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Talk to the people you actually work with, in the same place as the records you're talking about — instead of losing it all in a Facebook group.
What it does
Messages are conversations between a family and a provider they're connected to — one to one, or, for a provider, in a group with several of their families. Because messaging hangs off your connections, you can only ever message someone you've both agreed to work with — there's no way to be contacted by a stranger, and ending a connection ends the conversation.
are the bell in the top-right corner. They tell you when something happened that concerns you: a connection request or acceptance, a new message, a session booked, an absence reported, a payment recorded, approved or turned down, a piece of work marked, a learner submitting something from their progress tracker, a target period ending missed, or someone mentioning you in a note — which shares the note with you to read. A learner with their own sign-in has a bell too, in their portal, which tells them when something they submitted is accepted or sent back.
Ready to follow along in the app?
No password, no card — a magic link and you're in.
You choose which kinds of notification ring the bell and which are emailed to you as well, in Settings › Notifications.
Where to find it
Messages — for families, Messages under Provision in the side menu; for providers, Messages under Provision. URL /dashboard/messages
Notifications — the bell icon in the header, on every screen; See all notifications at the foot of the bell opens the full list at /dashboard/notifications
Notifications on your phone or computer — Settings → This device → Notifications on this device shows what rings the bell on that device too, with AltEd closed. See AltEd as an app, and offline.
A learner's bell — the bell in the learner portal's header (/learn), for learners with their own sign-in
Notification settings — Notification settings at the foot of the bell or at the top of Notifications, or Settings › Notifications (/dashboard/settings?tab=notifications); a learner's are at the foot of their own bell (/learn/notifications)
Step by step
Send a message
Go to Messages (/dashboard/messages).
Choose a conversation from the list on the left.
Type in the box at the bottom and press Enter to send. Use Shift + Enter for a new line without sending.
Opening a conversation marks its messages as read, so the unread count clears itself.
Who you're writing to is said beside their name at the top of the conversation and in the list — what they are in this conversation: Provider if they teach you or your learner here, Guardian if you teach their learner, Learner for a learner. It goes by the connection the conversation belongs to, not by what else their account does — a tutor who is also a parent is Provider in a conversation about the lessons they give you. If you're connected both ways (you teach each other's children), you have two conversations, each labelled its own way round. · account not active is added if their account has been suspended, when you can read the conversation but not write to it. Someone who hasn't given their name is shown by their email address if they're a family, or as Provider (no name yet).
Start a group (providers)
In Messages, select New group at the top right.
Give the group a name everyone in it will see — Group name — for example Thursday maths group.
Tick the families to add. Only families you're connected to are listed.
Select Start the group. Each family is told, in the bell, that you added them.
A group shows in everyone's list with its name, a picture made of up to four of its people, Group · _n_ people, and the start of the last message with who wrote it. In the conversation, each message from someone else carries their picture and name (and Provider beside the provider's).
Run a group (providers)
Open the group, then ⋯ › People and name (or select the With … line under its name):
Rename — change Group name and select Rename.
Add families — tick families you're connected to who aren't in it, then Add. Someone added reads from when they joined; what was said before isn't shown to them.
Remove — beside a family, removes them. They stop seeing the group.
Only the provider who started a group can change it, and they can't leave it.
See who's in a group, or leave it (families)
Open the group, then ⋯ › People in this group (or select With … under its name). The sheet lists everyone in it — names only, never anyone's email — and who has left since you joined. Leave the group, then confirm, takes it out of your list; only the provider can add you back.
Ending your connection with a provider also takes you out of their groups.
Message a learner, with their guardian (providers)
In Messages, select Message a learner.
Choose a learner. Only learners with their own sign-in, from families you're connected to, are listed — each with their guardian's name.
Select Message. The conversation opens with three people in it: you, the learner and their guardian, who is always in it and can't be removed.
It's listed under the learner's name, with Learner · their guardian is in this conversation. Each message shows who wrote it — Learner or Parent or guardian beside their name. A learner can open the same conversation from their own portal; there's only ever one per learner.
Your learner's conversations (families)
When a tutor messages your learner — or your learner messages a tutor from their own portal — you're in the conversation too, always. It's listed as _Tutor_ and _your learner_, and you're told about new messages as with any conversation. If your learner shares contact details in it, you're told in the bell. See The learner's own page.
Read a conversation
Messages are grouped under the day they were sent — Today, Yesterday, the day's name for the rest of the past week (Wednesday), then the date (29/09/2026) — and the day stays at the top while you scroll through it. Each message's time is inside its bubble, at the bottom right; a clock beside it means it's held for review. In a group, the first of someone's messages in a row shows their picture, name and what they are in the group.
