Both tasks can be done simultaneously.
This is based on the desktop version.
Click on REPLY to record your response.
After that, before sending, click on EMR to send your reply as well as the original message to the chart. I created a folder called Portal Communication that I send all portal messages to.
Go to the top of the page and click SEND.
If the message and reply are very long you may have to click on HIDE at the upper right to make the SEND button re-appear.
The online version is similar but more cumbersome to me.
Hopefully this will help.

Theo A. Stephens, MD
Internal Medicine,
Baltimore, MD