Workchute keeps each conversation attached to a specific job and bid. Every enabled user in the customer party and vendor party can read the thread and its full history while their party access is active. Non-owner access additionally requires an active card trial or paid subscription; lapse disables both reads and writes without deleting conversations. Owner access stays independent of the paid plan. Sending requires Chat or Bid + chat access; read-only and Manage-jobs-only members can browse but cannot reply. Chat requires a signed-in account with a complete personal profile, while the notification inbox remains available to a signed-in account that is still completing its profile.
Open a conversation
Use the green Messages button to the left of the notification bell in the signed-in header. On desktop it opens a conversation dropdown below the button; select a conversation to open its chat window, or View all messages for the full page. Escape closes the dropdown and returns focus to Messages. Compact screens and browsers without JavaScript open the full conversation list.
Choose the other party's name to open a conversation. Each row shows the related job and latest message, with a separate View profile link and an yellow Unread label only when there are unread messages. Older conversations loads more history. Inside a conversation, the heading identifies the other party and job, All conversations returns to the list, and Older messages loads earlier parts of the thread.
The desktop picker keeps a compact width and limited height. Scroll inside its conversation list to reach older conversations; they load in batches as you approach the bottom. You can also use Load older conversations with the keyboard. If loading fails, use Retry loading conversations. Conversations with the latest messages appear first. Unread conversations have bold party names and a yellow Unread label; read conversations have regular names. Opening or scrolling the picker does not mark messages read.
Long party names, job titles, and message previews end with ellipses; open the conversation to read the complete message. View all messages stays beside the Messages heading while the list scrolls. Refreshes preserve your place in the list. Open chat windows align on the right and stay in place when you open the picker.
Message entry points also appear beside an eligible bid when the signed-in user has Chat access:
a customer's incoming-bid view can open the conversation with that vendor;
a vendor's required initial bid message starts the bid's conversation; and
an existing eligible bid can return either participant to its thread.
Workchute checks the signed-in user, current party membership, permission, and job-and-bid relationship again for each action. If a thread is unavailable, return to a visible Message control for the job or bid instead of trying another thread identifier.
Know when sending is available
A customer may send the first follow-up in the thread. After submitting the initial bid message, the vendor cannot send another message until the customer replies with actual text. An address-share event or another non-text event does not unlock the vendor's follow-up.
A customer's private rejection of a bid keeps the conversation but mutes its customer-side unread badge, email, push and in-app alerts. Sending that vendor a message about the same job restores the bid automatically, with ordinary Chat permission. Manually restoring also resumes future alerts. Missed alerts are not replayed; an unread marker may return. The vendor can still write when the conversation is otherwise eligible. When the job or bid is no longer open, however, the composer changes to a read-only notice. The participants can still review the thread history, but they cannot send new messages or share the address.
Send and read messages
Before sending, confirm the job and counterparty shown in the thread. Enter a text message of no more than 4,000 characters, wait for any selected PDFs to be ready, and choose Send or press Enter. Shift+Enter adds a new line. Text is required even when the message includes an attachment. Permission changes are immediate, so a composer already open in the browser cannot complete a send after Chat access is removed.
Open conversations refresh automatically while you use the page. Sending stays on the conversation, and the browser Back button returns to the previous page.
Within your own party, each message identifies the individual coworker who sent it. The other party sees only your party identity, not the coworker's personal display name.
Opening a thread advances only the acting user's read state through the latest message. A message from any other user—including a coworker—counts as unread for you, while your own send advances only your cursor. A newly invited or re-invited member starts caught up on messages that already existed but can browse the complete history. The Messages badge counts personal unread thread messages and displays 9+ instead of a larger number. Simply being active elsewhere in Workchute does not mark a conversation as read.
If sending reports an error, do not assume the message was accepted. Keep the text, reopen or refresh the thread, and check the newest messages before trying again so an uncertain response does not become a duplicate. A read-only notice means the job or bid state must change; repeatedly submitting the message will not bypass it.
Share the service address
Only a customer-side user with Manage jobs can share the job's exact service address, and only after a real customer text message has engaged an otherwise eligible conversation. Chat permission alone is not enough. Open Share the job address below the composer, read the consequence, and use Confirm and share address only after verifying the job and vendor.
The share is deliberately permanent: it can happen once in an eligible thread and cannot be retracted from its history. The vendor can then see the address inside that conversation. Workchute's separate notification says that an address was shared without copying the address itself into the notification.
If the control is absent, the thread is not currently eligible, the customer has not yet sent an engaging text reply, the job has no usable service address, or the address was already shared. Do not send the address as a workaround without first confirming that disclosure is appropriate.
Attach and download PDFs
PDF attachments are optional and appear only when Workchute's upload and scanning service is available. If Add PDF attachments is visible in an ongoing thread, a user with Chat access may select PDFs within the count and size limits shown by the current composer. Attachments are not available with the initial bid message.
