BLOCKS: Messaging Block

What is the Messaging Block?

The Messaging Block puts your real Messages inbox right on the Dashboard, so the conversations that need you are waiting where your day starts instead of behind a separate menu. It is the same inbox, not a copy: the same conversations, the same read, pinned, and folder state, and the same actions as Messages. Anything you do in the block happens in your inbox, and anything you do in your inbox shows in the block.

One block serves everyone who has Messages. Staff and Clients see the same block, and each person only ever sees their own conversations.

How do I add the Messaging Block to a Dashboard?

Edit a Dashboard and add the Messages block from the block gallery. Its tile reads Read and reply to recent private messages from the dashboard. The block is placed deliberately and is never on by default, and it uses the standard block options and access options (by role, Circle, team, or user) you already use on other blocks.

Its Messages Options panel carries the usual Block Title, Block Icon, Icon Color, and Block Height, plus three settings of its own:

• Show # Results: how many conversations the block lists before Show More, either 5, 10, 15, or 20. It starts at 5.
• Date Range: the window the block opens on, Last 7, 14, or 30 Days.
• Default Order: the sort the block opens on.

Both are starting points. Each viewer can change the window and the sort for themselves without affecting anyone else. The editor renders sample rows, never real messages, so you can design the block safely.

TIP: You can place more than one Messaging Block, and each one keeps its own settings. Each viewer's own adjustments (window, sort, filters, and search) are remembered per block, per device.

Which conversations appear in the block?

The block lists your main inbox conversations, exactly as the inbox decides them:

• Conversations in which you have received at least one message.
• Not filed into a folder, and not in the trash.
• Whose latest received message falls inside the chosen window.

IMPORTANT: A message you have sent but nobody has answered yet does not appear in the block. That is the inbox's own rule, not a block rule. It joins the list as soon as someone replies.

If nothing qualifies, the block says No Recent Messages and reminds you which window it is looking at. The very first time a viewer loads the block, it may briefly show a preparing state while their inbox index is built, then fill in on its own.

What does each conversation row show?

Pinned conversations lead the list. Under the default newest-first order the rest are grouped into Today and Older; choose any other order and the list is flat, with pinned still on top. Each row shows exactly what the inbox row shows:

• Who it is from with their avatar, and "Me" when you sent the last message.
• The subject and a preview of the latest message, with a reply count for threads.
• Unread conversations in bold, a filled pin when pinned, and a paperclip when there are attachments.
• The date and the row actions, always visible, so you can act without hovering.

A muted "{N} unread" note tells you how many conversations in the current window are unread. It counts the whole window, so it does not change when you search or filter.

The list is bounded so it stays glanceable: it opens with however many conversations the block was set to show, Show More reveals ten more at a time, and an Open Inbox link takes you to the full Messages inbox in one click.

How do I search, sort, and filter the block?

The header controls shape what you see, and they are the inbox's own controls:

• Window: Show the last 7, 14, or 30 days (30 by default). This is the block's only date control, so there is no From and To picker here.
• Sort: Newest first, oldest first, or by subject A to Z and Z to A. Pinned always stays on top.
• Filters: Narrow by Search, Unread, or Pinned. A badge shows how many filters are active, and Unread and Pinned work independently.

Search is the inbox's own search, run across the window you are looking at.

How do I reply to and manage a conversation?

Every row offers the same actions as your inbox: Reply, Reply All (when the latest message has more than one other person on it), Mark read or unread, Pin or Unpin, Move to folder, and Move to trash. Moving a conversation to a folder or the trash removes it from the block, just as it does in the inbox, and nothing is ever permanently deleted from the block. A trashed conversation is still recoverable from the inbox's Trash.

Click a row to open the full conversation in a dialog right on the Dashboard, with its messages, attachments, and actions. Opening it marks it read, and you can reply from inside the dialog. Use the + to start a New Message. Every reply and new message uses your real Messages compose form, with all of its recipient rules unchanged.

Only one compose form is open at a time across the page, so if you already have one open, a second block waits until you finish or cancel it.

The block refreshes when the Dashboard loads, when you refresh it, and quietly after any action you take, so it always reflects your real inbox.

Who can see the Messaging Block?

The block appears only for people who already have access to Messages. Two things have to be true for a role: the Messaging menu item is visible to it, and it is allowed to open the inbox. If either is missing, the block is simply not shown to that person, and there is no new permission to set up.

Each viewer sees only their own inbox conversations, and no one can read or act on another person's messages from the block.

IMPORTANT: Because the block is your live inbox, every action follows your existing Messages permissions and recipient rules. The block does not grant any new access, it only shows what a person could already see and do in Messages.

TIP: When you use Preview As on a Dashboard, the block decides whether to appear using the previewed person's role, but the conversations it lists are always your own. It is a way to check placement, not a way to read someone else's inbox.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Messages.