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Inbox overview

How the shared Queue and the conversation lifecycle work.

Overview

The Inbox is where your team handles WhatsApp conversations together. Incoming messages collect in a shared Queue; any agent can take one, reply, and resolve it. The list on the left is filtered by three tabs — Queue, Open, and Resolved — and selecting a conversation opens it on the right.

The Inbox: conversation list and an open chat

The three tabs

  • Queue — new, unassigned conversations waiting for someone to take them. This is the shared pool the whole team can see.
  • Open — conversations currently being handled (assigned to an agent).
  • Resolved — conversations that have been closed off.

Each conversation shows the masked customer alias (e.g. Customer 0007), a preview of the last message, and a tag for the number the customer wrote to.

Clearing the Queue in bulk

Sometimes the Queue fills with one-word or repeat messages that don't need a reply. On the Queue tab, tick the checkbox on several conversations at once — a bar shows how many are selected — then click Resolve selected to close them all in one action (or Clear to drop the selection). Nothing is lost: if one of those customers writes again, their conversation comes straight back to the Queue with the Returned badge.

The conversation lifecycle

new message ─────────────►  Queue (unassigned, Open)
agent clicks Accept ──────►  Open, assigned to that agent
agent clicks Resolve ─────►  Resolved
customer writes again / Re-open ─►  back to the Queue
  1. A customer messages you. The conversation appears in the Queue, unassigned.
  2. An agent accepts it. Clicking Accept assigns it to that agent and moves it to their Open tab. If two agents click at the same time, only the first wins.
  3. The agent resolves it. When it's handled, Resolve moves it to Resolved.
  4. It can re-open. If the customer writes again — or an agent clicks Re-open — the conversation returns to the Queue for whoever is free.

The "Returned" badge

Relay makes sure no message is left unseen. If a conversation is assigned but goes unanswered too long, or its agent goes offline or is removed, Relay automatically returns it to the Queue with an amber Returned badge so someone else picks it up. The Admin sets how long "too long" is in Settings.

A conversation showing the Returned badge

New-message alerts

So a new message is never missed while you're working elsewhere, Relay signals arrivals in a chat you're not currently viewing:

  • A short sound plays, and — when Relay's window is in the background — a desktop notification appears. Notifications only ever show the masked alias (e.g. Customer 0007), never a phone number.
  • The Open tab shows an unread count and the browser-tab title carries a (n) prefix, so you can tell there's something new even from another tab or window.

A bell button in the search bar mutes or un-mutes this (Sound & alerts on — click to mute / Alerts muted — click to enable); your choice is remembered in that browser. The first time you enable desktop notifications, your browser will ask permission.

Light & dark theme

A sun / moon toggle in the top bar switches the whole interface between a light and a dark colour scheme (Toggle light / dark). It's purely visual — nothing moves or behaves differently — and your choice is remembered in that browser and applied before the page paints, so there's no flash on load. Light is the default.

When a new version is ready

After your administrator deploys an update, open tabs show a small banner — A new version is available. with a Refresh button — so you're never left on an old copy of the page. It never interrupts a reply you're typing; a background tab refreshes itself when you return to it, as long as nothing is half-typed. Click Refresh (or just reload) to pick it up.

Next steps