Keep Employees Informed Across Every Channel: A Guide to Configuring Appspace Notifications

Employees should not have to hunt for the update that matters. Appspace can meet them in the Employee App bell, in email, on their phone, in Slack or Microsoft Teams, and on the Employee View homepage — so policy, workplace, and visitor activity reach people in the flow of their day.

This guide shows administrators and space owners how those channels work together and how to turn them on for communications, reservations, visitors, and broadcasts.

Key Benefits

• Meet employees where they already are — Deliver the same kinds of updates in the Employee App, email, mobile push, and enterprise messaging instead of relying on a single inbox.
• Let people tune the noise — Followers choose Highlights, All, or Mute per feed, while mentions and reactions still get through.
• Match the message to the moment — Use a homepage banner for urgent broadcasts, a digest for routine news, and Read and Acknowledge when confirmation is required.
• Brand the experience by location — Reservation and visitor emails can carry your logo, colors, and site-specific wording.

What This Guide Covers

• The notification channels available in Appspace
• What appears in the Employee App bell
• How employees set feed notifications
• Email content notifications for Channels, Topics, and Communities
• Reservation, visitor, and broadcast notification settings
• Connecting Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Webex
• Requiring Read and Acknowledge on Pages and Stories

Prerequisites

• An Appspace account with Employee App access for the people who will receive notifications
• Account Owner or Location Admin to configure Reservations, Visitors, Broadcasts, and Integration passports
• Admin or Space Owner to configure the Email tab on a Channel, Topic, or Community
• Premium licenses for employees who should receive email content notifications
• A Passport if you will send notifications to Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Webex
• Appspace App for Mobile, with notifications allowed on the device, for push

Steps

1. Choose the right channel for the update

Use more than one channel when the update is time-sensitive. A broadcast, for example, can appear on Home, send email, notify mobile, and post to your messaging app in the same publish.

2. See what employees receive in the bell

The bell collects in-app notifications in Employee View. Employees typically see:

• Read and Acknowledge — “Please read and acknowledge [title]” when a Page or Story requires confirmation
• New and featured posts — one grouped card per Channel, Topic, or Community when the follow level is All; opening the card goes to the feed
• Mentions — when someone tags them
• Comments and reactions — activity on their content
• Pages and polls — including page expiry reminders
• Reservations — confirmation when their booking succeeds, and notice when a booking is canceled

Mentions and reactions still notify the employee even if they muted that feed.

3. Set feed notifications (employees)

1. Open the Topic, Channel, or Community in Employee View.
2. Select Following (topic or channel) or Joined (community).
3. Choose a level:
   • Highlights (default) — push notifications for new featured posts, stories, or pages
   • All — push for new and featured items, plus grouped cards in the bell
   • Mute — no notifications for new or featured items; those posts are hidden from Home and still appear under Featured

Locked (mandatory) follows stay followed for everyone in that audience.

4. Send content updates by email

Space owners and admins can email premium members of a Channel, Topic, or Community.

1. In Employee View, go to Explore, open the feed, then Settings → Email. (The same Email tab is available in the Admin Console.)
2. Choose one or both:
   • Daily Digest — one email at a time you set, covering the last 24 hours
   • Weekly Digest — one email on the day and time you set, covering the last 7 days
   • Featured Content Notifications — one email each time an item is featured; you can use this with a digest
3. Set the time zone, then optionally filter by content type (Posts, Events, Stories, Images, Videos, Cards) and tags.
4. Choose the Target Link (Employee App, Intranet, or a custom URL).
5. Set the sender display name, email title, and subject.

Only subscribed members with premium licenses receive these emails.

5. Configure reservation notifications

1. In the Admin Console, go to Reservations → Settings → Notifications.
2. Under Provider Notifications, select the events that should notify people on calendar-provider resources: Created, Updated, Canceled, Check-in, Checkpoints, Conflicted, and Attendee Responses. Checkpoint notices also apply to bookings made in Outlook, Google Calendar, or the Outlook Add-In.
3. Turn Email Notifications on, and optionally attach an ICS calendar file so recipients can add the reservation to their calendar.
4. Turn Weekly Digest Notifications on if you want a weekly summary (email must be on).
5. Under Enterprise Messaging Notifications, select a Passport. Messages can cover creation, cancellation, status changes, attendee confirm or decline, checkpoints, and check-in.
6. Turn Push Notifications on for Appspace App for Mobile.
7. Edit the Global Settings template: attendance block (Yes / No / Maybe), accent color, sender name (blank uses “Appspace Reservations”), extra text (top, middle, or bottom), and logo.
8. Create a location template if a site needs its own branding or email schedule.

Confirmed and canceled reservations also appear in the Employee App bell.

