Shared Inbox
The Shared Inbox is where your team talks to customers. Every conversation that creation rules turn into an issue shows up here, on every channel, so anyone on the team can pick it up, reply and keep the issue up to date without leaving the conversation.
Open Inbox from the Planner sidebar.
Set up the Shared Inbox
The inbox fills itself once customers' messages create issues:
- Connect the integrations for your channels and add creation rules for them
- Turn on Allow Public Reply? on the issue types those rules create, so your team can answer customers
- Give your team access with the Issue policies below
- Optionally, add assignment rules so conversations are shared out, and follow-ups to chase quiet conversations
Who can do what
| Policy | Allows |
|---|---|
| Issue Viewer | Reading issues and conversations, and updating their details. |
| Issue Commenter | Adding internal notes. |
| Issue Public Replier | Replying to customers on every channel. Combine it with Issue Commenter. |
| Issue Admin | Everything, including managing issue types. |
A member who has access only to certain spaces sees only conversations whose issues are in those spaces. See Permissions.
Find conversations
The inbox has a tab for each channel: WhatsApp, In-App, Email and Call. The list shows each conversation's contact, the last message and when it arrived. A blue dot marks unread conversations.
Choose a view from the dropdown above the list:
| View | Shows |
|---|---|
| Open | Conversations with an open issue. This is the default. |
| Waiting on me | Open conversations assigned to you, where the customer wrote last. |
| Waiting on customer | Open conversations where your team wrote last. |
| Closed | Conversations whose issue is closed. |
| All | Every conversation. |
Open and closed are explained in Statuses.
Search by contact name or WhatsApp number. Click Filter to narrow the list by issue type, status, assignee, requester, group, dates, custom fields, whether your team has responded, or, on WhatsApp, whether the reply window is open and which of your numbers the customer wrote to. Sort by the latest or earliest message received.
The list updates as messages arrive. While the inbox is open, your browser shows a notification for each new customer message.
Conversations created by AI agent tests don't appear in the inbox.
Work on a conversation
Click a conversation to open it. The chat is in the middle, and the issue's details are on the right:
- General: status, priority, assignee, group, labels, requester and custom fields. Change them here as you work.
- History: the conversation's earlier issues.
If a conversation has more than one open issue, the panel tells you so. Pick the issue your replies should be logged against.
Read and unread
A conversation is marked read when someone on your team views it, and unread again when the customer writes. Read state is shared by the whole team. Use Mark as read or Mark as unread from a conversation's ⋮ menu to change it by hand.
If your status is Invisible, viewing a conversation doesn't mark it read.
Reply
The composer has two tabs:
- Public Reply sends your message to the customer.
- Internal Note adds a note only your team can see. Mention a member to notify them.
Replies are sent from the business number, chat or email address the customer wrote to.
WhatsApp
Write a message, or click Attach to send an image (JPEG or PNG, up to 5 MB), video (MP4 or 3GPP, up to 16 MB), audio (up to 16 MB) or document (up to 100 MB).
WhatsApp only allows free-form messages within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, the text box is disabled. Send an approved WhatsApp template with New Template Message instead. When the customer replies, the window opens again.
To start a conversation with a customer who hasn't written to you, click + on the WhatsApp tab, pick the Sender number, enter the Recipient and choose a Template. The conversation appears in the inbox once the customer replies.
Location, contact, sticker and reaction messages from customers aren't shown.
In-App Chat
Replies are text only.
Email
Click Reply on the email you're answering. Fill in To, add CC and BCC if you need them, write your message, attach files and click Send. You can address up to 50 people. Your own inbox addresses are left out of the recipients automatically.
Replies keep the email thread together, with a Re: subject, and come from the address the customer wrote to.
Click Show original on an email to see it exactly as it was received.
Calls
The Call tab shows transcripts of calls handled by an AI agent.
When a reply isn't sent
If a reply or note fails, it stays above the composer with Retry and Discard. If Planner can't tell whether a message was delivered, check the conversation before clicking Send again, so the customer doesn't get it twice.
When you can't reply
- Public Reply is missing when the issue type doesn't allow public replies.
- Nothing can be sent on a locked issue. Unlock it from the issue's page first. A new message from the customer starts a new issue.
- On WhatsApp, the text box is disabled outside the 24-hour window, as described above.
AI agents in the inbox
When an AI agent is the assignee, it answers the customer itself. You can follow along in the conversation. To take over, send a public reply: the issue is reassigned to you and the agent stops answering.