This article provides useful details about how you access your in-platform messages from your customers or teammates.

The Messages app is Tradeshift's cross-product communication app, which helps you collaborate on documents and tasks, both internally (with colleagues from your organisation) and externally (between your company and your customers). The Messages app icon is present by default on your navigation bar on the left-hand side: 

The page displays the following information about your messages, in a table view:

• Context: This column displays the titles of the messages exchanged, giving an indication of the topic of conversation.
• Type: This column indicates what type of message for each message received.




There are three types of messages exchanged on the Tradeshift platform:

• Internal messages: messages exchanged with colleagues, on documents or tasks;
• External messages: messages exchanged with users from connected companies, on documents or products;
• Private messages: messages exchanged between a regular user and an admin user when a regular user requests the activation of an app.




There are three columns that you will see in the Messages app:

• Participants: This column indicates the number of participants in a conversation.
• Last message:This column indicates who sent the last message in a conversation.
• Last activity: This column indicates when the last message was sent in a conversation.

Useful tips:

• A red dot is displayed on the Messages icon, when there is incoming correspondence.
• Unread messages are highlighted on the Messages page, enabling you to keep track of your correspondence.