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How to display text messages in a visual format (Salesforce Users)
How to display text messages in a visual format (Salesforce Users)

How to create a Tasks tab that shows conversation activity grouped together using VisualForce

Ellen Sluder avatar
Written by Ellen Sluder
Updated over a week ago

Visual force looks over Tasks in Salesforce and has to be related to Lead / Opportunity and so to display information.

In the standard setup of smrtPhone within Salesforce, anything that goes into your smrtPhone inboxes, including incoming and outbound SMS messages and voicemails, are displayed as individual items within your task window Activity log. Each message is logged separately, and you may have to scan the list to find all messages in a conversation.

However, it is possible to see your messages in a more traditional visual text message conversation format - with your messages in a bubble on the right side and your contact's messages in a bubble on the left side. Plus, a voicemail player can also be accessed in the same tab.

You can choose to which phone number you want to send the SMS to in Visual Force.

We were defaulting in the first Phone Number field, but if a record has multiple numbers, you might want to choose which specific one. Click the list icon and choose from the ones available.


Setting up Visual force

The update that allows for the visual display of text messages (also known as Visual Force) requires detailed settings triggered.

Is a simple process and you can follow these steps for setting it up:

  1. Head to Leads > Setup > Edit Page

  2. Add a Tab. Click into the tab area. From the right side of your screen, click to add a new tab. Select as a "Custom" tab (very top of the list of options), and edit the name so it makes sense for you (e.g.: Inbox or SMS)

  3. Add Component. Click on the newly created tab and then click on Add Component in the space below.

  4. Pick Visual Force - All possible components are on the left side of your dashboard. Scroll among them or type in Visualforce in the search bar and select it

  5. Customize the Component - Once the component is chosen, you can customize what will appear, using the tools on the right side of the screen.

    1. De-select the name check box

    2. Pick smrtPhoneChat from the dropdown

    3. Select the size (we recommend 500 pixels)

  6. Click Save

    1. You may see a pop-up that asks if you want to make this the default for your organization. We recommend saying yes.

    2. If the pop-up does not appear, click Activate (next to Save) to make sure an Org default is selected.

  7. Click Save again to be sure.

  8. Enjoy your texting!

Now you have all your messages on display. Of course, you can use the CTI, regular dialer, and the Chrome Extension along with the visual format of displaying your inboxes.

Visual force is just a visual display of the task on the Lead/Opportunity. If something is missing, find it on the Tasks tab and change who it is related to.

πŸ’‘Chrome Extension β‡’

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