Message templates

Depending on the Absolute product licenses associated with your account, the Messaging feature may not be available.

You can use the Messages area to create message templates that users can use in Send Message requests.

If desired, users can then edit the message template to suit their needs.

To view the complete library of message templates, your user role needs to be granted View permissions for Send Message. All default roles, except the Guest User role, are granted these permissions.

To create, edit, and delete End User Message templates, your user role needs to be granted Manage permissions for Send Message. All default roles, except the Guest User role, are granted this permission.

To open and view the library of message templates:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Settings > Messages.

    The Messages page opens to show all your existing message templates.

  2. To list only the End User Message templates, click End User Message.
  3. To view an existing message, click its background.

Adding a message in the Settings area creates a message template in the Message library.

Templates are available for selection when an authorized user submits the applicable request. Alternatively, users can create a new message while they're submitting a request and save it as a template for future use.

The library includes 2 default End User Messaging templates. You can edit these templates to better suit your needs, make a copy, or delete them if you don't want them to be available for selection in a request. Learn more

To view a template's message text, open the Messages page and click the template name. The message opens in a dialog to the right.

End User Messaging templates

Absolute template

Description

Device Geofence Alert

User response message to notify a device user that their device has exited its defined geofence and the device may be frozen

You can use this template to send a message to a device after you receive an email notification about a triggered unexpected location change rule. The user responds to the message by selecting a reason for the device's current location. The following options are available by default in the message's Reason field:

  • Traveling for work
  • Traveling for vacation with corporate device
  • The device did not exit the geofence

If these reason options do not suit your needs, you can update them by editing the Geofence Violation Reason field on the Manage Device Fields page.

Before using this template in a Send Message request, ensure that you edit the message text to add the name of the actual geolocation or geofence that the device exited.

User responses to this message are stored in the device's Geofence Violation Reason custom field.

Windows Patch Reboot Reminder

Informative message to notify device users that they need to restart their device to finish installing one or more Windows Updates.

Before using this template in a Send Message request, ensure that you remove or update the following text:
If not rebooted, your laptop will automatically reboot on <Friday, April 8, 2022 at 3:00 PM>.

You can create a message template that contains information that you want to share with your device users, such as a policy change, instructions, or an announcement.

If you want users to respond to the message, see the next section.

To create a template for an informative message:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Settings > Messages.
  2. Click Create message.
  3. In the End User Message section, click Create Message.
  4. Click New Message and enter a name for this template.
  5. To add an image to the header of the message, drag the image to the dialog, or click browse and select it. The image file must be in .png or .jpeg format and be no larger than 4 MB. Note that images are centered by default.

  6. Enter your message text using the tools in the message editor toolbar to format the text. You can also insert images and tables. Note that the message can't exceed 15,000 characters.

    When your message is saved, the system validates the message content and automatically removes any HTML tags or attributes that may expose Absolute servers or agents to injection attacks, such as cross site scripting (XSS). As a result, the formatting applied to your message text may be altered, in some rare cases.

    You can add device specific information to the message using a Custom Device Field variable. When the message is generated, the variable is replaced with the value assigned to the device.

    Example
    You want the device user's department—Accounting—to show in the message. You add the Department Custom Device Field to the message. When the message is generated, "Accounting" shows in place of the variable.

    To add Custom Device Fields:

    1. In the text box, click where you want to insert the Custom Device Field.

    2. Click Insert variable and select a field from the list.

      You can include device identifiers in the message by selecting Device Name and Serial Number from the list.

    3. Leave the field's drop-down set to Label.
    4. Repeat the above steps for each Custom Device Field you want to add.
  7. Click Preview and review your message to confirm that it will display to users as expected. If you need to make any further changes, click (Back).

  8. When you're done, click Save.

    The message is added to the Messages area and a Message template created event is logged to Event History. The message is now available for selection in the Select message field when a user creates a Send Message request.

You can create a message template to gather feedback or other information from device users.

The responses that a device user submits are not encrypted. We do not recommend using the Messaging feature to collect sensitive information from device users.

To create a template that gathers information from your device users, you first need to create Custom Device Fields to store responses. After users begin to respond to the message, you can view their responses by adding the applicable Custom Device Field columns to a report.

To create user response fields:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Settings > Custom fields > Manage device fields.
  2. Click Create Custom Device Field.

  3. Under Field Label, enter a name for the field.

    This value populates the column header when the custom field column is added to a report.

  4. Under Field Type, create a field by doing one of the following:

    • To allow device users to type a response in the field, select Text.
    • To allow device users to enter a date, select Date.

    • To create a list of options for device users to select from:

      1. Select Drop-down list. The page refreshes.
      2. In the Drop-down List Values field, enter the values that you want to show in the drop-down list for the field. Separate each value with a comma.
  5. Click Save.

  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each custom field you want to create.

    Your account is limited to 20 custom fields. If you're nearing that limit, you could consider reusing a user response field for subsequent end user messages. Note that a device user's previous response in that field will be overwritten, and no response history is saved.

To create a template for a user response message:

  1. On the navigation bar, click Settings > Messages.
  2. Click Create message.
  3. In the Freeze Message section, click Create Freeze Message.
  4. Click New Message and enter a name for this template.
  5. [Optional] To base your new message template on an existing template and then edit its content, click the Blank message field and select the template.
  6. To add an image to the header of the message, drag the image to the dialog, or click browse and select it. The image file must be in .png or .jpeg format and be no larger than 4 MB. Note that images are centered by default.

  7. Enter your message text using the tools in the message editor toolbar to format the text. You can also insert images and tables. Note that the message can't exceed 15,000 characters.

    When your message is saved, the system validates the message content and automatically removes any HTML tags or attributes that may expose Absolute servers or agents to injection attacks, such as cross site scripting (XSS). As a result, the formatting applied to your message text may be altered, in some rare cases.

    1. In the text box, click where you want to insert the Custom Device Field.
    2. Click Insert variable and select a field.
    3. Click the field's drop-down and select one of the following options:

      • Required Input: the user's response is mandatory. Users will not be able to submit their message response until this field contains a value.

      • Input: the user's response is optional. The text "(optional)" is displayed below the field in the message.

      • Label: for details about this option see the next step.

      For the Input options, if a value is already assigned to a device's Custom Device Field, the value is displayed in the message for the device user to edit.

    You can add device specific information to the message using a Custom Device Field variable. When the message is generated, the variable is replaced with the value assigned to the device.

    Example
    You want the device user's department—Accounting—to show in the message. You add the Department Custom Device Field to the message. When the message is generated, "Accounting" shows in place of the variable.

    To add Custom Device Fields:

    1. In the text box, click where you want to insert the Custom Device Field.

    2. Click Insert variable and select a field from the list.

      You can include device identifiers in the message by selecting Device Name and Serial Number from the list.

    3. Leave the field's drop-down set to Label.
    4. Repeat the above steps for each Custom Device Field you want to add.
  8. Click Preview and review your message to confirm that it will display to users as expected. If you need to make any further changes, click (Back).
  9. When you're done, click Save.

The message is added to the Messages area and a Message template created event is logged to Event History. The message is now available for selection in the Select message field when a user creates a Send Message request.