Text Message

Use the Text Message output in ArcGIS Velocity to send a text message through an externally accessible SMTP server. You can configure the subject and message body of the text message to use attribute values. The output sends one text message for each feature it receives.

Examples

The following are example use cases for the output:

• An analyst configures a real-time analytic that filters events from a feed and sends a text message for features that meet the filter criteria.
• After performing analysis in a big data analytic, a researcher wants to summarize attributes of the results and send the resulting information in a text message.

Usage notes

Note the following when working with the output:

• When using the Text Message output, consider the velocity of the data. Each record sent to the output generates a separate text message, which can quickly overload the capacity or rate-limiting settings of an SMTP server. Do not configure the Text Message output to send more messages than your SMTP server can handle.
• You can send text messages to a single recipient or to multiple recipients using a comma-separated list.
• You can configure text message recipients from an existing field or by entering phone numbers for each carrier as follows:
  • If you configure recipients from a field, use the format number@carrier_domain. For example, for a phone number of [phone] using the carrier AT&T, the corresponding recipient address is (123) [e-mail].
  • If you enter recipients by carrier, provide the phone numbers for each carrier selected in the Carrier drop-down menu.
• Phone numbers can be formatted as [phone] or as 1234567890. Velocity removes all extraneous characters during processing.

Parameters

The following are the parameters for the output:

Parameter	Description	Data type
SMTP server	The SMTP server that sends the text message—for example, smtp.HOST-NAME.com.	String
SMTP server security	The type of SMTP encryption to use on all outgoing messages. The options are as follows: STARTTLS SSL/TLS	String
Username	The username for the SMTP server.	String
Password	The password for the SMTP server.	Password
Sender's address	The address that appears as the sender of the text message—for example, (123)[e-mail].	Email
Recipients (optional)	The text message recipient or recipients. You can supply recipients from an attribute in the outgoing data or enter them manually when configuring the output. If you use an attribute from the data and send text messages to more than one recipient, use a comma-separated list. Single-recipient example: (123)[e-mail] Multiple-recipient example: (123)[e-mail],(234)[e-mail],(345)[e-mail] If you configure recipients manually, provide the phone numbers for each carrier selected from the drop-down menu. To enter multiple recipients, use a comma-separated list. Single-recipient example: [phone] with @txt.att.net selected from the Carrier drop-down menu. Multiple-recipient example: [phone],[phone],[phone] with @txt.att.net selected from the Carrier drop-down menu.	Email
Subject (optional)	The subject of the text message. The subject can be configured in a single-line ArcGIS Arcade expression.	Arcade Singleline Text
Message body (optional)	The body of the text message. The message body can be configured in a multiline Arcade expression. To reference a feature attribute value, enclose it in this token sequence: $${$feature.any_attribute_name}. To use an Arcade expression, encode it in this token sequence: $${functionName}—for example, $${TextFormatting.NewLine}.	Arcade Multiline Text

Considerations and limitations

Consider the following when using the output:

• Use the Text Message output for incidents that occur infrequently.
• The SMTP server must be accessible from the internet.

Note:

Major U.S. carriers are limiting or discontinuing email-to-text support, which can affect message delivery from this output as follows:

• Verizon Wireless is phasing out support for email-to-text messages sent to Vtext.com addresses, and some senders may lose access before the completion date. As a result, Verizon Wireless recipients may not receive text messages from this output.

  Learn more about the Verizon Vtext shutdown

• Carriers must support the email-to-text service to send or receive texts. As of June 2025, AT&T no longer supports email-to-text messages. You cannot send a text message to an AT&T customer from an email address, but you can still use SMS (text), MMS, and standard email services to communicate with them.

  Learn more about the end of AT&T email-to-text service