Help Set Default Respond for Contact?

[DirtyMetis]

Hey all, new to the board, getting acquainted with my EVO 3D - had to have one after playing with my wife's EVO 4g for the past 6 months!

Quick question regarding contacts, hoping someone can offer some assistance. Have a good friend who frequently contacts me from work throughout the day, he can receive texts but gets the stink eye from the supervisor if the phone is in-hand so he usually responds via email. In the past, my solution has always been to have 2 separate contacts - his phone that I send my texts to and his work email that I receive the responses from (which, I should note, he cannot receive incoming messages from - merely send).

I'm wondering if there's any way to change the default respond to action for the contact as a whole - as it is right now, I've got his work email associated to the contact but no matter what I do, if his "text" comes from his work email rather than his phone it defaults to sending an SMS to the same work email. I even attempted adding his phone#@vtext.com address as the primary email address on the contact but no such luck.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

 

[KENNECTED]

Hey all, new to the board, getting acquainted with my EVO 3D - had to have one after playing with my wife's EVO 4g for the past 6 months!

Quick question regarding contacts, hoping someone can offer some assistance. Have a good friend who frequently contacts me from work throughout the day, he can receive texts but gets the stink eye from the supervisor if the phone is in-hand so he usually responds via email. In the past, my solution has always been to have 2 separate contacts - his phone that I send my texts to and his work email that I receive the responses from (which, I should note, he cannot receive incoming messages from - merely send).

I'm wondering if there's any way to change the default respond to action for the contact as a whole - as it is right now, I've got his work email associated to the contact but no matter what I do, if his "text" comes from his work email rather than his phone it defaults to sending an SMS to the same work email. I even attempted adding his phone#@vtext.com address as the primary email address on the contact but no such luck.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

the third paragraph confused me.

Let me get this straight

• You text your friend from your device to his device.
• when your friend receives your text on his device, he then emails you from his work email?

I have a question, what email address is your friend putting in to respond, the mobile phone number or your email number? It may be on his end. He may have manually typed your phone's email address into his email as the response.

If your friend is using gmail? If yes, why don't you guys just use gtalk to communicate?

 

[DirtyMetis]

Yeah, I knew I was gonna throw people off with my garbled description - I'm more of a visual person, lemme see if I can offer a more comprehensive example:

 

[DirtyMetis]

OLD METHOD

<bob@work.com to NateCell#>
"Morning Nate, on your way to work? I'm ready to go home already!"

*close message, hold down 6 (shortcut for BobCell#), select send message, compose*

<NateCell# to BobCell#>
"Morning Bob, yeah, riding the bus and trying to avoid eye contact with the crazy person next to me. Ready to go home already? You just got there!"

*wait patiently while keeping my eyes averted*

<bob@work.com to NateCell#>
"Yeah, yeah - soon enough I guess. Hey, didja see last night's episode of Game of Thrones!? OMG!!!"

*Get excited and frantically type out quick response via 'Reply'*

<NateCell# to bob@work.com>
"Inorite!? OMGZ!! I can't believe...*insert spoiler here*...I can't wait for next week's episode!"

*wait for response, still keeping eyes averted*

*wonder what's taking him so long for response, he's not actually doing work, is he?

*realize I replied to <bob@work.com>, /facepalm, open sent message and FWD to BobCell#*

<bob@work.com to NateCell#>
"RIGHT!? I never expected them to...*insert spoiler here*...Next week's episode is gonna be so great!"

*rinse, repeat as needed throughout the day*

 

[DirtyMetis]

CURRENT/NEW METHOD

<BobCell# to NateCell#>
"Morning Nate, I'm on a coffee break, didja get your new phone?"

*Reply*

<NateCell# to BobCell#>
"Yeah, it's great! I added your work email to your contact and now I should totally be able to just respond and not have to constantly open up a new message to respond to you every time!"

<BobCell# to NateCell#>
"Awesome! Well, back to the grind...text me in about 10 minutes to alleviate my boredom."

<NateCell# to BobCell#>
"Will do!"

*Twiddle my thumbs, note new crazy person sitting next to me on the bus today, avert eyes*

<NateCell# to BobCell#>
"So, now that Game of Thrones is over, what we gonna watch? Breaking Bad isn't out till the end of July and Walking Dead doesn't start until Halloween..."

<bob@work.com to NateCell#>
"lol, well, we could always watch the new season of True Blood..."

*get excited and start texting response frantically*

<NateCell# to ???>
"OMG! I saw that 8-minute preview online - this season is gonna be TERRIBLE! And yes, I'm still totally gonna watch it!"

