> ## 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.
# The unified inbox
> Every conversation from every channel in one list: how the Inbox is scoped, how you work a thread, and what you can send.
Every message from every connected Channel (WhatsApp first, plus Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Live Chat, SMS and the rest) arrives in one list, and you reply from the same place.
It is called **Unified Inbox** in the sidebar and just **Inbox** once you open it. Same thing.
Behind each conversation is a [Contact](/contacts/overview) record. The contact belongs to your workspace, and one contact can hold identities on more than one channel.
DMLY will not stitch those identities together on its own. The customer who WhatsApps you today and comments on your Facebook post tomorrow can arrive as two contacts, and stays that way until you merge them by hand. That's what **View full profile & merge** is for.
Prefer to watch first? This walkthrough covers working the Inbox end to end.
## The active channel does not scope the Inbox
**The Inbox always spans every channel you have connected** (unless your access is limited to certain profiles; see [Who can see the Inbox](#who-can-see-the-inbox)). It has no channel picker of its own, and it ignores the one you set elsewhere. If your sidebar shows WhatsApp selected, the Inbox still lists your Instagram DMs and your Live Chat threads alongside your WhatsApp chats.
This is the one that catches people out, because most of DMLY works the other way. Bot Setup, [Broadcasts](/broadcasts/overview) and Growth Tools all act on the one channel you have selected, and switching profiles changes what they show you. The Inbox doesn't.
So the sidebar and the Inbox can disagree: the sidebar reflects a selected channel while the Inbox list shows everything. Nothing is broken. If you want the Inbox narrowed to one channel, use the Inbox's own filters (below), not the profile switcher.
## How you work in it
Three panes, left to right:
* **The conversation list.** Pick a conversation here to open it.
* **The thread.** Read and reply in the middle.
* **The details panel.** Everything *about* the person: **Assigned to**, **Pipeline stage**, **Tags**, **Internal notes**, upcoming appointments, and **View full profile & merge** if you need the whole [client record](/contacts/client-profile).
On a phone you see one pane at a time. Open a conversation to read it, and use the back arrow to return to the list. The details panel is hidden on narrower screens.
Opening a conversation marks it read and drops its unread count straight away.
## Folders
The list has four folders:
| Folder | What's in it |
| - | - |
| **All** | Everything except archived |
| **Open** | Conversations still needing attention |
| **Done** | Conversations you've finished with |
| **Archive** | Conversations you've filed away |
An archived conversation only shows under **Archive**; **All** won't surface it.
**Archived conversations auto-delete after 30 days.** Archive is not long-term storage; it's a holding pen that empties itself. If you need a record of what was said, keep the conversation in **Done** instead.
Two things worth knowing on day one:
* **Nothing closes itself on a timer.** There is no auto-close after a quiet period. A conversation becomes **Done** one of two ways: someone selects **Mark as done** in the details panel, or an automation you built closes it (the **Close conversation** step in a [flow](/automation/flow-builder), or an AI assistant you connected over [MCP](/mcp/overview)).
* **A reply from the contact reopens it.** A done conversation that gets a new inbound message flips back to **Open** and un-archives itself, so you can't miss a follow-up. That is the default. An admin can restrict reopening to a time window, or turn it off, in [Conversation settings](/account/conversation-settings).
Marking done takes you out of the thread and back to the list, keeping your folder and filters. That is what you want when you're clearing a queue. See [conversation status](/inbox/conversation-status).
## Narrowing the list
**The list loads the 100 most recent conversations first, then 100 more each time you scroll near the bottom.** You can reach older conversations by scrolling or by search. **Search conversations** at the top of the list is still the fastest tool you have.
Alongside search:
* **DMs** / **Comments**: a toggle directly under the search box that picks which kind of thread the list shows. It starts on **DMs** and there is no **All**, so it is the one control you have to switch rather than clear. See [one contact, two threads](#one-contact-two-threads).
* **Channel pills** across the top of the list: **WhatsApp**, **Facebook**, **Instagram** and **SMS**, plus **All**. Telegram, Live Chat, TikTok and Google Business Profile reviews are all *in* the list; they just don't have a pill.
* **All channels**: a picker in the extra filters that narrows to one specific connected profile, including the channels with no pill. Use this if you run two WhatsApp numbers and only want one of them.
* **Anyone** / **Unassigned**: filter by who owns the conversation.
* **Unread only**: what it says.
## Tags
The details panel's **Tags** section is how you colour-code what a conversation is about:
*VIP*, *Complaint*, *Wholesale*.