Scrolled up to read something older? A round ⌄ button appears at the bottom right of the conversation — select it to go back down to the newest message. A new message you send always takes you there.
A conversation, grouped under the day each message was sent
Reply to a message
On a computer: point at the message you're answering and select the reply arrow beside it. On a phone: press and hold the message, then choose Reply.
A Replying to _name_ bar appears above the message box with the start of that message. Write your reply and send it as usual. To change your mind, select the × on the bar (or press Esc).
Your reply shows the start of the message it answers above it. Select that quoted line to jump back to the original — it's highlighted for a moment so you can see which it was. A quote of a message that was later removed says Message removed by AltEd's moderators; a quote of a message you were never shown says Original message unavailable.
React to a message
On a computer: point at the message and select the smiley beside it. On a phone: press and hold the message.
Choose 👍, ❤️, 😂, 😮, 😢 or 🙏.
Reactions sit on the bottom edge of the message with a count; point at one (or tap it) to see who chose it. You have one reaction per message: choose a different one to change it, or choose yours again — in the picker or on the reaction itself — to take it away. Reactions don't send a notification.
Pin a conversation, or mute it
On a computer: point at the conversation in your list and select the ⌄ that appears at its top right — or, with it open, select ⋯ at the top of the conversation. On a phone: press and hold the conversation in your list.
Choose Pin conversation, or Mute notifications and then For 8 hours, For 1 week or Always.
A pinned conversation stays at the top of your list with a pin beside it — the one you pinned most recently first. You can pin up to three; to pin another, unpin one first (Unpin conversation). A muted conversation has a crossed-out bell beside it: new messages in it don't ring your bell or email you until the mute runs out or you choose Unmute notifications, but they still show as unread (the count turns grey) and are there when you open it. A guardian can't mute a conversation their learner is in — their learner's conversation with a tutor, or a group their learner is in — so you always hear what's said where your child is; you can still pin it, and the menu says Can't mute — your learner is here. Switching Messages off in your notification settings doesn't silence them either: your learner's conversations still ring your bell (whether they're emailed is still up to you). A mute you set on a group before your learner joined it stops counting when they do. Muting never hides a safety notice — you're still told when contact details are shared, or when AltEd's moderators act. Pinning and muting are yours alone: nobody else in the conversation is told, and their list is unchanged. If you leave a group and are added back, it starts unpinned and unmuted.
Format a message
The row of buttons above the box formats what you've selected — or puts in an example to type over:
Button
Writes
Shows as
Bold (Ctrl+B)
**words**
words
Italic (Ctrl+I)
*words*
words
Underline (Ctrl+U)
++words++
words, underlined
Strikethrough
~~words~~
words, struck through
Superscript / Subscript
x^2^ / H~2~O
x² / H₂O
Code
`code`
code, in a fixed-width font
Link (Ctrl+K)
[words](https://…)
a link
Heading
## at the start of the line
a heading
Bulleted list / Numbered list
- / 1. at the start of each line
a list
Quote
> at the start of each line
a quote
Horizontal rule
--- on a line of its own
a line across
Pressing Heading, a list or Quote again on lines that already have it takes it off. Preview shows the message as it will look; Write goes back to the box. A web address typed on its own becomes a link too. A three-backtick line (`) above and below keeps a block exactly as typed.
Links in messages. A link to anywhere outside AltEd opens You're leaving AltEd in a new tab first — as every link to another website does, anywhere in AltEd: the whole address, the site it belongs to picked out, and what to watch for — with a warning when the address isn't secure or uses letters from another alphabet. Nothing happens until you choose Continue to …; Stay on AltEd goes back. A link to a page on AltEd opens straight away.
Draft a reply with AI
When AI is available, a conversation where the other person has written something shows Draft a reply above the message box.
Select Draft a reply.
Optionally type What to say — "yes to Tuesday, not Thursday" — so the draft says what you mean.
Select Draft it. The line beneath shows your AI credits; a draft costs about 1.
The reply appears in the message box, with a line above saying what the conversation needs (for example A time to agree). Anything only you know — an address, a price, your times — is left in [square brackets]. Change it, then press Enter or Send.
Nothing is sent until you send it. AI reads the last twelve messages of that conversation only.
See what needs a reply
With unread messages, What needs a reply? sits at the top of your conversation list. Select it and each unread conversation gets a label — Enquiry to answer, Question to answer, A time to agree, Absence or change, About money or Just information — and a line on why. It reads up to three unread messages from each of up to twenty conversations, costs about 2 AI credits, and marks nothing read. The labels last until you leave the page.
