managing filing text messages

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Level 1

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managing filing text messages

Please bear with me on this somewhat long-winded question / advice...

Quick question for my iPhone toting brethren: I’m only 42 year old mortgage banker but I’m feeling a bit of an old **** when dealing with some of these millennials – many of whom conduct the majority of their communication through Text Messages – and if managing my email box wasn’t challenging enough, I now have the added responsibility of monitoring my text message inbox, Facebook Messager inbox, personal email box, and the occasional note slipped to me during 3rd period Study Hall (Will you finance my purchase? Yes__ No__ Maybe__)

Anyway, here is my dilemma / question – I am trying to find an effective way to manage the deluge of messages that come into my iPhone (in addition to the messages that are already festering there – some of which date back to the Mesozoic Era). I have considered earmarking a Saturday to just plow through the whole dang thing and clean it all out, but what I’m in search of is an effective and sustainable way to manage this medium. I wish Apple / iPhone would do something similar to what Facebook has done with their messager service wherein users are given the option to either ‘delete’ the message or to ‘archive’ the message. The latter allows you to get the message out of your inbox and not clog things up – but when that particular person reaches out to you again down the road, your thread from a few months back is all there allowing you to get your head around the specific details of that particular client’s needs. Alas, the current iPhone text message layout allows for only two options: let it sit there and clog the inbox or completely delete it.

I know that I can do a ‘screen shot’ of a short text thread and then email the picture to my everyday email box – but this seems clunky and cumbersome. I also know that I can select certain messages within a specific thread and email those to myself as well, but again, this is not terribly effective nor does it allow you to see the entire thread.

Your advice, thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated. (but for the love of all that is holy, don’t text me your idea… I won’t see it until next February…)

Matt

iPhone 6, iOS 8.4

Posted on Jul 5, 2015 10:06 AM

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Answer 1

ZikzakCorp

Level 4

1,089 points

Jul 5, 2015 12:35 PM in response to PortlandMatt

Hi PortlandMatt,

Thanks for the colorful way you asked the question. More interesting than the usual "how do I do this" question. As far as archiving text messages on the iPhone, there isn't currently any way to do that. Maybe that will be added at a later date. Some users have had success exporting their messages onto a PC or Mac with a third-party program like TouchCopy, but that still wouldn't do what you're asking.

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Answer 2

PortlandMatt Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 5, 2015 1:22 PM in response to ZikzakCorp

Yup - this is what I'm finding. Moreover, moving the messages to my PC - I have found - does nothing more than create a 'new' way of overwhelming myself. It's like the little kid who has a big plate of food in front of him that he doesn't want to eat. His parents push the issue and so he takes his fork and just sort of moves the food around - mushing it, sectioning it off, etc. His parents look at his plate and say "Oh, good job Matty! Well done!" But ol' Matty hasn't touched a bite...

I think I just need to man-up and start plowing through these messages to get this dang thing emptied. I sincerely hope that Apple rolls out an update - similar to that which Facebook offers with their messager service - allowing users to archive messages so as not to lose the thread. Otherwise it's an all-or-nothing proposition.

Thanks for the reply and kind comment, ZikakCorp!

m.e.

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Answer 3

sberman

Level 10

264,147 points

Jul 5, 2015 1:26 PM in response to PortlandMatt

How hard would it be to convince the folks that send text messages to you to use your email address as the recipient instead of your telephone number? If they all did that, then your problem would be solved.

Further, you can send them replies from your email, or even initiate texts from your email if you know the carrier. For example, if I wanted to send a text to someone with the telephone number (987) 654-3210 from my email and I knew they were with AT&T, I could simply send an email message to 9876543210@txt.att.net and they would receive it as a text.

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Answer 4

modular747

Level 6

19,662 points

Jul 5, 2015 1:27 PM in response to PortlandMatt

There's no current way to archive or otherwise organize messages on iOS devices. Best way to encourage Apple to do this is to post on the Feedback page.

Apple - iPhone - Feedback

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Answer 5

PortlandMatt Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 5, 2015 1:31 PM in response to modular747

Yup. Check. Did a big ol' lengthy treatise earlier this morning. Hoping the techs take it to heart. Thanks Modular747.

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Answer 6

PortlandMatt Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 5, 2015 1:34 PM in response to sberman

Good advice, SBerman. Alas, I'm in the mortgage business and I deal with myriad of different types of clients - it's those millineals - or anyone under the age of about 32 or 33 - who seem to be committed to hitting me up via text. I can try to 'encourage' them to use email instead but - as the saying goes - the client is always right. I figure each transaction I do is no more than a 30 to 45 day dance, so I just sorta roll with it, ya know? BUT - I LOVE your idea of the text / email relationship. I may give this a whirl. I would love nothing more than for ALL of my texts to automatically go to my email. It's bad enough trying to manage all the different medium out there (text, FB, email, etc.)

Thanks for the feedback and advice. Much appreciated.

m.e.

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