The inbox: a tour of the screen
Every message, comment, mention, WhatsApp chat and email in one list: the tabs All, Unassigned and Mine, the folders, the search and who can see what.
The inbox (Engage → Inbox, /app/inbox) is where your team reads and answers customers. Direct messages, comments and mentions from your connected social accounts, WhatsApp chats, website chat and email all arrive here as conversations, newest activity first.
Before you start
- Connect at least one account: see Connecting an account, WhatsApp and Email.
- Pick an active workspace. Without one the page says Pick an active workspace on the Workspaces page first.
- You need the inbox task Read. Every role has it by default; an admin can take it away under Settings → Members.
The parts of the screen
- Platforms rail (far left): All platforms, then one icon per platform with its count of open conversations. Click one to see only that platform. A platform with a disconnected account is marked disconnected. Each platform is shown in its own brand colours, with a grey count of the conversations not resolved yet (point at it to read, for example, All platforms - 1 not resolved); it is not a count of unread messages.
- The conversation list: tabs, folders, search and the rows themselves.
- The thread (centre): the messages of the conversation you opened, its header buttons and the reply box at the bottom. When the thread gets narrower (with Conversation details open beside it, or on a phone), the header makes room step by step: first a bot's status moves under the contact's name, then Claim, Unclaim and Unassign move into More actions (⋯), and on a phone Resolve and Reopen move there too. ⓘ and ⋯ always stay in view. With no conversation open (on a computer), this part says Pick a conversation with how many conversations in the list are unread, an Open the newest unread button and the Not resolved counts for All, Unassigned and Mine. Nothing is opened, or marked read, until you choose.
- Conversation details (the ⓘ button in the thread header): the contact card, assignment, status, priority, reminder, tags and other conversations with the same person. It starts closed on every visit. On a wide screen (1536 px or more) it opens beside the thread; on a narrower screen it opens as a panel over the thread, so the reply box keeps its full width. Close the panel to go back to the reply box. When the reply box itself is narrow, the text takes the whole first line and the buttons and Send sit on the line under it.
- Team rail (far right, on a computer, for Owners, Admins and View all members), headed Team: a coloured face for each colleague, a green dot when they are online and a red count of their unread conversations. Point at a face to read the person's name, role, whether they are online and their open conversations. Click a face to list only what is assigned to that person; click it again to see everyone.
On a phone you see one part at a time. Back (the arrow at the top of the thread, or your phone's or browser's own Back) returns from a thread to the list. The page address keeps the open conversation (it ends in ?c= and the conversation's id), so reloading the page keeps the thread open and the address opens the same thread for a colleague.
The tabs: All, Unassigned, Mine
The tabs appear in this order and the inbox opens on All for everyone who is allowed to see it.
- All: every conversation you are allowed to open, assigned or not.
- Unassigned: conversations nobody has claimed yet. This is the queue that needs an owner.
- Mine: conversations assigned to you. A member who cannot reply (for example a Viewer) cannot claim conversations, so nothing is ever theirs: they do not see Mine.
The number beside each tab counts conversations that are not Resolved (point at it to read, for example, 14 not resolved; on a phone or tablet, tap ⓘ (What the numbers count) at the end of the tabs to show the explanation under them, and tap it again to hide it). The list under the tab shows every status until you pick one in the status menu, so it can be longer than the number; pick Open there to see only open ones. Owners and Admins see All, and so does any member who was given the inbox task View all. Everybody else sees only Unassigned and Mine, and their inbox opens on Unassigned. For them every number (the tabs, the Platforms rail and the Active folder) counts only conversations they can open: their own and the unassigned ones, never a conversation a colleague has claimed.
The folders: Active, Archived, Blocked, Spam
Under the tabs is a row of four folders. Active is the working inbox. Archived holds conversations you archived; they come back to Active when the contact writes again. Blocked and Spam hold messages from contacts you blocked or marked as spam; those messages are filed there silently. The tabs are only shown in Active; the other folders are one flat list. See Archive, block, spam and delete.
Search and filters
- Type at least two characters in Search messages and contacts. The list narrows to conversations whose contact name, handle, subject or latest message matches.
