Texting in Shape: Conversations Center, MMS & Hours

Text your customers right from your CRM

Shape lets your team send, receive, track, and manage SMS and MMS conversations without leaving the CRM. Work every conversation from the Conversations Center, or text from list pages, records, or the mobile app. Replies show up automatically, every conversation stays tied to the record, and you can see who sent each message and which Shape number the customer texted.

Texting is often the fastest way to reach a customer, especially when calls go unanswered. Keeping it in Shape instead of on personal phones gives your team:

One workspace, the Conversations Center, for texts, calls, emails, and notes
Centralized SMS and MMS history on every record
A Without response view that shows exactly who’s waiting on you
Visibility into who sent each message and which number received a reply
Templates, merge fields, emoji, GIFs, attachments, and voice-to-text dictation
Scheduled sends in the customer’s local time
AI-drafted replies you review before sending
Bulk texting and automated text campaigns
Opt-out tracking and SMS reporting
Mobile app access
Time Zone Protect, which keeps outbound texts within each lead’s local calling hours

Your texts also sit alongside calls, emails, notes, and other activity, so anyone can see the full picture.

Quick start: text a customer in 60 seconds

Open the Conversations Center and choose the Without response view.
Select a conversation and read the latest messages in the timeline.
In the composer, pick the Text tab and check the Sent from number shows a 10DLC badge.
Type your reply, or start from a template or Respond with AI.
Select Send. If the customer is outside their local calling hours, select the clock to schedule it for their morning instead.

Where can I send and receive texts?

Where	Best for
Conversations Center	Your main texting workspace: every conversation, views, filters, the full timeline, and the composer in one window
Record details	Texting while you’re already working in a customer’s record
List pages	Opening the 1:1 Text pop-up to review history, pick a template, and send without opening the record
Mobile app	Managing conversations away from your desk, with push notifications

The mobile app uses the same general filters and workflow as the web app. The main difference is texting outside a lead’s calling hours: the web app lets you confirm a warning and send anyway, while the mobile app doesn’t. See Texting hours and Time Zone Protect below.

Working texts in the Conversations Center

The Conversations Center is your home for customer conversations. It opens in its own window, so you can keep Shape open beside it. Texts, calls, emails, and notes for every record live in one place:

You’ll do most texting in the middle: read the timeline, then reply in the composer underneath.

Find texts that need a reply

Without response shows customers who reached out and haven’t gotten a reply yet. Start your day here.
Unread shows conversations you haven’t opened.
In Filters, choose Texts under Channel to see only text conversations. Turn on Exclude bulk and Exclude automation so bulk sends and drip texts don’t bury live conversations, and Exclude text opt-out to hide people who’ve asked not to be texted.

For every view and filter, plus snoozing, favorites, blocking, and calling, see the Conversations in Shape guide.

The timeline

The timeline shows the full history with that record. Use the tabs above it (All, Calls, Texts, Emails, Notes) to focus on one channel; each shows a count.

New texts appear instantly, with a heads-up

When a customer texts you, their conversation jumps to the top of the list, and Shape plays a sound and shows a notification in the corner. Select the notification to open that conversation.

Several texts from the same person show as one notification with a count.
Text notifications are labeled Text message in blue, so they’re easy to tell apart from internal Company chat messages.
If you’re already looking at that conversation, you won’t get a notification; the message appears right in the timeline.
Muting sounds silences the ding, but notifications still appear.

Texts from new numbers. If someone texts you from a number that isn’t in Shape, Shape creates a new record for them with the source Inbound Text, so the conversation is saved and ready to work right away.

Sending a text

Open a conversation, choose the Text tab in the composer, type your message, and select Send. The composer also has Email and Note tabs, so you can switch channels without leaving the conversation. You can resize the composer for longer messages. Texts can be up to 700 characters.

Choose which number it’s sent from

The Sent from picker shows which Shape number the text goes out on. Each number shows a badge:

10DLC: registered for business texting, so texts deliver normally.
NOT REG: not registered. Carriers filter or block these texts.

If you pick an unregistered number, Shape warns you that the text probably won’t arrive and links to 10DLC registration. Pick a registered number instead.

Local presence: turn it on in the same picker and Shape chooses a number matching the customer’s area code, using only 10DLC-registered numbers.

