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The Inbox is where you (or your team) read and answer WhatsApp chats yourself, like in the WhatsApp app. Open it from the sidebar when your WhatsApp number is picked. It fills the whole screen.

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The parts of the Inbox

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Answering a chat

Type your message and send it. As soon as you reply, you take over the chat. The bot stops answering that customer, so you don’t talk over each other.

Take over

Pause the bot for this chat, without writing anything yet.

Hand back to the bot

Let the bot answer this customer again.
Your flows can also send chats here with the Hand over to a person block.

Example

A customer taps Talk to a person in your menu. The flow uses Hand over to a person, so the chat shows up in your Inbox. You answer: “Hi! How can I help?”. When you are done, press Hand back to the bot.

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Sending pictures and files

JPG or PNG, up to 5 MB, with a caption. Use the paperclip, drag the picture in, or paste it.

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Files customers send you

  • Photos customers send show in the chat.
  • Their documents can be downloaded.
  • Pictures, audio, video and PDFs open in your browser. Other files download.
WhatsApp keeps customer files for 30 days.

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The 24-hour window

You can only send normal messages for 24 hours after the customer’s last message. The details column shows the time left. When the window closes, the Inbox explains why you can’t reply. To reach the customer then, you need an approved template. See WhatsApp blocks.

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Who can use the Inbox?

Collaborators with the Read and answer WhatsApp chats permission. The Operator, Builder and Admin roles have it. See Collaborators.