> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Open and done conversations

> How open and done work in the Inbox, what marking a conversation done fires, and how to clear a busy queue.

A conversation in the [Inbox](/inbox/overview) is either **Open** or **Done**. That is the whole
status list — there is no "closed", no "pending", no "snoozed". Done means your team is finished
with it for now, not that the contact can't come back.

<Note>
  Nothing marks a conversation done automatically. A conversation only becomes done when someone
  clicks **Mark as done**. It stays open until then, no matter how long ago the last message was.
</Note>

## What each status means

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Open" icon="envelope-open">
    Needs a human, or is simply not finished. Every new conversation starts here, and any inbound
    message puts it back here.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Done" icon="circle-check">
    Your team has dealt with it. It leaves the **Open** folder and moves to **Done**. The contact
    is not blocked, notified, or changed in any way.
  </Card>
</Columns>

Marking done is a housekeeping signal for your team. It does not stop the bot, does not stop
broadcasts, and does not archive or delete anything.

## Mark a conversation as done

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the conversation">
    Select it from the list. The details panel is on the right, on a wide screen — roughly 1280px
    and up. Below that you get the list and thread panes only, and **Mark as done** is unavailable.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Mark as done">
    The button sits in the details panel. DMLY drops you back to the list with your folder and
    filters intact — that is deliberate, so you can work straight through a queue.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reopen if you need to">
    Open the conversation again and select **Reopen conversation**. It flips back to open in
    place, without moving you out of the thread.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What marking done fires

Marking a conversation done is not just a label — it is an event other parts of DMLY listen for:

* The `conversation.closed` [webhook](/api-reference/webhooks) is sent.
* The **Conversation closed** automation trigger fires, so any [flow](/automation/flow-builder)
  built on that trigger starts for this contact — a follow-up ask, a satisfaction question, a tag.

Both fire **only on the change from open to done**. Marking an already-done conversation done
again fires nothing, so you cannot double-trigger a follow-up by clicking twice.

<Note>
  The webhook and the trigger are named "closed" while the button says **Mark as done**. They are
  the same thing.
</Note>

**Reopen conversation** fires nothing at all — no webhook, no trigger. Neither does an inbound
message that reopens a conversation: reopening is not itself an event. The inbound message still
fires `message.received` and any message-based automation, as it would on an open conversation.

<Tip>
  Because closing a conversation is a trigger, "mark as done" can be the thing that sends your
  WhatsApp review request or feedback question. Build the flow once on the **Conversation closed**
  trigger and it runs every time an agent finishes a chat.
</Tip>

## A contact writing back reopens it

If a contact replies to a conversation you marked done, DMLY sets it back to **Open** and, if you
had archived that thread, un-archives it. It reappears in your **Open** folder with the new
message.

This is why done is safe to use liberally. You are never hiding a customer who comes back —
they surface again on their own.

## Archive is a separate thing from done

**Archive Conversation** in the details panel is not a status. A conversation can be open or done
*and* archived; archiving lives in its own **Archive** folder.

Use **Mark as done** for day-to-day queue clearing, and **Archive Conversation** only for threads
you genuinely want out of the way for good.

<Warning>
  Archived conversations auto-delete after 30 days. The messages go permanently. If you only want
  a conversation out of your queue, mark it done instead — done keeps everything.
</Warning>

**Unarchive Conversation** brings it back at any point in those 30 days. **Delete permanently**
removes the thread and its messages immediately and cannot be undone.

## One contact can be two conversations

A Contact is one CRM record, but the Inbox lists **DMs** and **Comments** as separate rows. Someone
who both messages you and comments on a post shows up twice.

Archive and delete apply to the row you are looking at — archiving the DM leaves the comment thread
untouched. Open and done work differently: they are set on the contact, so marking the DM done moves
their comment row to **Done** as well.

## Working a queue down

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start in the Open folder">
    The folders across the top are **All**, **Open**, **Done**, and **Archive**. **Open** is your
    working queue.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Narrow to what's yours">
    Open the filter toggle (the funnel icon) for the assignee filter (**Anyone** / **Unassigned** /
    a teammate), **Unread only**, and the **All channels** picker. The always-visible platform row —
    **All**, **WhatsApp**, **Facebook**, **Instagram**, **SMS** — narrows by platform; the channel
    picker lists your connected channels, which is how you reach the platforms that row doesn't show.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reply, then mark as done">
    Replying assigns the conversation to you automatically, so **Unassigned** empties as your team
    works. When you're finished, select **Mark as done** and you land back on the list, ready for
    the next one.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Opening a conversation marks it read straight away, which clears its unread badge and counts it
down in the **Unified Inbox** badge in the sidebar.

<Accordion title="The folder counts look slightly off">
  The numbers on the folders are approximations, on purpose. They count contacts, while the list
  shows threads (a contact can have both a DM and a comment thread), so a busy workspace can see a
  small mismatch. The list itself is always correct.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="The list stops at 100 conversations">
  The Inbox shows the 100 most recently active conversations in the current folder and filter, with
  no pagination. If you're not finding an older conversation, narrow the filters or use
  **Search conversations** rather than scrolling.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Done conversations keep getting reopened">
  That's an inbound message doing it — a contact replied. If it keeps happening on a chat you're
  finished with, check whether a bot is answering into it; you can stop that with
  **Pause bot (human takeover)** in the details panel. See
  [Assign chats to your team](/inbox/assigning-chats).
</Accordion>

## Next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Assign chats to your team" icon="user-check" href="/inbox/assigning-chats">
    Who owns a conversation, and how replying changes it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Inbox notifications" icon="bell" href="/inbox/notifications">
    What gets you and your team alerted.
  </Card>
</Columns>