Using the Provider Inbox

Availability: all plans

The inbox is where you find a customer conversation, read it and reply. This guide shows how to filter the list, read a conversation, send a reply and use the customer panel beside the thread.

Before you start

Your role must be able to view customers. A conversation can only be answered while its status is Active. For a text conversation, SMS must be set up under Settings (see the guide on setting up SMS).

Steps

Open Inbox, then Conversations. The page shows the total number of conversations and the list, 20 per page.
Narrow the list with the tabs All, SMS, Email and In-App, and the status tabs Active, Closed and Archived. On a phone these appear as one dropdown. A line named Active filters shows what is applied, with Clear all filters beside it. Choosing a channel tab replaces a status tab, and the reverse.
Read each row. It shows the customer's name, or their phone number or email if no customer record matches, or Unknown contact if neither is known. It also shows the subject if there is one, a preview prefixed Customer: or You:, the message count and when the last message arrived.
Select a row to open the conversation. The thread opens at the latest message, and the conversation is marked read.
Type in the box labelled Type your message… and choose Send. The reply appears in the thread without the page reloading.
For a text conversation, a counter under the box shows the number of characters and notes that messages over 160 characters may be split into several messages.
Use the Customer panel on the right. If the conversation matches a customer record it shows their name, email, phone, number of properties and View full profile. Below that, Awaiting your response lists marketplace requests with Respond in inbox, and Open jobs lists jobs with Open job. Selecting a row opens a small preview, so a half-written reply is not lost.

Tips

Timeline notes appear in the thread as small centered chips, not as message bubbles. Some of them link to the item they describe.

On an incoming message, a small Intent label may appear (for example complaint, question or praise) when the system detected one, and a Suggested Response card may appear with Use Suggestion and Edit First. Either button only puts the text in the reply box; you still choose Send.

The thread checks for new messages about every seven seconds. If your sign-in expires, a banner asks you to reload.

If the conversation is no longer Active, the reply box is replaced by a notice that the conversation cannot receive new messages.

If something goes wrong

The page says it could not load conversations: refresh and try again.
Opening a conversation returns you to the list with the message that it was not found or that you do not have access: it may belong to a different provider account.
A reply does not appear after you choose Send: the page keeps your text, so you can try again. A text or email reply is queued for delivery rather than written straight into the thread, so it may take a moment to show.
A text reply never reaches the customer: the customer may have opted out, or the number may be blocked. See the guide on setting up SMS.

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