Templates

Select a template from the composer toolbar, then review or personalize it before sending. The toolbar also has merge fields, emoji, GIFs, and file attachments. Templates work well for initial outreach, appointment confirmations, follow-up, document reminders, re-engagement, and common questions. Always check merge fields before you send.

Voice-to-text dictation

Select the microphone, speak your message, and review the text before sending. It’s especially handy in the mobile app or for longer, personal replies.

MMS (pictures and media)

Shape supports MMS, including JPEG, PNG, GIF, and other supported image, audio, or video formats. The recipient’s carrier and device can affect whether an MMS is delivered.

See who sent each text

Outbound history shows who sent each message: the user’s name for manual texts, or System for texts sent automatically by Shape. You’ll see this in the Conversations Center timeline, record history, and the Contact Log, so it’s easy to tell a manual text from an automated one.

Delivery status. Outbound texts show their status in the timeline, such as Delivered, next to the time they were sent. If a text shows as failed, check the error table below or the Text Message Report.

When several records share a phone number

Sometimes more than one lead record has the same phone number, for example when one person has separate opportunities with different users. Shape keeps those conversations separate:

Message	Where it appears
Manual text you send	Only on the record you sent it from
Trigger or drip text	Only on the record that started it
Inbound text from the customer	On every record with that phone number

Outbound texts no longer show up on other records that share the number, so users won’t think a teammate is texting their lead. Inbound texts still appear on every matching record, because Shape can’t tell which record the customer meant to reply to. Lead ownership, permissions, and distribution rules don’t change.

See which number the customer texted (Replied To)

If your organization uses several Shape numbers (branch, user, campaign, or shared numbers), the Replied To value shows the exact number that received each inbound text. It isn’t necessarily the assigned user’s current default number. In the Conversations Center timeline, inbound texts show it as “Responded to:” followed by the number. You’ll also see it in record details and the 1:1 Text pop-up on list pages.

Schedule a text for later

Select the clock next to Send to schedule instead of sending now. Choose In 1 hour, Tomorrow, 9:00 AM, Monday, 9:00 AM, or pick a specific date and time. Scheduled times use the customer’s local time zone, so “9:00 AM” means 9:00 AM where they are. The send button changes to Schedule, and you can cancel from the chip beside it.

Scheduled texts follow Time Zone Protect too. If the time you pick falls outside the customer’s calling window, the text waits and sends once their window opens. Scheduling is the easiest way to avoid a Time Zone Protect warning: if a customer is outside their window now, schedule the text for the next morning their time.

Respond with AI

Select Respond with AI in the composer and Shape drafts a reply based on the recent messages in the thread and the record. Read it before you send. You can Try again, ask for a shorter version, edit it yourself, or stop it while it’s writing. On the Email tab it drafts an email; on the Note tab it writes a thread recap.

Respond to all with AI

When several customers are waiting on a reply, select Respond to all with AI at the top of the conversation list. Choose the scope first, such as how far back to look and whether to include only your own conversations. Shape then drafts a reply for each thread.

Records that opted out of texts, blocked numbers, and records with no mobile number are excluded automatically.
Nothing sends automatically. You review, edit, approve, or skip every draft.

Texting hours and Time Zone Protect

Time Zone Protect keeps outbound texts within each lead’s local calling hours. It’s always on for texting and can’t be turned off. What happens outside those hours depends on how the text is sent.

How the text is sent	Outside the lead’s calling window
Manual 1:1 text from the Conversations Center or web app	Shape shows a warning. You can cancel, or confirm and send anyway.
Manual text from the mobile app	The text is refused. The app has no Send anyway option.
Bulk texts	Wait in the queue and send when the lead’s window opens
Automated texts (drips and triggers)	Wait and send when the lead’s window opens
AI texts	Wait for the window; AI can’t override
Scheduled texts	Wait and send when the lead’s window opens

Need to send after hours? Schedule the text for their morning, or send from the Conversations Center or web app, where you can confirm the warning and proceed. Your organization decides when overriding a warning is appropriate.

What hours does Shape use?

Default window: 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, every day, in the lead’s local time.
State-specific windows: Some states have their own configured hours, weekend limits, or holiday restrictions. For example, Texas texting starts at 12 PM on Sundays, and Pennsylvania has no Sunday texting. See the Time Zone Protect guide for the full table.
Daylight saving time is handled automatically.

