Toddle Connect is our messaging module that helps streamline communication within your child’s school community. As a family member, you can easily participate in one-on-one chats and group conversations with your child’s teachers. Furthermore, use the powerful search functionality to swiftly find any conversation and stay updated with notification badges for new messages. Read this article to learn in detail about these features!
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As a family member, you can access the Messaging feature directly from your homepage by clicking on the 'Messaging' card, or using the platform-wide messaging tray.

💡The card on your homepage and the messaging tray will show only if the Messaging module is enabled by the school administrator for families.

Within the messaging module, you can view and participate in one-on-one conversations with your child’s teachers using the ‘Chats’ section. Furthermore, you can also engage in group conversations through channels. Let’s explore each section in detail.

Using the 'Chats' tab in the left pane, you can have one-on-one conversations with staff members of the school. Please note that you will be able to initiate a new chat with your child’s teachers only if the setting is enabled by the school administrator. All your previous conversations are also listed here for easy access. Use the search bar to easily find specific chats. Additionally, notification badges will alert you of any new messages. A pencil icon next to a conversation indicates that there's an unsent message or draft. And, the mute icon indicates any notifications that you have muted.

To begin a new chat, click the '+' icon highlighted in the screen above. In the modal that pops up, select the staff member you want to chat with. For faster access, you can also type their name into the search bar. Once you have selected the individual you want to chat with a new chat gets created between the two of you.

💡You can initiate chats with staff members only when the respective setting is enabled by your school admin. Additionally, you will only see those staff members in the list who are associated with your child.

Within the chat window, engage in conversation using text messages, attachments, emojis, and audio messages. Simply hover over a message to reply to it in the thread and even add reactions with emojis. Additionally, if the setting is enabled by your school admin, you can edit or delete sent messages.
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You will also notice blue ticks appearing next to messages, indicating that they have been read by the recipient. The bell icon at top right lets you mute notifications for specific individuals.

You also have the option to forward messages from one chat to another. All you need to do is hover over the desired message in a chat. On doing so, you will see the forward icon as highlighted below.

You can forward the message to individuals in a one-on-one chat and/or to a channel. At once, a message can be forwarded to a maximum of 20 conversations. Please note that any attachments added to the message are also forwarded to the selected chats.

On clicking ‘Next’, you will get an option to add your own message to the forwarded message.

This is what a forwarded message may look like.

All your group conversations with teachers, students and family members are housed under the ‘Channels’ tab. Use the search bar to easily find specific group conversation channels or the filter icon to view conversations in a specific channel type.

There are two types of group conversation channels available to you - Family channels, and Custom channels. Let’s explore each one of these in detail.

Family channels are meant for group conversations between a teacher and all family members associated with a child. These channels are created by school teachers.

Custom channels, created by staff member(s) or school admins, allow for group conversations with members of the school community, including students, teachers, and family members. All custom channels that you are a part of will be listed under the ‘Channels’ section.

Sending messages in channels works exactly like chats. If the setting is enabled by the teacher, You can engage in a conversation using text messages, attachments, emojis, and audio messages. You can also tag people in group chats using the ‘@’ option. To mute notifications for a specific channel, hit the bell icon on top.

You can reply to any message in the thread and even add reactions with emojis. Simply hover over a message to access these options. Use the 'Read receipts' option under the three-dot menu to track message recipients. Additionally, if the setting is enabled by your school admin, you access the option to edit or delete sent messages under the three-dot menu.

The search functionality within the Messaging module is designed to provide you with quick and efficient access to specific chats. By utilizing the search bar located at the top, you can perform keyword searches across chats and channels.

To make it easier to refer back to previous search queries or results, you can view your recent searches in the search bar. You can pick filters such as ‘Members’ or ‘Channels’ under the ‘Searching for’ section to narrow down your search.

For further refinement of search results, Toddle offers various search operators such as ‘in:’. You can use these to tailor your search based on the chats or channels these keywords might be used in.

Search results are organized by category - Members, Channels, Messages, or Files, depending on the nature of the search query. When conducting a search, a preview of the search results is provided. The preview under messages includes snippets of messages that contain the searched keywords, enabling you to quickly assess the relevance of the results. You can also use the ‘From’ and ’To’ filters to narrow down your search.

Toddle offers a convenient messaging tray that grants you quick access to your chats and channels from anywhere on the platform. In addition, you will also notice numbered badges on the tray, notifying you of any unread messages.

To access the messing tray, simply click on the message icon highlighted on the screen below. This will open up the 'Chat' and 'Channels' tabs which you can use to create and manage all the conversations. You can also use the arrows on the top right corner to expand the tray to a full-screen view. Additionally, you can use the search bar to search for specific chats and channels.

If you are a family member of more than one child, you can switch between your children’s profiles to view and engage in conversations with their respective teachers. To do so, click on the arrow next to your child’s name and select another child from the homepage. Then, click on the ‘Messaging‘ card to see all the conversations related to the selected child. This feature allows you to easily navigate and communicate with teachers for each of your children individually.

With Toddle Connect, experience a whole new level of communication and collaboration with your school community.

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