Who decides: the family. A family uses both on their own Let AltEd draft from your records switch; a tutor or provider only in conversations with families who have Let your learners' tutors use AI too on. Conversations with families who haven't are left out of sorting, and the line under the button says how many — see AI drafting.
Stay safe, and report something
Messages are checked as they're sent: swearing is hidden from the reader, contact and bank details bring a notice, and anything harmful is shown to AltEd's moderators — the most serious held until one looks. To report a message, select Report under it; to report the person, select ⋯ at the top right of the conversation and Report _their name_. See Safe messaging for everything you might see and what happens next.
Start talking to someone new
There's no "new message" button, and that's deliberate: conversations exist for connections. If you can't see someone in your list, connect with them first — see Connections.
Read your notifications
Select the bell in the header. A number on the bell shows how many are unread.
Select any notification to mark it read and jump to whatever it's about. A message notification opens that conversation, not just the inbox.
Mark all read clears the lot.
The bell shows your latest twenty. For everything else, select See all notifications: the full list, newest first, with All and Unread filters, Load more at the bottom and Mark all read at the top.
Choose what rings the bell, and what's emailed
Select Notification settings at the foot of the bell, or go to Settings › Notifications.
Every kind of notification is listed under its group — People and messages, Safety and your account, Learning, Sessions and classes, Payments, Notes and Curriculum builder — with two switches: Bell and Email.
Turn either on or off. It saves as soon as you move it.
To begin with, everything rings the bell, and Connections, Messages and 1-to-1 times are emailed as well — the ones where someone is waiting for you — along with Contact details shared, which tells a family when their tutor shares a phone number, email address or messaging app, and Your learners' work (below). Everything else is bell only until you switch its email on.
Your learners' work rings the bell as soon as a learner ticks off a task, writes in their log, starts or finishes a topic on a plan, or hands in an assignment. The email waits until they pause: once ten minutes pass with nothing new — or an hour after the first thing, however busy they are — one email lists everything, with the time of each and what's waiting for your look. Ten ticks in five minutes is one email. A tutor hears only about work they set: their task ticked off, their assignment handed in, a topic on their own plan.
A message's email says who it's from and what they are to you — New message from Priya Sharma (provider) — and what you have with them: You have session bookings with them — 2 coming up, or You have classes booked with their learners: Rowan. Then the message itself, formatted as it is in AltEd (a link in it still opens You're leaving AltEd first), any warning AltEd shows under it, and a reminder that replying to the email doesn't reach them. Beneath, the next session, the classes, and since when you've been connected, then Open in AltEd. A second message while you haven't opened the first isn't emailed again.
Account notices — a moderator delivering, holding back or removing something you sent, warning you, or restricting your messages — always ring the bell and are always emailed.
Payment reminders are email only and can't be switched off, because they're about money you owe.
Your free month rings and is emailed five days before a new account's month of Family ends, and again on the day it has — never if you've chosen a plan in the meantime. Either can be switched off.
Daily digest is an email at about 6 each evening, laying out each of your learners' day: a row of numbers (tasks ticked off, topics completed, log entries, work handed in, hours), a table of what they did and when — with what's waiting for your look — then How it's going (each plan's progress and whether it's ahead, on track or behind; each target so far), and Next (what's waiting, what's overdue, what's due tomorrow). It's only sent on a day something happened or something waits for you; a quiet day sends nothing. It's worked out from your records — no AI. Switch it off in Settings › Notifications, or with the link in the email.
Weekly digest rings on Monday mornings when last week is ready to write up for your learners — only while AI drafting is on, and only when something was recorded. It doesn't write anything by itself; see AI drafting.
A learner with their own sign-in chooses for their own notifications — Your day (their morning email), New work for you, Your tasks and Notes — from Notification settings at the foot of their bell. New work for you is emailed by default, in one email once whoever's setting the work pauses for ten minutes.
What each screen shows
Messages is a two-pane view: conversations on the left with the other person's name, what they are to you, the last message (in plain words) and an unread badge; the selected conversation on the right, your messages aligned to one side and theirs to the other, oldest at the top, under a divider for each day. The list shows the time of the last message today, then Yesterday, the day's name, or the date. Each bubble has its time in the bottom-right corner; a reply carries the line it answers inside it, and reactions sit on its bottom edge. Point at a message (on a computer) for the smiley, the reply arrow and ⋯ — Copy text and, for someone else's message, Report; on a phone, press and hold it for Message options with the same choices. On a phone you see one pane at a time, with a way back to the list.
