Messaging

About
Messaging is a new feature in OpenERP 7, which aims to keep all business
communications within the ERP system, versus externally such as in separate email
clients. Messages allow for an out and in flow of discussions directly from OpenERP to
a contact/customer/partner/colleage. Messages also serves as a business todo list
based on those communication flows, and discussion groups for mailing list functionality
for business teams.
Sub menus
The following screenshot displays the main sub menu items of the messaging
functionality, and some explanations on what they do.

1. User inbox, this displays all unread communications for which the user is a part
of. Messages that are marked done do not display here, messages marked todo
are not displayed here. This box should be kept empty, and messages either
marked done after reading them, or marked todo if they are actionable. An empty
inbox represents an ideal period in which there are no business communications
for which the user is unaware.
2. These are messages which were send directly to the user, and are therefore a lot
more relevant to the given user. Messages here should also ideally be read and
marked done or todo, and cleared from view.
3. These are messages marked todo from previous boxes, and require user action.
Once the user has acted on the message, the user marks the message done.
This serves as a todo list based off the business communications.
4. Archives are where all messages marked done, will be kept. They are meant to
be out of sight and out of the way, but available to find if required. This box
typically will only be used when the user requires information from previous
messages marked done.
5. This is the OpenERP calendar for the user, showing user meetings and other
colleague meetings as well.
6. Groups are mailing lists for collaborative messaging. Once a user joins a group,
the user will see all new communications for the group, and will also be able to
post messages to the group. All other members of the group can read and
comment on the messages, this is a mailing list like feature for group
discussions.
7. This is where a user can find new groups within the company, or even create a
new group if permissions allow. Once a group is selected and joined, a sub-menu
list with the group will be shown to the user.
8. Unread messages count. This is a count of messages that the user has not read
in the respective box.
Message marking
The following screenshot displays the buttons used to mark messages as done, or todo,
or to reply to the message.

1. Mark this message as todo. If the message is actionable to the user, this marks
the message as todo, and moves the message out of the current box. The
message will then be seen in the todo sub menu.
2. This replies to the message, providing an input box below the message, in which
the user can type the reply and send it.
3. Mark message as done. This moves the message into the archive and out of
sight, but accessible if later needed for any reason.
Groups
The following screenshot displays user actions within the groups area of messaging.

1. Leave a group. Each user by default is part of a group called Whole company,
but also a part of other groups the user elected to be in. A user can at any time
leave a group by selecting unfollow on a group.
2. Join a group. A user can join a group that he/she has permissions for, and can
thereafter read and post new messages within the joined group.
3. A user may create a group if he/she has permissions, other users can then join
the group.
Sending messages
The following screenshot displays the interface for sending messages to other users or
contacts/customers/partners etc

Followers: In OpenERP 7, any user is able to follow other
users/contacts/customers/partners, or even documents. All messages then sent to and
from a person/documents follower message composer will be received by the user
(being a follower). Replies to such messages is also seen by all followers of the
person/document. Followers is like group messaging, centered around a
contact/person/document etc. They can be seen as mini groups that come and go with
documents or persons, for which discussions are based around.
OpenERP 7 allows a user to compose a message to any person, or a shortcut to write
to all followers of a person/document.
1. This button allows a user to generically compose a new message to any person
or contact.
2. This is the shortcut to compose and send a message to followers of the user. (All
others following you)
The screenshot below displays the generic message compose window

1. This is where recipients will be entered, simply typing the recipients starting email
or name, will offer choices based on contacts within the system. More than one
recipient may be entered here.
2. These are rich text formatting options which can be used to compose this
message
3. This allows a user to attach a file from his/her PC, to the message. This is the
same as attachments in email. The user can select a file from their local system
to be sent.
4. These buttons send the message or cancel the compose.
5. This allows a user to select a template, with predefined message body content
and formatting (templates will be discussed later)
Message Searching
The following screenshot displays the searching options in the messaging section.
Searching can be done with the universal search bar as indicated.

1. To access the advanced search options, this dropdown icon should be clicked. It
presents advanced search filters that is relevant for the area in which the user is
working.
2. These are quick filters, clicking on them applies the filter immediately, they are
shortcuts for commonly needed filters.
3. Advanced search for message components, such as subject, author,
attachments, etc
4. Apply advanced search.
The following screenshot displays how to remove applied filters to a search.

1. Each applied filter displays in the universal search bar as a box. Clicking on the
x on the right end of the box for the filter, removes the filter and searches
without that filter
Message viewing
The following screenshot displays a typical message thread

1. Threaded messages. A conversation and its replies are kept together in a thread
to read. The original message is shown on the top, and each reply thereafter are
displayed underneath with left indentation to visually show that the message is
part of a thread.
2. The message subject is shown once on the original, which is the top most
message in the thread. The subject is bolded for quick viewing.
3. Attachments in messages are shown in preview of the messages they are sent
with. Clicking on any of the attachments allows the user to download the
attachment locally, and open and view it.
The following screenshot outlines more info on a typical message display

1. Picture of original message sender. If the contact in the system has an image
assigned, it is displayed here, otherwise a default image is displayed.
2. If the message text is long, the message is previewed and the rest of the
message is hidden. To display the entire message in question, the read more
link can be clicked.
3. Recipients of the message can be seen at a glance at the bottom of a given
message
4. Message age can be seen at a glance at the bottom of a given message