Workchute uploads and scans each selected PDF before it can be sent. The composer shows progress and blocks Send until every selected file is ready. A file that is not a PDF, is too large, fails processing, or does not become ready is not attached to the message. Correct the file and select it again, or send a later text-only message instead.
While an upload is unfinished, its intent, upload, status, confirmation, and cancellation belong to the exact coworker who started it; another member cannot take it over. After a successful send commits the PDF, every active member of either participant party can use the attachment link to download it. An unfinished or unavailable attachment has no usable download. If scanning takes longer than expected, wait and try again later rather than repeatedly sending the same message.
Understand unread messages and notifications
Chat unread state and notification-inbox unread state are separate:
Messages reflects unread messages in participating threads.
The notification bell reflects unread notification-inbox entries.
Opening a thread marks its current messages read; merely being present on the site does not.
When Workchute sees one exact recipient actively using the site, it may favor an in-app chat alert over that user's out-of-band missed-message alert. One coworker's presence never suppresses another's delivery, and presence does not clear anyone's thread unread count.
Workchute selects notification recipients by the action. Chat alerts go to the counterparty owner plus enabled Chat or Bid + chat members. Job lifecycle and incoming-bid alerts go to the owner plus Manage jobs members. Bid and opportunity alerts go to the owner plus Bid + chat members, while personal and security events go only to the exact user. A coworker's chat message still becomes unread for their teammates, but v1 does not proactively alert the sender's own party about that message.
The Notifications page shows bounded history, links to relevant Workchute pages, and Older notifications. Entering the page acknowledges the visible unread entries. If that acknowledgement cannot be confirmed, those entries stay unread so they can be acknowledged later.
Use Preferences on the Notifications page, or Notifications in Settings, to change the channels offered for each notification type. An On toggle records permission to use that channel; it does not prove that the channel's delivery provider is currently available. This matters for Push wherever it is offered. SMS is not an available notification channel. Preferences affect alerts, not access to the conversation or its unread state.
Enabled chat and bid alerts arrive as they happen. Their channel switches control whether they are sent; there is no separate daily/instant choice.
Matching-job alerts use Lead notifications, available in both Settings and Lead settings. These are the same preferences. Instant Lead alerts require an active trial or paid plan. The existing daily matching-job summary remains available to every plan. Free in-app Lead alerts appear at the daily summary time even if email is disabled or delayed. The Lead Email switch is the master email opt-out.
With JavaScript, changing a Lead notification checkbox saves it immediately. The status confirms when saving has finished and offers Retry after a failure. Without JavaScript, use Save lead notifications.
Your daily matching-job digest
Turn Daily matching-job email summary on or off in Lead notifications. Paid and trial subscribers can receive both this digest and instant Lead emails. Free subscribers receive matches for their subscribed child categories within the current free allowance shown in Lead settings.
The digest covers jobs posted after the previous digest cutoff through the current cutoff. It uses your business's enabled categories, Head office and service radii when the email is prepared. Each matching job appears once, including jobs your business has already bid on and your own matching jobs. Jobs must still be open and unexpired when the digest is prepared.
Every matching job gets a card with its title, categories, city or town and postal code, and a photo when one is available. Already bid identifies jobs your business has bid on, including bids later withdrawn. Open the title or photo to view that job on the site and bid when eligible. Descriptions and individual posting dates are omitted, and large digests include all matching cards. Availability can change after the email is sent.
The small activity summary shows bids submitted by your business during the same period and New jobs still open, the matching jobs that are still open when the email is prepared. Each bid counts once, including bids submitted by teammates; editing or withdrawing a bid does not subtract the submission. If bid activity cannot be confirmed, it is shown as unavailable rather than zero.
Free subscribers also see the number of additional new jobs still open in sibling categories under the same parent categories as their subscriptions, within the same service radii. Jobs already included in the matching roundup are excluded, and a job matching several categories counts once. Paid and trial subscribers do not see this additional-opportunities prompt or upgrade links.
A day with no matching jobs still produces a digest. It explains that there are no new matches still open and invites you to explore other categories, without suggesting specific categories or jobs. Footer links open notification settings and Marketplace; free subscribers also get an upgrade link. Existing email and daily-summary opt-outs remain respected.
Recover safely
If the message launcher cannot load, use the full Messages page when Workchute is reachable.
If a thread cannot be opened, return to the related job or bid and use the visible Message control instead of changing thread identifiers.
If a send result is uncertain, inspect the thread before retrying.
If a PDF fails or remains unfinished, correct or reselect it and wait for the ready confirmation before sending.
If a notification remains unread after opening the inbox, reopen the page later; Workchute preserves unread state when acknowledgement fails.
These recovery steps preserve the current job, bid, and conversation rules; they do not override participant eligibility or make a read-only thread writable.