Managing Conversations

Conversations (/admin/conversations) brings together conversations from the organization’s external inboxes. The route requires permission to view conversations; replying and managing a conversation require additional permissions.

On desktop, the screen combines the list, the open conversation, and the Context panel. On mobile, the list and conversation appear as separate steps, and context opens in an overlay panel.

Choose the right queue

The seven views are ready-made slices. Snoozed conversations remain only in Snoozed until their return time or until the customer sends a new message.

View	What it shows	Main order
To reply	Active conversations with AI disabled, assigned to you, and waiting for your reply.	Oldest wait first.
Mine	Active conversations assigned to you, whether waiting for the team or customer.	Most recent activity first.
Unassigned	Active conversations with no AI and no person assigned.	Most recent activity first.
AI	Active conversations where AI is enabled.	Most recent activity first.
Snoozed	Active conversations with a scheduled return.	Nearest return first.
Completed	Completed or failed conversations.	Most recent activity first.
All	Other non-archived conversations from external inboxes.	Most recent activity first.

To reply is a personal queue. To start work on a conversation that has no owner, open Unassigned and use Claim.

The chosen view appears in the URL as ?view=reply, mine, unassigned, ai, snoozed, completed, or all.

Change the list order

The Sort button, next to Filters, changes the main order of the open view. Under Sort by, choose Last message or Created date; To reply also offers Waiting time, and Snoozed offers Snooze return. Under Order, reverse the direction, for example Oldest first.

A non-default order is kept in the URL (sort and dir) and can be stored in a saved view. When you switch views, the list returns to that view’s default order; Restore default order does the same without switching views.

Search and combine filters

The Search by user or agent… field accepts up to 200 characters. The Filters button offers:

• Channel, Inbox, Agent, and Assignee;
• Contact tag, which classifies the person — see Contact Tags;
• Conversation tag, which classifies only that conversation — see Conversation Tags.

Selections within one filter broaden the result; different filter types narrow the result together. The view and structured filters are stored in the URL (channels, agents, inboxes, tags, ctags, and assignees) and can be shared. The search text is not stored in the URL.

Saved views

Inside Filters, you can save up to 20 views with names of up to 60 characters. They live in this browser and are scoped to the organization and user. You can apply, update, rename, duplicate, pin, reorder, and delete a view.

A saved view stores the view, order, channel, inbox, agent, contact tag, and assignee. It does not store the search text or conversation tag. Applying a saved view clears those two slices.

Read the card before opening it

Each card shows the contact, last message, time, channel, and owner: a person, AI · <agent>, or Unassigned. The state appears as Waiting on team, Waiting on customer, or Completed. A snoozed conversation shows its return time; when a response target exists, the SLA indicator shows whether it is on track, at risk, or breached.

The chips shown on the card are contact tags, limited to two before the additional count. Conversation tags are available in the filter and bulk actions, but they do not appear on the card or the current context panel’s Conversation tab.

Use bulk actions carefully

Select up to 50 conversations to:

• transfer them to a person or return them to the unassigned queue;
• add or remove contact or conversation tags;
• snooze or resume;
• complete, reopen, or archive.

Each conversation is validated separately. Allowed changes continue even when others fail; failed conversations remain selected. Selection is cleared when you change the view, filters, search, or organization.

Bulk actions use legacy role and inbox-access rules. A visible button does not guarantee authorization; check the result and, if the operation fails, ask the owner or an administrator to review your role and permissions.

Claim, transfer, and change state

Management actions appear according to the conversation state and your permission:

• Claim disables AI and assigns the conversation to you. If somebody else claims it first, SquadOS does not overwrite their assignment.
• Transfer offers Person, Queue, and AI Agent. When choosing AI, you can add an internal instruction and decide whether it sends a message immediately or waits for the customer’s next message.
• Disable AI returns an active conversation to human handling.
• Snooze conversation is available for an active external conversation with AI disabled. You can schedule its return; a new customer message resumes it early.
• Resume now cancels the snooze.
• Complete conversation asks how it should return if reopened: AI or Human handling. If no agent is available, the product may keep it in human handling and display a notice.
• Reopen follows the mode chosen at completion. In bulk, completing and reopening use human handling.
• Archive conversation removes the item from lists while preserving messages and history.

If the inbox has no configured agent, the header may offer an action to assign an AI agent.

Start a conversation by phone

New conversation, in the list toolbar, opens an exchange with someone who has not messaged the organization yet. The button appears for people who can reply and have at least one active WhatsApp inbox.

1. Enter the phone number, including the country code, and the name if you want one. The name is optional and is only stored when the person has no record yet.
2. On Next, SquadOS looks the number up in the organization and shows Contact found, with the person’s tags, or New contact.
3. Choose the inbox. The list shows active WhatsApp inboxes and flags the ones where this person already has an open conversation; there the button becomes Open conversation.
4. Start conversation opens the conversation empty, already assigned to you and with AI disabled.

From there the composer behaves as in any other exchange: write the message or send an approved template. Outside WhatsApp’s 24-hour window, the template is the only route.

Only WhatsApp inboxes appear in the list. Instagram and Telegram reach only people who messaged first, and the site, widget, and API channels have no address to start from.

The contact record, under Contacts, has the same door: Start conversation picks the inbox and opens the exchange already assigned to you.

Reply or record a note

The composer separates two destinations:

• Reply sends a message to the customer. It requires reply permission and is unavailable for an internal, snoozed, or AI-enabled conversation or, on WhatsApp, outside the 24-hour window. In the last case, use an approved template when the button is available.
• Internal note is private to the team and remains available when the conversation allows external read-only access. See Internal Notes.

Open Quick replies from the composer button or by typing /. In the same selector, Manage quick replies opens the list to create, edit, and delete replies. Users allowed to manage them can also find this list in Settings → Quick replies (/settings/quick-replies).

Check Only me when you create a reply that only you should see, such as a signature with your name. It appears only in your selector, with the Only me badge in the list. People who don’t manage the organization’s replies can create only Only me replies and edit only their own. The shortcut of an Only me reply only needs to be unique among your own replies.

Inspect context

The Context panel has three tabs:

• Contact: the person’s details, contact tags, and history;
• Conversation: inbox, channel, assignee, agent, status, SLA, satisfaction, start time, last message, last agent, last model, and credits consumed;
• Activity: a timeline of conversation changes.

On mobile, open the context panel from the conversation header control.

Recommended routine

1. Review To reply to continue your pending conversations.
2. Use Unassigned to claim new work.
3. Filter by inbox, channel, or tag before running a bulk action.
4. Snooze when a future follow-up is defined, and complete finished work.
5. Check each action’s result message; partial success is possible.