Communicate with your teams

Email your team

You can email team members from a specific plan page or from the team members list, depending on whether you need to communicate with scheduled team members or your entire team.

Email scheduled team members

You can email scheduled team members from the plan page to communicate about that particular service. Emails sent from a plan include:

Accept or Decline buttons for unconfirmed team members to respond to scheduling requests.
Any times to which the recipient is assigned.
Plan notes that have been assigned to the recipient's teams.

Warning

It's not possible to attach files to an email sent from Services, so attach a file to a plan or a public file-sharing site, and then include where to find the attachment in your email.

To email team members from a plan:

Select Plans from the top navigation.
If you have multiple folders, select the folder that contains the service type.
Select a plan from the service type.
Select the Teams tab.
Select the ✉️ email icon at the top right.
Choose which team members to include in the Recipients popup.
- Teams: Select Add to add teams to this email. Your teams are listed by default. Select the X next to a team to remove it from the list. (Schedulers cannot add other teams; they can only email their teams.)
- Times: If there are multiple service times, you can choose to email only team members assigned to a specific time.
- Include: Choose which team members to include based on their scheduling status. Select Only people with Prepared Notifications to email only people whose scheduling requests (or prepared notifications) haven't been sent yet. Team members with an ✉️ email icon next to their name have a prepared notification.
Select Next.
Select an email template from the dropdown or select Edit Templates to create a new one. You can only send scheduling email templates from a plan page.
Select the x next to a team member's name to remove them from the recipients list.
Enter your subject line and message text in the input fields.
Select Send at the bottom right.

Tap Plans from the bottom navigation.
Select the service type or folder.
Select the plan date from which you'd like to email your teams.
Select the Teams tab at the top of the plan page.
Tap the Email or Text button.
Choose which team members to include in the Recipients page.
- Send Messages For: Select Prepared Notifications to only email people whose prepared notifications are still unsent, or select Scheduled People to email any team member scheduled for the plan. Select Needed Signups to email a signup sheet.
- With Status: Select the toggle next to each scheduling status (Pending, Confirmed, Declined) to email team members based on their scheduling status on the plan.
- Teams: Select the toggle next to a team to include them in this email.
- Times: If there is more than one service time, select the toggle next to a service time to email the people assigned to that time.
- Tap x People Selected at the bottom to manually toggle which specific team members should receive this email.
Tap Next in the top right.
Select the Email tab at the top.
Tap Select an email template to choose an email template for your message. You can only send scheduling email templates from a plan page.
Tap the subject line or message field to edit it.
Tap the Send icon at the top right to send your email.

Email an entire team

If you need to email everyone assigned to a team or position, go to that team's member list.

Select the People page in the top navigation.
Select the Teams tab to view all of your organization's teams.
Use the dropdown in the top left to filter the list by My Teams (teams where you're a leader or member), All Teams, Archived Teams, or specific service types.
You can also search for a specific team by name using the search bar.
Select a team name to open that team's member list.
Select All team members or a specific position from the left sidebar.
(Optional) To email split team members who've selected a specific service time as their preferred time, filter to that time using the dropdown.
Select the ✉️ email icon in the top right.
Select an email template from the dropdown, or select Edit Templates to create a new one.
Select the x next to a team member's name if they shouldn't receive this email.
Edit your subject line and message text in the input fields.
Select Send at the bottom right to send your email.

Tip

If you need to email specific groups of people who aren't on the same team, go to the People page to send your email. You can apply filters and select checkboxes next to specific people on this page before choosing the ✉️ email icon.

To email an entire team in the mobile app, go to the People tab and apply a filter for that team.

Tap People from the bottom navigation.
Tap the + Filter button. If you don't see this button, a filter has already been applied. You can tap the existing filter(s) to adjust your filter settings.
Tap Teams I Lead to change which teams appear as filter options. You can select My Teams, All Teams, or teams from a specific folder/service type.
Select the checkboxes next to each team you'd like to email, and then tap the x icon to close the filter menu.
Tap the ✉️ email icon at the top right of the list.
Tap x people selected to manually toggle which specific team members will receive this email.
Tap Select an email template to choose a template for your message. You can only send general email templates or welcome emails from this page.
Tap the subject line or message field to edit it.
Tap the Send icon at the top right to send your email.

Chat with your team

You can chat with scheduled team members or an entire team at once!

Chat with scheduled team members

Select Plans from the top navigation.
If you have multiple folders, select the folder that contains the service type.
Scroll down to the service type.
Select a plan date.
Select the Teams tab.
Choose whether to chat with multiple teams or a single team on this plan:
- To chat with multiple teams, select the 💬 chat icon in the top right. The teams you lead on this plan will automatically appear. Select the x next to a team to remove it from the chat. Search for a team to add to the chat.
- To chat with a single team, select the dropdown arrow next to the team's name, and then choose Chat from the menu options.
If you selected multiple teams, select Start Conversation to start the chat. If you selected a single team, send your first message to start the chat.

