External communications

You can chat with external contacts from the Symphony Mobile app.

Find and connect with external contacts

Use the search to find and connect with people outside of your organization. You can send external contacts a connection request. You must wait for your request to be approved before a chat can be created with the user.

  1. Tap the Search icon in the top right corner of your phone screen.

  1. Type in the name of the person you would like to connect with and select that person in the results list.

If you’re not able to see anyone externally, then you are not enabled for external communication and should speak to your internal IT team. If you can see other people externally, but not the specific individual you're looking for, they may not be enabled to communicate externally on Symphony.

  1. Tap the Chat icon in the bottom right corner of your screen.

  1. Select Yes to send a connection request.

You will be notified of accepted or rejected connection requests in your notifications.

  1. Tap the Notifications icon to view any received connection notifications.

Identify external contacts and chats

  • External contacts are indicated with orange avatar outlines and an orange EXT badge next to their name.
  • Internal contacts who work for your firm will not have this color.

Note: You might often see a company disclaimer for External chats.

Start a chat with external contacts

External chat rooms can host up to 300 members from up to 25 different companies

Start chat option

  1. Tap the button in the bottom right corner of your screen.
  2. Tap the Start chat button.

  1. Enter and select the names of the contacts you want to chat with.
  2. Tap the Start button in the top right corner of your screen.

    1. If you were already connected on Symphony with these external contacts, the chat is immediately created.
    2. If you were not connected yet, you can send a connection request to the contacts you selected and must wait for connection approval.

Create Room option

  1. Tap the button in the bottom right corner of your screen.
  2. Tap the Create room button.

  1. Name the room. 

  1. Tap Change to display the room details and settings.

  1. Turn on the Allow external users option.

This option must be enabled for external communications.

If you are chatting with more than one external company in a chat, all parties must be enabled for multi-company external chat as well.

Allow external users option Off

Allow external users option On

  1. Tap the X close icon in the top left corner to go back to the room creation screen.
  2. Enter and select the name of each internal and external contacts you want to add to your chat room.
  3. Tap Done in the top right corner to add these users.
  4. Tap Create in the top right corner to create the chat room.

Add external contacts to a chat

  1. Tap the chat in your chat list.
  2. Tap the chat title to view the chat details.
  3. Tap Add in the top right corner.
  4. Enter and select the name of each contact you would like to add.
  5. Tap Save to apply your changes.

You can add external contacts to a chat room if:

  • The chat room has been enabled for external users at its creation.
  • You are an owner of the room.

Send and receive files from external contacts

External companies must be enabled for both external communications and external file sharing to send or receive files. 

Depending on your company settings, you may not be able to send to or receive files from external contacts. If you cannot send files externally, but would like to, please contact your internal IT team.

If you require further assistance on mobile, please contact the Symphony Support team at support@symphony.com

Attachment files

  1. Tap the Attachment file icon to select a file.
  2. Tap the Send icon to send your attachment file.

Take a picture

  1. Tap the Photo icon to take a picture.
  2. Confirm with the Tick icon you are satisfied with this picture.
  3. Tap the Send icon to send your picture as an image file.

Remove an attachment ready to be sent

  1. To remove a file from the message, tap the x icon in the top right corner of the attachment.

 

To follow news and keep in track with the new released features of the Symphony Mobile app, have a look at the latest Mobile Release Notes.