Messages
Talking to the people on a job, in the place the job lives — with the photos, files and voice notes that go with it, and without anybody needing a phone number.
Who you can message
Anyone on QSME. The person on the other end decides whether a stranger carries on.
If you already work together, nothing is asked. You count as already working together when:
- you are on a project together,
- they have you in their contacts, or
- you are already talking somewhere that is not a request.
Otherwise your first messages arrive as a message request: they see who you are and what you said, and either let you carry on or do not. A request may carry three messages before they answer — "Hi" and then the actual question is how people write, and an unlimited stream from a stranger is the thing requests exist to stop.
Replying accepts it. There is nothing to press.
Turning it round: nobody can flood you, and blocking is there if you need it, under Blocked people in message settings.
The kinds of conversation
| One to one | Anyone on QSME. Start it with New. |
| A group | Name it and tick who is in it. You can group people you have talked to — message someone first, and once they reply you can put them in a group. |
| Project chat | Everyone working on the project, already assembled. |
A conversation can be tagged to a project, or left as "not about a project". Tagging it is what makes it findable later, when the question is "what did we agree about the slab?"
What you can send
Text, photos and files, and voice messages for when you are on site with gloves on.
You can also share a document straight from the project into the chat, and it carries its context with it — which project it belongs to, and which contract. That is the difference between "here's a PDF" and "here's the variation we're arguing about".
Anything you upload into a project chat lands in the project's documents too, rather than living only in the conversation.
Being told
Alerts ring on every page, not just this one, so a message during a site visit reaches you.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ring for new messages | A sound when something arrives. |
| Desktop notifications | A notification while QSME is in the background. Your browser has to allow it first. |
| Mute this conversation | No ring, no alerts, from this one. |
Finding things again
Search your conversations by a person's name, a business, or the project. If nothing matches, it says so rather than showing an empty list.
On a phone
The app carries the same conversations. Message requests are not built into the phone app yet — a request you accept on the web works everywhere afterwards, and a reply sent from a phone accepts it anyway.
Words you will see
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Message request | A first approach from someone you have no connection to. Three messages, then they answer. |
| Project chat | The conversation with everyone working on a project. |
| Tag | Attaching a conversation to a project so it can be found by the job. |
| Blocked | Someone who cannot reach you at all. |
More on the words: the glossary.
If something looks wrong
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| "Waiting for the request to be accepted" | You have sent the three a request carries. They have to answer before you can send more. |
| Your message never arrived | They declined the request, or blocked you. You are not told which. |
| "Nobody to add yet" when making a group | You can only group people you have talked to. Message them first; once they reply they can be added. |
| Desktop alerts are blocked | Allow notifications for QSME in your browser's site settings, then turn them on here. |
| A document you shared is not in the project | Sharing into a chat from outside the project uploads it to the chat. Use the project's Documents page for anything that belongs to the job — see Documents and plans. |
Still stuck? hello@qsme.co.nz, or +64 27 338 8500.