Protecting a message

For the most part you may start a new message each time you have something to send or you may start from your previous message and edit it to your current purpose. This is great for messages that you need to send once and are manually sending. But what about automatic messages?

What is an automatic message?

An automatic message is any message that you set up and then have us send it on some schedule without you needing to interact with it. For schools the most common one is current day attendance. The data comes from your system and on some schedule we automatically send it so you don't need to think about it again.During COVID we had a lot of organizations send daily reminders to fill out a self assessment survey. These things are set up and then when you give us the OK we set them to send without you needing to push a button or reschedule each day.

What are the possible issues?

When you go to look at a message in a list you click Edit Prior Message. However we all get very used to clicking the New Message button which clears out the prior message. Occasionally someone may try to review a message but clicks the wrong button and now the message is gone. From experience we can tell you that it is very common to then tell no one as if it didn't happen and we only find out after the message sending procedure fails because there isn't a message to send.

How do I prevent a message from being accidentally cleared?

Each list has a bunch of settings. One of those settings is to lock the message to prevent it from being cleared. With this setting on you will not be able to make changes to the message, however should you need to edit it all you need to do is go back in and uncheck the box. This way you know if the message was altered someone took the steps to do it on purpose.

1. Go into the List Settings. 2 ways of getting there
   1. From the my lists page hover over the row with the list you want to protect. A menu will appear, click List Settings which looks like a gear
   2. Go into the list (click right on it's name) and choose the Settings/Schedule option
2. Once inside the list settings scroll to the bottom
3. Find the List Management and Protections section
4. Check the box next to Disable deleting current message 
5. Click OK

If you need to make changes to the message repeat the steps but uncheck the box. Once your message is how you like it you can go back in and protect it again.