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The Inbox — Navigating and Managing Conversations

The Inbox — Navigating and Managing Conversations

The inbox is where your entire team manages customer conversations. Everything from website chat to support email lands here. This guide covers how to navigate views, filter conversations, use bulk actions, and work with the conversation list.

Table of Contents

  1. <a href="#1-inbox-views">Inbox views</a>
  2. <a href="#2-the-conversation-list">The conversation list</a>
  3. <a href="#3-sorting-and-filtering">Sorting and filtering</a>
  4. <a href="#4-bulk-actions">Bulk actions</a>
  5. <a href="#5-real-time-updates">Real-time updates</a>
  6. <a href="#6-search">Search</a>
  7. <a href="#7-starting-a-new-conversation">Starting a new conversation</a>

1. Inbox views

The left sidebar shows several built-in views for quickly segmenting conversations:

| View | What it shows |<br>|---|---|<br>| <strong>All</strong> | Every conversation across all inboxes you have access to |<br>| <strong>Assigned to me</strong> | Only conversations assigned to you personally |<br>| <strong>Unassigned</strong> | Conversations with no agent assigned yet |<br>| <strong>Team</strong> | Team message threads (internal, not customer-facing) |<br>| <strong>Spam</strong> | Conversations marked as spam |<br>| <strong>Deleted</strong> | Recently deleted conversations |

Below the built-in views, each of your inboxes appears as its own item. Clicking an inbox shows only the conversations in that channel.

2. The conversation list

Each row in the list represents one customer conversation.

<strong>What each row shows:</strong>

  • <strong>Avatar</strong> — the customer's initials in a colored circle. Hover over it to reveal a checkbox for selecting the conversation.
  • <strong>Blue dot</strong> — indicates unread messages. Disappears when you open the conversation.
  • <strong>Customer name</strong> — shown in bold.
  • <strong>SLA badge</strong> — a countdown pill (green, yellow, or red) if an SLA policy is active. Turns to "Breached" in red when the deadline has passed.
  • <strong>Time</strong> — when the last message was sent (e.g. "Just now", "5m ago", "Mar 3").
  • <strong>Activity line</strong> — a preview of the last message, or a typing indicator ("Maria is replying...") if an agent is composing a reply.
  • <strong>Tags row</strong> — priority badge, assignee name, label pills, and status badge.

<strong>Status badge colors:</strong>

| Status | Color |<br>|---|---|<br>| New | Purple |<br>| Open | Green |<br>| Pending | Orange |<br>| Resolved | Gray |

<strong>Priority badge colors:</strong>

| Priority | Color |<br>|---|---|<br>| High | Orange |<br>| Medium | Violet |<br>| Low | Gray |

<strong>Three-dot menu on each row (hover to reveal):</strong>

  • Delete
  • Mark as spam
  • Mark as unread / Mark as read
  • Move to inbox (if you have multiple inboxes)
  • Copy conversation ID
  • Copy URL
  • Open in new tab
  • Close conversation

3. Sorting and filtering

<strong>Sort order</strong> (top-right of the conversation list):

  • Newest first (default)
  • Oldest first
  • Closest to SLA goal — surfaces conversations whose SLA deadline is approaching soonest

<strong>Filters dropdown</strong> (funnel icon):

| Filter | Options |<br>|---|---|<br>| Assignee | All assignees, or a specific agent (includes "You" shortcut) |<br>| Priority | All, High, Medium, Low |<br>| Channel | All channels, Email, Widget |

When any filter is active, the funnel icon is highlighted. Click <strong>Clear all filters</strong> inside the dropdown to reset.

<strong>Period filter:</strong>

  • All time
  • Today
  • Yesterday
  • Last 7 days
  • Last 30 days
  • Last 3 months
  • Custom — enter a start and end date/time

<strong>Status filter:</strong>

  • All
  • New
  • Open
  • Pending
  • Resolved

4. Bulk actions

To act on multiple conversations at once:

  1. Hover over a conversation row and click the <strong>checkbox</strong> that appears on the avatar
  2. Select as many conversations as you need
  3. The bulk action bar appears at the top of the list

<strong>Available bulk actions:</strong>

| Action | What it does |<br>|---|---|<br>| Close | Closes all selected conversations |<br>| Resolve | Marks all selected conversations as resolved |<br>| Move to inbox | Moves all selected conversations to a different inbox (a submenu shows your inboxes) |<br>| Clear | Deselects all |

<strong>Select all:</strong> Click the checkbox icon at the very top of the list (next to the sort button) to select every conversation currently visible on the page.

The list shows up to 50 conversations at a time. A <strong>Load more</strong> button appears at the bottom when there are additional conversations beyond the current page.

5. Real-time updates

The inbox updates live — you do not need to refresh the page.

| Event | What you see |<br>|---|---|<br>| New conversation arrives | Row appears at the top of the list |<br>| Customer sends a new message | Row moves to the top, last message preview updates |<br>| Agent is composing a reply | "X is replying..." shown in the activity line in green italic |<br>| SLA is about to breach | Toast warning appears; badge turns yellow |<br>| SLA has breached | Toast warning appears; badge turns red with "Breached" label |

<strong>Sound notifications:</strong> Alps can play a sound when new messages arrive. The sound setting is stored per browser session. Look for the sound toggle in your notification preferences.

6. Search

Click the <strong>search icon</strong> in the conversation list header (or use the global search with <code style="font-family:ui-monospace,monospace;background:#f1f5f9;color:#dc2626;padding:0.1em 0.35em;border-radius:3px;font-size:0.875em">Cmd+K</code> / <code style="font-family:ui-monospace,monospace;background:#f1f5f9;color:#dc2626;padding:0.1em 0.35em;border-radius:3px;font-size:0.875em">Ctrl+K</code>) to search across:

  • Customer name
  • Customer email
  • Last message content

The search filters the visible list in real time. Clear the input to return to the full list.

For a broader search across all conversations, articles, and contacts, use the <strong>global command palette</strong> (<code style="font-family:ui-monospace,monospace;background:#f1f5f9;color:#dc2626;padding:0.1em 0.35em;border-radius:3px;font-size:0.875em">Cmd+K</code> on Mac, <code style="font-family:ui-monospace,monospace;background:#f1f5f9;color:#dc2626;padding:0.1em 0.35em;border-radius:3px;font-size:0.875em">Ctrl+K</code> on Windows).

7. Starting a new conversation

To proactively reach out to a customer:

  1. Click the <strong>pencil icon</strong> in the conversation list header
  2. A <strong>New Conversation</strong> modal opens
  3. Select the channel (email or widget)
  4. Enter the customer's name or email
  5. Type your message
  6. Click <strong>Send</strong>

The conversation appears in the inbox immediately and is visible to your whole team.

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