Inbox

The inbox allows you to view all received inbound messages from the past 90 days, providing a highly effective way to manage conversations with your contacts in real time and deliver an organic engagement experience to your customers. 

Inbox navigation

The inbox is located in the main menu on the left side of the messaging platform.

Inbox management features

1. Open messages tab - this is the default tab where all of your active messages are found.
2. Closed messages tab - this tab is where all "closed" or "archived" messages are found. Even if a conversation has been closed, you can still send messages or receive a reply. Any new activity on the closed conversation will automatically move it back into your "open" messages tab.
3. Unread messages tab - filter your conversations by "Unread" messages only. This is helpful when managing larger campaigns and you need to quickly identify messages requiring a response. 

4. New message - the plus button (top right) will open a new message. You can type in a phone number or search for a saved contact in the input field. If you have an existing open or closed conversation with the recipient from the last 90 days, the messaging portal will automatically bring up that thread.

   

5. All Read - use the vertical ellipsis (three dots) to Mark all as read or to Close all read. Selecting to close will move all read conversations to the Closed tab.

   

6. Find contact - search your inbox for conversations relating to specific contacts or numbers.
7. Assign User* - you can click the profile avatar on a conversation to assign and unassign a specific user to manage the conversation. If a user has already been assigned, the user icon will be replaced with the assigned user's initials.
8. Assignment filters* - you can filter your inbox for all conversations, conversations that are unassigned, or conversations assigned to specific users. This is particularly useful when you have several users, who may be managing different campaigns, all working from the same account. 

Conversation navigation

If there are unread messages in your inbox, a flag will be displayed in 2 places:

• On the left-hand navigation pane - the flag next to Inbox in the main menu will indicate the number of contacts with unread messages.
• Inside the Inbox - a blue dot next to the timestamp will indicate an unread message. 

To open a conversation, simply click on it and the message thread will open to the right:

Conversation management features

1. Assigned field - use the avatar icon at the top of your conversation  to view or change the user assigned to the conversation.

2. Close Conversation button - this button will close the conversation and move it from the Open tab to the Closed tab. If you want to reopen the conversation, locate the message in the closed tab, and in place of the Close button there will be a Re-Open Conversation button. Any messaging activity in the conversation will automatically re-open it and move it to the open tab.

   

3. Contact profile panel - the contact profile panel opens when you click into a conversation. From here you can create a new contact using the phone number from the message sender/recipient if it's not already saved. Populate the required fields and click Save in the bottom right once done. If the contact already exists and you need to update or edit the details, you can click Edit, make the changes, then click Save.

4. Campaign Name - if a message is sent as part of a campaign, the name of the campaign will be displayed above the message so you can easily see which campaign your contacts are replying to. When you send a campaign to multiple contacts, the message will automatically appear in each individual recipient's conversation window, and any replies between you and each recipient will remain specific to that contact (i.e. sending a reply back will only go to the contact who sent you the response, not the entire contact list).

5. Conversation window - outbound messages are coloured and appear on the right, and inbound messages appear on the left in grey. By hovering over an inbound message, you will see an envelope appear above it. Clicking on these will present the option to mark a message as unread:

   

   This is especially helpful if multiple people manage the same inbox and you want someone else to be aware of this message, or if you simply want to leave it unread to remind yourself that it requires attention later on.

6. Channel - In the conversation thread, the channel type used to send the message is indicated: 

   

New message composer

At the bottom of the message thread there is a new message composer that can be used to respond to messages directly inside the inbox.

Message composer navigation

1. Sender ID selector - if you have more than one sender ID set up for your account, you can use this dropdown box to specify which one you want to send your message from. You don't have to choose a number every time you send a message, the system will just automatically send it from your default sender ID. If you're sending via the Shared numbers pool, even though the recipient will receive each message from a different number, the conversation will stay in a single thread in your inbox.

   Note: If you are sending an RCS message, this will show as the Fallback sender:

   

2. Templates (folder icon) - if you have any saved templates, you can select them from here to add to your message.
3. Emojis - use this button to include emojis in your message. It's important to remember that emojis are classified as Unicode and will affect how many characters your message is using.
4. Character counter - on the right hand side there is a counter which you can use to track how many characters your message is comprised of.
5. Attach media button - use the plus icon to attach media and files.
6. Schedule Send button - use the clock icon to schedule your 1:1 message to send at a later time/date.
7. Send button - this button will be greyed-out until you populate the message content window, once you've typed your message (or selected a template) you'll be able to click here to send your message.