Communication Hub: Message Your Team and Clients on Every Transaction

The Communication Hub puts the conversation about a transaction on the transaction itself. Instead of a group text that only lives on a few phones, every message sits alongside the tasks, documents, and timeline for that deal. Everyone in a conversation sees the same thread whether they open it from the web app, the Nekst mobile app, or the Nekst Client app.

Each transaction can have several conversations, each defined by who is in it: your internal team, you and your buyer, the full seller side, and so on. You only see the conversations you are a member of, either because you started them or someone added you. The Hub is available on every plan.

Where to find it

Web app

Messages icon in the top header, next to the notifications bell. The badge shows your unread count across every conversation you belong to. Click it to open your account-wide inbox.
The corner button in the bottom corner of every page now includes Communication Hub. It opens the Hub in a resizable panel so you can read and answer messages without leaving the page you're on. The panel remembers where you were, even after you navigate away or reload. Use the expand button in its header to jump to the full Hub.
Inside a transaction, click Open… and choose Communication Hub to see just that transaction's conversations.
Add the Recent Messages widget to the right sidebar of any transaction to see the five newest messages without leaving the task list. Click one to open that conversation. Turn the widget on or off like any other sidebar widget.

Nekst mobile app

The Messages icon appears in the app header on the main screens and inside any open transaction. Tap it to open your inbox. Inside a transaction, the Communication Hub is also reachable from the transaction screen.

Nekst Client app (your clients)

In the Client app the feature is called Messages. Clients reach it from the Messages icon at the top right of the Home screen (next to the search bar), or from the Messages icon on any transaction card.

Conversations on a transaction

A conversation is defined by its members. Conversations stay on the transaction for its whole life and sort by the most recent message.

Your internal conversation is created for you. The first time a transaction's Hub is opened, Nekst creates a conversation called All Team Members with every team member assigned to that transaction. People assigned later are added automatically; people unassigned are removed. If you are the only person assigned, you will see a Start a conversation link instead.

One conversation per group. If you pick a set of people who already have a conversation together, Nekst opens that existing conversation and its history rather than creating a second one. This is what keeps you from wondering "where did we talk about this?"

Who can be in a conversation

The Account Owner, and any Administrators or Team Members assigned to the transaction
Transaction Parties who have Client Portal app access on that transaction (your buyers, sellers, and anyone else you've invited)

Every conversation includes at least one team member. Two clients cannot message each other in Nekst without someone from your team in the conversation.

Start a conversation

Open the Hub for the transaction.
Click + Start a conversation below the conversation list.
Select the people you want in it. You'll see two groups: Team Members assigned to the transaction, and Transaction Parties with Client Portal app access.
Type your first message and send.

If a conversation with exactly those people already exists, it opens instead.

Give someone Client app access in one click

Only Transaction Parties with Nekst Client app access can be messaged. Anyone on the transaction who doesn't have it yet is listed in the picker under Not in the Client Portal yet, so you can see exactly who is missing.

Open Start a conversation.
Next to the person under Not in the Client Portal yet, click Give portal access.
They move up to Transaction Parties and can be added to the conversation right away. They receive the standard Client app invitation by email.

This is the same access you'd grant from the transaction's Share button, just without leaving the Hub. Only people who can manage the Client Portal see the Give portal access link. A transaction with nobody else on it tells you to assign a team member or give someone portal access first, with a link to the transaction to do it.

Clients can start conversations too. From the Client app, a client can start a conversation with your team members and with other Transaction Parties on the same deal, as long as at least one team member is included. For example, two buyers can start a three-way conversation with you, or a buyer can bring their lender into a conversation with you (if you've given the lender Client Portal app access).

Add someone to an existing conversation

Anyone in a conversation can add another team member or Transaction Party to it. Before the person is added, Nekst confirms that they will see the full history of the conversation, so what you're sharing is deliberate.

If a team member is unassigned from the transaction, or a Transaction Party's Client Portal app access is revoked, they drop out of that transaction's conversations automatically.

Rename a conversation

Conversations are titled by their members, which can make similar groups hard to tell apart. Any member can give a conversation a name (up to 100 characters) so it reads as what it's for: "Inspection follow-up," "Closing logistics," and so on. The rename adds a line in the thread showing who changed it. Clear the name to go back to the member-based title.

