Communications, Messaging & Notifications

Goal: Communicate directly with tenants and caretakers, send property-wide announcements, and stay informed through real-time notifications — all from within EstateTrack.

1. Your Notification Bell

Every portal has a bell icon (🔔) in the top navigation bar. The number badge tells you how many unread notifications you have.

• Click the bell to open your full notification inbox.
• Notifications include rent invoice alerts, maintenance updates, and system messages.

2. Notification Popups

When something important happens, a popup appears in the center of your screen automatically. You have two choices:

• Read — Expands the full notification message. Marks it as read and removes it from your badge count.
• Later — Dismisses the popup without marking it as read. The badge count stays so you can come back to it.

Some notifications include a direct action button (e.g., "View Invoice" or "Record Payment") that takes you straight to the relevant page.

3. Direct Messaging

Landlords, caretakers, and tenants can message each other directly in real time.

1. 1
   Navigate to Messages in the bottom navigation bar. Contacts with unread messages will have a purple badge with the number of unread messages and appear at the top of the directory.
2. 2
   Browse by category: Tenants, Staff, or search by name.
3. 3
   Select a contact to open the chat.

WhatsApp-Style Features:

• Real-time Status: See if the person is ● Online or their Last Seen time.
• Typing Indicators: See when the other person is actively typing a reply.
• Message Ticks:
• One tick (✓): Message sent.
• Two ticks (✓✓): Message delivered.
• Two purple/fuchsia ticks (✓✓): Message read.
• Red triangle (⚠): Message failed to send.

Clear Chat:

You can clear a conversation history from your view by clicking the three dots (⋮) in the top right corner of the chat window and selecting Clear Chat. A confirmation dialog will appear before anything is cleared. This only hides the messages for you — the recipient keeps their full copy. The cleared state is remembered even if you close and reopen the page.

Typing Indicators:

The "typing..." status disappears as soon as the other person stops typing. If a connection is lost mid-session, the indicator automatically clears within a few seconds.

4. Announcements (Landlords only)

Send a broadcast message to all your tenants at once.

1. 1
   Navigate to Messages → Announcements.
2. 2
   Click New Announcement.
3. 3
   Write your message (e.g., "Water will be off on Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM").
4. 4
   Select the audience (default: All Tenants).
5. 5
   Click Send.

All tenants will see the announcement in their portal. You can also delete your own announcements if you made a mistake.

[SCREENSHOT: /messages?tab=announcements — the announcement compose panel]

5. Frequently Asked Questions

Can tenants message the EstateTrack support team?

Yes — tenants see an "EstateTrack Support" contact in their directory. This connects them to the Product Administrator team.

Does messaging work offline?

No. Messages are sent and received in real time. Both parties must have an active internet connection.

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