*wait patiently, assuming that all is working as it should*

*wonder what's taking him so long for response, he's not actually doing work, is he?*

*click message, select view message details, note that was sent to <bob@work.com>, /facepalm, open up new message*

<NateCell# to BobCell#>
"Gorram it! This dumb thing is still sending it to your work email!"

<bob@work to NateCell#>
"You do realize that I don't receive those, right?"

*grumble*

 

[KENNECTED]

I'm even more confused.

Again, why dont you guys use googletalk?

 

[DirtyMetis]

Ultimately my goal is to have <bob@work.com> associated with the contact so I have one uniform flow of conversation regardless of which method he sent the message, and always default to sending/responding directly to his Cell#, rather than his work email (which it currently defaults to if that was where the message originated from). Hope that helps clarify a bit...

 

[KENNECTED]

Ultimately my goal is to have <bob@work.com> associated with the contact so I have one uniform flow of conversation regardless of which method he sent the message, and always default to sending/responding directly to his Cell#, rather than his work email (which it currently defaults to if that was where the message originated from). Hope that helps clarify a bit...

And that is why I've asked, "would it be possible to use google talk?" He can respond from his Mac/PC or handheld device to you on your PC/Mac or handheld device and all the messages will be in one place. You can even do video from desktop to desktop (note IIRC the nexus device offer this service)

 

[DirtyMetis]

I'm even more confused.

Again, why dont you guys use googletalk?

He's "not allowed to use a cellphone while working" but can keep it next to his computer and glance over and read an incoming text quick without detection - not so much if he's got it in hand and is typing a response every 5 minutes.

Also, he's on a restricted access computer at work - he can send emails all day long but can only receive them if they originate from within the company network. (I'm assuming my miss-sent responses to his work email are either in limbo or the tech guys are having a good laugh as they sift through the firewalled messages).

Guess I just assumed there was some method to set a default respond to address for contacts with multiple contact numbers (mobile, home, work email, home email, etc.) Wishful thinking on my part?

 

[KENNECTED]

He's "not allowed to use a cellphone while working" but can keep it next to his computer and glance over and read an incoming text quick without detection - not so much if he's got it in hand and is typing a response every 5 minutes.

Also, he's on a restricted access computer at work - he can send emails all day long but can only receive them if they originate from within the company network. (I'm assuming my miss-sent responses to his work email are either in limbo or the tech guys are having a good laugh as they sift through the firewalled messages).

Guess I just assumed there was some method to set a default respond to address for contacts with multiple contact numbers (mobile, home, work email, home email, etc.) Wishful thinking on my part?

He can respond and use google talk right in his internet browser? Are you familiar with google talk and how it works? I dont fully understand what you want, but trying to give you an alternative that gives you want you want.

If someone is on restricted access at work, why would they have personal emails come to their work email?

 

[DirtyMetis]

If someone is on restricted access at work, why would they have personal emails come to their work email?

Doesn't receive personal emails at work - can't receive ANY emails at work, only send them. I send my texts to his phone, he responds to my phone via email, I respond back to his phone.

Also, no web access on his work computer. Just outgoing emails. I don't understand it either - I just try to work within it!

Appreciate all your attempts KENNECTED, I know its a very unorthodox situation. I really just thought it'd be as easy as some hidden setting that I was missing that changed the default response address/number/whatever for a contact to a specifically assigned one regardless of which number the associated contact sent the communication from.

 

[KENNECTED]

Doesn't receive personal emails at work - can't receive ANY emails at work, only send them. I send my texts to his phone, he responds to my phone via email, I respond back to his phone.

Also, no web access on his work computer. Just outgoing emails. I don't understand it either - I just try to work within it!

Appreciate all your attempts KENNECTED, I know its a very unorthodox situation. I really just thought it'd be as easy as some hidden setting that I was missing that changed the default response address/number/whatever for a contact to a specifically assigned one regardless of which number the associated contact sent the communication from.

No worries. I suggest skipping technology all together and either sending up smoke signals or using soup cans connected with a string!

 

[EarlyMon]

In the received email, if you're using HTC Mail - click his name in the from field - it'll be at the top of the mail-viewing page for that message. That takes you to his contact info in People, then just click Send message to his phone.

Two clicks and you're there.

OBTW - you can even copy/paste from his mail to your outgoing message.

Does that solve this for you?

 

[DirtyMetis]

His messages don't show up as emails but rather as SMS/texts. I assume he's using myphone#@messaging.sprintpcs.com in order to do so. Great tip though, thanks!

 

[EarlyMon]

His messages don't show up as emails but rather as SMS/texts. I assume he's using myphone#@messaging.sprintpcs.com in order to do so. Great tip though, thanks!

I wondered if they still had that service active, I've not used it in years!

Well, best I can suggest is having him use a traditional gmail for you or the like.

Best luck here - interesting problem.