Edlio News Center

Overview Target Lists has a new name and a whole new look! Meet Groups - the same contact lists you rely on for Mass Communications, now with a cleaner design, a guided creation flow, and reachability insights you've never had before.

Your existing lists are already there First things first: every Target List you've created has automatically become a Group. Nothing was deleted, nothing needs to be rebuilt, and everything works exactly as before in Mass Communications. The only thing you need to do is get used to the new name.

Why the change "Target Lists" never quite described what these really are - groups of people you communicate with. Beyond the name, the old creation flow gave you little guidance, and there was no way to tell whether a list was actually reachable before you sent to it. Groups fixes all of that.

What's new

Guided three-step creation: Building a group now walks you through a clear flow: Group Info, Add Members, then Permissions. Add members by searching for specific people, setting up dynamic filter rules, or adding additional contacts directly - all in one experience.

Know your group is reachable before you send: Every group now displays color-coded reachability badges. Green means you're in good shape, amber means partial coverage, and red flags a problem - so you'll never again send a communication to an empty or unreachable list.

Visual identity for every group: Give each group an avatar using initials with a color theme, a custom icon, or an uploaded photo. Add an optional description so anyone managing your groups knows exactly what each one is for.

Detailed group insights: Click into any group to see its own detail page with reachability statistics by channel, a member summary broken down by identity type (Student, Staff, Family, Community), and a searchable, filterable member table.

Where you'll see the change The rename appears throughout the product:

• People menu: Target Lists is now Groups, with a new icon
• Mass Communications: Groups is the recipient selection step when composing messages
• Visibility settings: "Visible only to" selectors across Directories, Calendars, Classrooms, and more now say Groups

Nothing to do on your end When you log in, a quick banner will introduce the change, and a one-time walkthrough appears when you visit the Groups page. Your lists, your permissions, and your workflows all carry over automatically.

Same powerful targeting, better experience, and a name that finally makes sense.

Overview You'll now receive email and dashboard notifications when your Apple developer account needs to be renewed, so renewal deadlines never slip by unnoticed.

Why this matters Your Apple developer account must stay active for your school's app to remain available in the App Store. Previously, renewal warnings only appeared as a banner on your app dashboard homepage, which was easy to miss if you didn't log in regularly.

What's new

• Email to your Apple developer account address: When a renewal is needed, an email is automatically sent to the email address associated with your Apple developer account
• Notifications for administrators: All administrators at your site also receive a dashboard notification and can opt into email notifications, so the right people are alerted even if the developer account inbox isn't checked often

Managing your notification preferences Administrators can adjust these notifications in Dashboard notification settings:

• Dashboard notifications are on by default
• Email notifications are off by default - turn them on if you'd like renewal warnings in your inbox

The email sent to your Apple developer account address is always delivered and doesn't require any setup.

This helps ensure your school's app stays live in the App Store without interruption from a missed renewal deadline.

Overview Building pages just got easier! You can now add new page blocks directly between existing blocks without having to add them at the bottom and drag them up into position.

No more dragging through long pages Previously, when you wanted to add a new block in the middle of a page, you had to add it at the bottom of the page and then drag it all the way up to where you wanted it. On pages with many blocks or large content sections, this meant dragging through dozens of other blocks - which was slow and awkward.

Add blocks right where you need them Now when you're editing a page, simply hover your mouse between any two existing blocks and an ADD button appears. Click it to insert a new block at that exact spot. No dragging required.

How to use it

1. Edit your page: Open any page in edit mode
2. Hover between blocks: Move your mouse between any two page blocks
3. Click ADD: An ADD button appears - click it to insert a block at that position
4. Choose your block type: Select from the same block options you'd see at the bottom of the page

The bottom ADD buttons are still there Your familiar ADD buttons at the bottom of each zone haven't changed - they work exactly as before. The new inline buttons are just an additional, faster way to insert blocks when you know exactly where you want them.

Perfect for

• Large pages: Quickly add content sections without scrolling and dragging
• Precise placement: Insert blocks exactly between two specific sections
• Complex layouts: Build multi-section pages more efficiently
• Quick edits: Add content in the middle of existing pages without disrupting your flow

Clean interface The ADD button only appears when you hover between blocks, so it doesn't clutter your editing view. Move your mouse away and it disappears, keeping your workspace clean while you focus on content.

