Messaging

Private messages

Unless disabled by the administrator (in Advanced features), teachers, students and other users may send and receive private messages via Moodle. This is in addition to receiving notifications about assignments, forum discussions etc. See the screencast [Messages and notifications] for more information.

New feature
in Moodle 3.2!

New messages are highlighted with a number in the messaging menu at the top of the screen:

Note that the number reflects the number of people who have sent new messages, and not the actual number of new messages.

Clicking there displays the new messages, along with the option to send a new message (1 below), to mark all as read (2), to go to their preferences page (3) to change how messages are received, and (4) to view all messages.

Sending messages

Messages may be sent from a number of locations:

1. by clicking 'New Message' from the Message menu as in the screenshot above and then searching for a user or course
2. by clicking the Messages link in the user menu;
3. by clicking on a user's name or picture in a course, for example from the Participants link or in a forum thread;
4. from the Messages block if available.

When sending messages, the size of the message box will increase as the message lengthens. Note that to start a new line, you can press Enter. (Pressing Enter alone will not send a message.)

Be careful if you use Moodle 3.2 before 3.2.3 : to start a new line, you need to press Shift + Enter. (Pressing Enter alone will send the message, which you may not want.)

Adding and messaging contacts

To add a contact, click their name or picture as in the section Sending messages above:

1. Click the + sign to add them to your contacts.
2. Click the Message icon to message them directly.

Contacts may be accessed from the Contacts link and then either messaged, blocked or removed.

Deleting messages

• Messages may be deleted by clicking the Edit link (1 below), selecting a message or messages to delete and then clicking the Delete button under the messages (2).
• Note that messages are only deleted for that particular user, not others involved in the conversation.

Receiving messages

• Along with a visible alert to new messages in the messaging menu, users can configure how they are notified of new messages from their message preferences page accessed from the user menu or the gear icon in the messages menu.
• If the site is set up with the mobile app, they can enable new message alerts to be sent to their mobile:

Sending a message to selected course participants

A teacher can send a message to course participants as follows:

1. Go to the Participants page.
2. Select participants from the list or use the "Select all" button at the bottom of the list.
3. Choose "Add/send message" from the "With selected users..." drop-down menu.
4. Type the message then click the "Preview" button.
5. Assuming you are satisfied with the message, click the "Send" button.

Administrators can also send a message to users in many courses via Bulk user actions.

See also

• Notifications
• Messaging settings
• Messaging FAQ