This article walks through creating a new Text My QB configuration, then explains the two tabs every configuration has: Config Info and EsendEx Info. The type-specific tabs are covered in Outbound texting and Inbound texting.
Available to: all roles with the Text My QB extension.
Before you start
Get your Esendex details. Text My QB sends and receives texts through your own Esendex account. If you don't have one yet, sign up with Esendex. Then, from your Esendex account, get your license key and a phone number (Esendex calls it a DID) to send from or receive on. You enter both in this article's steps.
Authorize your app. The app you want to use must be authorized for Text My QB. If it isn't, select Authorize New App on the Text My QB extension page. See Before you start in the overview.
Open the configurator from the Text My QB extension page. See Open the configurator.
Allow pop-ups for the Extensions Portal. New configurations open in a separate window. See Allow pop-ups.
Create the configuration
On the configurations list, select + Add Outbound to send texts, or + Add Inbound to receive them. You can't change a configuration's type later.
A pop-up window opens with the header Text My QB Configurator - New Configuration and a single tab, Config Info.
Fill in the fields described in New Configuration fields, including the license key from your Esendex account.
Select Save.
The window switches to the full editor for your new configuration (Text My QB Configurator - Outbound or Text My QB Configurator - Inbound). The configuration starts out Disabled, so nothing is sent or received yet.
On the EsendEx Info tab, enter the Esendex Phone Number (DID) from your Esendex account. Finish the remaining tabs, and select Save.
When you're ready, set Configuration Status to Enabled (or Test Mode for outbound) and select Save.
To leave the New Configuration window without creating anything, close the window.
Note
If no apps are authorized for Text My QB, the window shows You have no applications authorized to use Text My QB - please use the Setup Wizard to authorize an application before using this configurator. Close the window, select Authorize New App on the Text My QB extension page, and try again.
New Configuration fields
Section Configuration Info:
Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
Configuration Name | Required. A name that tells you what the configuration does, for example Appointment reminders - day before. It appears in the configurations list and can be written to your activity table. |
Quickbase Application | Required. The app Text My QB will work in. The list (first option Select an Application) shows only apps authorized for Text My QB. You can't change the app after you save. |
Section EsendEx Info:
Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
License Key | Required. The license key from your Esendex account, for the account that sends and receives the texts.
When you save, a new key is checked with Esendex. You can't change the key after you save; to change it, submit a technical support case. |
When you select Save, the fields are checked in this order, and the first problem is shown as a blue information message (red if you select Save again without fixing it):
Please enter a configuration name.
Please select an application.
Please select a license key. (you didn't pick anything in the key dropdown)
Please enter an EsendEx license key. (the key box is empty)
If Esendex doesn't accept the key, you'll see Something went wrong with the license key - please contact support. Check the key in your Esendex account and try again. See Messages and troubleshooting for other messages.
Working in the editor
The editor window has a row of tabs, and Save and Cancel at the bottom.
Outbound tabs: Config Info, EsendEx Info, Processing, Outbound Setup, Activity Table.
Inbound tabs: Config Info, EsendEx Info, Inbound Setup.
Save saves every tab at once. You'll see Successfully saved settings. (green)
Cancel puts every field back the way it was when you last opened or saved the configuration. It doesn't close the window.
You can't switch tabs while the current tab has unsaved changes. If you try, you'll see Please save or cancel changes before proceeding. Select Save or Cancel first.
Tables, fields, and reports are read live from your Quickbase app, and listed by name. If you add a field in Quickbase while the editor is open, close and reopen the editor to see it.
When you pick a different table, the field selections that depended on the old table are cleared.
Fields with an info icon before the label have a tooltip. Hover over the icon to read it.
When you're done, close the window. The configurations list refreshes.
Config Info tab
Available to: all roles with the Text My QB extension. Shown for inbound and outbound configurations.
Section Configuration Info:
Field | What it does |
|---|---|
Configuration Name | The configuration's name. You can change it at any time. |
Configuration Status | Whether the configuration runs. See Configuration Status below. |
Selected Application | Read-only, in italics. The Quickbase app the configuration uses. To use a different app, copy the configuration and pick the new app in the Copy Configuration dialog. |
Config Key | Outbound only. Read-only. A key Text My QB creates for the configuration. It's shown as ... plus its last 6 characters, with a copy icon. Select it to copy the full key (Copied to clipboard.). The key is already included in the outbound Configuration String, so you usually don't need to copy it on its own. |
Configuration Status
New and copied configurations start as Disabled.
Value | Outbound | Inbound |
|---|---|---|
Disabled | Nothing is sent. Scheduled, on-demand, and triggered requests are ignored. | Incoming texts aren't added to your table. |
Enabled | Texts are sent with your real message and attachments. | Each incoming text is added as a record. |
Test Mode | The configuration runs as usual and texts the real recipients, but every text is replaced with this generic message, and no attachments are sent: This is a test message. Update the configuration to Enabled to send a different message. Reply STOP to cancel. Reply HELP for help. Msg & data rates may apply. Msg freq may vary. The record's Update, Status, and Unique Message ID fields and your activity table are still filled in, so you can check your setup end to end. Test sends aren't counted as usage. | Test Mode applies to outbound configurations only. An inbound configuration set to Test Mode records incoming texts the same as Enabled. |
Important
Test Mode sends real texts to the phone numbers on your records. Test with a report or records that contain only your own phone number.
EsendEx Info tab
Available to: all roles with the Text My QB extension. Shown for inbound and outbound configurations.
Section EsendEx Info:
Field | What it does | Format |
|---|---|---|
License Key | Read-only and masked. The Esendex license key chosen when the configuration was created. To change it, submit a technical support case. | — |
Phone Number | Required. Your Esendex phone number (DID), from your Esendex account.
| Enter digits with or without punctuation. A 10-digit US or Canada number gets a leading 1 automatically. After saving, the number must be 11 to 15 digits. It's displayed formatted, for example +1 (555)-555-5555. |
International DID | Toggle. Turn it on only if your Esendex number is outside the US or Canada, which you need to text numbers in another country or region. When it's on, Text My QB also adds the international prefix 011 to every recipient number that isn't 10 or 11 digits long. Enter international recipient numbers with the country code and without 011, for example 447700900123. See International texting support. | Off by default. |
You must enter a valid phone number every time you save, including the first save after you create the configuration. Otherwise you'll see The Esendex Phone Number given is not valid.
Next steps
Outbound: set up the Processing, Outbound Setup, and Activity Table tabs. See Outbound texting.
Inbound: set up the Inbound Setup tab. See Inbound texting.