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# 4. Search
Search | Item | Content | |—|—| | Suitable for | All members | | Menu location | Search bar at the top of the sidebar, or shortcut Ctrl/⌘ + K (as indicated on the interface) | | Plan dependency | Basic search is available by default; Advanced search (across more messages, more accurate) may require a plan subscription | Used to find conversations, contacts, messages and Help Centre articles in the workspace without having to page through lists. — 1. How to search 1. Click search in the sidebar, or use a shortcut. 2. Enter a name, email address, phone number, sentence that appeared in the conversation, article title, etc. 3. Results are grouped by type; click to navigate. 4. Certain interfaces support filtering by type (contacts only, articles only, etc.), subject to the current page. We recommend searching using the customer’s email address, order number, or unique words from the conversation, which is more effective than just searching for ‘hello’. — 2. What you can find | Type | Typical match | |—|—| | Contact | Name, email, phone, identifier | | Conversation | A conversation related to contacts or messages | | Messages | Chat and email body (coverage depends on whether advanced search is enabled) | | Help Centre articles | Title / content of published articles (when the Help Centre is enabled for the workspace) | You can only see results within your permissions. If a custom role cannot view all conversations, search will not list those conversations either. — 3. Usage tips – Search for the email address first, then go to the contact page to view ‘Past conversations’ – it’s faster than filtering through the conversation list. – Whether private notes are searchable depends on the current search implementation; do not leave the only clue in the notes without adding tags. – Help Centre drafts are not visible to customers, so it is better for agents to search in the back-end article list. — 4. Frequently Asked Questions Know you’ve chatted before, but can’t find it in search? Message-level search may not be enabled, conversations may have been cleared according to retention policies, or you do not have permission for this inbox. Search is slow or incomplete? When workspace message volume is high, administrators can check with Chatips to confirm whether advanced search / indexing is enabled. — Related documents – Conversation Workbench – Contacts – Help Centre
Docs# 15.Custom roles
Custom roles | Item | Details | |—|—| | Who it is for | Administrators | | Menu location | Settings → Custom roles | | Plan dependency | Requires Custom Roles | Layer finer permissions on top of “Agent” — for example outsourced staff may only see unassigned + assigned to me conversations, cannot export contacts, and cannot open Settings. — 1. Creating a role 1. Settings → Custom roles → Add. 2. Name it, for example “Read-only QA” or “Outsourced agent”. 3. Tick permissions (conversation scope, whether they can manage contacts, etc. — follow the form). 4. Save, then assign the role under Settings → Agents. The base role remains Agent or Administrator; custom roles are most useful for agents. Do not give outsiders the Administrator base role and expect a custom role to block Settings — administrator rights are broad. — 2. Design tips – Write down “must not see other teams’ conversations” before ticking boxes, so you do not over-grant. – After permission changes, ask them to sign in again. – QA accounts that only need to read conversations should not get inbox admin, automation or billing. Search, reports and exports all honour the same permissions; changing the entry point does not reveal more data. — 3. Frequently asked questions No Custom roles menu? Plan does not include it. Standard “Agent + inbox membership” still gives basic isolation. Permissions ticked but page still blocked? That page may also need a feature flag (for example audit logs) or be administrator-only. — Related articles – [Getting started] – [Agents]
Docs# 16.Labels
Labels | Item | Details | |—|—| | Who it is for | Administrators maintain; agents apply labels on conversations / contacts | | Menu location | Settings → Labels; Conversations / Contacts sidebars also list labels marked “Show in sidebar” | | Plan dependency | Usually on by default | Labels are coloured keywords for classifying conversations and contacts — used in filters, automation and reports. — 1. Creating a label 1. Settings → Labels → Add. 2. Enter name, colour and description. 3. Optionally tick Show in sidebar for one-click filtering. 4. If automation or macros reference the name, check those rules after renaming. — 2. Usage – Pick labels from the conversation title bar or sidebar; multi-select is allowed. – Contact detail pages can take labels too. – Automation, macros and Captain scenarios can “add / remove label”. Agree a controlled vocabulary, for example refund, bug, VIP, awaiting-finance, so synonyms do not split your reports. — 3. Reports Reports → Labels shows volume by label. Cleaner tagging makes reports more useful. — 4. Frequently asked questions If I delete a label, do conversations remain? Yes — only the label is gone. Label missing from the sidebar? “Show in sidebar” is off, or no conversation uses it yet (you can still open it from Settings). — Related articles – Conversation workspace – [Automation] – [Reports]