This small change makes page building significantly faster and more intuitive, especially for content-heavy pages with multiple sections.

Overview Staff page blocks can now automatically populate based on filters instead of requiring you to manually select each person! Perfect for large districts where staff frequently change.

Manual updates take too much time Previously, every staff page block required you to manually select each staff member to display. When someone joined the district, changed positions, or left, you had to remember to update every relevant staff page block. For large districts with hundreds of staff members and dozens of staff directories, this was a constant maintenance burden.

Automatic population based on rules Now you can configure staff blocks to automatically display anyone matching specific criteria. Set filters for user type and position, and the block automatically includes all staff who match - both now and in the future when new staff are added or positions change.

Two ways to build staff blocks

Choose which staff to display (manual mode): This is the traditional way staff blocks work. You hand-pick exactly which staff members appear in the block. Perfect for small, curated lists or when you need precise control over who appears.

Display staff with these attributes (automatic mode): This is the new option. You set filters (user type and position), and the block automatically includes everyone who matches those filters. The list updates itself whenever staff information changes.

How to set up automatic population

1. Add or edit a staff block: Open any staff page block
2. Select automatic mode: Choose "Display staff with these attributes"
3. Set your filters:

• User Type: Filter by staff role types
• Position: Filter by job positions (e.g., "Secretary," "Principal," "Counselor")

1. Preview results: See exactly which staff members match your filters in the preview table
2. Save your block: The staff list automatically updates as staff change

Perfect for

• Department directories: Automatically show all staff in a specific department
• Role-based pages: Display all counselors, all administrators, all nurses, etc.
• District-wide staff directories: Show all staff matching certain criteria without manual updates
• Large schools: Manage hundreds of staff members without constant manual editing

Always up-to-date Once configured, these automatic staff blocks stay current:

• New staff matching your filters automatically appear
• Staff who change positions are added/removed as appropriate
• Retired or departed staff are removed automatically
• No manual maintenance required after initial setup

Existing blocks stay manual All your current staff blocks continue working exactly as before in manual mode. This new automatic option is completely opt-in - you choose when to use it.

This update dramatically reduces the maintenance burden for large districts while giving you the flexibility to choose manual control when you need it.

Overview You can now attach up to 10 images to Facebook and Instagram posts in mass communications - up from the previous limit of 5!

More images for your social posts Whether you're sharing photos from a school event, showcasing student work, or highlighting multiple announcements, you can now include up to 10 images in a single Facebook or Instagram post.

What's new

• Facebook: Up to 10 images per post (previously 5)
• Instagram: Up to 10 images in carousel posts (previously 5)

This gives you more flexibility to share comprehensive photo galleries directly through mass communications without having to choose which images to leave out.

Overview Parents and students now automatically receive notifications from their classroom teachers' news categories without having to manually subscribe! When a student is added to a classroom, students and parents automatically start getting updates from that teacher.

No more manual subscriptions Previously, parents had to manually find and subscribe to a teacher's news categories to receive their updates. Many parents didn't realize they needed to do this and missed important classroom communications. Now this happens automatically.

How it works

When a student joins a classroom: As soon as a student is added to a classroom (whether by the school, through automatic sync from the student information system), parents are automatically subscribed to all personal news categories from every teacher in that classroom - including both the main teacher and any co-teachers.

For students too: Students are also automatically subscribed to their own teachers' news categories, so they stay informed about classroom updates directly.

Parents are still in control Even though subscriptions happen automatically, parents can still:

• Unsubscribe anytime: Parents can go to their notification settings and turn off any category
• See all subscriptions: Parents can view and manage all news category subscriptions in one place

Important to know

More notifications: Parents will likely receive more notifications than before since they will be subscribed to their children's teachers automatically.

Only for new classroom assignments: This automatic subscription only applies going forward - if a student was already in classrooms before this update, parents won’t be automatically subscribed to those existing teachers.

Re-subscription: If a parent unsubscribes from a teacher and later have another child with that same teacher, the parent will be automatically subscribed again. The system doesn't remember that they previously unsubscribed.

This update makes it much easier for parents to stay connected with their children's classroom communications without extra setup steps or technical know-how.

