> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://herd-security.gitbook.io/herd-security-docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://herd-security.gitbook.io/herd-security-docs/messaging/announcements.md). # Announcements Send a one-off message to everyone in your organization, or to chosen groups, through the Herd Slack or Teams bot — with a headcount check, a preview, and a record of every send. ## Overview **Announcements** are organization-wide messages sent through the Herd bot with nothing attached to them: an incident update, a policy change, a security bulletin — anything the security team needs in front of people, without it being a training nudge. Each person gets the message in **Slack** where they have it, in **Teams** otherwise, and by **email** if they have neither. To open it, expand **Messaging** under **Manage** in the left-hand sidebar and click **Announcements**. It sits beside [Reminders](/herd-security-docs/messaging/reminders.md). {% hint style="info" %} Sending needs the **Send announcements** permission (listed under **Communications** in the permission picker). It is deliberately separate from organization settings and from training or compliance permissions, and no role template grants it automatically — an admin has to add it to the group that should be able to announce. Admins always have it. See [Managing Roles, Groups, and Permissions](/herd-security-docs/how-to-documentation/managing-roles-groups-and-permissions.md). {% endhint %} *** ## Sending an announcement The **New announcement** form has three fields: * **Name** — for your records; recipients never see it. * **Audience** — **Everyone** in the organization, or **Specific groups**. With **Specific groups** selected, search your Herd groups and tick the ones to include. * **Message** — the text people receive. Slack formatting works: `*bold*`, `_italic_`, `` `code` ``, and ``. A preview beneath the field shows the message in the real Slack or Teams window, exactly as it will land. Before you can send, click **Check audience**. Herd resolves the audience and tells you how many people it reaches, how many of those have no Slack or Teams account and get it by email, and how many have no chat account or email address and will be recorded as skipped, with a sample of the people included. If you change the audience afterwards, you check it again; **Send now** stays disabled until the current audience has been checked. A very large audience is refused with **This audience is too large for a single announcement. Send it to fewer groups at a time.** Click **Send now** and confirm in the **Send this to everyone selected?** dialog. Delivery is immediate: there is no scheduling, recurrence, or template library. A Teams message can be [recalled](#recalling-an-announcement) afterwards. Announcements honour the same suppression rules as training reminders, so anyone on leave or with notifications snoozed is skipped, and an organization on a custom-branded Slack app sends from that app. *** ## The Sent history Below the form, **Sent** lists what went out, to whom, and when. Each entry shows the announcement's name, when it was sent and by whom, the audience (**Everyone** or the group names), the recipient count, the message body, and the delivery outcome. **View recipients** expands the per-person delivery result for that send (people who got it by email show **EMAIL**); **Load more** pages through older entries. *** ## Recalling an announcement If an announcement went out with a mistake, or to people who shouldn't have seen it, click **Recall** on its row in **Sent** and confirm in **Recall this announcement?**. Herd deletes the message from the Teams chat of everyone who received it on Teams (they see Teams' own *This message was deleted* in its place) and stops any deliveries still waiting to go out. Recall needs the same **Send announcements** permission as sending, and an announcement can be recalled once. What a recall can't take back: * **Slack and email copies.** Only Teams messages can be deleted. If your organization uses Slack or email as well, people who got it there keep it. * **Announcements sent before recall existed** (October 2026). Herd didn't keep what it needed to delete those. The confirmation when you send says which applies: a Teams organization is told it can recall from Teams recipients afterwards, and an organization without Teams that the message can't be recalled once sent. After a recall, the row reads **Recalled** with the time, then **N recalled from Teams**, plus **couldn't be recalled** (Teams refused, for example because the person had already deleted the message or blocked the Herd app) and **not recallable (Slack, email or sent before recall)** counts where they apply. It says **still recalling** until every recipient is done; a large recall can take a few minutes. **View recipients** shows each person's recall result, with the reason for any that failed. *** ## Related * [Reminders](/herd-security-docs/messaging/reminders.md) — for something people need to *finish*, with follow-up until they do. * [Nudges](/herd-security-docs/campaigns/nudges.md) — reminders for Herd's own trainings, tracks, policies, and campaigns.