Internal and external correspondence

Correspondence comes in two kinds: what circulates internally among your staff, and what arrives from or goes out to outside parties. The difference is not cosmetic — external letters carry reference numbers, attachments and parties, while internal ones are closer to organised in-house mail.

Internal correspondence

The Internal Correspondence card — image 1 — holds messages between users inside the system: a circular, a request, a reply, with read and unread clearly marked.

To write one press Add as in image 2: recipient or recipients, subject, body, and attachments if any.

Its practical value is that a circular stays documented in the system rather than in a chat group where decisions evaporate, and the unread count appears on the module dashboard.

External correspondence

The External Correspondence card — image 3 — records letters received from and sent to outside parties: the party, date, subject, incoming or outgoing reference number, category and attachment.

To record a letter press Add as in image 4, and upload a scan or file of it alongside the details.

Why this discipline pays

• An official letter is a document that may be requested years later; having it archived with its number and date saves a long search.
• The in/out indicator on the dashboard gives a quick sense of correspondence volume.
• Link to tasks: an incoming letter that needs a reply ⟵ create a task for it with an owner and a due date.

Correspondence categories

The Categories card — image 5 — classifies letters: government bodies, banks, customers, suppliers, complaints… Classification is what makes later searching possible instead of scrolling through everything.

Start with a few clear categories and add one only when a kind of letter genuinely recurs.

A practical routine

1. Define the categories first.
2. Record every incoming letter the day it arrives, with its number and attachment.
3. Create a task for each letter that needs a reply or action.
4. Record outgoing letters right after sending, with their reference numbers.