6. Configure visitor notifications

1. In the Admin Console, go to Visitors → Settings → Notifications.
2. Turn Email Notifications and Push Notifications on as needed.
3. Edit the global template: QR code, accent color, logo, sender name (blank uses “Appspace Invitations”), and extra text.
4. Add a location template when a building should inherit global settings or use its own email and push choices, including sub-locations.

On each invitation

• Notify Visitors controls emails to the guest for invite, update, removal, or cancellation. Host notices still send.
• Facilitators with Can disable notifications can turn those guest emails off for an event.
• Facilitators with Receive Host Notifications can enable Notify me in addition to the host for invite, check-in, and check-out.

Hosts receive email, push, and enterprise messaging when a visitor accepts, declines, or responds Maybe; completes registration; checks in (including at a different building); or checks out.

7. Configure broadcasts

1. Connect a Passport first if the broadcast should post to Slack, Teams, or Webex (Integrations → Passports).
2. Go to Broadcasts → + Create.
3. Choose content (Media, Channel, or Text Only), add a title and message, and set priority to Critical or Standard.
4. Under Select Targets, choose devices and/or users:
   • Devices — screen takeover, or a notification on the lower third of the screen
   • Users — all users, specific people, groups, or audiences. Turn on Appspace for a homepage Notification banner and/or Pinned Content, plus Email and Enterprise Messaging as needed
5. Include Users when you want mobile push on iOS and Android.
6. Set the schedule or an API trigger, save, and activate.

8. Connect Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Webex

Reservation, visitor host, and broadcast messages share the same Passports. Publishing a playlist channel into a chat room is a separate publishing step that uses those Passports.

1. Go to ☰ → Integration → Passports → + ADD.
2. Select Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Webex, connect the account, and grant access. Use a service account that can reach the chats you need.
3. For reservations, choose that Passport under Reservations → Settings → Notifications and save.
4. For broadcasts, turn Enterprise Messaging on in the broadcast’s user targets.

9. Require Read and Acknowledge

1. In Employee View, create or edit a Page or Story.
2. Open configuration and enable Read and Acknowledge.
3. Publish to the audience.

Targeted employees receive a bell notification. Opening it shows the article with the acknowledgement dialog and a banner to confirm after they have read the content. This option applies to Pages and Stories.

10. Allow push on mobile devices

1. Install Appspace App for Mobile.
2. On first sign-in, select Allow when the device asks to send notifications.
3. Confirm push is enabled for Reservations or Visitors, or that the broadcast targets Users.

When comments, reactions, and bookmarks notify

Social activity uses the Employee App bell. These alerts are separate from feed Highlights / All / Mute, which control new and featured content. Mentions and reactions still notify the employee even if that feed is muted.

You are not notified for your own comment or reaction.

Comments

When someone adds a top-level comment on a post, Page, or Story, the author receives a bell notification. Several comments on the same item group into one card. Opening it takes the author to the item, scrolled to the latest comment.

When someone replies to a comment, the original comment author receives a bell notification. Several replies group into one card.

Reactions (including likes)

When someone reacts to a post, Page, or Story, the author receives a bell notification.

When someone reacts to a comment, the comment author receives a bell notification.

Mentions

When someone is @mentioned in a post or comment, that person receives a bell notification.

Bookmarks

Bookmarking saves the item for the person who bookmarked it (profile and the Bookmarks widget). It does not send a notification to the author.

Use Case

Scenario: A company is hosting an all-hands on campus and publishing a new visitor policy the same week.

Communications enables Read and Acknowledge on the policy Page so every employee gets a bell item and must confirm. The All-Hands Channel uses a Weekly Digest plus Featured Content Notifications for the agenda. Workplace turns on reservation email, push, and a Teams Passport so room bookings confirm in the bell, inbox, and Teams. Front desk facilitators enable Notify me in addition to the host so they see guest check-ins. On the morning of the event, a publisher activates a Critical broadcast to users with homepage notification, email, and mobile push.

Best Practices

• Keep busy feeds on Highlights and set must-read spaces to All.
• Combine Featured Content Notifications with Highlights so featured items are both emailed and pushed.
• Brand reservation and visitor templates per location when sites have different logos or check-in instructions.
• For time-sensitive broadcasts, turn on homepage, email, and user targeting together.
• Create Passports with a service account so messaging rooms stay reachable as teams add channels.

Troubleshoot

Related

• Notifications Settings for Reservations
• Configure and Manage Visitors - Administrators (Part 3)
• Manage Visitor Invitations - Hosts & Facilitators
• Browse and Navigate Appspace - Explore Topics, and Channels
• Configure and Manage Broadcasts
• Verify Employees Have Read Critical Communications: A Guide to Content Acknowledgment for Pages and Stories
• Publish Content to Microsoft Teams for Team Communications