The Inbox is where all your conversations live: messages with patients, private team chats, and enquiries that come in through your public page. You'll find it in the sidebar under Engage.
The kinds of conversation
- Patient — a conversation with one of your patients. They see it in their patient portal.
- Team — a private conversation between staff. Patients never see these.
- Internal — a staff-only discussion about a particular patient. The patient never sees it.
- Website enquiry — someone who filled in the contact form on your public page. They have no account, so you reply by email (see below).
To start a conversation, click New message and choose Patient, Team or Internal. Website enquiries arrive on their own.
Replying to a website enquiry
When a stranger contacts you through your public page, it lands in your inbox as a Website enquiry. The thread header shows their name and the email or phone number they left, so you know who you're talking to.
If they left an email address, type a reply and Atlacare emails it to them. If they left a phone number, nothing is emailed: tap the number in the thread header and call them back.
For an emailed reply to reach you, your clinic needs a reply-to address set — otherwise the email goes out from a no-reply address and they can't respond. Set it under Settings → Branding. If it's missing, the enquiry thread shows a reminder with a link.
Unread badges
A number badge on the Inbox in the sidebar tells you how many conversations have unread messages. It updates as you move around the app.
What patients can and can't see
Patients only ever see conversations of type Patient, and only the clinical notes you've marked patient-visible. Team and Internal conversations, and internal or confidential notes, are never shown in the portal.