How to use chat and tasks on your phone

Chat and tasks are what the iPhone app is for. Chat is the Chat tab, tasks are the Tasks tab, and Outreach and Special orders sit in the ⇕ menu at the right of the tab pill. Getting the app is covered in Using Tideswell on your phone.

Everything here works on the same channels, tasks and outreach as the web, so a message you send from the warehouse is in the channel when you get back to your desk. What is chat? and What are tasks? cover each feature in full.

How do you find a channel?

Open the Chat tab. Your channels sit in their category folders, which you can collapse, and each channel takes one line: its name, the time of its last message and your unread count.

Type in the search box at the top, labelled with your workspace's name, to filter the list by channel name. The Chat tab on the pill also carries your unread count.

How do you send a message or a photo?

Tap a channel, type in the Message box and tap the round up-arrow beside it to post.

• The @ button beside the box (Tag someone or something) opens the picker for people, tasks, products and more, as on the web. See How to tag people, tasks, documents and products.
• The photo button (Add a photo) offers Take photo and Choose photo. A photo can go on its own or with a message.
• Tap a photo in the conversation to open it full screen.

Write plain sentences for anything the team will read on their phones. Bold, lists and other formatting are for the web, covered in How to send, format and edit a message.

How do you reply, follow a thread and set notifications?

Long-press a message and choose Reply to answer it with the original quoted above your reply. A channel that has threads shows Threads with a count at the top; tap it to pick a thread.

The bell at the top of a channel sets how much that channel buzzes you: All messages, Mentions & replies or Muted. Your default for new channels is in ⇕ › Settings › Notifications, per How to mute or follow a channel.

What can you do from a message?

Long-press any message for its menu:

• Reply quotes the message in your reply.
• Create task opens New task with the message already in the description.
• Raise outreach opens New outreach, so somebody calls the customer back.
• Record a decision saves the message as a decision. It shows if you hold Record decisions, per How to record a decision.
• Delete removes a message you are allowed to delete, such as your own.

To edit a message, use the web, where How to send, format and edit a message shows how.

How do you raise outreach from a message?

Long-press the message, choose Raise outreach, fill in the sheet and tap Create. The outreach goes on the shared list and a card appears in the channel.

1. Under Who calls back, pick the Caller.
2. Under Who to call, type the customer's Name and Phone.
3. Add a Reason (optional) and set the Urgency.
4. Tap Create.

The card reads Callback, with No answer to count a try and Mark called back to finish it. Mark called back asks What happened on the call?, then Save & mark done. A finished card reads Called back and offers Reopen.

How do you work your tasks?

Open the Tasks tab to see My tasks, everything assigned to you. Tap the circle on a row to complete a task, or tap the row to open it.

• Filter tasks opens Filter. Pick a property, such as Status, Priority, Department, Project, Due date or Blocked, choose is or is not, then tick the values. Clear removes every filter and Done closes the sheet.
• The Search tasks and customers box matches task titles, and the customer behind an outreach task too, so typing a customer's name finds the task to call them back.
• The ⋯ menu opens your Inbox and Projects. The Inbox has Mark all read.

With is not, tasks with no value for that property stay on the list, and the sheet says so. The filter also has properties for the outreach behind a task, such as Outreach kind and Urgency.

How do you create a task?

Tap New task at the top right of any tab. Give it a Task title, then set what you need and tap Create.

The sheet has a description, Department, Project, the assignee, Due date, Priority, a repeat and files. Pick a department before attaching files. To repeat a task, set a due date first, then choose how it repeats, as in How to make a task repeat.

What can you change on a task?

Open a task to change its status, priority, assignee, due date, repeat and cycle. Below those sit its subtasks, blockers, files, related records and comments.

• Add subtask adds a step under it, and Add blocker links a task under Waiting on or Blocking. See How to break a task down and put it in order.
• Attach Shopify item links a product or a collection.
• Files take Take photo, Photo library or Choose file.
• Link something under Related links another record to the task.
• Comment adds a comment, and you can tag people in it.

To archive, tap ⋯ at the top of the task and choose Archive. It asks Archive this task?, and Archive task confirms. Make sure before you archive, because an archived task does not come back.

How do task reminders work?

A reminder buzzes as one of your tasks comes due, titled Due soon: or Overdue: and the task's name. From the notification itself, Snooze 1h quiets it for an hour and Mark complete finishes the task.

Reminders come for tasks that are assigned to you, unfinished and carry a due date. They follow the Task reminders switch in ⇕ › Settings › Notifications. See How to control task, stock and order alerts.

If your workspace has the Agent check in on late tasks, a task up to two weeks overdue gets no hourly Overdue: reminder. Where the check-in comes as a direct message from Agent in the Chat tab, reply there, such as "done" or "not yet, Friday". Agent Inbox cards are answered on the web, per How to have the Agent check in on late tasks.

How do you use projects on your phone?

Open the ⇕ menu and choose Projects, or a department by name. The + button offers New project (with a Timeline or List layout) and New cycle, if you hold the permission for each.

A planned item's menu offers Edit, Reschedule…, Unschedule, Promote to campaign and Archive. In a List project it also offers Move up and Move down. See How to plan what goes out and when and How to set up and work in cycles.

How do you work outreach on your phone?

Open the ⇕ menu and choose Outreach. Switch Showing between All, Mine and Free (nobody owns it yet), each with its count.

1. Tap an item. I'll take this makes it yours if nobody owns it.
2. Tap the green button at the bottom, such as Call (214)-555-0123, to reach the customer by call, text or email.
3. Tap Tried, no answer to count a try, or type under Add a note to log what happened.
4. Tap Mark as done, answer What happened? and tap Done.

Kind and How under Filed as change what sort of outreach it is and how to reach the customer. Reopen brings a finished one back, and Show done in the list's menu shows the finished ones. See How to log and work through outreach.

How do you look up a special order?

Open the ⇕ menu and choose Special orders. Search by Customer or item and tap a job to open its Special order screen.

The Money card shows Agreed price, Paid and Owed, plus Written off when part of the balance was written off. Tap the stage to move the job on, for example when the item arrives at the shop. Moving a stage needs Edit special orders.

Create, price and take payment for special orders on the web, per How to take and track a special order.

How do you ask the Agent on your phone?

Tap the sparkle button beside the tab pill from any tab, type in Ask anything… and send. The Agent answers from your live data, and What I checked shows what it looked at. See What is the Agent?.

• The digest buttons on Home, such as Yesterday's numbers, This week vs last and Stuck orders, each ask a ready-made question.
• Type / at the start of the box, or tap the slash button, to pick a saved prompt from Your prompts, Shared or Digests. The + button saves your question as a prompt.
• New chat starts over, and History reopens an earlier conversation.

Standing in the stockroom asking "what is about to run out that is also a strong seller" is a better use of a phone than any dashboard. Saved prompts are covered in How to reuse a question: starters, skills, digests and saved prompts.

Does anything work differently on permissions?

No. Every action goes through the same checks as the web, so what you can do at your desk is what you can do on your phone.

Some options show only to people who can use them. Record a decision needs Record decisions, New project needs Create projects, and New cycle needs Create and edit campaigns and cycles, all rows in Settings › Permissions. The Store tab shows when your workspace has the Store module on.