How Shape knows the lead’s time zone

Shape checks the lead’s address before their phone number, since people often keep their number after they move. It looks at Present ZIP Code and State first, then Mailing, then Property address, and uses the phone number’s area code only as a last resort. If it can’t confirm the time zone, it uses the most restrictive window.

Example: It’s 8:00 PM Eastern and you text a lead with a Florida number who lives in Las Vegas. It’s 5:00 PM in Nevada, inside the lead’s window, so the text sends with no warning.

Tip: Keep lead addresses complete. An accurate ZIP code means more accurate timing and fewer surprise warnings.

Shared phone numbers. If several records share a number, Time Zone Protect uses the hours of the record you’re texting from. For example, if Lead A is in Eastern time and Lead B is in Pacific time, a text from Lead A follows Lead A’s hours, regardless of Lead B. Drips, triggers, and AI texts follow the record they started from.

Notifications, bulk texting, and automation

Text notifications

Set up notifications for new incoming texts from your user profile. Depending on your settings, you can get them by email, text, popup, or mobile push notification. When an email notification includes View Text, the link opens the customer’s record, so you have full context before replying.

Bulk texting

Send texts in bulk from supported list pages and reports for appointment reminders, customer updates, campaign follow-up, event reminders, and past-customer outreach. Bulk messages are queued and paced rather than sent all at once, so larger sends take time. Each message also waits for the recipient’s Time Zone Protect window. See the Bulk Texting guide for details.

Automated texting

Texts can also go out through Drip Campaigns, Triggers, AI texting workflows, and other automation. Automated texts stay on the record so users can see what’s already been sent before replying, and they show System as the sender. All automated texts follow Time Zone Protect.

Stop a drip when someone replies. Drip Campaigns can use Stop Upon Text Response: an inbound reply immediately stops the rest of that campaign for the contact. A normal reply doesn’t opt the customer out of texting; it only stops that drip.

SMS and 10DLC registration

Businesses sending application-to-person SMS in the U.S. may need 10DLC registration. When sending certain notifications, Shape checks your sending numbers:

If your default number is approved, Shape uses it.
If it isn’t eligible, Shape can use another eligible number in your system.
If no business number is available for a supported system notification, Shape may use a Shape-managed number for that notification.

These messages still count toward your organization’s messaging usage. For help with 10DLC or number setup, contact Shape Support.

When a text doesn’t send

Shape shows a specific message depending on what stopped the text.

What you see	Why	What to do
A Time Zone Protect warning (web app or Conversations Center)	The lead is outside their local calling window	Schedule the text for their morning, or confirm and send anyway if it truly needs to go out now
Text refused in the mobile app	The lead is outside their calling window, and the app has no Send anyway option	Wait for the window, or send from the web app or Conversations Center
“[Number] is not registered for 10DLC”	The Sent from number isn’t registered, so carriers will likely filter the text	Pick a number with the 10DLC badge, turn on Local presence, or register the number
“Oops! Prohibited message content detected. Please rewrite your message and try again.”	The content matches a blocked messaging rule	Rewrite the message. If you think it was blocked by mistake, contact Shape Support
A 10DLC or unsupported-character error	The sending number may not be registered for business texting, or the message has unsupported content	Check the message. If it looks normal, contact Shape Support to review the number
A duplicate attempt error	The same message was sent to the same number within a short period	Change the wording and try again
Message too long	The text is over the 700-character limit for that send workflow	Shorten the message

SMS opt-outs

Shape automatically handles these opt-out keywords when they’re sent to your Shape number: STOP, CANCEL, END, QUIT, UNSUBSCRIBE. Shape records the opt-out and blocks future texts to that number.

Opting back in. Depending on the provider and opt-out state, a customer can text START, YES, RESUME, RESUME ALL, UNSTOP, or GO to the same number to start receiving texts again.

Text reporting

Shape’s Text Message Report shows details such as recipient, sending user, send method, date, status, and failed messages. Use it to investigate delivery issues, understand volume, and clean up contact data.

Bulk opt-outs from the report. Authorized users can select report rows and apply Text Opt-Out in bulk:

Open the Text Message Report.
Filter for failed messages.
Review the affected records.
Select the rows you want.
Apply Text Opt-Out.

Use this carefully. Messages fail for many reasons, so review records before opting them out in bulk.

