Internal Notes

Internal notes let you leave messages on a customer's conversation thread that are visible to your team but invisible to the customer. Use them to share context, flag special situations, or record what happened on a phone call.

What Are Internal Notes?

An internal note is a message attached to a customer conversation that only your team can see. The customer never sees it in SMS, email, or the customer portal.

Notes appear in the conversation timeline alongside real messages and system events, but they have a distinct style so your team can tell them apart at a glance.

How to Add a Note

1. Open a customer conversation in the messaging inbox.
2. Look at the compose area at the bottom of the screen. You will see tabs for SMS, Email, and Note.
3. Click the Note tab.

1. Type your note in the text area.
2. Click Add Note.
3. The note appears immediately in the conversation timeline with a "Note" label so it stands out from customer-facing messages.

CE Pro now validates note drafts before saving them. Blank notes and malformed note requests are rejected immediately instead of creating an empty internal message.

Clean Estimate V2 office inbox

The V2 office inbox uses the same SMS, Email, and Note choices. Select Note to see the Team only reminder, enter the context, and select Add note. Notes also work on an unmatched inbound thread because they do not need a customer phone number or email address.

V2 stores a note directly in the organization- and location-scoped conversation timeline. The note card shows the author and time, and a retry after a lost response reuses the same logical note instead of creating a duplicate. It never enters the email or SMS delivery queue, calls a messaging provider, or appears on the customer proposal page.

Native mobile app

1. In V2, open More > Inbox, then open the conversation from its customer or

sender-identity card. In V1, open the customer thread from the primary Inbox tab.

1. On a matched customer thread, select Internal note above the message

field. This is separate from the external Text and Email selector. An unmatched sender-identity thread is note-only until it is linked to a customer, so it does not show customer-facing Text or Email choices.

1. Confirm the target reads Team only, enter the note, and select the send

arrow.

1. The note is saved to the conversation activity and remains visible to team

members who can open that thread. No SMS or email is sent to the customer.

On a matched customer thread, switching back to the external channel selector restores Text or Email mode for the customer's saved contact information.

Who Can See Notes

Everyone on your team who has access to the Messages section can see internal notes. There are no separate permissions for notes. If a team member can view the conversation, they can see all notes in it.

Customers never see internal notes. Notes are not included in any SMS, email, notification, or customer-facing view.

When to Use Notes

Internal notes work well in several common situations:

After a Phone Call

Summarize what you discussed so the rest of the team knows what happened. Include any commitments you made or questions the customer asked.

Example: "Spoke with John on the phone. He wants to wait until April to start. Will follow up first week of April."

Before Handing Off a Client

If you are reassigning a conversation to another rep, add a note with the context they need. Save them from having to read through the entire conversation history.

Example: "Sarah is taking over this account. Customer prefers text over email. Already sent two estimates. They liked Option B but want the driveway added."

Flagging Special Pricing or Requirements

Record anything unusual about the customer or the job that your team should know.

Example: "VIP customer. Always offer the 3-service bundle. Referred us three clients last year."

Recording a Lost Reason

When a customer decides not to move forward, note why. This information is valuable for spotting patterns over time.

Example: "Went with a competitor. Said we were $200 higher on the house wash."

Tips

• The V2 web inbox search box now matches note text the same way it matches

SMS, email, and call or voicemail content, so a word from a note can bring its conversation back up in search, matching the original inbox. It is thread-level search: a matching note surfaces its conversation, not a jump to the exact note inside the timeline.

• Add a note before reassigning a conversation. The next person on your team will have the context they need from the start.
• Notes are ideal for preserving context on conversations that still need a response. Use them to explain the next step before assigning or resolving the thread.
• Keep notes factual and concise. Write what happened, what was decided, and what needs to happen next.