Scheduled messages¶

Scheduled messages allow you to schedule a message for delivery to any number of conversations.

ℹ️ Conversations include:

Direct messages with other users

Multi-person direct messages (group messages)

Private channels

Public channels

Nightowl offers optional timezone settings that do the math behind the scenes to help teams with a global footprint.¶

Convert
Convert delivery time to local timezones for channels and users.

Local time for channels is the top timezone among channel members.
Postpone
Postpone your message until 9am local time for a recipient if the selected time is in the past for that recipient.

ℹ️ ### Using these options can vary the time of delivery for each recipient.

To send a scheduled message:¶

Head to the Nightowl app home – make sure you are on the Home tab.
Navigate to the Scheduled Messages section and click ⏱ New button.

You can also start a scheduled message from the global shortcuts menu or by running the command /nightowl from any conversation.

Configuration¶

Choose either or both of the timezone settings.

These settings are optional.
Set the delivery date and time.
Select a delivery window.

This setting is optional.
Choose the timezone on which this message should be based.

This field will auto-populate with your current timezone.

⚠️ Messages cannot be scheduled for delivery more than 360 days in the future.

After configuring your settings, click Next to compose your message.

Message¶

ℹ️ Use the ⚙ Edit configuration button to return to the previous modal.

Enter one or more conversations to BCC.

When more than one conversation is selected, semicolons will be used as delimiters to display the recipients after the message is created.

E.g. a message to separately selected DM recipients @Jack, @Jill, and @Jen will show asBCC: @Jack; @Jill; @Jen whereas selecting a group DM between you, @Jack, and @Jill in addition to a separately selected DM with @Jen will appear as BCC: @Jack, @Jill; @Jen.
Compose your message.
Optionally enable the insertion of recipient mentions.

The variable {@} will be replaced with a user tag in DMs and @here in other conversations.
Select whether or not to show the recipient(s) that this message is from Nightowl.

Default selection can be modified in App Settings****
Select whether or not to show previews of linked content in messages containing URLs.

Default selection can be modified in App Settings****

Click Schedule to schedule your message for delivery.

ℹ️ All Nightowl messages are sent from your user.

Recipients will not be able to tell that you did not send the message.

After creating a scheduled message, it can be deleted, modified, or converted to another item type.¶

Click 💣 Delete to cancel delivery of your scheduled message to all conversations.

⚠️ Messages may still be delivered if deleted within ~60 seconds of the scheduled delivery time.

The following actions are available in the overflow (...) menu:
🖋 Edit
- Edit the configuration and/or the message****
📬 Send now
- Send the message now and optionally delete the original scheduled message
  
  The recipient(s) and message body can be edited
⚙ Make recurring
- Set a recurring schedule for the message
  
  The recipient(s), delivery date/time, and message body can be edited
📃 Save draft
- Save the message as a draft and optionally delete the original scheduled message
  
  The recipient(s) and message body can be edited
👥 Create group
- Create a recipient group and optionally delete the original scheduled message
  
  The recipient(s) can be edited

ℹ️ Even if the selected time has passed, any messages remaining to be delivered can still be canceled by clicking 💣 Delete.

Delivery window¶

The optional delivery window can be used to stagger message delivery so that recipients do not all receive your message simultaneously. The window begins at the scheduled delivery time. Messages will be spread evenly throughout the window prior to any timezone adjustments.

Message details¶

Scheduled messages to recipients in different timezones often hide a great deal of information. By opening the 🔍 Details modal for a scheduled message, you can view the time your message will send for each of your recipients and, if needed, remove them. You can also see general information about your schedule for the message including the original and final message timestamps.

⚠️ Messages may still be delivered if deleted within ~60 seconds of the scheduled delivery time.

Original timezone¶

When your timezone changes due to travel, scheduled messages respect the timezone used when the message was created. If there is a difference between your current timezone and the timezone used when the message was created, a field titled Original timezone will be shown in Message details modal. The Scheduled for field is always shown in your current timezone.

Final message¶

When a message is scheduled for delivery to conversations with different timezones, using either of the timezone settings can cause messages to be delivered later than the selected time, which is shown in your local timezone. This ensures your message arrives at the correct local time for each recipient.

In this scenario, when a message to any recipient is set for delivery after the selected time, a second time, labeled Final message will be shown in the message details for the scheduled message. This time is for the last message that will be delivered and is also shown in your local timezone. The row for any such message will not be removed until the final message is sent.

Generated scheduled messages¶

Recurring messages generate scheduled messages at each recurring interval. These scheduled messages have some important differences to consider relative to scheduled messages created manually.

Scheduled messages generated by recurring messages will be tagged as 🔗 Generated by a Recurring Message.
Deleting or editing a scheduled message that was generated by a recurring message will not edit or delete the recurring message.
Instead, this will cause the recurring message to proceed to the next interval.
I.e. if a recurring message is set to deliver every Friday, editing or deleting this Friday's scheduled message will cause the recurring message to create a new scheduled message for next Friday.