1. Start and manage conversations

Inbox brings customer messages, team replies and private discussion together. Use it to pick up a request, understand the context and keep the next action clear for your team.

You need access to the conversation's workspace. Contacts are shared business records, but the history you can view follows your workspace access.

Finding conversations

1. Open Inbox and choose the appropriate ownership list.
2. Check the status filter; Open does not show closed or snoozed threads.
3. Narrow by Assignee, Workspace, Channel, Tag, Handled by AI, or the available date fields.
4. Search using customer details or words from messages.
5. Open the thread and review its contact panel and earlier messages.

Use Clear to remove filters when a known thread appears missing. Inbox search can match contact names, email or phone identities, subjects and message text. A date filter uses the last-message time, or creation time for a thread without messages; it is not identical to the Reports creation-date filter.

Replies and attachments

Read the whole exchange before responding, especially after AI handoff. Select Reply, write the message and select Send. Use Preview to inspect formatting when offered. Add attachments using the composer's attachment control and confirm the intended file before sending.

The composer follows channel restrictions. On a closed thread, select Reopen first. On WhatsApp, an expired reply window may require Choose a template instead of a free-form reply. Review a contact's blocked status before sending; do not reopen blocked threads to bypass the intended workflow.

Private notes

Choose Note and select Add note to add internal context. Notes are for staff, not customer-facing replies. Mention a colleague when they need to review the note; eligible mentions can generate a notification. Check the composer mode before sending confidential information.

Saved replies and AI drafts

Saved replies are managed through Settings → Canned responses. Admins maintain the shared responses; staff can use them while composing. Read an inserted response before sending and adapt details to the actual interaction. An AI Draft reply is also editable text for your review, not an automatic send. Drafts can consume credits.

Starting from a contact

Open the contact and choose the conversation-start action. The dialog offers eligible channels, such as Website widget or WhatsApp. Select the workspace when required, enter the message or choose a template, and select Start. Availability depends on the contact's reachable identity and channel context; creating a contact alone does not create a reachable widget session.

Staff-initiated conversations begin with humans. A WhatsApp start may require an approved template, business approval and available sending capacity.

Closing, snoozing and deletion

Choose the action that matches your next step:

• Close: the interaction is complete.
• Snooze: you need to return to unfinished work later.
• Delete: an admin permanently removes the conversation, messages and files after confirmation.

Use status and assignment for everyday organisation. Deletion is not a way to hide a conversation from your own inbox.

Related guides: Statuses, Assignment, Handoff, WhatsApp templates.