- Above the list two extra groups appear: Messages (message text that matches; click one to open its conversation) and Contacts (people whose name, handle, phone or email matches; click one to open their most recent conversation). A phone number can be typed with spaces or in its local form: +44 7400 123456, 07400 123456 and +447400123456 find the same person.
- Use the status menu next to the search box (Any status, Open, Pending, Resolved) and the priority menu beside it (Any priority, Low, Normal, High, Urgent) to narrow further. On a phone both hide behind the More filters button.
- Pick a platform in the Platforms rail to combine it with the rest.
If nothing matches you see No matches — Try another word or clear the filters., with a Clear search button that empties the search box and shows the list again. A workspace with no account connected yet shows No conversations yet — Messages, comments and mentions from every account land here. An Owner or Admin also sees Connect an account under it, which opens Accounts to connect the first one; other roles see no button there: ask an Owner or Admin to connect one.
Reading the list
Each row shows the contact's photo and name, the platform, the account it came through, Comment or Mention when it is not a direct message, the latest text, how long ago, a bold count of unread messages, a reminder chip if one is set, and the initials of whoever it is assigned to. Opening a conversation marks it read. With the list focused, the up and down arrow keys move from one conversation to the next.
The header buttons
- The small dot beside Inbox is the live connection: green means Live updates on; grey means Live updates off — reconnecting.
- Team (avatars with, for example, 1/1, for Owners, Admins and View all members; its window says 1 of 1 team members online): who is Online in the inbox now, and for each person their Open conversations, Replied in the last 24 hours and Resolved in the last 7 days. Click a person to list only what is assigned to them; the chip with their name and × above the list goes back to all conversations. On a computer this button is replaced by the Team rail.
- New email: start a new email from a connected mailbox (see Replying on each channel). Shown to members who may reply.
- Sound on / Sound off: new-message chime and desktop notifications for this browser. It is the bell button; point at it to read New-message alerts (chime and desktop notifications).
- Aa (Text size): makes the inbox text larger. Each click moves from standard (100%) to 115%, then 130%, then back. This browser remembers your choice. Point at it to see the size in use.
- Simulate incoming: only for Owners and Admins, and only when the workspace has the test account. It creates a fake inbound message for practice.
Who can see what
- Owner and Admin: every conversation and every task.
- Editor and Reviewer: read, reply and internal notes (Editors can also manage saved replies).
- Viewer: read only; the reply box is replaced by You can read this conversation but cannot reply. Ask an admin for a role that replies (Agent, Reviewer or Editor). Adding the Reply task to a Viewer is not enough: the Viewer role itself cannot send replies or notes. A Viewer also does not see Resolve / Reopen, Archive / Unarchive or Remind me… in the conversation header and its ⋯ menu, nor Edit contact, the tag box, or the Remind me…, Change reminder… and Clear reminder buttons in the details pane; Status and Priority show the current value but cannot be pressed. If an action is refused anyway, the message says Action failed — Your role can only read this inbox. A reply that was not delivered offers them no Retry: the line under it says Not delivered. Your role can read this conversation but not reply, so only a teammate who can reply can send it again.
- Agent: an inbox-only role that reads, replies, writes notes and can block a contact or mark them as spam. Assign, Delete, View all and Saved replies can be added per person. Agents do not open Contacts, Leads or WhatsApp broadcasts, so the contact card shows them no Open in Contacts link; they send a WhatsApp template to a customer from the conversation itself (see Replying on each channel).
- An email mailbox connected by one agent as their own is private to that agent: colleagues do not see its conversations unless one is assigned to them. Owners, Admins and View all members see everything. See Personal mailboxes.
Admins change these tasks per person under Settings → Members; see Members and invitations.
Good to know
- Conversations opened by a customer-facing bot show a bot chip in the thread header. Bots are set up by OmniBrand for you; see Inbox bots.
- A link such as
/app/inbox?c=...(used by Contacts and by notifications) opens that conversation directly. - The help assistant bubble is not shown in the inbox, so it never covers the send button. The ? button at the top of the page still opens this manual.