Texting clients and the SMS inbox

With a business number, you and your team can text clients directly from Interdatum CRM. Every text conversation is saved to the client's record, and new texts arrive in the Phone widget on your dashboard.

Where do I read and send texts?

Texts to and from your business number live in the Text tab of the Phone widget on your dashboard. The Text tab shows a count of unread texts.

• The Conversations list shows each conversation with the contact's name, the latest message, and an unread marker.
• Click a conversation to open the thread and reply. Press Enter to send, or Shift+Enter for a new line.
• Click New to start a text to any North American number.
• Click Mark all read (the double check mark) to clear all unread texts at once.

You can also text a client from their contact card, where the conversation appears with the rest of their record.

When a new text arrives while you're working elsewhere in the CRM, a "New text from …" notification appears in the top-right corner with an Open button that jumps to the conversation. Use the speaker icon in the Phone widget header to mute or unmute the new-text sound.

If your workspace doesn't have a business number yet, the Phone widget shows "No business phone number yet." with a link to set one up in Settings → Phone & Text.

What happens when a new person texts my business number?

When someone who isn't already a client texts your business number, Interdatum creates a new contact named "New lead" for their phone number and saves the text as a normal conversation you can reply to. If the AI text receptionist later learns the person's name, email, or address in the conversation, it fills them in on the "New lead" contact.

Texts from known clients are matched to the client by phone number and attached to the client's most recent open job file.

What do the labels in a text conversation mean?

A text conversation can show messages that your team didn't type. Interdatum labels them so you can tell them apart:

• AI: sent by the AI text receptionist.
• Auto text-back: sent automatically after a missed call.
• Note: an internal note visible only to your team, never sent to the customer. Notes explain things like an AI hand-off or why the AI receptionist didn't reply.
• Handoff: a badge in the Conversations list for conversations the AI text receptionist handed to your team.

When the AI text receptionist is paused on a conversation, a banner at the top of the thread shows when the AI receptionist handed the conversation to your team and when AI replies resume. Replying yourself pauses the AI receptionist on that conversation for 24 hours.

How do STOP and opt-outs work?

Customers can opt out of texts from your business number by replying with a message that starts with STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT. Customers can opt back in by replying START, YES, or UNSTOP.

Once a customer opts out, Interdatum blocks texts to that number from your business number, including texts your team types, automation texts, missed-call text-backs, and AI receptionist replies. If you try to text someone who opted out, you see "This client has opted out of SMS." The client's contact card shows "This lead has opted out of SMS. They must reply START before receiving more messages."

Opt-outs are recorded even when the number isn't one of your clients. When you activated your business number, you agreed to only text people who have agreed to hear from you, to identify your business, and to honour STOP replies, as required by Canada's anti-spam law (CASL).

Which numbers can I text?

You can text any valid 10-digit North American number, or a number in +1 format. When you start a new text with New in the Phone widget, the composer reminds you: "Send a text to any North American number."

Short codes and service numbers (such as 911 or 411) can't receive texts from Interdatum CRM. If you enter one, you see "Short codes and service numbers cannot receive CRM SMS." Texts to landlines can't be delivered.

All texts are sent from your workspace's business number, so replies come back to the same conversation in the Phone widget.

Why can't I send a text?

If a text won't send, the message on screen explains why. Common reasons:

• No business number: get a business number in Settings → Phone & Text first.
• "SMS access is disabled for this worker.": your account doesn't have texting permission. Ask an owner or admin.
• The customer opted out: they must reply START before you can text them again.
• Daily texting limit: each workspace has a limit on texts sent from the business number in any 24-hour period (200 by default). The message says "This workspace has reached its limit of [number] texts in 24 hours." Try again later, or contact [email protected] to raise it.
• Plan or billing: texting from your business number requires the Starter or Pro plan. Outgoing texts are also paused when your Interdatum payment is past due beyond the grace period, or when your workspace reaches its monthly overage spending cap. Check Settings → Billing.

Incoming texts and calls are never blocked by these limits.

Do texts count toward my plan's included texts?

Yes. Texts on your business number count toward your plan's included texts, one per message, whether they're incoming or outgoing. That includes texts your team sends, missed-call text-backs, AI receptionist replies, and automation texts. Failed texts don't count. Internal notes don't count, and neither do system notifications sent from Interdatum's shared notification number.

Starter includes 500 texts a month and Pro includes 2,000 texts a month. See the billing articles for how usage beyond your included texts is handled, including the monthly overage spending cap that pauses outgoing texts when reached.