After opening a conversation in Inbox, you can review customer information, manage conversation ownership and status, understand the conversation history, and perform actions on existing messages.
This article focuses on working with an existing conversation. It doesn’t cover composing or sending new messages.
- New to Inbox? Start with “Getting started with SleekFlow Inbox.”
- To learn how to find and manage conversations, see “Navigating and managing conversations in Inbox.”
- To learn how to compose and send messages, see “Sending messages and Internal Notes in SleekFlow.”
Understand an opened conversation
When you open a conversation, the interface is divided into four main areas.
1. Conversation control bar
The conversation control bar appears above the conversation history and gives you quick access to conversation information and actions.
Depending on your workspace configuration, it may include:
- Contact name
- Lifecycle stage
- Assignee
- Collaborators
- Conversation status
- Search within the conversation
- Additional conversation actions
- Contact profile
You’ll typically use the conversation control bar when managing ownership, updating the conversation status, or viewing customer information.
2. Conversation history
The conversation history displays messages exchanged between you and the customer.
It also shows conversation activities such as status updates, assignment changes, automation events, and other system activities, helping you understand everything that has happened in the conversation.
You can also access actions for individual messages directly from the conversation history.
3. Message text box
The message text box appears below the conversation history.
Use it to reply to the customer or add an internal note.
For detailed instructions on composing and sending messages, see “Sending messages and Internal Notes in SleekFlow.”
4. Contact panel
The contact panel displays information about the selected contact, such as contact details, properties, labels, and recent activity.
Use the panel to review customer information while continuing the conversation.
For more information about managing contacts, see “Accessing contact profile and information in Inbox”
Managing a conversation
The conversation control bar provides the tools you need to manage the conversation without leaving the conversation workspace.
View contact information
The contact’s name appears in the conversation control bar.
Select the contact name to open the contact info panel and review the customer’s information. Learn more about leveraging contact info panel in Inbox in our Help Center article: Accessing contact profile and information in Inbox.
Assign or reassign conversations
Every conversation has a primary assignee who is responsible for handling it.
You can assign a conversation to yourself, another teammate, or a team, depending on your permissions.
Changing the assignee may move the conversation into or out of another user’s My Inbox.
For more information about assignment and ownership, see “Assigning and collaborating on conversations.”
Collaborate with teammates
Collaborators allow multiple teammates to participate in the same conversation without changing the primary assignee.
You can add multiple collaborators to a conversation. Collaborators can access the conversation from the Collaborations view in Inbox.
For more information about collaboration, see “Assigning and collaborating on conversations.”
Update the conversation status
Conversation status helps you track the current handling stage of a conversation.
Available statuses include:
- Open
- Snoozed
- Closed
Update the conversation status as work progresses. For example, you can snooze a conversation until a later date or close it once the issue has been resolved.
To learn more about conversation statuses and how they affect Inbox views, see “Navigating and managing conversations in Inbox.”
Use additional conversation actions
The conversation actions menu provides additional options for managing conversations.
Depending on the conversation, available actions may include:
- Pin or unpin a conversation
- Mark a conversation as read or unread
These actions work the same way as the conversation actions available from the conversation list. For more information, see “Navigating and managing conversations in Inbox.”
Understand the conversation history
The conversation history helps you understand both the messages exchanged and the activities that have taken place throughout the conversation.
Incoming and outgoing messages
Incoming and outgoing messages are displayed differently so you can easily distinguish customer messages from messages sent through SleekFlow.
Depending on the message, you may also see information such as the sender, channel, or whether the message was sent by another teammate or an automation. Learn more about sending messages and Internal Notes in our Help Center article: “Sending messages and Internal Notes in SleekFlow.”
Message timestamps
Each message includes a timestamp showing when it was sent or received.
In longer conversations, messages are grouped by date to make the conversation easier to follow.
Message delivery status
Outgoing messages may display delivery information depending on the messaging channel.
Available delivery statuses may include:
- Sending
- Sent
- Delivered
- Read
- Failed
Not every messaging channel supports delivery or read receipts.
If a message fails to send, review the error and try again if appropriate.
Conversation events
In addition to messages, the conversation history may include events such as:
- Assignee changes
- Collaborator updates
- Conversation status changes
- Snooze and reopen activities
- Internal notes
- Automation activities
- Channel changes
These events provide context about how the conversation has been handled over time.
Work with existing messages
You can perform actions on messages that have already been sent or received.
To access message actions:
- Open a conversation.
- Hover over the message you want to work with.
- Click More actions.
- Select the action you want to perform.
Available actions may vary depending on the messaging channel, message type, and whether the message is incoming or outgoing.
Reply to a message
Reply to a specific message to provide additional context during a conversation.
Selecting Reply quotes the selected message above the message text box. After you send your reply, the quoted message remains attached to your response where supported by the messaging channel.
For instructions on composing and sending replies, see “Sending messages and Internal Notes in SleekFlow.”
Copy a message
Use Copy message to copy the message text to your device’s clipboard.
Only the message content is copied. Sender information and timestamps aren’t included.
ℹ️ Note: Some messaging channels may not support the Reply feature in SleekFlow Inbox.
Copy to message text box
Use Copy to message text box to insert the selected message into the message composer.
You can edit the inserted text before sending it.
Forward messages
Forward one or more messages to another conversation.
After selecting Forward, choose the destination conversation and confirm the action.
Copy a link to a message
Use Copy link to message to create a direct link to a specific message.
You can share the link with teammates in handover notes, tasks, or internal discussions.
Recipients must already have permission to access the conversation.
Edit and delete messages
Some sent messages may display Edit or Delete in the message actions menu.
These options are currently unavailable. Sent messages can’t be edited or deleted from Inbox.