Access your message center

Your messages are housed in a central location where you can view all unread, opened, and previously sent messages, and craft and send a new one. A notification dot on your avatar in Xello will indicate if you have unopened messages.

To access your message center:

1. From the top right of any page in your educator account, click on your name and from the dropdown, select Messages.
   

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2. The Inbox tab opens to view unopened and read messages. Click the Sent tab to view messages you've sent.
3. Click on a message to read and reply.

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In-context messaging with students

While in your educator account, keep an eye out for the Send message button. Find this button located at the top of any list of students, in three dot menus, or in student groups you've created. After selecting the students you want to message from the list, use this button to pull up an action window where you can write the message and add any necessary attachments before sending.

Examples of where you can find the in-context Send message button for students include:

• The student list and each student's profile
• Assignment list and each Assignment profile
• List of student groups and each group profile
• Any returned list of students from a report
• The student course plans list

Messaging with parents/guardians

Messaging with parents/guardians is available in a few places. You can message one parent/guardian from the student's profile by clicking the three-dot menu and clicking Send message. To send a message to all assigned parents/guardians for a student, click the Send message button.

To send a message to multiple parents/guardians, in the left menu, click Families. Select all the parent accounts you'd like to send the message to, and click Send message. Click Filters to narrow the list down. You can filter by grade, group, whether the parent/guardian has been sent an invite to Xello Family and linked their account, alphabetical range, and more.

Message notifications

Educators, students, and parents/guardians will receive a notification for new, unread messages.

Educator notifications

Educators receive an email every time a new message is sent. The full contents of the message are displayed in the email with a link or instructions to log in. Educators also have a notification dot on their avatar.

Student notifications

Students who have their email address saved in Xello will receive an email. The full contents of the message are displayed with a link or instructions to log in. All students have a notification dot on their avatar when they have an unread message.

Parent/guardian notifications

Parents/guardians will receive an email with the contents of the message. The email will contain a link to log in to the Xello account to view and respond to the message.

Permissions and access

A few additional notes about messaging in Xello:

• Messages can be sent to students in grades 6-12, and their parents/guardians.
• Admin and User access types can message all students at their institution. Limited access users can message their assigned students, and the parents/guardians of those students.
  FYI: To learn more about educator access and permissions, check out Educator Permissions.
• Students and their parents/guardians can only initiate messages to their assigned educators.
• Students and their parents/guardians can reply to a message sent from any educator.