LeapMessages is a super simple way to send a text messages to mobile phones directly from SharePoint in Office365. It uses standard SharePoint interfaces to turn a SharePoint list into a Text Message outbox, turning a simple list item into Text Messages.

We set up everything you need with just a couple of short clicks, no need to install a SharePoint App, and no SharePoint technical experience necessary, we take care of everything.

Why would you need it? Lots of reasons, here are just a few:

• Quickly, and easily allow a group of people in your organisation to send text messages directly from their browser.
• Add the ability to send a text message from SharePoint Designer workflows, for example notifying people on their phones when a step is complete.
• Create a reminder on a SharePoint calendar that automatically reminds people of their meetings. Great for making sure people don’t forget appointments.

The best bit is you can try it for free, your first 10 messages are on us.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZHa5eFYKZ4[/youtube]

Introduction to LeapMessages

First of all head on over to http://www.leaphq.com, there we have both our backup service, and this new text messaging service. When you are ready, click on the "Messages” link in the top navigation and then try it out through “Sign-up”.

The first thing you will notice is that we use your Office365 credentials for logging in, rather than make you remember a new set. You might want to create a special set of Office365 credentials specifically designed for performing tasks like sending text messages. Note that the account will need Site Administrator privileges.

After signing up, you will be presented with our dashboard. It gives you an overview of LeapMessages, your subscription status, number of messages remaining, message history and more.

As previously mentioned, we give you 10 free text messages to try out the service, but, before you can get started, you need to complete a one time setup. This involves creating the lists inside your SharePoint site that have been especially designed for sending text messages. Click on the “One Time Setup” button.

After clicking on this button we provide a clear message which tells you that by confirming this action, we will go ahead and create a new list inside your SharePoint site. This is not a big deal, but we want to make sure you don’t get any surprises.

Click on the confirmation button, and after a short pause you will see the following.

LeapMessages has now created a new list on your SharePoint site, you can visit it by clicking on the link shown, it looks like this.

It’s a standard SharePoint list, one designed just for sending text messages. You can see fields for the recipient, the message content and the status of the text message.

All you need to do now is create a new list item, correctly completing the mobile number (international format) and the message text, before clicking save and sitting back to relax.

Above you can see a list item in progress. After around 5-10 minutes, you should find that the text message has been delivered to the recipients phone.

Returning to the dashboard, you can see the message sending event has been added to the history at the bottom, and that’s it.

It’s simple. It does the trick, and it brings a very nice new super power to SharePoint on Office365.

Let us know what you think. daniel@zevenseas.com and stay tuned, we have more to come.