To apply one, open the conversation and select **Add** under **Tags** in the details panel,
then pick from the list. Applied tags sit there as coloured pills; remove one with its
**×**. Until you add any, the section reads **No tags yet**.
One thing to understand: **a tag here is a contact [tag](/contacts/tags-and-segments)**, the
same object on the same record, not a second inbox-only set. Tagging a conversation tags the
*person*, not just this thread, and a tag added anywhere else shows up here.
Three practical points:
* **The Add list only offers tags that already exist.** There's no way to create one from the
details panel. Set them up (name and colour) with **Manage tags** on the
[Contacts](/contacts/overview) page first.
* **Filter the list by tag.** Open the extra filters (the funnel by the folder pills) and pick
one from the **All tags** picker to narrow the conversation list to that tag. The active tag
shows as a chip you can clear with its **×**. A conversation row also shows up to two of its
tag pills.
* **The same tags work outside the Inbox.** They build
[segments](/contacts/tags-and-segments) for broadcasts, they answer the **Has tag** condition
in a flow, and the **Tag Action** step applies or removes them automatically.
## One contact, two threads
A contact is one CRM record, but it can have up to two separate conversation threads: **DMs** and **Comments**. Someone who both messages your Facebook page and comments on a post has a row on each tab: one conversation under **DMs**, one under **Comments**. A public comment and a private DM are answered differently, so they stay apart.
The list shows one kind at a time. The **DMs** / **Comments** toggle sits directly under **Search conversations**, above the channel pills, and it's always visible. **DMs** is selected by default and there is no **All**, so the two kinds never appear in the same list. If you're hunting a comment you replied to and can't find it, switch to **Comments**.
They stay separate throughout. Archiving or deleting one thread leaves the other untouched.
A comment from someone DMLY doesn't know on that channel yet only lands under **Comments** when one of your comment automations runs on it. Being a contact on another channel doesn't count. Otherwise DMLY skips it and creates no contact, so answer that one on the platform itself. See [Comment automation](/automation/comment-automation).
The toggle only filters the list, not the thread you have open. Clicking a desktop notification jumps straight to the conversation the message arrived on, so you can end up reading a comment thread while the list still says **DMs**.
## When a message came from an ad
If somebody taps a Click-to-WhatsApp ad and then messages you, the Inbox shows you which ad it was, on the message itself.
Inside the customer's bubble, above their words, sits a small card:
* a strip of the ad's picture, when Meta sent one,
* the line **From an ad**, or **From a post** when they tapped an ordinary Facebook or Instagram post rather than a paid ad,
* the ad's headline, on one line,
* and the first couple of lines of its body text.
When Meta includes a link to the ad, the whole card is clickable and opens the ad in a new tab. An ad with no picture still gets a card; you just don't get the strip.
The card sits above the message for the same reason a quoted reply does: it is context *for* what they're saying. "Do you still have it in blue?" is a different question once you can see they arrived from your Summer Sale ad. You can answer the offer they actually tapped instead of the one you'd have guessed.
If the same person taps a different ad weeks later, that later message carries its own card. The card belongs to the message, not to the whole conversation.
**Everything above is WhatsApp.** The full card, with the headline, the copy and the picture, is
built from what Meta puts on a WhatsApp message, and only WhatsApp sends it.
Facebook and Instagram messages get a stripped version of the same card. It shows up whenever
the person arrived through a referral of any kind: a
[m.me or ig.me growth link](/growth/qr-codes-and-links), a Messenger code, or an ad carrying a
reference. All DMLY is given there is the reference itself, so the card is the **From an ad**
line and nothing else: no headline, no body text, no picture and no link.
So read that line as "they arrived through a link or a code of yours", not as proof they tapped
a paid ad. And don't treat these threads as ad data: only WhatsApp reaches the
[ads report](/analytics/ads-report).
The ad is on the contact record as well: their **Source** reads `WhatsApp ad: Summer Sale`, and the first ad that brought them in keeps that credit even if they tap another one later. See [arriving from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad](/channels/whatsapp#arriving-from-a-click-to-whatsapp-ad).
## Choosing where your reply goes
When a conversation spans more than one channel, a **Reply on** strip sits above the thread, with a pill per channel and its own unread count on each. Pick one, and your reply, the messaging-window countdown and the template picker all follow it. Two pills on the same platform are labelled with the customer's address on it, so you can tell them apart.
You usually don't have to pick. DMLY preselects wherever the customer last wrote to you. It falls back to WhatsApp when nobody has written in yet, or when two channels tie. Arriving from a **Message on WhatsApp** button preselects WhatsApp instead. Your own pick sticks for that conversation.
