# Creating a TXT Out

A TXT Out is a one-off outbound TXT message sent to contacts in your UbiQuity database. Before you can send a TXT Out, your account must be set up for TXT and your TXT Programme must be configured for TXT Outs. See [TXT Programmes](/documentation/channels/txt/txt-programmes.md) for details.

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### Content and Preview

Content and Preview is where you write your TXT message. You can insert merge fields to personalise the message using contact data from your database.

If your TXT Out is a marketing message, include a STOP opt-out instruction at the end - for example, *"Opt-out: reply STOP \[keyword]"*. Whether this is required depends on the type of message being sent. See TXT Message Guidelines for guidance.

Use the preview function to check how merge fields will appear for specific database contacts before sending.

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### Filter

The filter screen lets you target a specific segment of your database contacts.

You can filter by:

* Database contact fields
* Results from previous TXT Outs
* Interactions with other UbiQuity channels such as mailouts and push notifications

#### AND and OR conditions

**AND** - all conditions must be true for a contact to be included. *Example: Country = New Zealand AND Segment = Customer includes only contacts who are customers in New Zealand.*

**OR** - either condition can be true for a contact to be included. *Example: Country = New Zealand OR Segment = Customer includes all contacts in New Zealand plus all customers, regardless of country.*

#### Automatically excluded contacts

Some contacts are always excluded from TXT Outs regardless of your filter:

* Contacts flagged as **GNA (Gone No Address)** - contacts are marked GNA automatically when a TXT message hard bounces. The TXT GNA field in the database is updated accordingly.
* Contacts who have **opted out** of TXT communications for this programme.

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### Track links

You can track links included in your TXT Out for reporting and future targeting. Tracked links are converted to shortened URLs in the outgoing message. By default these begin with *t.uq.nz*, but this can be customised to your own domain.

If you do not want a link to be shortened or tracked, either untrack it on the Track Links screen, or insert the URL without the *https\://* prefix (e.g. [*www.example.com*](http://www.example.com) instead of [*https://www.example.com*](https://www.example.com)). In either case the link will not be tracked and click data will not be available.

Use **Get Friendly Names** to fetch the page title for each link automatically. If your website uses Google Analytics, you can append tracking codes to links from this screen.

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### Dedupe

The Dedupe screen lets you remove duplicate contacts from your TXT Out. Select the field or fields that indicate a duplicate - UbiQuity will send only one message per unique value for those fields.

To prevent duplicates from entering your database in the first place, you can set Unique Fields on your database under **Database > Edit Database Fields**.

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### Schedule and Confirm

You can choose to prepare the TXT Out now or at the time of sending.

| Option               | Behaviour                                                                                                                |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Prepare now          | Filters and contact data are applied immediately. Changes to your database after this point will not affect the TXT Out. |
| Prepare at send time | Filters and contact data are applied at the scheduled send time, reflecting your database as it is then.                 |

The maximum send rate for TXT Outs is 30,000 messages per hour. If you choose to send all messages immediately, UbiQuity will default to this maximum rate. If you choose to send at an hourly rate, it must be set to 30,000 or fewer per hour.


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