From chaos to control: Manage all your social media accounts on one platform

Of course you can use separate apps for all your messages, but that's not convenient. In recent years, various parties have created applications that allow you to handle your messages from one central location. We show how the Texts and Franz apps work.

Texts

Interesting service Texts, from the United States. The service allows different communication channels through one environment. At the time of writing, there is support for iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Messenger, and other social media like Instagram and LinkedIn. You will find a complete overview and you can register on the website. Unfortunately, you will not be able to get direct access to the service: manufacturers work with a waiting list. But in practice, this takes a few days at most.

There are also ways to get started with texting faster: you can be invited by an existing user or choose to get a paid subscription right away. You pay 15 euros for this. It's helpful if you can try texting free for a month first. Go to the subscription page and choose the monthly variant. Please note that the subscription is automatically activated after the trial period. Please log out in time if you do not wish to use this. At the time of writing, the scripts are available for Windows and macOS. The makers are also working on an app for Android and iPhone, but it is not available yet.

the structure

Texts have a clear structure. The first time you open the Texts app, an overview of available services appears. Once you've added your first account, you'll find the different services you've connected to on the left. Click on the service (eg WhatsApp) to open messages. At the far bottom left you will find your user photo. Click here to link to new services: Click Add/remove accounts. bee Add an account You choose the service, for example cable or Instagram. The method of addition varies depending on the service. For example, with WhatsApp, you can photograph a QR code with WhatsApp on your phone, after which the service is added.

Did you add the first account?

At the top of the text window, you'll see three tabs. during Inbox You can access your entire mailbox while you're with it not readable It only requests unread messages. tap on Archived To open the message archive. The combined presentation is interesting. At the top of the left bar (with the associated services icons), click the button with the star (*). Messages from all services are now displayed in one view.

Fast actions

Texts use the keyboard extensively. This is useful in practice, because it gives you quick access to useful functions. during Ctrl+J Opens a window that allows you to quickly perform actions on messages. For example, you can sort messages here (option attached), mark as unread (Mark as unread) and, for example, mute (silent). Additionally, you can archive old messages (Archives), but you also have a reply to a message written using ChatGPT. Then choose Draft response using ChatGPT. during Ctrl+k You can quickly search for a message from a specific person: a window opens containing all available names and message groups. during Ctrl+[ en Ctrl+] You can quickly browse between and with different messages Ctrl+Up arrow And Ctrl+Down arrow Scrolling through the same messages. Once you get used to using keyboard shortcuts, you can choose to hide most of the buttons on the toolbar. To do this, open the text settings window (tip: use the key combination control+,) and choose appearance. Place the slider in bee Minimalist fashion.

More via browser

To use scripts quickly, you can install an extension within your browser. You will have access to a number of shortcuts with which you can quickly start a chat conversation from texts while you are visiting the service's website. For example, if you use LinkedIn or Facebook Messenger, you can use the extension to continue the conversation in a text environment. In the Text Settings window, choose Browser extension Click on the browser you are using, for example Google Chrome. After installation, visit a supported website and click Open in texts To continue the conversation there.

Notifications

You can indicate for each channel how often you will be notified of new messages. For example, if you work during the day, you can choose to view LinkedIn messages, but you won't be notified of new Instagram messages. In the Text Settings window, choose Accounts Click on the service you want to manage, for example WhatsApp. Determine at Notifications What to do: Show notifications (Enable notifications), see message preview (Show message previews) or play a sound (voice). In the latter case, you can also choose the desired sound. Do you want to continue working with focus and not receive notification from any account? In the settings window you will find the option at the top do not disturb.

Want to control notification behavior for all accounts? In the settings window you will find the separate section Notifications. Through option Message notifications You can turn notifications on and off for all accounts at once. The same applies to sounds (via option voice).

Texts also has a number of interesting notification extras that you don't normally have with individual services. This way you can get a notification when someone starts writing (and the message hasn't been sent to you yet). Enable the via option Notification when someone starts typing. Do you want to not be interrupted for every message someone writes, but only once for a group of messages in a row? go to Delay notifications to And choose here for example 10 seconds. You will only receive a notification if several messages have already been written to you.

Communicate intelligently

Don't you want to write the same messages over and over again? You can prepare pre-written messages that you can always use in conversation. In the Settings window, click Fast responses. Enter a name for the default message in Title. in the box Text reply Type the required message. In such a message, you can use variants, for example by including the first or last name of the conversation partner. Available options can be found in the box how to use. For example, a valid message is “I will contact you about this matter, {first_name}”. Satisfied with the message? tap on Creates To save it.

Labels

The big advantage of a unified inbox is that you have all the information in one central location, but it's important to keep an overview. The smart way to do this is to use Labels.

In texts, you can label conversations and then sort them by that label. It doesn't matter from which account the message comes. For example, if you label certain conversations as work-related and then call up that label, messages from LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger may appear merged in the results.

You can add labels to chats yourself. Right click on the conversation and select it attached. Then select one of the available categories. Added labels can be found at the top of a person's chat window. You can set multiple labels.

Privacy

It is, of course, important to remain decisive when it comes to privacy. Always keep this in mind when choosing a unified messaging service. Check the provider's website on how they handle your data. Texts only act as a channel and do not store messages on the server. Messages are encrypted and sent directly to individual platforms. The service's revenue model is based on obtaining paid subscriptions, rather than working with data.

Franz

Another interesting application for working with multiple accounts is Franz. The app is developed in Austria and is available for Windows, macOS and others. This app is also based on a subscription model. You pay about 3 euros per month and can then add 6 accounts. If you want to connect more accounts, you have to pay 6 euros. There is also a free version available, in which you can link 3 accounts. Naturally, we will start with this and will only switch when we are satisfied.

Franz supports WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Discord and more. You can also connect business services to it, such as Slack, Teams, and Trello. Open the application and click Franz (Top left of the window). Then choose Services / Add a new service. Click on the service you want to add. Then give it a name (if you want to change the service) and select the notifications you want to receive. Franz also supports badges that indicate how many unread messages you have. tap on Save the service. Adding services is similar to adding texts, but the process varies depending on the service.

the structure

The content of the services is displayed on the right, while on the left you can access Franz's navigation bar. You can, among other things, add a new account via the ribbon. You can also turn off new message notifications at once if you don't want to be disturbed temporarily. To do this, click on the button with the alarm bell. The ribbon also gives you access to general settings (which you can also open via key combination control+,).

You can also adjust basic settings for individual accounts via the navigation bar. Right click on the account you want to modify. You can then disable notifications for that specific account via the menu (Turn off notifications): Useful if you want to ignore a specific account. You can also turn off sounds (Disable sound). If messages are not loading correctly, you may need to force a “refresh” account: Then choose Reloading. You can achieve the same thing via key combination Ctrl+t. If you no longer want to use the account at all, choose Disable the service.

In the background

Franz is loaded by default at the start of the Windows operating system and the program continues to run in the background even when the window is closed. You can adjust these default settings via the Settings window. Then choose the tab Institutions And view the section general. If you want to be disturbed as little as possible by the presence of the application, choose to minimize the program to the system tray (option Minimize Franz to the system tray). You'll still receive messages, but the app will no longer take up space on your Windows taskbar. useful!

Workspaces

If you're happy with how Franz works, it may be worth getting a paid subscription. This gives you access to the part Workspaces. This allows you to create different groups of accounts. For example, you can create a group that contains business accounts and another group that contains accounts for personal use. You can then easily switch between different workspaces, meaning you load a specific set of calculations each time. This means that you do not have to temporarily disable individual accounts, for example, if you do not want to use personal accounts during the day.