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WelcoYour alerts, by text.

Shorten every alert email to one clear text

Welco can shorten an alarm email to a single text, so the on-call tech reads the site, the alarm and the time at a glance. Headers, legal footers and filler are cut before the text is built. One short line is easier to act on at 3 a.m., and it uses fewer credits.

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7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

  • Set once per source
  • Fewer credits per alert
  • Forwarding clutter removed for you

Works by email with

  • Metasys
  • PRTG
  • Microsoft 365 / Outlook

Setup guide for

  • Honeywell

One-text alerts

Try it: turn it off and on.

1

Untrimmed: three texts' worth of email

1

Trimmed: the unit, the reading and the time in one line

On. The phone gets 1 text.

With One-text alerts off, the phone gets 1 texts: Welco: HVAC Alarms Alarm text: Discharge Air Temp Off Setpoint. Device: AHU-5 Controller, Wing D. Value: 22.1 C Setpoint 12.8 C. Alarm state: ACTIVE. Category: HVAC. Priority: 2. Acknowledge required. This email was generated automatically by the building management server. Please do not reply to this message. For support contact your facilities administrator. Reply STOP to opt out. With it on, it gets 1: Welco: [Wing D] AHU-5 discharge air 22.1C, setpoint 12.8C at 4:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
Animation: One-text alerts switched off and on. Untrimmed: three texts' worth of email. Trimmed: the unit, the reading and the time in one line.

What a one-line alert gives the person on call

  • The whole alarm on the lock screen

    Site, fault and time fit in the preview, so the problem is clear before anyone opens the text.

  • Fewer credits per alarm

    A three-part email becomes a one-part text, and the saving repeats every time the alarm fires.

  • No forwarding clutter

    From:, Sent: and quoted replies are stripped before the text is built.

  • Every system reads the same way

    A shared pattern like [site] what happened, time makes ten systems read like one.

The same alarm, untrimmed and then trimmed

Sent as is

  • The text opens with a header, and the alarm sits halfway down.
  • A legal footer and a support line fill the end of every message.
  • One alert splits into three parts and uses three credits.
  • Each system words its alarms differently, so every text reads like a puzzle.

Trimmed by Welco

  • The text opens with the site name in brackets.
  • Only the unit, the reading and the time are left.
  • One part, one credit.
  • Every source follows the same short pattern.

How to shorten an alarm email with a trim rule

Welco applies your trim rules to every email from that source before it becomes a text. Trimming works hand in hand with the other alert features.

  1. Cut before or after a marker

    Drop everything above Alarm text: or below This email was generated. This one step often removes both the header and the footer.

  2. Remove lines and swap words

    Skip any line with words like Category: or Acknowledge. Turn Discharge Air Temp into discharge air.

  3. Add a prefix and set a ceiling

    Put the site name first, so every text starts the same way. Then cap the text at a number of characters or credits.

A worked example: a long HVAC alarm from a hospital wing

A building management server at a hospital in Winnipeg sends this email when an air handler drifts off its setpoint. Sent as is, it would fill three texts.

Alert email from bms@controls.example.ca, subject “HVAC Alarms”. Welco trims it to one text of 94 characters: “Welco: [Wing D] AHU-5 discharge air 22.1C, setpoint 12.8C at 4:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Wing D] AHU-5 discharge air 22.1C, setpoint 12.8C at 4:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters392941 credit

Animation: the alert email "HVAC Alarms" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Wing D] AHU-5 discharge air 22.1C, setpoint 12.8C at 4:12 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Three rules did this: cut before Alarm text:, remove the Category, Priority and Acknowledge lines, and drop the footer. The guide to writing alerts that fit one text has more patterns.

Make every alarm fit in one text

Sign up, point one system at Welco and set your first trim rule.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Trim my alert textsBook a demo

Systems whose alarm emails need the most trimming

Some trimming happens without any rule. Outlook forward headers, Gmail signatures and quoted replies are stripped, and HTML emails become plain text with the line breaks kept.

How many characters fit in one alert text?

A single plain text holds about 160 characters, and the Welco: start and the STOP line take about 30 of them. Longer texts are split into parts, and each text segment uses a credit. One email never uses more than 6 credits.

Emoji, curly quotes and some symbols switch the whole text to a mode that holds only about 70 characters per part. So do some accented letters used in French, such as ê and ç. Trim rules take that into account, and SMS segments explained shows the math.

Features that work with trimming

  • Alert rules

    Decide which emails get trimmed and texted in the first place.

  • Alarm flood control

    Keep a burst of short texts from piling up on one phone.

  • Test mode

    Try a new trim rule on real emails before it goes live.

Frequently asked questions

Could trimming ever cut the important part of an alert?

It can, if a rule is too broad. Test each rule on a few real emails first, with the rule's Test tab or test mode. If a rule can't find its marker, Welco sends the full text rather than an empty one.

Why does a single emoji make my alert cost more?

One emoji switches the whole text from plain characters to a wider character set. Each part then holds about 70 characters instead of about 160, so the same alert can need two or three credits. Text that trim rules add is kept plain to avoid this.

Can the email subject go into the text?

Yes. It's off by default to save credits. When you turn it on, the subject goes on its own line at the top of the text. Turn it on for systems that put the alarm name in the subject.

What's the most one long alarm email can cost?

6 credits per phone. Welco never sends more than 6 parts for one email, however long it is. A good trim rule can bring a long alarm down to one credit.

How can I see what an alert will cost before it goes live?

Send it through with test mode switched on. The feed shows the exact text Welco would send and how many credits it would use, with nothing sent. Tighten the trim rule and try again until it reads as one part.

Does the alarm email my system sends need to change?

No. Your system keeps sending the same email to the same people. Trim rules only shape the copy that Welco turns into a text.

Turn your longest alarm email into a single line

Set a trim rule once and every alert from that system fits in one text.

Trim my alert textsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing