Some conversations do not belong in a one-to-one message. A crew working an event tomorrow all need the same parking instructions, and they all need to be able to ask about them.
Summary
A channel is a group conversation inside NextCrew. You create one, choose who is in it, and everyone in it can read and reply — on the web and in the Crew app.
There are two kinds, and picking the right one is the whole decision. A job or order channel manages its own membership: the system puts the confirmed people in and takes them out again if they are unconfirmed or replaced. A manual channel is yours to run — nobody is added or removed unless you do it.
Everyone in a channel gets an email and a push notification for every new message. Somebody added for the first time cannot read what was said before they joined, so post what matters after the crew is confirmed.
Ending a channel deletes it for everyone. There is no archive, and only the person who created it can do it.
How to do it
1Start it where it belongs. From a job or order if the conversation is about that work — NextCrew keeps the member list right for you. From the Channels menu for anything else — you keep the list yourself.
2Pick Direct for one person or Group for several, and give a Group a name people will recognize.
3Check who is in it. A job or order channel already has the confirmed Crew. One you started from the menu is yours to fill.
4Send the first message, saying what the channel is for.
5Delete it when the work is over. Only the person who created it can, and it clears the whole thing for everyone.
Watch a channel being set up.
When you would use one
An event with a crew of thirty. Start the channel from the job. Everyone confirmed for it is already in, and anyone who drops out goes out. Parking, call time, what to wear — asked and answered once, where everybody can see it.
A change on the day. The dock moved, the start time slipped, the weather turned. One message in the job channel reaches the whole crew by email and push, instead of thirty separate texts.
A client who wants to hear from the team. Add the client user to the job channel and they follow the conversation by email. Nothing is forwarded by hand and nothing gets missed.
A standing group that is not tied to one job. Your weekend supervisors, your forklift-certified Crew, the people who cover downtown. Start this one from the Channels menu so the list stays exactly as you set it.
That is the whole job. Everything below is detail for when something is unusual — you do not need to read it to get started.
ON THIS PAGE
- Who this applies to
- Two kinds of channel — pick the right one
- What a job or order channel does on its own
- Steps
- Who you can add, and what each of them gets
- What your Crew sees
- What people can and cannot see
- Ending a channel
- Before your Crew can use it
- If it is not working
- How to know it is complete
- Best practices
- FAQ
Who this applies to
- Schedulers and coordinators — you are the one creating a channel for tomorrow’s event, and the one people ask when somebody cannot see it.
- Account managers — you decide whether a client belongs in a conversation with your Crew, which is a judgment call, not a setting.
- Anyone who answers Crew questions — two of the three common questions about channels have the same answer, and it is on this page.
Two kinds of channel — pick the right one
This is the only decision that really matters, and getting it wrong is what makes a channel behave in a way that looks broken.
| A job or order channel | A channel you make yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is in it | The confirmed people on that job or order. The system adds them. | Whoever you choose. |
| When somebody is unconfirmed or replaced | They are taken out of the channel automatically. | Nothing happens. They stay until you remove them. |
| Who maintains the list | The system, against the job. | You do. |
| Use it when | You want the conversation to follow the job — whoever is actually working it is in the room. | You want a fixed group: a venue team, a set of supervisors, a standing crew you talk to every week. |
What a job or order channel does on its own
Once a channel is attached to a job or an order, it keeps its own membership in step with that job:
- Confirmed people are added. Only confirmed — somebody who has been offered the job and has not confirmed is not in the channel yet.
- People who are unconfirmed or replaced are removed. They come out as soon as they come off the job.
- Somebody who comes back keeps what they had. If a person is unconfirmed and then confirmed again on the same job, they return to the channel and the earlier messages are still there for them.
Steps
⚠ VERIFY BEFORE PUBLISH — Step 1. Confirm the exact control on the job / order record that starts a channel (its label and where it sits on the record), and whether the panel it opens differs from the one on the Channels list. The wording above says “add a channel there” because that control has not been observed. Replace it with the real label, then delete this box.
Step 1: Create the channel
Open Channels in the left menu and choose Add Channel. Or start from the job or order itself and add a channel there — same panel, except the channel is tied to that work and NextCrew looks after who is in it from then on.
Either way, pick the type first, because it changes what the rest of the panel asks you for.
| Type | What it is | What it is called |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | A conversation with one person. It takes exactly one participant. | It takes its name from that person — you do not name it. |
| Group | A conversation with several people. | You name it yourself. |
Name a group channel for the thing it is about, not the date. Riverside Gala — Front of House tells somebody opening it on their phone what they are looking at. Saturday does not.
Step 2: Choose who is in it
The participant picker shows everyone you can add. For anything larger than a handful of people, use the filters down the right rather than scrolling:
- Roles — Admin, Crew Member and Client. All three are on to begin with, so narrow this first if you only want Crew.
- Office Location — for a channel that belongs to one branch.
- Position — the quickest way to build a channel for one type of work.
- Group and Tag — if you already keep your Crew grouped, this is where that work pays off.
- HR Status — to keep people who are not currently active out of it.
Selected at the top shows who you have picked so far. Check it before you finish — it is easy to filter, select, filter again, and lose track of what is in the list.
Step 3: Tell people it is there
Post the first message yourself, and make it say what the channel is for. People are added without being asked, and a channel whose purpose is not obvious gets ignored.
Everyone in the channel gets an email and a push notification for every new message, so the first message is what tells them the channel exists.