Tap Plans from the bottom navigation.
Select a service type or folder.
Select a plan date.
Select the Teams tab at the top of the plan page.
Tap the 💬 Chat button.
If you only lead one team on this plan, you'll go directly to an empty chat for that team. Tap Send a message to start the conversation.
If you lead multiple teams on this plan, you'll go to the New Conversation page. You can adjust which teams to include by tapping on a team name and selecting the checkboxes on the next page. All of the teams you lead will be selected by default.
Once you've selected the team(s) you want to include, tap Done in the top right.
Tap Start conversation.

Chat with an entire team or multiple teams

Start a chat with an entire team from the team's member list:

Select the People page in the top navigation.
Select the Teams tab to view all of your organization's teams.
Use the dropdown in the top left to filter the list by My Teams (teams where you're a leader or member), All Teams, Archived Teams, or specific service types.
You can also search for a specific team by name using the search bar.
Select a team name to open that team's member list.
Select All team members from the left sidebar.
Select the 💬 chat icon in the top right to start a conversation.

Start a chat with multiple teams on the People page:

Select the People page from the top navigation.
Go to the Teams tab.
Use the checkboxes next to the teams to select up to 10 teams from the list.
Select the 💬 chat icon.

You can start a chat with multiple teams from any screen in Services Mobile:

Select the chat icon at the top of the screen.
If you have multiple linked accounts, tap the church's name at the top of the screen and select which church you want to chat with from the dropdown.
Tap New Conversation to start a chat.
Select which teams to include in your chat from the teams you lead. Select More teams to choose a team you don't lead.
(Optional) If there are future plans for the team(s), use the toggle to filter by plan to choose a specific plan.
Tap Start conversation.

Important

You cannot filter team chats to specific positions or time preferences. Chat conversations include all team members.

Text your teams in Services Mobile

In Services Mobile, you can start a group text using your device's preferred texting app from a plan page. This text message includes a shortened link to open the corresponding plan page.

Because this feature redirects you to your device's text messaging app, recipients cannot opt in or out of the messages.

Text messages rely upon the limitations of each cell phone provider, so while they can be convenient, here are two things to keep in mind:

If you've prepared a text message for more people than your phone carrier allows, not everyone will receive it.
Tip
If you're not sure how many people your carrier allows, copy the text before tapping the button to send it. You may need to send multiple messages, and this will help you keep track of what you're sending.
There is no additional Planning Center charge to send a text; however, recipients may incur standard texting charges, as applicable to their mobile provider.

To start a group text in Services Mobile:

Tap Plans from the bottom navigation.
Select the service type or folder you're working with.
Select the plan date from which you'd like to email your teams.
Tap the Teams tab at the top of the plan page.
Tap the Email or Text button.
Choose which team members to include in the Recipients page.
- Send Messages For: Choose to only email team members whose Prepared Notifications are still unsent, or choose Scheduled People to email any team member scheduled for the plan. Choose Needed Signups to email a signup sheet.
- With Status: Select the toggle next to each scheduling status (Pending, Confirmed, Declined) to email team members based on their scheduling status on the plan.
- Teams: Select the toggle next to a team to include them in this email.
- Times: If there is more than one service time, select the toggle next to a service time to email the people assigned to that time.
- Tap x People Selected to select which specific team members should receive this text.
Tap Next in the top right.
Select the Text tab at the top of the page.
If any team members from the recipients list don't have mobile numbers, tap x People without mobile numbers and then tap each name to save a mobile number to their profile.
Tap the Text Message field to edit your message.
Tap the toggle next to Include phone reference to include the last four digits of each person's phone number in the text. This will let your recipients know who might be able to reply.
Tap the Send icon at the top right to open your device's preferred texting app.

Undelivered emails

View a list of the emails sent to a person through Planning Center, including those that are undelivered, from the Communication tab on their profile.

Search for a person's name using the 🔎 search icon in the top right.
Select their profile from the results.
Select the Communication tab on their profile.
Open an email highlighted in red to see if it failed or was dropped.

If someone mentions they didn't receive an email, or you see that an email failed to be delivered to them, check in Planning Center People to make sure their email address isn't blocked.

If they still do not receive emails after unblocking their email address, contact support for additional troubleshooting by selecting the question mark (?) in the toolbar in Planning Center.

Planning Center Help

Table of ContentsTable of Contents