Internal Messaging
Who this guide is for: Owners, admins and group admins who want to know who can message whom, how announcements work, and what is recorded.
EmbayLMS includes role-scoped internal messaging: one-to-one conversations and announcements to a course, a group or a team, with an unread badge in every workspace (Learn, Teach and Manage), bilingual email and in-app notifications, and virus-checked attachments.
Who can message whom
Who a person may write to comes from their role and what they are assigned to — never from the page. The server works out the list every time; a person cannot reach someone outside it, even by editing a request.
| Role | Can start a conversation with… | Can announce to… |
|---|---|---|
| Learner | Instructors of the courses they are enrolled in (active or completed) | — |
| Instructor | Learners enrolled in the courses they are assigned to teach | One of their courses, or all their learners |
| Group admin | Members of the groups they manage | One of their groups, or all their members |
| Manager | Their report chain (direct and indirect reports) | All their reports |
| Admin / Owner | Everyone in the organization | Any course, any group, or everyone |
| E-commerce admin | Nobody by default — grant message:send to allow it | — |
Notes:
- A person with several roles gets the reach of each role combined. An instructor who is also a manager can write to their learners and their reports.
- Custom roles switch messaging on or off with the message:send permission. The permission never widens who can be reached: a custom role that includes it lets the person write to the people their built-in roles and assignments connect them to — nobody else.
- Deactivated and deleted accounts cannot be messaged. Dropped, expired or pending enrollments do not count as a connection.
- Anyone who receives a message can always reply to its sender.
Announcements
A message addressed to more than one person, a course, a group, “all my learners” or everyone is an announcement:
- Each recipient receives it individually and never sees who else received it.
- Only the sender can post again in the announcement.
- A recipient’s reply opens a private conversation with the sender.
This keeps learners’ replies private from one another.
Send an announcement to a course
- Click the envelope icon in the top bar, then New message.
- Under Send to, choose Everyone in a course.
- Choose the Course. Instructors only see the courses they teach.
- Enter a Subject and Message, attach files if needed, and click Send message.
The announcement reaches everyone whose enrollment is active or completed at the moment you send it.
Attachments
- Up to 5 files per message, 25 MB each.
- Allowed types: PDF, TXT, CSV, RTF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument, PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP, MP3, M4A, MP4, MOV and ZIP.
- Every file is scanned for malware before anyone can download it. Infected files are blocked and the detection is recorded in the audit log.
- Download links are pre-signed and expire after 15 minutes.
Notifications
A new message sends the recipient an in-app notification (and a push, if they installed the app) and an email in their language. The email names the sender and the subject only — the message itself is shown after sign-in. Each person gets at most one notification per conversation every 15 minutes, and can turn the email or in-app notice off under New message in their notification preferences. Addresses on the email suppression list are never mailed.
To change the email’s wording, edit New message under Templates → Email templates. Its variables are the sender’s name, the subject and the link to the conversation.
What is recorded
Every message sent, conversation removed from an inbox, message deleted and conversation deleted is written to the audit log with who did it, when, and to how many people. The subject and message text are not copied into the audit log. Messages sent while impersonating a user are flagged.
Configuration reference
| Setting | Where | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| message:send permission | Settings → Roles and Permissions | Allows starting conversations and announcements. Built into every role except E-commerce Admin. |
| New message notification | Each user’s profile → Notification preferences | Turns the email and/or in-app notification on or off for that user. |
| New message email template | Templates → Email templates | Replaces the default email wording (EN and FR-CA separately). |
| Course instructors | Course → Instructors | Decides which learners an instructor can reach. |
| Group admins | Groups → Group admins | Decides which members a group admin can reach. |
| Manager | User profile → Manager | Builds the report chain a manager can reach. |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Cause and fix |
|---|---|
| An instructor can’t find a learner | The learner is not enrolled (active or completed) in a course the instructor is assigned to. Assign the instructor to the course or enroll the learner. |
| A learner can’t find their instructor | The instructor is not assigned to the learner’s course under Instructors, or the learner’s enrollment is dropped or pending. |
| A group admin can’t announce to a group | They are not assigned as a group admin of that group, or the group was deleted. |
| A manager’s team is missing people | The Manager field on those users does not point to the manager (directly or through their own manager). |
| ”This file is still being scanned” | The virus scan hasn’t finished. Try again in a minute. |
| A user says they got no email | Check their notification preferences for New message, and the email log under Audit. |