Before you start
Before you start, sign in to the dashboard and select the organization you want to work in.- You need a live-chat seat. See Live-chat overview and seats.
- Open Conversations and select a conversation. The views rail, queue tabs, filters, and details rail are covered in Work the inbox.
The conversation header
The header shows the end user’s avatar, name, and presence. Presence reads Online or a relative last-seen time such as Last seen 5 minutes ago. The controls on the right change with the conversation state.
Two controls are always present. A details toggle shows or hides the details rail, with tooltips More details and Close details. A More actions menu offers Send transcript and View trace.
Snooze options
Select Snooze… to open a popover with the presets 1 hour, 4 hours, Tomorrow morning, and Next week. Select Custom… to pick a date and time in 15-minute steps, then select Snooze. A toast confirms Snoozed.Reply to an end user
1
Open a conversation from the list
The thread opens in the pane with the composer at the bottom.
2
Keep the composer on the Reply tab
The pill at the top left toggles Reply and Private Note.
3
Write your reply
The composer supports rich text, emoji, attachments, and voice notes.
4
Select Send
The button reads Sending… while the message goes out.
Composer toolbar
Pasting a link shows a preview card. Select Remove link preview to send the message without the card.
Attachments and voice notes
The composer shows a toast when a file cannot be added. The toasts read Too many attachments, File too large, and File type not supported. Each toast explains the reason, for example a 40MB file size limit or a maximum of 10 files per message. While a voice note records, Cancel recording discards it and Stop recording keeps it. When more than one microphone is available, a Select mic control appears. The recorder shows a red max 5:00 marker as the recording nears the limit.Change the send hotkey
1
Open Settings from the views rail
The Conversations settings open on the Preferences page.
2
Find Hotkey to send messages
The card sits under Composer & Editor Experience.
3
Pick Enter or Ctrl+Enter
On a Mac the second option reads Cmd+Enter. A toast confirms Your settings have been saved successfully.
Quote a specific message
Hold the pointer over a message and select the Message actions button, or right-click the message. Select Reply to quote it. A replying-to banner appears above the composer with a dismiss control. The same menu offers Copy text and Copy link to message.Private notes and mentions
Select Private Note in the pill. The composer turns amber, the placeholder reads Add a private note…, and the toolbar shows Only visible to agents. Notes stay in the thread for your team and are never visible to the end user. Mentions work inside private notes only. Type@ and pick a human agent from the popover. The mentioned human agent receives a notification, and the conversation appears in their Mentions view.
Follow a conversation
The details rail has a participants section. Its header shows the count, for example 0 participants, and the body lists the human agents who follow the conversation. When nobody follows it, the section reads No participants. Select Follow conversation to add yourself. The link is replaced by You are following. Seat holders also get a Manage participants button beside the header. It opens a popover with a Search agents… field, where you select a human agent to add or remove. Conversations you follow appear in your Participating view, and a new message on one raises a notification. See Work the inbox and Live chat notifications.Drafts
Unsent text is saved as a draft per conversation. When you switch conversations and come back, the composer restores your text.Create and use canned responses
Canned responses are reusable replies you insert with/ followed by a shortcode. The settings page describes them as “Reusable replies available to every agent across all inboxes. Insert with /shortcode in the composer.”
The page has a New response button and a search field with the placeholder Search shortcode or body. The table shows Shortcode, Body, Visibility (badge Shared or Personal), Created by, and Created. The empty state reads “No canned responses yet. Create your first one.”
A lock icon marks rows you cannot edit. Its tooltip reads Only admins can manage shared responses or You need a livechat seat to manage personal responses.
The New canned response dialog
1
Open Settings from the views rail, then Canned responses
Existing canned responses are listed with their shortcode, body, and visibility.
2
Select New response
The New canned response dialog opens.
3
Enter a Shortcode
Keep it short, for example
greet. The placeholder suggests e.g. greet.4
Write the Body
Type
@ in the body editor to insert a token, for example the end user’s name.5
Pick a Visibility
Personal means Only you can use this response, and Shared means Everyone in the team can use this response.
6
Select Save
Save stays disabled until both the shortcode and body are filled. A toast confirms Canned response created.
Tokens in the body
Tokens fill in with values from the current conversation when you insert the response. Built-in end user tokens arename, email, and phone. Custom attributes defined by an admin appear in the same picker, grouped by conversation and end user. See Set up custom attributes.
Insert a canned response
In the composer, type/ at the start of a word, then part of the shortcode. A popover lists matching responses. Use the arrow keys to move, Tab or Enter to insert, and Esc to dismiss.
Save a sent message as a canned response
Hold the pointer over one of your own messages, open Message actions, and select Add to canned response. The New canned response dialog opens with the message text already in the Body field.Edit or delete a canned response
Select a row, or its pencil icon, to open the Edit canned response dialog. The trash icon opens a delete dialog titled with the shortcode, for example Delete /greet?. It explains: “This canned response will be removed. Existing messages already sent using it are unaffected.”Signatures
Open Settings from the views rail, then find the Personal message signature card on the Preferences page. Turn on the switch, write the signature in the editor, and select Save message signature. The card notes that the signature appears below your message body, separated by a delimiter, and that private notes never include it. In the composer, the Add signature button toggles it per reply.When you cannot reply
The composer is replaced in some states.Resolve a conversation
Resolve works only when a human agent controls the conversation. Otherwise a toast explains that it was not resolved.
1
Select Resolve in the header
The Resolve conversation dialog opens.
2
Add labels under Add labels (optional)
Labels already applied are shown checked and disabled.
3
Add a Reason (optional)
The internal note has a counter that shows the 500-character limit.
4
Select Resolve
The button reads Resolving… while it completes.
Share a transcript
1
Open More actions in the header, then Send transcript
The Send conversation transcript dialog opens with a Preview panel.
2
Pick a recipient under Send to
Choose The customer, The assigned agent, or Another email address.
3
Select Send, or select Download instead
Download saves a zip with attachments, or a text file. A toast confirms the send.
Verify
Send a reply in a test conversation, add a private note, and insert a canned response with/. The reply and the filled tokens appear in the thread, and the note stays amber and internal.