Handing Off & Referring Out Tasks
Hand off and Refer out now live on the Send button at the top of every task. For the full picture, including Transfer, see Connie Task Sender.
A task that arrives while you're closed will still be waiting for four full days — long enough to survive a weekend, and a holiday weekend. Close Friday at 5:30 PM, an email lands at 5:31 PM, and it's still there when someone starts Monday morning.
Live phone calls and web chats are the exception; their window is much shorter, because someone is on the line right now.
Need a different window for a program or channel? Custom settings are available — contact your Connie account representative or the Connie Care Team. See How Long a Task Stays in Your Queue.
Sometimes a task belongs with someone who doesn't use Connie. You can email it to them, with everything attached, in a couple of clicks.
| Choice | Who gets it | Does Connie keep track? |
|---|---|---|
| Hand off | A coworker at your organization who does not use Connie (for example, someone in the front office). | No. It leaves Connie and closes. |
| Refer out | Someone at another organization (a clinic, a partner agency, a caseworker). | No. It leaves Connie and closes. |
Want to keep it in Connie instead? Use Transfer.
🔧 What You Need to Know
- Hand off and Refer out work on voicemail, fax, web form and email tasks.
- They do not work on a phone call, web chat or text. A real person is waiting with you, and you can't email someone who is on the phone with you. For a live person, use Transfer (or connect a caller to an outside number using the External tab or the dial pad).
- Everything goes with it: the recording and transcript for a voicemail, the document for a fax or form, or the full email with its attachments.
- The task closes in Connie. Connie will not remind anyone or follow up.
📤 How to Hand off or Refer out
- Press Send, then Hand off (coworker without Connie) or Refer out (another organization).
- Pick the person from the list.
- Press Send. Connie asks you to check: "This closes the task in Connie. Nobody here will be reminded about it." Press Send again to confirm.
- Pick a disposition in wrap-up and press Complete.
📇 Who Shows Up in the List?
People in your contacts who have an email address saved.
- Hand off shows people whose email is at your own organization.
- Refer out shows everyone else.
- Your My Contacts are private: only you see them and only you can send to them.
- Shared Contacts are your organization's address book; an admin or supervisor looks after them — see Shared Contacts & External Referrals.
⏸️ Holding a Voicemail (Don't Send It Anywhere)
If you just need to wait — a callback, a doctor's office, more research — you don't have to send it on. On a voicemail, use Retry Later to set it aside; it comes back to be worked later. See Parking Tasks.
🔍 What Happens Next
- The person receives an email with everything attached.
- Replies to that email do not come back into Connie. It is sent from a Connie address, not from your own inbox. If you need an answer, ask the person to call or email you directly. (If the client who first wrote to you writes in again, that arrives as a new task.)
- The task drops off your list, and the move is recorded on the task: what was handed off or referred out, by whom and when.
⚠️ Common Questions
"The person I want isn't in the list." They don't have an email address saved. Ask your admin or supervisor to add one.
"I don't see Hand off or Refer out on the Send menu." You're probably on a phone call, web chat or text — those can only be transferred. If you're on a voicemail, fax, form or email and still don't see them, the Task Sender may not be switched on for your organization yet; the Connie team switches it on for each organization. Until it is switched on for you, a voicemail, fax or web form shows a Route this task button (a small share icon) at the top instead. It opens one box with two parts: Hand off to a queue moves the task to another department in Connie, and Refer out to a partner emails it to a Shared Contact that has an email address. Phone calls, chats, texts and emails keep the transfer arrow.
"Did they actually get it?" The email is sent right away. If someone says it didn't arrive, ask them to check their spam folder, then let your supervisor know.
🚀 Quick Reference
| I want to… | Do this |
|---|---|
| Keep it in Connie (coworker or department) | Send → Transfer |
| Email it to a coworker who doesn't use Connie | Send → Hand off → pick → Send → Send again |
| Email it to another organization | Send → Refer out → pick → Send → Send again |
| Hold a voicemail to work later | Retry Later on the voicemail |
Need help? Ask your supervisor or contact Connie Support.