Texting is how most patients prefer to communicate. FrontDesk turns your practice number into a two-way text channel that your whole team can see and respond to. Texting is included on Pro and above.
Send a text
- Open Inbox in the left navigation.
- Click the New message button at the top of the conversation list.
- Under Search Patient, search by name or phone, or type a Phone Number (and an optional Name) for someone who isn't a patient yet.
- Choose Text. (Secure sends a client portal message instead; use it for anything clinical.)
- Type your message and click Send text.
Texts can go to US and Canadian numbers only (Puerto Rico and other US territories count as US), up to 1,600 characters. Each message in the thread shows the time and who sent it.
If the carrier has said the number can't take texts (a landline, not a mobile, or not in service), the conversation shows a note such as "Texts to this number aren't getting through" and automated texts to it are paused. You can still send a text yourself; if it's delivered, automated texts start again. See SMS isn't sending.
Reply to an inbound text
When a patient texts your practice number, their thread moves to the top of the Inbox with an unread badge. Click the thread and type a reply in the message box. All teammates see the same thread, so handoffs are clean.
Use the filters above the list to focus: All, Unread, Needs reply (the client's last text still needs an answer), and Secure (client portal messages). If you answered some other way, like a phone call, open the thread and click Mark as handled.
In a thread you can also insert a template, ask for AI-drafted replies, link the thread to a patient, or block the number from the ... menu.
Automated texts in the thread
Texts FrontDesk sends on its own appear in the client's thread, so you can see what they were told: appointment reminders (including one sent from the appointment and the reschedule text after a voice reminder), booking confirmations, the auto-replies to YES or NO and to waitlist offers, waitlist offers, form and document notices, secure-message notices, video visit links, the texts after an AI call or a missed call, and payment links the AI sends during a call. In the conversation list the preview starts with Automated: (texts your team typed start with You:), and inside the thread the time line says automated. They are stored as already read, so they never add an unread badge, and the list updates as they go out without a reload.
Which text a YES or NO answers. A reply only confirms or cancels a visit when the last text you sent that number was that visit's reminder. FrontDesk's own auto-replies and plain notices (a waitlist offer, a secure-message or form notice, a video link) are looked past. A YES or NO sent after a booking confirmation, a text after a call, or a payment link is about that text instead: it doesn't change an older reminded visit, and it lands in the Inbox as needing a reply from a person.
Automated appointment reminders
Reminders are set up under Schedule → Confirmations → ⋯ → Settings: the timing (24 hours and 2 hours before by default), the channels (text, email, call), the message with merge fields such as {{patientName}} and {{appointmentTime}}, and the texts sent back when a client confirms or declines. See Configure appointment reminders for the full walkthrough, including which replies confirm, cancel, or ask for a new time.
Texting registration
US carriers require business texting on local (10-digit) numbers to go through A2P 10DLC registration. Until it's approved, texts may be blocked or filtered by carriers. Toll-free numbers don't use 10DLC; they go through their own toll-free verification instead. Registration is done in Settings → Phone & SMS → Texting.
What's next
- Troubleshoot delivery issues in SMS isn't sending
- Review call logs and transcripts