Conversation Workbench

| Item | Content |

|—|—|

| Suitable for | Agents, Administrators |

| Menu location | Left Conversations |

| Plan dependency | None (some sidebar capabilities such as SLAs and Shopify orders depend on the plan and integrations) |

A conversation is a dialogue between a customer and your company. All channels (website, email, WhatsApp, etc.) ultimately end up here.

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1. How to slice the left-hand list

Under Sessions, there are multiple entry points:

| Entry point | What you see |

|—|—|

| All conversations | All conversations you have permission to access |

| Mentions | Conversations where someone @mentioned you |

| Participating | Conversations you are participating in |

| Unattended | Conversations that no agent has actually taken over yet |

| Folders | Custom filters saved by you or your team (e.g. ‘VIP + Opened’) |

| Team | Conversations assigned to a team |

| Channel | Conversations under a specific inbox (website, email…) |

| Tag | Conversations tagged with a specific tag |

The list can be filtered by status, assignee, and sort order. Whether the unread badge appears depends on whether unread counts are enabled for the workspace.

1.1 Session State

| Status | Meaning | Typical Usage |

|—|—|—|

| Open | In progress, needs follow-up | Currently chatting, awaiting your reply |

| Pending | Awaiting bot / Captain / customer | Assistant is replying automatically; or you explicitly marked it as pending |

| Handle later (Snoozed) | Temporarily left the queue | Agreed to follow up in the afternoon; will return at the scheduled time or when the customer speaks again |

| Resolved | Session ended | Question answered; if the customer sends another message, it will usually reopen |

New conversations from blocked contacts will go directly to Resolved and will not reopen automatically.

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2. After opening a conversation

In the centre is the message stream, at the bottom is the editor, and on the right are contact and conversation details.

2.1 Understanding Messages

– Customer messages: Inbound.

– Replies from you or a colleague: Outbound, sent to the original channel (website widget, email, WhatsApp, etc.).

– Private notes: For internal use only; not visible to customers. Ideal for noting things like ‘Refund agreed’, ‘Emotionally agitated’, etc.

– Activity log: automatically generated by the system, such as ‘Zhang San resolved’, ‘Tag added’, etc.

– Failed outbound: Marked as failed when rejected by the channel or due to a network failure. You can retry following the on-screen prompts (depending on the channel).

Channels such as WhatsApp have a 24-hour session window: once a customer’s last interaction exceeds this window, you cannot send regular messages at will and must use approved templates. See Quick replies and templates.

2.2 Write a reply

1. Type text in the input box, and insert emojis and attachments (there is a limit on the number of attachments per message).

2. Type / to invoke Quick Replies.

3. When you need to discuss internally, switch to Private Note before sending.

4. Select the send shortcut in your profile: Enter or Ctrl/⌘ + Enter.

5. If a personal signature is enabled, it will follow the messages you send (website, email, and API channels support illustrations in signatures).

6. Voice notes: If recording is enabled in the workspace, you can record and send a voice note (depending on whether the channel supports it).

7. Captain Tasks (if enabled): Allows the AI to rewrite, summarise, or suggest replies, which are sent after your confirmation. See Captain.

In the email channel, you can also edit email fields such as the subject and CC (subject to what is displayed in the editor).

2.3 Session Actions (Title Bar / More Menu)

| Action | Description |

|—|—|

| Resolve / Reopen | End the current session or resume when the customer returns |

| Snooze | Select tomorrow, next week, next customer reply, or a custom time |

| Assignment | Assigned to an agent or team; mutually exclusive with the bot owner |

| Priority | Low / Medium / High / Urgent |

| Tags | Multi-select, used for reporting and automation |

| Participants | Add colleagues to this conversation, and they will see it under ‘Participating’ |

| Mute | Resolves the conversation and blocks the contact, after which inbound messages from this customer will no longer automatically reopen it. Please proceed with caution. |

| Translation / Other tools | Depends on workspace features |

Bulk actions: Select multiple conversations in the list to assign, resolve, tag, etc. in bulk (subject to the actions provided in the interface).

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3. Right sidebar

Draggable section order. Common blocks:

| Block | Purpose |

|—|—|

| Contacts | Name, email, phone, social profiles; open full contact page |

| Conversation Information | Channel, ID, Creation Time, SLA Status |

| Contact properties | Custom fields, such as membership level |

| Past conversations | Conversation history for the same contact |

| Macro | Execute a set of actions with a single click; see Macros |

| Shared Files | Attachments sent in this chat; you can jump back to the original message |

| Contact notes | Saved to the contact, visible across all conversations |

| Linear / Shopify etc. | Only appears when the corresponding integration is connected |

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4. Auto-assignment, Captains and Bots

When a new session comes in, the following may happen:

1. Captain or Agent Bot takes over: Conversations are often ‘Pending’, with the assistant answering first; if unresolved, it will transfer to a human agent (removing the bot assignee and changing to Open).

2. Enable inbox auto-assignment: Distribute open conversations to online agents via round-robin / load balancing.

3. Unclaimed: Remains in Unassigned and appears in ‘Unattended’; colleagues on duty, please claim.

Once you become the person in charge, new customer messages will trigger notifications according to your notification settings.

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5. Folders (Customised Views)

Once you have set up filters in the conversation list (e.g. Status = Open, Tag = VIP, a specific inbox), you can save as a folder, which will appear under ‘Folders’ in the sidebar. Ideal for duty desks: ‘My unresolved’, ‘Email backlog’, etc.

Folders are filter shortcuts and do not duplicate chats. Deleting a folder does not delete the chats.

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6. Initiate a conversation

The Compose / New conversation option near the sidebar allows you to proactively start a chat with a contact (which channels can be used depends on whether the contact has an established identity in the corresponding inbox, as well as channel rules, such as WhatsApp templates).

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7. Frequently Asked Questions

Replied, but the customer hasn’t received it?

Check whether outbound messages have failed. For website channels, confirm that the customer’s page still has the widget open; for emails, check the spam folder and sending domain; for WhatsApp, check the 24-hour window and template status.

Why is the session still pending?

Captain / Bot or assignee. Transfer to a human agent or manually change the assignee to yourself.

Customer replies after resolution?

It will usually reopen automatically. If the contact is muted / blocked, it will not.

Changed the widget position, but it hasn’t updated on the customer’s end?

The bubble position is defined in the embedded script on the website, so you must paste the new script back onto the website. See Channels and Inboxes.

Unable to send attachments?

Check the storage quota, the number of attachments per message, and whether the channel permits the file type.

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Related documents

– My Inbox

– Contacts

– Channels and Inbox

– Automation

– Captain AI Assistant