> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rescueconsole.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Writing a new message

> Starting a conversation from one of your mailboxes: who it goes to, templates and merge fields, and who will not be emailed.

Compose is where you start a new conversation, rather than answer one. Every message you send here starts a conversation in the [inbox](/communications/inbox), so their answer comes back to the same place, linked to the same records.

To open it:

* press **New message** on the **Inbox**
* press **Compose** on **Message templates** or on the **Communications log**
* press **Send an email** on a form submission that has been added to People. The person and the submission are already filled in.

The page is called **New message**. **Inbox** and **Templates** at the top take you back to the inbox and to your [message templates](/communications/templates).

Sending needs **Change** on Communications.

## Send from

**Send from** is the mailbox the conversation belongs to. It lists each mailbox you can read, with its address. It starts on the mailbox you were looking at in the inbox, or else your default mailbox.

Answers to your message come back to this mailbox. Who can read the conversation afterwards follows this mailbox's access, so choose the one whose team should see the answer.

If no mailbox is offered, the page says **There is no inbox you can send from. An admin can give you access to one in Settings.** See [Inboxes](/communications/inboxes#who-can-read-a-mailbox).

## Recipients

| Field               | What it means                                                                                                                      |
| ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Existing person     | A person on file. Their email address is used.                                                                                     |
| Another person      | More people on file, one at a time. Each appears as a name you can take off again with its ×.                                      |
| Or an email address | An address for somebody who is not on file. Once a person is chosen, this reads **Other addresses**. Separate several with commas. |
| A person to copy    | People on file to copy in.                                                                                                         |
| Addresses to copy   | Addresses to copy in, separated by commas.                                                                                         |

You need at least one person or one address. Every person you choose must have an email address on file; if one does not, the message is refused and names them.

<Note>
  Everyone on the message sees everyone else's address, the copies included. There is no blind copy. To write to several people who should not see each other, send each their own message.
</Note>

A message can go to up to 20 people on file, copy up to 20 more, and be about up to 20 animals. Each address box takes up to 20 addresses.

## About

**An animal** adds the animals the message is about. Each appears as a name you can take off again. The conversation is linked to each animal, and `{{animal_name}}` fills with their names.

## Template

**Template** lists your active message templates by name, or **No template**. Choosing one fills it in from the people and animals you have chosen, and from the record the page was opened from, then puts it in the message for you to read and change before it goes:

* The **Subject** becomes the template's subject, unless you have already written your own.
* The words go above your signature, after anything you have already written. Choosing a different template replaces the words the last one put in, as long as you have not changed them.

<Tip>
  Choose the people and animals before the template. If you change the **Existing person** after choosing a template, it is filled in again for the new person.
</Tip>

### Merge fields

A template's placeholders, such as `{{first_name}}`, are filled from the people the message is to, the animals it is about and your organization. The full list is on [Message templates](/communications/templates#merge-fields).

When the message is to more than one person, each field holds all of them: `{{first_name}}` becomes "Jane and John", or "Jane, John and Sam". The same goes for several animals.

Anything nothing can fill stays in the message as it was written, and the page lists it under **Still to fill in:**. Replace each one with the real words.

<Warning>
  A message that still contains a placeholder is not sent. The page says **This message still has a `{{placeholder}}` in it. Fill it in before sending.**
</Warning>

## Subject and message

**Subject** is required.

**Message** has buttons for bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, links, headings, quotes, lists, a divider and a table. Your email signature is already there when the page opens. You set it on [your account](/settings/your-account).

A link must start with `http://`, `https://` or `mailto:`. In the email itself, a heading is shown as larger bold text, a quote as an indented paragraph, and a table as its rows, one to a line. Pictures and attachments cannot be added here.

**Send** becomes available once there is something in the message besides your signature. The message goes as soon as you press it.

## After you press Send

The page opens the new conversation in the inbox. It is linked, as confirmed links, to:

* every person it went to or copied
* every animal you chose
* the record you opened the page from, such as a form submission

That is what puts the conversation on each person's record. See [how mail is matched to a record](/communications/inbox#how-mail-is-matched-to-a-record).

The email comes from the address shown on [Sending](/communications/sending). Its subject ends with a short reference in square brackets, which is how the answer finds this conversation.

### When a message is not sent

| What the page says                                                          | What to do                                                                                                                         |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Choose the inbox to send from.                                              | Choose a mailbox under **Send from**.                                                                                              |
| Choose a person, or enter the email address to write to.                    | Add a recipient.                                                                                                                   |
| Write a subject.                                                            | Add a subject.                                                                                                                     |
| (a name) has no email address on file.                                      | Add their address on their record, or type it into the address box instead.                                                        |
| (a name) has opted out of email from this organization and was not emailed. | See below. Nothing was sent to anybody.                                                                                            |
| (an address) is on the do-not-send list and was not emailed.                | See below. Nothing was sent to anybody.                                                                                            |
| This organization cannot send email yet.                                    | Outgoing mail is paused. See [Sending](/communications/sending).                                                                   |
| Your message was saved but not sent.                                        | The email provider refused it, and its reason follows. The conversation was still made: **Open the conversation** takes you to it. |

## Who will not be emailed

Two things stop a message going to someone. When either applies to anyone on the message, the whole message is refused and nobody receives it. Take that person off and send again.

### A person who opted out

Each person with an email address has a **Communication preferences** card on the **Details** tab of their [record](/people/record):

* **Opted in to communications**: untick it and that person is not emailed from Compose or by a workflow.
* Category overrides, added with **Add a category override…**: untick a category to stop just that kind of mail. A message written in Compose counts as **general**. A message sent by a workflow step counts as **workflow**.

Anyone who can **See** Communications can read the card. Changing it needs **Change** on Communications.

A reply in an existing conversation still goes to a person who opted out: they are part of that conversation. An address typed by hand has no preferences to check.

### Addresses that cannot be emailed

An address goes on the do-not-send list when the email provider reports that:

* the mailbox does not exist (a hard bounce). This applies to every organization using RescueConsole, and your organization cannot lift it. Correct the address on the person's record instead.
* the recipient marked your mail as spam, or unsubscribed. This applies to your organization only.

The list is checked for every recipient and every copy, on replies as well as new messages.