Texting best practices

✓Start in Without response. It’s the fastest list of customers waiting on you.
✓Read the history before replying, especially when a conversation mixes manual and automated texts.
✓Check who sent the last message to see whether it came from a teammate or an automation.
✓Check Replied To when your organization uses several numbers.
✓Keep messages clear and conversational, and avoid formatting or content carriers might flag.
✓Treat templates as a starting point, and personalize when it helps.
✓Text during the lead’s local hours. If you get a Time Zone Protect warning, the best choice is usually to schedule the text for their morning instead.
✓Keep lead addresses up to date so Time Zone Protect times texts accurately.
✓Respect opt-outs. Never switch to another Shape number to work around one. Treat communication preferences as customer-level instructions.
✓Investigate failed messages in SMS reporting to see whether the cause is contact data, 10DLC, content, a carrier, or setup.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I text someone in Shape?+

From the Conversations Center, supported list pages, individual records, and the mobile app.

What is the Conversations Center?+

Shape’s workspace for customer conversations. It opens in its own window and brings texts, calls, emails, and notes for every record into one place, with views, filters, a full timeline, and the composer.

What is the Without response view?+

A Conversations Center view showing customers who reached out and haven’t gotten a reply yet. It’s the best place to start your day.

Are there hours when I can’t text a lead?+

Time Zone Protect keeps outbound texts within the lead’s local calling window: 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM by default, with state-specific hours and holiday restrictions where configured. It’s always on for texting.

Why did I get a warning before sending a text?+

The lead is outside their local calling window. In the Conversations Center or web app, you can cancel, schedule it for their morning, or confirm and send anyway.

Why was my text refused in the mobile app?+

The lead is outside their calling window, and the mobile app has no Send anyway option. Wait for the window, or send from the Conversations Center or web app.

Can I schedule a text?+

Yes. Select the clock next to Send and choose In 1 hour, Tomorrow 9:00 AM, Monday 9:00 AM, or a specific time. Scheduled times use the customer’s local time zone.

Can AI write my replies?+

Yes. Respond with AI drafts a reply from the thread for you to review. Respond to all with AI drafts replies for every conversation waiting on you. Nothing sends until you approve it.

What does NOT REG mean next to a number?+

That number isn’t registered for 10DLC, so carriers will likely filter or block texts from it. Pick a number marked 10DLC, or turn on Local presence.

What happens when a new number texts us?+

Shape creates a new record with the source Inbound Text, so the conversation is saved and ready to work.

Why don’t I see a teammate’s texts on my lead with the same phone number?+

Outbound texts only appear on the record they were sent from, including texts from triggers and drips. Inbound texts from the customer still appear on every record with that number.

Two records share a phone number. Whose texting hours apply?+

The record you’re texting from. Another record’s time zone doesn’t affect it.

Do scheduled texts follow Time Zone Protect?+

Yes. If the scheduled time is outside the customer’s calling window, the text waits and sends when the window opens.

Can I see if my text was delivered?+

Yes. Outbound texts show their delivery status, such as Delivered, in the timeline.

Is there a character limit?+

Yes. Texts can be up to 700 characters.

How does Shape know a lead’s time zone?+

It checks the lead’s Present, Mailing, and Property address (ZIP code first, then state) and uses the phone number’s area code only as a last resort.

Do automated and bulk texts follow Time Zone Protect?+

Yes. They wait and send automatically when the lead’s window opens. They can’t be overridden.

What happens when someone texts STOP?+

Shape records the opt-out and blocks future texts to that number. The customer can text START, YES, RESUME, UNSTOP, or GO to opt back in, depending on the provider and opt-out state.

Does replying to a drip text stop the drip?+

Only when Stop Upon Text Response is turned on for that campaign.

Keep text conversations easy to work

Great texting comes down to seeing new replies fast, understanding the context, and responding without extra clicks. The Conversations Center brings every channel together, and the Without response view surfaces customers waiting on you. Live updates keep conversations flowing. Sender details and Replied To explain who said what, from which number. Time Zone Protect makes sure every text reaches the customer at a reasonable local hour.

With templates, MMS, mobile access, bulk texting, opt-out handling, automation, and reporting, Shape gives your team one place for both one-to-one conversations and high-volume messaging.

Need help? Email help@setshape.com, call Support at (888) 718-6344, or visit setshape.com/support.

Texting in Shape