Communicating with a requester

Everything you say to a requester lives on the request, and everything your colleagues say to each other lives beside it without ever reaching them. This article covers both: how to reply, and how to keep an internal conversation internal.

How to reply to a requester

1. Open the request and stay on the Request Details tab.

2. Scroll to the reply box below the thread.

3. Check the From and To addresses. To copy someone else in, click + Add Cc / Bcc.

4. Write your reply. The toolbar gives you headings, bold, lists, links and quotes.

5. To reuse standard wording, click Insert a canned response and pick one your agency has saved.

6. To attach files, use the paperclip, or drag them onto the box.

7. To send released records, use Attach package delivery rather than attaching the files loose. That routes them through a tracked, expiring link.

8. Confirm the Web + email toggle is on, then click Send Reply.

Your reply is added to the thread and becomes part of the permanent record of the request.

Where your reply actually goes

The Web + email toggle decides the delivery, not whether the reply is recorded.

Leave it on and the reply appears in the requester's portal and lands in their inbox. That is the normal case, and it is what most requesters expect.

Turn it off and the reply is posted to the portal only. Use this when the requester is actively working in the portal and you do not want to fill their inbox, or when you are adding something for the record that does not need to interrupt anyone.

Either way the reply is visible to the requester. The toggle changes how they find out, not whether they can see it.

Internal notes are a separate tab

Internal Notes is its own tab, labeled Staff-only, never emailed or shown to the requester. Use it for anything you would not want read back to you by the person who filed the request: routing decisions, what you expect the volume to be, questions for a colleague, why you are treating something the way you are.

The separation is structural rather than a setting you can get wrong. Notes are not a mode of the reply box, so there is no toggle to leave in the wrong position.

Mentioning a colleague

Type @ in either the reply box or a note to mention someone. They are notified and the item appears under Where you're tagged on their dashboard.

Mention people in internal notes rather than replies. A mention in a reply still reaches the requester, and a colleague's name is rarely something you meant to disclose.