A contact you have a phone number for but no WhatsApp history with also gets a WhatsApp pill, so you can start there. It shows as template-required, because there is no open window yet. The WhatsApp identity is only created when the message actually sends.
On that first WhatsApp message, if you have more than one WhatsApp number connected, a **Send from** picker appears above the thread. It starts on your [Default WhatsApp number](/account/notifications), and it narrows the template picker to that number's templates. A WhatsApp conversation that is already running has no picker; it always replies on the number it is already on.
The **Reply on** strip only appears when the contact has more than one distinct channel to answer on. Two of your own WhatsApp numbers reaching the same customer number count as one, because it is one conversation, and the reply goes out on the number that conversation is already running on.
## What you can send
From the reply box:
Type and select **Send**. The everyday case.
**Attach image / video** pulls from your media library; **Attach file** for documents.
**Record a voice note** records in the browser and sends it as audio.
**Send an approved template**: WhatsApp only, and only templates Meta has approved.
Your stock answers, inserted into the draft in one click.
**Insert booking link** and **Request a payment** drop a link into the message.
**Send a form**: the form icon in the toolbar sends a WhatsApp Flow straight into the chat.
A few rules that shape what you'll actually see:
* **SMS is text only.** The media, file and microphone buttons are hidden on SMS conversations.
* **Templates are WhatsApp only**, and the picker only lists templates Meta has approved. You fill in each placeholder before it sends. A template with an empty `{{1}}` is rejected rather than sent with a gap showing.
* **Booking links and payment links send as ordinary text.** They're a link in a normal message, not a special card. **Request a payment** creates the payment link for you and sends it. The booking picker only appears if you have active meeting types with a public booking page.
* **Forms are WhatsApp only, and they are not templates.** The picker lists your draft and published forms. The form is the whole message, so you don't type anything alongside it. The icon greys out once the 24-hour window closes. See [WhatsApp Flows](/automation/whatsapp-flows#send-a-form-from-the-inbox).
* **Suggest a reply with AI** appears whenever AI is enabled. No plan restricts it.
## When a message won't send
WhatsApp allows free-form replies only for 24 hours after the contact's last message. Once it closes, DMLY blocks the send. This is Meta's rule, enforced on our side too, so there's no workaround in the reply box. To re-engage, send an approved template. See [WhatsApp limits](/channels/whatsapp-limits).
You can reply for 7 days after the contact's last message. After that, you can only message again once they send something new. Replying to a public **Comment** is not subject to this; the window applies to DMs.
TikTok allows replies for 48 hours after the contact's last message, and DMLY enforces it on the server for people as well as bots. There are no templates and no extended allowance for a human agent, so 48 hours is the whole of it. Once it closes, the contact has to message you again before you can reply. A contact you've never had a message from has no open window at all. The countdown chip in the conversation header names the window on hover. See [TikTok](/channels/tiktok).
Blocked contacts hide the reply box entirely and the block is enforced on the server, so nothing gets through. Use **Unblock contact** in the details panel to message again.
None of these windows apply to a public **Comment** reply, on any platform. They govern DMs only, which is why the countdown chip doesn't appear on a comment thread. A block is the exception: blocking someone closes their comment thread to you as well.
What you type in a comment thread is posted publicly under the comment, not sent as a DM. The box reads *Write a public reply…* there. It always goes out on the channel the comment arrived on, whichever **Reply on** pill is selected. Every reply from your side shows in the same thread marked **Page**, whether you typed it or an automation posted it.
## Working as a team
The Inbox assumes several people are in it at once, so a few things happen without you asking:
* **Replying assigns the conversation to you.** By default a conversation follows whoever answered it last. So if a teammate replies to a chat assigned to you, it quietly becomes theirs. Worth knowing before you wonder where your queue went. An admin can change that rule, and can have new conversations shared out round-robin, in [Conversation settings](/account/conversation-settings). See [assigning chats](/inbox/assigning-chats).
* **You can see when a teammate is typing.** Above the reply box you'll see ` is typing…` on every channel, so two people don't answer the same message. If the contact is typing, that takes precedence in the display.
* **Notes and @mentions are for the team.** **Internal notes** in the details panel are never sent to the contact, and mentioning a teammate pings them. See [notes and collaboration](/inbox/notes-and-collaboration).
An @mention in a **reply** is not the same as an @mention in a **note**. Mentioning a teammate in the reply box notifies them *and* sends the literal `@Name` text to your contact. Mention people in notes.
