Conversations

What Each Conversation Contains

• Messages -- the back-and-forth communication between your team and the customer.
• Private notes -- internal comments visible only to your agents.
• Activity log -- a record of all actions taken on the conversation (assignments, status changes, label additions, etc.).

Key Information Tracked

• Assigned agent -- the team member responsible for handling the conversation.
• Team -- the team or department the conversation belongs to.
• Labels -- custom tags for categorizing and filtering conversations.
• Priority -- urgency level (None, Low, Medium, High, Urgent).
• Status -- the current state of the conversation (Open, Pending, Snoozed, or Resolved).

Conversation Layout

Available Actions

• Assign to agent or team -- route the conversation to the right person or department. You can assign to a specific agent, a team, or both.
• Change status -- update the conversation status (see below).
• Add labels -- attach one or more labels for categorization (e.g., "billing", "bug-report", "feature-request").
• Set priority -- mark the urgency level so your team knows what to focus on first.
• Mute/Unmute notifications -- control whether you receive notifications for new activity in this conversation.
• Send email transcript -- email a complete copy of the conversation to any email address.

Conversation Statuses

• Open -- actively needs attention from an agent.
• Pending -- waiting for a response from the customer.
• Snoozed -- temporarily paused; will reopen automatically at a scheduled time.
• Resolved -- the issue has been handled and the conversation is closed.

Where to Find Actions

How to Create a Private Note

1. Open the conversation you want to add a note to.
2. In the message composer at the bottom, click the "Note" tab (identified by the lock icon).
3. The composer background will change to yellow, indicating you are in private note mode.
4. Type your note and press Cmd+Enter (or click Send) to post it.

@Mentions in Notes

You can use @mentions within private notes to notify specific agents. Simply type @ followed by the agent's name, and a dropdown will appear with matching agents. When you mention an agent, they will receive a notification about the note, even if they are not assigned to the conversation.

When to Use Private Notes

• Leaving context when transferring a conversation to another agent or team.
• Documenting decisions made about a customer issue.
• Asking for help from a colleague by @mentioning them.
• Recording follow-up actions that need to happen outside of AstraChat.

Composing and Sending

To send a message, type in the message box at the bottom of the conversation. Depending on your account settings, you can send the message by pressing Enter or Cmd+Enter. You can configure this preference in your profile settings.

Composer Features

• Attachments -- click the paperclip icon or drag and drop files directly into the composer. See Managing Attachments for details.
• Emoji Picker -- click the smiley face icon to browse or search for emojis.
• Canned Responses -- type / to trigger the canned responses menu. Continue typing to filter by short code. Select a response to insert it into the composer for further editing before sending.
• Template Variables -- use variables like {{contact.name}}, {{contact.email}}, and {{conversation.id}} for automatic personalization. These work in both regular messages and canned responses.
• Email Signature -- for email conversations, your signature is automatically appended. Toggle it on or off using the signature icon in the toolbar. Configure your default signature in profile settings.

Sending Attachments

There are two ways to attach files to a message:

• Click the attachment icon (paperclip) in the message composer toolbar and select a file from your device.
• Drag and drop a file directly into the conversation window.

You can preview the attachment before sending and add an accompanying text message if needed.

Channel-Specific Limits

Viewing Received Attachments

Attachments sent by customers appear inline within the conversation. Click on an image to view it in full size, or click on a document to download it. You can also find all attachments for a conversation in the right sidebar under the contact information section.

Participants vs. Assignees

Adding Participants

1. Open the conversation.
2. In the right sidebar, locate the Participants section.
3. Click "Add Participant" and search for the agent you want to add.
4. Select the agent to add them as a participant.

Participants will receive notifications about new messages, status changes, and other conversation events. They can also leave private notes and contribute to the conversation internally.

Viewing Previous Conversations

Previous conversations appear in the right sidebar under the contact details section. You will see a list of all past conversations associated with the current contact, including:

• The conversation subject or last message preview.
• The status of each past conversation (Open, Resolved, etc.).
• The date of the last activity.
• The agent who was assigned.

Opening Past Conversations

Click on any previous conversation in the list to open it in a new view. This allows you to:

• Review the full message history from the past interaction.
• Understand what issues the customer has raised before.
• See how previous issues were resolved.
• Avoid asking the customer to repeat information they have already provided.

Rich Text Formatting

When replying to email conversations, the message composer provides a rich text editor with formatting options including:

CC and BCC Fields

Email conversations support standard CC (carbon copy) and BCC (blind carbon copy) fields. You can add CC and BCC recipients when composing a reply by clicking the respective fields above the message composer. This is useful for looping in additional stakeholders or keeping records in external systems.

Replying to Emails

When you reply to an email conversation in AstraChat, the reply is sent directly from your connected email address. The customer receives the reply in their email inbox, just like a regular email. The full email thread is preserved, so the customer sees the conversation context.

Email Signatures

Email signatures are automatically appended to all outgoing email replies. Each agent can configure their own signature in their profile settings. You can also toggle the signature on or off on a per-message basis using the signature control in the composer toolbar.