Direct messages with your team

You can also message team members without a transaction. In the account-wide inbox, switch to the Direct tab to see one-to-one and group conversations with your teammates, or start one from the Team Members page. The same "one conversation per group" rule applies.

Sending messages

Messages are plain text, up to 4,000 characters. On the web, Enter sends and Shift + Enter adds a new line. Messages are grouped by day, and your own messages show a double tick underneath: grey until everyone in the conversation has read it, then blue. Tap the tick to see who has read it.

The actions menu beside any message gives you:

Reply. Your reply lands at the end of the conversation with a quote of the message you're answering. Tap the quote to jump back to the original. You can reply to any message, including a reply.
React with an emoji. Pick from 👍 ❤️ 🎉 😂 😮 😢 ✅ 🙏. One reaction per person per message; tap it again to remove it. Hover or long-press a reaction to see who gave it.
@mention someone in the conversation by typing @ and picking from the members. Only team members and Transaction Parties invited to the Nekst Client app can be mentioned; a party who hasn't been invited won't appear in the list. The mentioned person sees the message highlighted, gets a notification, and receives an email.
Pin the message so it shows in the pinned section at the top of the conversation. Give it an optional title ("Wiring instructions," "Lockbox code"); if you leave the title blank, the first sentence is used. Tap a pin to jump to the message.
Edit your own message within 15 minutes of sending it. The message shows an "Edited" marker afterward. Only the author can edit, and only inside that window.
Delete your own message. Only the author can delete a message.
Copy the message text.
Create Task (web and Nekst mobile app only). Opens a new Standard Task on the transaction with the message text as the description. Finish the task details and save as usual.

Messages appear for everyone in the conversation on every app without a refresh. Expect a few seconds of delay rather than instant delivery. A send that fails is marked so you can retry it, and a retry never creates a duplicate.

The account-wide inbox (web)

The Messages icon in the header opens an inbox that spans every transaction you are on. It reads left to right:

Transactions, with Active, Closed, and Direct tabs. The most recently messaged transaction sorts to the top, unread transactions stand out, and the search box narrows the list by transaction name.
Conversations on the selected transaction, each showing its newest message and unread count. The transaction name at the top of this column is a link to the transaction.
The conversation itself, with the compose box.

As you open each level the earlier ones narrow to make room, so the conversation you are reading keeps a readable width.

Finding a message

Search from inside a transaction looks across every conversation on that transaction that you are a member of, replies included. Each result shows the matching text, who wrote it, when, and the conversation it came from. Clicking a result opens that conversation at that message.

Search does not cross transactions. The search box in the inbox's transaction list narrows the list of transactions; it does not search message text.

Notifications and email

In-app and push. New messages show in your bell-icon notifications, and can push to your phone. Your notification settings (web Settings page and the mobile app's Notification Settings) have two new rows: New Hub Message and When You Are Mentioned in the Hub. Turn off the first and leave the second on if you only want a push when someone @mentions you. A push notification opens the app directly in that conversation. Clients control Hub pushes with the Client app's existing push notification switch.

Email. You get an email when someone @mentions you, and when someone sends you a one-to-one direct message. Each email has a Reply link that opens the conversation, and on a phone with the app installed, the link opens the app rather than the browser.

Reply from your inbox. You can also just reply to the notification email. Your reply is posted into the conversation as a message from you, quoting the message the email was about. Only the newly typed text is posted; quoted history, signatures, and attachments are stripped. Replies are accepted only from the email address the notification was sent to, and only while you are still a member of the conversation.

Good to know

Privacy is by membership. You can read and post in a conversation only if you are a member of it. The same rule applies to every role, including the Account Owner.
Client Portal required for client conversations. On a transaction where the Client Portal is turned off, the Hub offers internal team conversations only.
Not included yet: attachments and images, and typing indicators.

The Nekst Mobile App for using the Hub on your phone
Nekst Client App: Sharing Client Portals for what your clients see
Desktop & App Notifications & Mentions for controlling push notifications

Updated on: 09/18/2026

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