Docs# 30.Data import
Data import | Item | Details | |—|—| | Who it is for | Administrators | | Menu location | Settings → Data | | Plan dependency | Requires Data Import | Bulk-load contacts and other business data into Chatips instead of creating rows by hand. Imports are asynchronous; large files take time. Watch progress and failed rows on this page. — 1. Before you import 1. Check Billing that contact quota covers the new rows. 2. Create any needed custom attributes and labels first. 3. Use UTF-8 CSV. Headers must match system fields / attribute keys. 4. Normalise email and phone formats (include country codes) to reduce duplicates. 5. Trial-import 5–10 rows and confirm mapping before the full file. Duplicate emails / phones conflict with existing contacts; follow the job prompts to skip or update (depends on import type). — 2. Steps 1. Settings → Data → New import. 2. Choose type (contacts; if conversations or other types exist, prepare columns per the help text). 3. Upload the file and finish field mapping. 4. Submit and wait until status is complete. 5. Read the failure summary: fix the CSV and re-import only failed rows to avoid duplicating the whole sheet. Do not rename attribute keys while an import is running. — 3. Export Contact-list export complements import for backup or other systems. Exports are workspace confidential — transfer them over a secure channel. — 4. Frequently asked questions Stuck in queue? File is large or workers are busy; refresh later. If it never moves, contact Chatips with the job ID. Some rows failed? Empty required fields, invalid email, or quota ran out mid-job. Open the error report. Duplicate contacts after import? Same person used different emails. Merge them. — Related articles – Contacts – Custom attributes – Billing and usage
Docs# 17.Custom attributes
Custom attributes | Item | Details | |—|—| | Who it is for | Administrators define; agents fill in | | Menu location | Settings → Custom attributes | | Plan dependency | Usually on by default | Add your own fields on contacts or conversations — membership tier, shop ID, ticket source — when standard fields (name, email) are not enough. — 1. Creating an attribute 1. Settings → Custom attributes → Add. 2. Choose Contact or Conversation. 3. Choose type: text, number, link, list, date, and so on (per form). 4. Enter a system key and a display name. Do not casually change the key later — automation may reference it. 5. For list types, define options up front so free typing does not break reporting. 2. Where to fill them in – Contacts: detail page or conversation right panel “Contact attributes”. – Conversations: right panel conversation details / conversation attributes. – If Conversation workflows require attributes, they must be filled before resolve. Automation can branch on these fields, for example “membership tier = VIP → assign senior agent”. — 3. Recommendations – Prefer labels for simple yes/no flags; keep attributes for structured data. – Do not store passwords or full national ID numbers in custom attributes. – When importing contacts, headers must match attribute keys — see Data import. — 4. Frequently asked questions Agent cannot see a field? Attribute is on Conversation but they looked on the contact page, or the reverse. Automation never matches? List values differ in case/spacing, or the key is wrong. — Related articles – Contacts – Conversation workflows – Automation
Docs# 6.Companies
Companies | Item | Details | |—|—| | Who it is for | Agents, administrators | | Menu location | Left sidebar Companies | | Plan dependency | Requires the Companies feature; otherwise the menu may be hidden | Companies group several contacts under one customer organisation — useful in B2B so you can see how often that firm has contacted you. — 1. What problem it solves Without Companies, you can only note “Acme Ltd” on each contact. With the module: – Multiple emails ([email protected], [email protected]) attach to the same company – The company page lists contacts under that firm and related conversation entry points – Fields such as domain help identification (for example acme.com) — 2. Create and edit 1. Open Companies → All companies. 2. Create a new company; enter a name, and optionally domain, description, and so on (as on the form). 3. Link the contact from the contact detail page, or add contacts from the company page. 4. Search and sort by name / domain when needed. Prefer the company’s primary domain; do not use consumer mail domains (such as gmail.com), which can cause incorrect grouping. — 3. Relation to conversations and automation Conversations still happen on contacts. Company is a grouping attribute on the contact. If automation or reports expose a “company” condition, you can route by organisation (as available in your workspace). — 4. Frequently asked questions No Companies menu? Your plan does not include the feature. See Billing and usage. Can companies be created automatically from email domains? Follow whatever auto-linking the current UI offers; in most cases you assign the company yourself, or write it via import / API. — Related articles – Contacts – Conversation workspace