Messaging
How messaging works: connected people write freely, a first message doubles as a connect request, plus announcements, attachments, and thread search.
Messaging is where conversations happen on Artsume. Once you are connected with someone, you write to each other whenever you like. Reaching somebody new takes one extra step: your first message to a person or organization you are not connected with arrives as a connect request, and you write again once they answer.
Where messaging lives
Open Messages from the left navigation. It is a two-pane view, with your conversations on the left and the open thread on the right. On a phone the list fills the screen and tapping a conversation slides you into it, with a Back button to return.
Each row shows who you are talking with, a preview of the last message, and when it arrived. Unread conversations are bold and carry a count.
Start a conversation
You can write to anyone on Artsume. What happens next depends on whether you are already connected.
- Select the + button at the top of the conversation list to start a new message.
- Search for a person or an organization by name or handle. The ones you already have a relationship with rank first.
- Pick who to write to, add your note, and send.
If you are connected, the conversation opens and your message lands in their inbox.
If you are not, the same note becomes a connect request. It arrives in their Requests, and they can accept, decline, or write back. Until they answer, the composer stays locked and reads "You can message after they accept." The note you sent is your one message.
A person's or organization's profile carries a Message action too, and it behaves the same way.
One ask at a time
Connect requests to people outside your network are capped at 20 in any 24 hours. It is a spam limit, not a budget. Deliberate outreach never gets near it.
Organizations you have applied to are a standing exception. Once you submit an application, that organization can message you about it and you can write back, with nothing to accept in either direction.
Requests
When someone you are not connected with writes to you, their conversation waits under Requests at the top of your list instead of mixing into your inbox.
What you can do there depends on what arrived:
- A connect request offers Accept and Decline. Accepting connects you.
- A plain message from someone not asking to connect offers Move to inbox and Decline conversation.
- Writing back accepts either one. A reply is an acceptance, so there is no button to hunt for.
- Declining hides the request. The sender is not told, and their side goes on looking exactly like an unanswered message.
- Block, from the row's menu, stops the person messaging you at all.
Pending requests count toward the badge on Messages along with your unread conversations.
Requests appear in two places, and they are the same requests
Every connect request lands in the Requests tab of your Network page, whether an organization or another artist sent it. Because the note that came with it is a message, it also waits under Requests in your messenger. Accept it in either place and the result is identical.
Conversations with organizations
Organizations message you much as anyone else does, and a cold first message from one arrives in your Requests. What is different is that an organization can send structured cards inside a conversation:
- Invitation to apply: an invitation to a specific program, with a link straight to it.
- More info requested: the organization needs additional details, usually tied to an application you submitted.
- Connect request: the organization is asking to connect. Accepting lets the two of you message each other and adds you to their artists.
For how information requests tie back to a submitted application, see Managing applications.
Connect and share contact in a thread
Two actions deepen a conversation without leaving it.
- Connect. In a conversation with an organization you are not connected with, the Connect button in the header opens the same compose box their profile does.
- Share contact. In an open conversation with another person, this puts your email into the thread as a card. The dialog is blunt about it: they can see it from now on, and you cannot take it back. Organization threads do not have this button, because an organization you are connected with already reads your live details.
Your network covers who can see your contact details, and what connecting shares.
Announcements
An organization can send the same message to many people at once. When one reaches you it appears as an Announcement card inside a conversation rather than a normal message.
The sender decides whether replies are open. When they are off, your composer locks with a note saying the sender turned off replies for this announcement. An announcement from an organization you are not engaged with arrives in your Requests, where you can accept it into your inbox or decline it.
Attachments
Attach files with the paperclip in the composer. Images, PDFs, Word documents, and plain text files are supported, up to 50 MB each and 10 files per message. Every message needs at least a line of text, so attach files alongside a short note rather than on their own.
To browse everything shared in a thread, open the ⋯ More menu in the thread header and choose View attachments.
Sending and line breaks
Press Enter to send, and Shift + Enter to add a line break without sending.
Search, archive, and unread
- Search. The box at the top of the list filters your conversations by name and preview as you type. Type two or more characters and it also searches inside message text, showing matches under an In messages heading. That second search needs at least one conversation in your list, so it does nothing on an empty inbox.
- Archive. From the conversation options menu, choose Archive conversation. Flip the Archived filter above the list to see archived threads, and use Unarchive conversation to bring one back. Archiving hides a conversation without deleting it.
- Unread. Unread conversations stay bold with a count until you open them.
The conversation options menu also holds View profile.
The desktop messaging dock
On larger screens a compact Messaging bar sits in the bottom-right corner, so you can write without leaving the page you are on. Its badge counts unread conversations and waiting requests together. Expand it to see your conversations, and select one to open a small chat window.
It hides itself on the full Messages page, where the page already owns the conversation, and it does not appear on smaller screens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related
- Your network: how Track and Connect work, and who can see your contact details
- Managing applications: how information requests tie back to your applications
- Applying to programs: where invitations to apply lead
- Your feed: where announcements from organizations you track also appear