FATHOM

FATHOM

A deep-dive into all things ORCA.
From core concepts to advanced settings.

Records

Messages on a Record

Someone texts "J-1047 boiler is in, photos attached" and the message ends up on job J-1047, with the photos in its files. Nobody has to open a phone gallery in March to find them.

This works for every account. There is nothing to switch on, beyond the messaging and email capture you already have. See Texts & WhatsApp and Communications for those.

How a message finds its job

ORCA looks for a number that matches a job or project's key field (the number you see in the list, like J-1047 or P-2210). It doesn't mind capitals, so "j-1047" finds J-1047.

  • Texts and WhatsApps: the message is searched.
  • BCC'd emails: the subject is searched first, then the message. If no number matches, a subject that names a record by its whole key field also counts, so a deal team can file by codename ("Falcon: signed NDA"). Names are only read from the subject, never the message, since emails mention everything.

A message is filed only when exactly one record on your account matches. If two jobs are named in the subject, or none are, the message stays where it is, unfiled, until someone files it by hand (see below).

Who can file a text

A text files itself only when it comes from someone ORCA knows: a member of your staff (matched on the Mobile on their user profile), or a contact who is on the record the text names. A text from a stranger who happens to quote a job number is logged as normal and left unfiled, so nobody can stuff things onto your jobs by guessing a number.

Engineers on the clock

If an engineer texts a photo with no job number in it, ORCA files it on the job they are clocked on to right now. That needs exactly one job on their open shift. If they have no shift running, or more than one job, the message stays unfiled. A job number in the text always wins over the clock. See Site Clock.

Pictures and attachments

Texts and WhatsApps. Pictures sent with a filed message are copied onto the record a moment after it arrives. They go into a file field named like Photo, Picture or Image. If the section has none, they go into a general one (Other Files, Correspondence, Emailed Files, Documents, Files or Attachments), and failing that the first file field on the section. A note on the record links to them.

If a picture is of a type ORCA doesn't keep, or the section has no file field at all, the note says so and the picture stays with the message.

Emails. Attachments (not the little images in someone's signature) go into the file field the subject names: quote, PO or purchase order, drawing, invoice or RAMS. Otherwise they go into a general one. It's the same logic as Forward an Email to a Record.

Files are kept privately, like any other file on a record.

Closed jobs

If the job is frozen (a closed job, see Freeze and revise in Settings > Sections), the message still files on it, but its pictures and attachments aren't added to the job's files. For an email, a line at the foot of the message says why. An emailed attachment is also left off if the person who sent it can't edit that record.

The Messages panel

Open the job and look down the side for Messages. It lists the texts, WhatsApps and emails filed on it, newest first, with the first line of each and the date. Click one to open it.

The panel only appears when there is something in it, and only for people who are allowed to see communications.

Filing a message by hand, or taking it off

Open the message itself from Communications. The Filed on line tells you where it is.

  • Filed on a record: click Take it off to unfile it. The message stays; the job just forgets it.
  • Not filed: type the record's number or name in the box after "Not filed. File it on" and click File. Any of its pictures that haven't been kept yet follow it onto the job.

You need to be able to edit the record to file a message on it. If the number matches nothing you can change, or more than one record, ORCA says so.

Taking a message off doesn't remove pictures already copied into the job's files. Delete those from the file field.

Through the API

Communications in the API carry a record_id, empty when the message isn't filed. A record's communications now include the messages filed on it, as well as those reached through its contacts and companies.

Previous
Approvals
Next
Global Search