Overview You can now configure specific users to always be included in your mass communications! This ensures principals, superintendents, and other key staff automatically receive copies of all outgoing messages without having to be manually added every time.

Stay informed of all communications Many school administrators want to know immediately when mass communications go out to parents, students, or staff. Previously, you had to remember to manually add administrators to each message, which was easy to forget and created extra work for every communication.

Automatic inclusion for key staff With this new setting, you can designate specific users who should always be included in mass communications. Once configured, these users are automatically added as recipients whenever anyone sends a mass communication - no manual selection needed.

How to set it up

1. Navigate to Mass Communications Settings
2. Scroll to the "Always Include Recipients" section at the bottom
3. Search for and add users who should always receive messages
4. Select which channels each person should be included in (Email, Text, Voice)
5. Save your settings

Perfect for oversight and compliance This feature is especially helpful for:

• Principals and superintendents who want immediate awareness of all outgoing communications
• Communications directors monitoring district messaging for consistency
• Compliance officers maintaining records of all parent/community communications
• Leadership teams staying informed of school-wide announcements

Works across your district Districts can configure recipients at the district level, and schools can either inherit those settings or configure their own additional recipients based on school-specific needs.

This ensures your key administrators stay informed of all mass communications without creating extra work for your staff or risking that important people get left off messages.

Overview You now have more control over which conversation recipient lists your staff can access! A new "Can Use Role Based Lists" setting lets you decide whether users see auto-generated role lists like "Administrators" or "Parents/Guardians" when starting conversations.

Better control over conversation lists Many schools told us they wanted more control over who their teachers could message through conversations. Previously, even if you restricted access through target lists, teachers could still see role-based lists (like "All Teachers" or "All Parents") which sometimes created concerns about unintended school-wide messaging.

New conversation setting In your Conversation Settings, you'll now see a "Can Use Role Based Lists" option under Target Visibility for each role. This controls whether that role can see and use auto-generated role-based lists when starting conversations.

How it works

• When enabled: Users can see and select from role-based lists (like "Administrators," "Teachers," "Parents/Guardians") when starting conversations
• When disabled: These auto-generated role lists don't appear - users rely only on target lists and individual person selection
• Flexible by role: Control this separately for different roles based on your school's communication policies

Important: Default is off This setting starts disabled for all roles at your school. If you want certain roles to have access to role-based conversation lists, you'll need to enable this setting for those specific roles in your Conversation Settings.

Overview You now have more ways to organize your page content! We've added two new page layout options - a 50/50 split and a three-column layout - plus consolidated existing layouts to give you cleaner, more consistent design choices.

New layout options

50% 50% Layout: Create balanced two-column pages perfect for side-by-side content like comparing programs, showcasing dual offerings, or presenting information in equal-weight columns.

33% 33% 33% Layout: Organize content in three equal columns, ideal for feature showcases, service listings, or any content that benefits from a three-column grid structure.

Improved existing layouts All page layouts now include hero sections at the top and full-width sections at the bottom, giving you consistent structure across all your design options. Your existing layouts (Full width, 25% 75%, and 75% 25%) have been updated to this new consistent structure.

Your existing pages are updated automatically We've automatically migrated your existing pages to the new layout versions while preserving all your content exactly where it was. Everything stays in place - you just get the benefit of more consistent layout options.

Smart responsive design All layouts automatically adjust for smaller screens, ensuring your content looks great on phones and tablets. Columns stack appropriately so your visitors get the best experience on any device.

These new layouts give you more creative flexibility in organizing your page content while maintaining the professional, accessible design standards your community expects.

Overview You can now include attachment links in Mass Communications text messages, making it easier to share important files along with your SMS updates.

Perfect for sending more complete text communications Sometimes a short text message is the fastest way to reach families and staff, but the real details live in a flyer, form, letter, or other document. With attachment links now supported in Mass Communications text messages, you can send a concise message and still give recipients access to the full file.

Great for common school scenarios

• Sending event flyers along with reminder texts
• Sharing forms that families need to review or complete
• Including letters or documents tied to school updates
• Providing supporting materials for urgent announcements

This makes Mass Communications text messaging more useful for real school workflows, especially when your audience needs quick updates and easy access to a related document at the same time.