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Messages and Conversations

By Trio Team · Updated

Screenshot of Messages and Conversations

Use Messages to talk with one person or a small group in an ongoing conversation. To send one message to many families, see Group Messages. For texts, see Text Messages and Replies.

The Messages page

The page has three tabs: Messages (your conversations), Group Messages and Archived. A number next to the Messages heading and in the sidebar shows how many conversations have unread messages.

Each row in the list shows the people in the conversation (or its name), when the last message came, and a short preview. A dot and a bold name mark unread messages. Use the search box to find a conversation by its name, a person in it, or the text of a message. On a phone, tap a conversation to open it, and use the back arrow to go back to the list. The page updates without a refresh: new messages, reactions and the unread count show as they arrive.

Start a conversation

Trio keeps one ongoing conversation for each group of people. A new message to the same people goes into the conversation you already have with them.

  1. Select New message (the pencil) at the top of the page.
  2. Select + in the To: row and choose a person. To message a small group, such as both guardians of a family, add more people.
  3. Type your message and select the send button.

If you already have a conversation with those people, its history shows below the To: row. When you start a message from a family or student page, the To: row is already filled in.

Who can message whom

  • Owners, admins and staff can message anyone in the studio.
  • Teachers can message staff, the families of their own students, and their own students who have a Trio login.
  • A family can start a conversation with the primary teacher of each of its active students, with staff whose Open messaging switch is on, and with people in its own family. Owners and admins set Open messaging for each person on the team list. See Team Management.

If a name in the To: row shows in red, you cannot message that person. Remove the name to send to the others.

Read and reply

Select a conversation to open it. A check mark shows on your messages that the other person has read. In a long conversation, select Load earlier messages at the top.

Type in the reply box and select the send button. On a computer, you can also press Enter to send and Shift+Enter for a new line. If you open another conversation, Trio keeps your unsent text as a draft.

  • A new reply brings an archived conversation back to the Messages list of each person who gets the reply.
  • When a family replies to the email copy of your message, the reply goes to the email address on your teacher profile, not to Trio. If you have no teacher profile, the reply goes to Trio's no-reply address, where nobody reads it, so ask families to reply in Trio.

Attach a file

Select + in the reply box to add a file. You can send a file with no text. Trio accepts:

  • PDF files, JPG, PNG and WebP images, and MP3 or M4A audio, up to 25 MB
  • MP4, MOV, WebM and MPEG video, and WAV or WebM audio, up to 100 MB

React to a message

On a phone or tablet, press and hold the message. On a computer, point at the message and select Add reaction, or right-click it. Pick one of six quick reactions, or + for any other emoji.

You can have one reaction on each message: pick another one to change it, or the same one again to remove it. The person who wrote the message gets a bell notification, and a push notification when push is on.

Details: name, people and archive

Select the conversation name at the top to open Details. There you see everyone in the conversation, and you can:

  • Give the conversation a name, or select Clear to remove it. Anyone in the conversation can do this.
  • Select Archive conversation, or Unarchive conversation on the Archived tab.

On a computer, you can also point at a row in the list and select the archive button.

Help me reply

In an existing conversation, select Help me reply below the reply box. Ask Trio opens with the conversation in context. Say what you want to write, then select Use this draft to put the draft in the reply box. Each request uses AI credits, the same as any Ask Trio question.

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