> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://harnesscalendar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Messages
> Messages are the emails Harness sends your families, kept so you can read them.
Harness emails your families when something happens, like a sent invoice or lesson notes, and keeps a copy. Open the **Messages** tab on a student, person, or account to see what went out and whether it arrived.
## Emails Harness sends
Harness emails families at these moments:
* Invoices and reminders: when an invoice is sent, by you or by [automatic billing](/docs/automatic-billing), plus reminders around the due date on the Professional plan. See [Invoices](/docs/invoices).
* Lesson notes: when you click **Send Notes** on a lesson. See [Lesson notes](/docs/lessons#lesson-notes).
* Welcome and portal invites: when you [add a student](/docs/students#add-a-student) with the welcome box ticked or approve a sign-up, and whenever you choose **Send portal invite**. See [Give a family access](/docs/student-portal#give-a-family-access).
* Policy updates: when you save changes to your published [studio policy](/docs/studio-policy) and choose to notify families. Each one shows on the person's **Messages** tab as "Updated Studio Policy from" and your studio name.
* Sign-up confirmations: when a family submits your [sign-up form](/docs/sign-up-form), with your confirmation message.
* Booking and reschedule confirmations: when someone books through a [scheduling link](/docs/scheduling-links) or picks a new time with a reschedule link. A booking confirmation isn't tied to a student, so it doesn't show on any **Messages** tab.
* Can't attend confirmations: when a family taps **Can't attend** in the portal. See [Late cancellations](/docs/lessons#late-cancellations).
Lesson emails go to the contacts you choose under [Who gets emails](/docs/contacts#who-gets-emails), and invoices go to the account's people.
## Message history
Every student, person, and account has a **Messages** tab listing what Harness sent, newest first. A student's tab shows every email about them, whoever got it, and an account's tab holds its invoices and reminders. Each person gets their own copy, so an invoice to two parents shows as two rows. Click a row, or **View email** on a send confirmation, to see the email as they saw it, whether it arrived, and a link to what it was about. If you delete a person, their emails stay on the student's and account's tabs.
## Send an email again
You can send an email again from the row's menu or from the open email. **Send again** sends an exact copy of an email that arrived. **Try again** retries one that didn't go out, and it sends to the person's current address, so fix a typo first. For an invoice, **Send again** sends the invoice as it stands today, so it may not match the original email. The new email shows as its own row, with **View original** to open the one it came from.
## When an address stops working
When mail to someone bounces, Harness tells you so you can fix the address. You get an **Email address stopped working** item in your [inbox](/docs/inbox-and-notifications), and an **Email bouncing** warning shows on the person, their students, and the account. Update the address with **Edit person**, or from [Needs attention](/docs/contacts#needs-attention), and the warning clears. If nobody on an account can receive mail, the [account](/docs/accounts) shows **No billing recipient receiving mail**.
## What your families see
Families get ordinary emails from you, with nothing to sign up for.
* Each email comes from your name "via Harness", and replies go to your own inbox.
* Everyone gets their own copy, so no one sees another parent's address.
* Booking and reschedule confirmations carry a calendar invite they can add to their calendar.
* Lesson notes, welcome emails, and portal invites link to the [student portal](/docs/student-portal).
## FAQ
Open it on the student's **Messages** tab. **Delivered** means their mail server accepted it, but Harness can't tell whether they opened it.
No. Harness sends email only, and doesn't remind families before a lesson. Its reminders are for unpaid [invoices](/docs/invoices).
No, there's no email to everyone. The closest is the policy update, sent to the primary contacts of your current students when you update a published [studio policy](/docs/studio-policy) and choose to notify them.
Moving or cancelling a lesson on the calendar sends no email. Families hear about a new time only when they pick it themselves with a [reschedule link](/docs/scheduling-links#reschedule-links), so tell them yourself otherwise.
Harness doesn't resend to an address that's bouncing, or while an email is still sending. [Fix the address](#when-an-address-stops-working), then try again.
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