**On call duty** / **Off duty** in the sidebar has nothing to do with the Inbox. It controls whether you receive inbound [WhatsApp calls](/inbox/whatsapp-calling), and only appears when a WhatsApp channel has calling switched on. Going off duty does not stop conversations being assigned to you.
## Taking over from the bot
To step in while an [automation](/automation/overview) is handling a conversation, just reply. By default a teammate's reply *is* the takeover: it stops every automated reply on that conversation (flows, sequences, AI, auto-replies) and leaves you free to type normally. **Pause bot (human takeover)** in the details panel does the same thing deliberately, and **Resume bot** hands it back.
Some things pause the bot for you too: an AI agent handing over to a human, a flow with a handover step, and blocking a contact all set it.
If the contact was part-way through a flow when you took over, that run is **parked** rather than cancelled. It keeps its step, the answers already given, and the remainder of any wait. A banner in the details panel names it and offers **Resume**, **Skip this step** and **End automation**. **Mark as done** asks what should happen to the parked run before it closes the conversation. See [notes and collaboration](/inbox/notes-and-collaboration).
An admin sets the rules behind all of this once, for the whole workspace, on the [Conversation settings](/account/conversation-settings) tab:
* whether a reply takes over,
* when the bot may have the conversation back,
* who owns a chat after a reply,
* whether new chats are shared out round-robin,
* when a closed conversation reopens,
* and whether the AI may answer at all.
Unblocking a contact does not resume the bot. If you block someone and later unblock them, the conversation stays bot-paused until you select **Resume bot** yourself. **End automation** leaves the pause behind too.
## New messages and sound
A chime plays for each new inbound message while the DMLY tab is open and in focus. It's on by default and you can mute it from the Inbox. The setting is per browser, so muting on your laptop doesn't mute your colleague's.
The Inbox updates live when real-time delivery is available, and falls back to refreshing every few seconds when it isn't. Either way, new messages still arrive without you reloading the page. The chime now fires from both paths too, so a dropped real-time connection doesn't leave you with a silent inbox.
Switch away from the DMLY tab and there's no chime to hear, so desktop notifications cover that gap. The first time you click or type anywhere in the Inbox, your browser asks permission to show them.
Grant it, and a message from a contact that arrives while you're on another tab pops a system notification naming the contact with a preview of the message. Select it to bring DMLY to the front and jump straight into that conversation.
Decline, and background messages get no sound at all: nothing plays while the tab is hidden. The chime just resumes for whatever arrives next once the tab is focused again. The same mute setting silences both.
Browsers only ask for notification permission once. If you dismissed the prompt or want to change your answer, look for this site's notification permission in your browser's own site settings; DMLY can't re-prompt you.
## Who can see the Inbox
The Inbox is permission-gated. A [role](/account/roles-and-permissions) without the Inbox module doesn't see it in the sidebar at all. A teammate may also see a contact's phone number and email masked rather than in full, so what they see may be less than what you see.
A member can also be limited to specific profiles (channels). They then see only those profiles' conversations in the Inbox. Owners and admins always see everything. No role limits the list to only the conversations assigned to you.
## Related
Who owns a conversation, and how it changes hands.
Open, done, archive and delete.
Stop retyping the same answer.
Takeover, ownership, reopening and the AI reply policy, set for the whole workspace.
When a channel is connected but silent.
This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.
On a phone you see one pane at a time. Open a conversation to read it, and use the back arrow to return to the list. The details panel is hidden on narrower screens.
Opening a conversation marks it read and drops its unread count straight away.
## Folders
The list has four folders:
| Folder | What's in it |
| - | - |
| **All** | Everything except archived |
| **Open** | Conversations still needing attention |
| **Done** | Conversations you've finished with |
| **Archive** | Conversations you've filed away |
An archived conversation only shows under **Archive**; **All** won't surface it.
Inside the customer's bubble, above their words, sits a small card:
* a strip of the ad's picture, when Meta sent one,
* the line **From an ad**, or **From a post** when they tapped an ordinary Facebook or Instagram post rather than a paid ad,
* the ad's headline, on one line,
* and the first couple of lines of its body text.
When Meta includes a link to the ad, the whole card is clickable and opens the ad in a new tab. An ad with no picture still gets a card; you just don't get the strip.
The card sits above the message for the same reason a quoted reply does: it is context *for* what they're saying. "Do you still have it in blue?" is a different question once you can see they arrived from your Summer Sale ad. You can answer the offer they actually tapped instead of the one you'd have guessed.
If the same person taps a different ad weeks later, that later message carries its own card. The card belongs to the message, not to the whole conversation.