> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.msportal.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Broadcasts

> Send urgent email messages to groups of clients and users, with an AI writer to help draft them fast

**Emergency Broadcast** lets your team send urgent email messages to groups of users, ideal for security incidents, service outages, scheduled maintenance, and important announcements. An AI Broadcast Writer helps you draft a clear message in seconds, and a delivery history tracks exactly who received each broadcast. You can also post a **portal status banner**, an outage or maintenance notice that appears at the top of your clients' portal home page with a status-page style update timeline.

## Overview

The Broadcasts page has four tabs:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Compose" icon="pen-to-square">
    Write a broadcast, choose recipient groups, preview it, and send.
  </Card>

  <Card title="History" icon="clock-rotate-left">
    See every broadcast sent, its delivery status, and per-recipient results.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Groups" icon="users">
    Create and manage the recipient groups broadcasts are sent to.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Portal Banner" icon="megaphone">
    Post outage and maintenance notices to the portal home page and keep them updated as the incident evolves.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Prerequisites

* Broadcasts are for MSP team members. Client (company) users don't have access.
* **Permissions**: viewing requires read access to broadcasts; sending requires write access; creating groups and managing drafts requires the manage permission. Ask an administrator if you don't see the Compose tools or the **Create Group** button.
* **A verified sending domain** must be configured under [Email settings](/user-guides/settings/email). Without it, broadcasts can be drafted but will fail to send.

## Sending a broadcast

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Compose tab">
    Go to **Broadcasts** and make sure the **Compose** tab is selected. If you have saved drafts, they appear at the top, click one to load it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write the subject and message">
    Enter a **Subject** and write your **Message** in the rich-text editor (bold, lists, links, and more are supported).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose recipients">
    Click **Select groups** to open the **Select Groups** dialog. Search, use **Select All / Deselect All**, and tick the groups that should receive the message. Each group shows its member count, and a running **unique recipients** total is displayed. Selected groups appear as removable chips.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a theme">
    Choose a **Dark** or **Light** email theme (Dark is the default). This controls how the email looks in recipients' inboxes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Preview and test (optional)">
    Click **Preview** to see the email as recipients will, and toggle between light and dark. Click **Send Test to Me** to send a copy to your own inbox first.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send">
    Click **Send Broadcast**. A confirmation dialog tells you how many unique recipients across how many groups will receive it. Confirm to send. You're taken to the **History** tab to watch progress.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Sending cannot be undone, and broadcasts go out immediately (there is no scheduling). Always use **Send Test to Me** or **Preview** before sending to a large audience.
</Warning>

### Saving drafts

Click **Save Draft** to store the current subject, message, selected groups, and theme. Drafts are personal to you and appear at the top of the Compose tab so you can pick up where you left off.

## Using the AI Broadcast Writer

The **AI Broadcast Writer** drafts both the subject line and the message body for you.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the writer">
    Click the sparkle button on the right side of the Compose form to open the **AI Broadcast Writer** panel.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Describe the message, or pick a quick template">
    Type what you want to communicate, or choose a **Quick template** to get started:

    * **Security Incident**: alert users about a threat with actionable steps
    * **Scheduled Maintenance**: notify users about planned downtime and impact
    * **Service Outage**: communicate an ongoing disruption
    * **General Announcement**: share an IT policy change or update
  </Step>

  <Step title="Apply and refine">
    The assistant drafts a subject and message and fills them into the Compose form. Keep chatting to refine it, for example *"make it shorter"* or *"add more urgency."* The writer is aware of which groups you've selected and how many people will receive the broadcast.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Recipient groups

Broadcasts are sent to **broadcast groups**, reusable lists of recipients you manage on the **Groups** tab. A group can include users from one or several companies, and the same person in multiple selected groups is only emailed once.

Which groups you can target depends on your company scope:

* **Tenant-wide access** can target groups across all companies.
* **Single or assigned-company access** can only target groups for those companies.

To create a group, open the **Groups** tab and click **Create Group** (requires the manage permission).

## Tracking delivery

The **History** tab lists every broadcast with its **Subject**, **Groups**, **Recipients**, **Status**, **Sent By**, and **Date**.

