--- title: "Email a family and keep a record" description: "Send a short email to a family from their card, get replies back inside NestliCare, answer in the same conversation, and export the history for your files." type: guide updated: 2026-09-17 canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/families/email-a-family roles: ["super_admin", "center_admin"] platforms: [web, ios, android] --- Sometimes a family needs an email rather than an app message: a supplies request, an enrollment status note, something a parent will forward or print. The **Email family** action sends it from NestliCare under your daycare's name. Replies come back into the same conversation, and NestliCare keeps everything sent and received, so you always have a record. The **Email family** envelope on a family card and the **Sent emails** button appear once NestliCare has switched on email sending for your account. Until then, the envelope next to a parent's name on a child's profile still works, but it opens your own mail program instead: that email goes out from your own address and NestliCare keeps no record of it. To get sending switched on, email support@nestlicare.com. ## Send an email to a family 1. Go to **Families & Children → Families** and find the family. 2. Click the envelope icon in the family card's header. On a child's profile, you can also use the envelope next to a parent's name to email just that parent. 3. Pick which parents to send to. Only parents who have accepted their invitation can be emailed; the rest show as unavailable until they do. 4. Write a subject and message, or start from one of the quick starts (supplies needed, friendly reminder, schedule note, thank you). 5. Click **Send**. The email arrives from your daycare's name and is signed with yours. When a parent hits Reply, their answer comes back into NestliCare, into the same conversation, and you also get a copy in your own email inbox. In the mobile apps, tap **Email** next to a parent's name, either on the family's card in **Families** or on the child's **Details** tab. The composer works the same way, and its **Sent** tab lists everything sent to that family. Parent replies are not shown in the apps yet: read and answer them on the web, or from the emailed copy. ## When a parent replies You'll know three ways: - The bell in NestliCare shows "*Parent name* replied", and the same alert reaches your phone as a push notification. Click the bell entry to open the conversation. - A copy of the reply lands in your own inbox with an **Open the conversation in NestliCare** button. - The family's Email family window opens on its **History** tab with a green dot on the conversation. The alerts go to whoever wrote the original email. If that person has since left your staff, the org's admins are told instead. Reply from inside NestliCare to keep the whole exchange on record. If you answer the emailed copy from your mail program instead, the parent still gets it, but that reply is not saved in NestliCare. Only the parents the email went to (and the other verified parents in that family) can reply into a conversation. Anything else sent to the reply address is discarded. ## Read a conversation and reply Open the same Email family window and switch to the **History** tab. Every conversation with that family is listed, newest activity first, with the subject, how many messages and replies it holds, and the latest message. Click **Open conversation** to read every message in order, see the exact addresses, download anything a parent attached, and write a reply that goes out as your daycare. Conversations are kept permanently. They stay in History even if the admin who started them has left. ## See or export every conversation For a record across all families, go to **Families & Children → Families** and click **Sent emails**. - Unanswered replies are counted at the top and marked with a green dot. - Search by subject, message text, family name, or a parent's email address. - Click any conversation to read it in full and reply. - Click **Export CSV** to download the whole history as a spreadsheet, one row per message sent or received: time, direction, family, children, sender, recipients, subject, and message. Keep it with your other records or attach it when a licensing visit asks for parent communication. The export honors your current search, so you can pull just one family's emails or everything from a given topic. ## Emailing families who haven't enrolled yet Emails you send from a lead's profile in **Admissions & CRM** work the same way. The parent's reply shows on the lead's timeline as "Reply from …", the lead's assignee is told, and you can open the conversation and answer right there. ## What this is not for - **Two-way conversations.** Use [Messages](/owners/communication/message-a-parent) when you expect a back-and-forth inside the app. - **Center-wide notices.** Use an [announcement](/owners/communication/post-an-announcement) or a [newsletter](/owners/communication/send-a-newsletter). - **Invoices, receipts, and document requests.** NestliCare sends those automatically and they are not part of this history; each lives with its own record.