The notification panel lists the most recent items with a dot against anything unread. When there's nothing waiting it says you're all caught up.
Notifications (/dashboard/notifications) is the same list without the limit, a page at a time.
Tips and good to know
Messages sit alongside the records they're about, so "how did Maya get on with fractions?" is one click from the marks and the attendance.
Notifications never contain anything private beyond a short preview — the detail lives behind the link, which still requires you to be signed in.
Things that repeat don't pile up. Several messages in one conversation are one notification with the latest message; several things a child records before you look are one notification per child; a target missed day after day is one line with the latest figure.
Things clear themselves when you've dealt with them another way. Opening a conversation clears its message notification, and once nothing a learner submitted is still waiting for a verdict, the request for one goes too.
The number on the bell catches up as soon as you read something anywhere on the page — in the list, or by opening a conversation — and whenever you come back to the tab.
Read notifications are kept for 90 days, then tidied away. Unread ones are never removed.
A notification email says why it came and links straight to what it's about. At the foot, stop emails about … stops that one kind without signing in: the page it opens asks you to confirm with Stop these emails.
Emails go to your sign-in address, and only once you've confirmed it. Sign-in and security emails always come, whatever you choose.
A repeat isn't emailed twice: several messages in one conversation are one email until you've read the conversation. If a lot happens at once, AltEd sends you at most 30 notification emails an hour; the bell carries on.
With a kind's bell off, it no longer appears on the bell or in Notifications — but it's still emailed if its email is on.
If you're viewing someone else's account as an administrator, you can read their notifications but nothing is marked read.
If you'd rather not be messaged by a provider any more, end the connection. That closes the conversation along with their access, and takes you out of their groups.
In a group, everyone sees your name and what you write. Messages in a group are checked in the same way as any other. To report something, use Report under the message — in a group you report a message, not a person.
A learner is never in a conversation without their guardian. Adding a learner to a group adds their guardian; removing the guardian, or the guardian leaving, takes the learner out too.
A group's bell and email say which group a message is in. They don't mention your sessions or classes with the provider, because the other families in the group aren't part of those.
Nothing here is a substitute for urgent contact. Use the phone for anything that can't wait.
Troubleshooting
Problem
What to try
My conversation list is empty
Messaging opens up once you're connected — see Connections.
I can't message a provider I found in the directory
You need an accepted connection first.
"You can pin up to 3 conversations"
Unpin one first — choose Unpin conversation from its menu — then pin the one you want.
A conversation's messages stopped ringing my bell
It may be muted — look for the crossed-out bell beside it in your list, and choose Unmute notifications. Or check Settings › Notifications.
No Draft a reply button
AI isn't set up on this AltEd, or the other person hasn't written anything yet.
"This family hasn't allowed their tutors to use AI…"
That family's Let your learners' tutors use AI too switch is off. Write this reply yourself, or ask them about it.
"Turn on AI drafting in your settings first"
As a family, switch on Let AltEd draft from your records in Settings → AI drafts.
"The families in your unread conversations haven't allowed AI…"
None of your unread conversations may be sorted, so nothing was sent or charged.
The unread badge won't clear
Open the conversation; that marks its messages read. If a number persists, refresh the page.
I'm looking for an older notification
Select See all notifications at the foot of the bell and use Load more.
I can't see earlier messages in a group
You see a group's messages from when you joined. What was said before isn't shown to people added later.
There's no Message a learner button
It's in the provider view. Only learners with their own sign-in, from families you're connected to, can be messaged.
There's no New group button
Groups are started by providers, from the provider view. Families are added to them.
A family isn't listed when I start a group
Only families you're connected to are listed, and not an account that isn't active.
Nothing appears when I point at (or hold) a message
You can't answer a message that's held for review or removed, or one you're still sending — wait a moment. While your messages are restricted, or the other account isn't active, you can't reply or react. On a phone, hold your finger still — moving it scrolls instead.
Enter added a new line instead of sending
Check you aren't holding Shift — Shift + Enter is the deliberate "new line" combination.
A notification links somewhere I can't open
Your access may have changed since it was sent — for example a connection ended.
I'm not getting notification emails
Check that kind's Email switch in Settings › Notifications, and that your email address is confirmed. Look in your spam folder too.
Something stopped showing on the bell
Its Bell switch may be off. Turn it back on in Settings › Notifications; new notifications show from then on.
I can't switch off payment reminders
They're about money you owe, so they always come. Settle the balance, or speak to the provider.
"This link isn't valid" after selecting stop emails about …
The link was cut short when it was copied. Sign in and use Settings › Notifications instead.