Status values:

| Status        | Meaning                                     |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| **Sending**   | The broadcast is currently being delivered. |
| **Completed** | All emails have been sent.                  |
| **Failed**    | Delivery failed.                            |
| **Test**      | A test sent to yourself.                    |

Click any broadcast to open its details, including a **Recipients** tab (with each person's name, email, company, and individual **Sent / Pending / Failed** status) and a **Message** tab showing what was sent. Failed recipients display the reason, so you can follow up.

## Portal status banners

The **Portal Banner** tab lets you post an outage or maintenance notice directly to the portal, no email required. Banners appear at the top of the portal home page for your clients, styled by severity, and you can post updates to them as the situation changes, just like a status page.

<Note>
  Viewing the Portal Banner tab requires read access to broadcasts. Creating, editing, toggling, updating, or deleting banners requires write or manage access.
</Note>

### Creating a banner

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Portal Banner tab">
    Go to **Broadcasts** and select the **Portal Banner** tab. Existing banners are listed with their severity, targeting, schedule, and update count.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click New banner">
    Click **New banner** and fill in the **Title** (required) and **Message**, for example *"Email delivery delays"* with a short explanation of what's happening.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a severity">
    Pick **Info**, **Warning**, or **Critical**. Severity controls the banner's icon and color so clients can gauge impact at a glance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Target companies">
    Use the **Companies** selector to limit the banner to specific companies, or leave it empty to show it to all clients.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Schedule it (optional)">
    Set **Show from** and **Show until** to display the banner only during a window, ideal for planned maintenance. Leave both empty to show it immediately for as long as it stays active.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set dismissal and active state">
    Toggle **Dismissible** to control whether users can hide the banner after reading it, and use the **Active** toggle to control whether it's shown at all. A live **Preview** at the bottom of the dialog shows exactly how the banner will look.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Click **Save**. If the banner is active (and inside its schedule window, if set), it appears on the portal home page right away.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Managing banners

Each banner in the list has:

* An **Active** switch to turn it on or off without editing it. Only active banners are shown on the portal home page.
* A **Post update** button to add an update to its timeline.
* **Edit** and **Delete** buttons. Deleting permanently removes the banner from the portal.

### Posting updates

As an incident evolves, click **Post update** on the banner and write a short status update, for example *"Microsoft has identified the cause and a fix is rolling out."*

* Updates render on the banner as a **timeline**, newest first, with the latest update highlighted and earlier updates collapsible.
* Posting an update **re-shows the banner** to users who had dismissed the earlier version, so nobody misses new information. Editing the banner has the same effect.
* The **Update history** in the dialog shows everything posted so far, and you can remove an individual update if it was posted in error.

### What clients see

Active banners appear at the top of the portal home page (both the classic and AI home). If several banners are active, they stack: the selected banner shows its full message and update timeline while the others collapse to a single row. Dismissible banners can be hidden with the close button; non-dismissible banners stay until you deactivate or delete them.

### The AI assistant knows about active banners

Active banners are shared with the portal's AI assistant. When a client asks something like *"is email down?"* and it matches a posted notice, the assistant answers from the known incident and lets them know it's already being worked on, instead of a duplicate ticket being filed. It still offers to create a ticket if the client wants individual follow-up or their issue looks different.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Send Broadcast is disabled">
    The button stays disabled until you've entered a subject, written a message, and selected at least one group.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My broadcast failed to send">
    Confirm a verified sending domain is set up under Settings → Email. Without a verified domain, broadcasts can be drafted but won't deliver. Open the broadcast in History to see per-recipient errors.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I don't see the Compose tools or Create Group button">
    These require write and manage permissions respectively. Ask an administrator to grant the appropriate broadcasts permission.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I schedule a broadcast for later?">
    No. Broadcasts send immediately after you confirm. Use Save Draft to prepare a message ahead of time and send it when you're ready. Portal banners, however, can be scheduled with **Show from** and **Show until** on the Portal Banner tab.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A client says they don't see the portal banner">
    Check that the banner's **Active** switch is on, that the current time falls inside its **Show from / Show until** window (if one is set), and that the client's company is included in the **Companies** targeting (an empty selection means all companies). If the banner is dismissible, the client may simply have dismissed it; posting an update or editing the banner brings it back for everyone who dismissed it.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related resources

* [Email settings](/user-guides/settings/email), configure your verified sending domain.
* [Notifications](/user-guides/notifications/index), in-app notifications (separate from email broadcasts).