals at a glance: a colour-coded avatar with the client's initials (the same client gets the same colour consistently between Messages and Contacts, since both derive it from the client's name the same way), a green dot if the client is currently active in their portal, a small unread dot if the latest message is unread and was sent by the client, and an orange "Not on portal" warning pill beneath the message preview if the client hasn't set up a portal account yet. The preview line shows the latest message, prefixed "You:" if you sent it last, or "No messages yet" if the conversation hasn't started.
Sending a message
- Open Messages and select a client from the list, or open their Contacts record and go to the Messages tab.
- Type your message in the box at the bottom.
- Press Enter to send, or Shift+Enter to add a new line without sending.
- Or click the send button (paper plane icon).
Your message appears in the thread immediately while it sends, then settles once saved. If sending fails, you'll see a "Message failed to send" notice and can try again.
Messages are grouped by day with a date header, and consecutive messages from the same person are grouped together with the sender's name shown once. Hover a bubble to see its exact send time. The Phone, Video, and Info icons in the chat header are currently decorative and don't open a call, video, or info panel.
Read receipts
Accupe tracks whether a message has been read with a simple read/unread flag; there's no separate read-receipt log. Opening a conversation automatically marks the other side's unread messages as read. Read receipts are only shown to the client, not to you:
Everything updates live, so new messages and read-state changes appear without you needing to refresh the page.
Controlling messaging for a client
Messaging, along with the Documents tab and eSign history, can be switched on or off per client from their portal settings:
- Go to Contacts and open the client.
- Go to the Portal Settings tab ("Client Portal Configuration").
- Use the toggles to control what that client can see and do:
All three default to on, and changes save immediately when you flip a toggle, with no separate save step. If you turn off Enable Messaging, the client's Messages page tells them the feature isn't available and to contact your firm, and sending is blocked on Accupe's side too, not just hidden from view. Note that document visibility for individual files is managed separately from within the Documents tab itself; the toggle here only hides or shows that whole section.
If a client hasn't joined the portal yet
If you open a conversation with a client who has no portal account, you'll see a banner: "[Client name] hasn't accessed the portal yet", explaining that your messages won't be visible to them until they complete sign-up. Click "Resend invite" to send a new portal invitation by email (the button shows "Sending…" while it goes, then flips to a green "Invite sent" for the rest of your session). This needs an email address on file for the client; if there isn't one, you'll see a prompt to add one first.
What the client sees on their side
On their portal, clients message you from their own Messages page, headed "Chat with" your firm's name. They type into a single-line compose box and press Enter, or click Send, to send it - because that box is single-line, there's no Shift+Enter newline option on their side (that's only available in the firm's compose box). The compose box is always there for them to use; if their portal account isn't fully linked to a client record, they won't lose the box, but sending will fail with an error telling them their account isn't fully set up for messaging yet and to contact your firm. Their messages are capped at 5,000 characters.
AI-assisted replies
When you're replying from Contacts > client > Messages (not the main Messages page), you can use "Draft with AI", a sparkle icon that opens a prompt box where you describe what you want to say, for example "chase missing VAT records for Q3". Submitting it fills your compose box with a suggested reply that you can edit before sending; it never sends automatically. This option isn't available from the main Messages page.
Tip: If a colleague can't find a client's conversation that you can see, check who that client is delegated to on their Contacts record (the "Manager Delegation" / "Staff Delegation" field). Staff only see conversations for clients delegated to them; admins and managers always see every client's conversation.