Learning The New CatholicMatch Communication System

We’re excited to unveil CatholicMatch's new communications features, which will enable users to better manage their conversations with others on the site.

Although there are a number of communications tools, such as messages, emotigrams, chats and interview questions, the new system allows all types to be managed under a single conversation with another user. Rather than having to look in multiple inboxes to check on different forms of communication, you will be able to view everything collapsed into one place according to each user.

Your CatholicMatch communication is separated into an Inbox and an Archive. The Inbox contains all of the conversations that you are currently engaged in and can be found on the top menu navigation. Conversations that you have lost interest in or would like to have out of site can be moved to the Archive. A link to the Archive is found on the top left of the Inbox.

Within your CatholicMatch inbox you will have two tabs to manage the conversations: Active and Inactive. Under the Inactive tab you will be able to view all archived and closed conversations.

The Inbox

The Inbox contains all conversations, and within each you will be able to view each message received and sent. Conversations that have a new message in it will be highlighted in blue and show a red indicator showing the number of unread messages.

You will be able to sort all your conversations by the following:

• Most Recent is the default sort and will show conversations simply in the order of the last message received.
• My Turn lists first all conversations where the other person is waiting on you to respond, marking it as your turn to respond. These communications are items that you need to act upon by either replying, archiving or closing. Once you act upon a message then the whole conversation will be either Their Turn or moved to the Archive, based on the action you chose.
• Their Turn sort is ordered first by all conversations in which you send the last message. It will have the status of “waiting on his/her reply” until acted upon by the recipient. This sort will allow you to see which users have not acted on your communication or if they have decided to no longer communicate. If they close communication you will no longer be able to contact that person. However, that allows you to concentrate your efforts on those who are most interested in communicating.
• Unread Messages lists first any conversations that have messages that you haven't opened yet.
• Name sorts by first name.

The Archive

Contained in the Archive are conversations that are expiring. Typically a conversation in the Archive can have more messages added to the conversation, which moves it back to the Inbox. If you do not wish to be able to continue the conversation, you can also Close the conversation, which puts it in the Archive and does not allow further messages. The available order for the Archive include these additional options:

• The Archived sort is ordered first by all conversations you chose to move out of the Inbox in the order of the last message but are not closed. Remember, archiving the communication allows the other user to continue the conversation.
• The Closed sort is ordered first by all conversations you have closed. Closed communication means you no longer wish to communicate with that person and you do not want him or her to contact you in the future. 

Keeping it Clean

From the Inbox, it is easy to Archive conversations. Simply hover your mouse (or finger) over the conversation and click on the waste bin icon that appears. Some conversations will automatically be Archived based on certain criteria, such as the other person closing the conversation, removing their account, or having their account removed. To close a conversation, open it and click the "Close" button at the top of the page. This will move it to Archived and prevent any further communication.

The End of the Road

Conversations that have not had any activity for six months will be removed at the beginning of each month. Two weeks before this happens, anyone who has conversations to be removed will receive an email informing them of this. If you would like to continue the conversation you can send another message, or you can forward the conversation to your personal email account.