Who you can add, and what each of them gets
| Who | What they get |
|---|---|
| Your own team | The full channel on the web. |
| Crew Members | The full channel in the Crew app — they can read, reply and send attachments. They need a current version of the app; see below. |
| Client users | An email notification of new messages, and nothing else. There is no Channels screen in the client portal, so a client cannot open the conversation and read it the way your team and your Crew can. |
What your Crew sees
Worth knowing, because it is what you will be asked about. On the Crew app, Channels sits in the menu, under Messages — not on the row of buttons along the bottom of the screen, which is where most people look first.
- They can read and reply, and send photos and files, the same as your team can.
- They get an email and a push notification for every new message.
- There is no badge on the Channels menu item, so somebody who misses the notification has nothing in the app telling them a channel is busy.
What people can and cannot see
| Situation | What they see |
|---|---|
| Added to a channel for the first time | Messages from the moment they were added. Not what was said before. |
| Removed and added back | Everything they could see before, still there. |
| Unconfirmed then confirmed again on the same job | Same as above — they come back and the history comes back with them. |
So the rule is simple: a new face starts from now; a returning face picks up where they left off.
Ending a channel
Because of that, think about the end of a channel when you create it. For a one-off event, a channel you delete afterwards is fine. For anything you might need to look back at — a conversation about an incident, a client instruction, an agreement about hours — put the record where it belongs on the job or the Crew record, rather than relying on the channel still being there.
Rename channel sits in the same menu and is the safe option when a channel has drifted from what it was named for.
Before your Crew can use it
Channels appears in the Crew app under the menu, below Messages. A Crew member who has not updated the app will not see it at all — the menu item is simply not there for them.
- The Crew app version that carries Channels is 4.36.
- App updates reach people over several days, not all at once, so expect your Crew to get it at different times.
- Somebody on an older version can still be added to a channel. They just will not be able to open it until they update.
If it is not working
Somebody says they cannot find Channels
Check their app version first. If it is below 4.36, that is the answer — the menu item does not appear until they update.
If they are on a current version, Channels is in the menu, under Messages. It is not on the row of buttons along the bottom of the screen, which is where most people look first. Tell them to open the menu rather than describing where it sits.
Somebody disappeared from a job channel
Check whether they are still confirmed on the job. A job or order channel removes people when they are unconfirmed or replaced, and that is working as intended.
If they need to stay in the conversation regardless of the job, they belong in a channel you made yourself, not in the job channel.
A new person is asking about something already posted
Expected. Somebody added after a message was posted cannot see it. Post it again, or send it to them directly.
On a job that is still filling, it is worth waiting until the crew is confirmed before posting the details — or posting them again once it is.
A client says they cannot open the channel
Also expected. Client users receive an email when there is a new message and have no Channels screen in the portal. If a client needs to take part in a conversation properly, a channel is not the right tool for it today.
How to know it is complete
- ✅ You know which kind of channel you have made, and why.
- ✅ The channel has a name that tells somebody what it is about.
- ✅ The first message says what the channel is for.
- ✅ Anything important was posted after the crew was confirmed, or posted again afterwards.
- ✅ Anybody you added knows to update the Crew app if they have not.
- ✅ If a client is in the channel, your team knows they are reading it by email.
- ✅ You know who created the channel, because they are the only person who can delete it.
Best practices
- Use a job channel for a job and a manual channel for a team. Almost every problem with channels is one being used as the other.
- Name the channel for the thing, not the day. It is read on a phone, alongside other channels.
- Post the purpose first. One line, in the channel, before anything else.
- Keep channels short-lived. Every message emails and notifies everybody in it, so a channel that outlives its job becomes noise.
- Do not put a client in a working channel by default. Decide it deliberately, each time.
- Put anything that matters on the record, not only in the channel. Channels can be deleted; job and Crew records cannot.
- Create the channel from the account it should belong to. Only the creator can delete it, so a channel created by somebody who has since left is a channel nobody can end.
FAQ
Q: What is the difference between Channels and Messages?
A: Messages sends a message out to people and collects the replies. A channel is a shared conversation — everyone in it sees everything and can reply to each other.
Q: Do I have to add people to a job channel myself?
A: No. A channel attached to a job or an order adds the confirmed people for you, and removes them if they come off the job.
Q: Somebody was removed from a channel and I did not do it. Why?
A: They were unconfirmed or replaced on the job. A job channel keeps its list in step with the job.
Q: How do I stop people being removed automatically?
A: Create the channel yourself instead of attaching it to a job. A channel you made by hand keeps whoever you put in it.
Q: Can a new person read what was said before they joined?
A: No. They see messages from the moment they were added.
Q: What if somebody is unconfirmed and then confirmed again?
A: They come back into the channel and the earlier messages are still there for them.
Q: Who gets notified when there is a new message?
A: Everyone in the channel, by email and by push notification.
Q: Can a Crew member get out of a channel?
A: Not today. Keep channels tight, and delete one when it has served its purpose.
Q: Can I add a client?
A: Yes, and they will be emailed when there is a new message — but they have no Channels screen in the portal, so they cannot open the conversation. Think about what will be said in front of them before you add them.
Q: Can I attach a file?
A: Yes, on the web and in the Crew app.
Q: Can I get a channel back after deleting it?
A: No. Deleting removes every message and attachment for everybody, permanently.
Q: Who can delete a channel?
A: Only the person who created it.
Q: Why can one of my Crew not see Channels in the app?
A: They are on an older version. Channels appears from app version 4.36.
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