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Messages

Every conversation, from every channel, in one inbox​

Path: Communication > Messages

Messages is where you watch what your bot is doing and step in when you need to. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, comments on your posts and the chat on your website all land in the same list, on the left; the open conversation sits on the right.

Finding the conversation you want​

Channel tabs​

One tab per connected channel, except email, which only shows up mixed into the list:

All Messages · Messenger · Instagram · WhatsApp · Website chat · Facebook comments · Instagram comments

A direct message and a comment are different conversations, with different rules. After a separator sit Playground, your test conversations from the Playground, and Flagged, what ReadyChatAI marks as spam or bots. Each tab carries its own unread count.

Filter pills​

Under the search box, pills that stack with each other and with the active channel tab: Unread, Favorites, Needs human (see below), Leads, Appointments (customers with an upcoming appointment) and Orders (customers with an active order). The Filters button adds Pipeline and Stage, to show only the contacts of one pipeline or of some of its stages; see Pipelines.

Status icons in the list​

A row can carry icons: Human requested, Upcoming appointment (a confirmed appointment that has not ended) and Active order (a confirmed or shipping order).

The search box filters by customer name only. To find something a customer said, open the conversation and use the search icon in its header (2+ characters).

"Needs human" — the state to watch​

When a customer asks to speak with a person, ReadyChatAI marks that conversation and tints its row amber in the list. Hovering the row shows "Human requested", and the customer's profile shows the same status.

The Needs human pill collects all of them. Two things surprise people:

The bot does not go silent when a customer asks for a person. The request is a flag for you: the bot keeps answering until somebody from your team writes in the conversation.

The mark clears when a human replies — a human, specifically. A reply from you or a teammate clears it; a bot reply or another customer message does not. You can also clear it without replying with Mark as handled on the amber row. A new request re-marks the conversation.

You also get an alert in the dashboard and by email. If any Admin or Escalation Agent has weekly hours in User Management, the email goes to whoever is on duty at that moment; if nobody is, or nobody has hours, it goes to your business address, and only if that address is verified. Either way, escalation notifications must be on in your notification preferences.

Reading and replying​

The customer sits at the top with a Show Profile link, the history in the middle and the reply box at the bottom. What you can attach depends on the channel: images work on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram; documents (up to 5 MB) on WhatsApp and Facebook only; voice notes on WhatsApp only.

If a message you sent could not be delivered, it says so under the message — usually because the channel has been disconnected. Check the account on Channels.

Customer profile, notes and pipeline​

Show Profile opens the contact panel: identity, contact details, channel statuses and, when available, the Lead status card with a conversation summary and key details. Some facts only appear when the channel supplies them.

  • Came from an ad — when the contact arrived through a click-to-message ad, the panel names it; open it for the platform, how many contacts that ad brought, the first contact, the ad ID and Open in Ads Manager.
  • Follow-up scheduled — when the bot has an automatic reminder pending, the card shows when it goes out and which one it is (for example, 1 of 2). Cancel follow-up stops it for that conversation; it also cancels itself when the customer writes, when someone on your team replies or when the customer asks for a person. See Leads and follow-ups.
  • Notes — internal team notes, with author and time. They are never sent to the customer and teach the assistant nothing; that belongs in the Knowledge Base. Any teammate can edit or delete someone else's note, and deleting is immediate, with no confirmation and no history.
  • Stage — with Leads on, a selector to leave the contact without a stage, move it, or mark it won or lost. The stage also appears in the list.

The controls at the top of the conversation​

  • Chat AI — the bot on or off, for this conversation only. Turn it off and the bot stops answering this customer entirely until you turn it back on. A notice appears in the reply box: "Bot responses disabled. Click on Chat AI to enable."
  • Star — mark as a favorite, which is what the Favorites pill filters on.
  • Block — stop a customer contacting you on that channel. Blocked conversations show a Blocked label and you cannot send or receive.
  • Delete — hides the conversation from your lists without blocking the customer or stopping the bot. It reappears once they write again, though the earlier messages stay hidden for good.

When you reply, the bot steps back on its own​

You do not have to turn Chat AI off to take over. The moment someone from your team sends a message, the bot pauses on that conversation; every further team message restarts the pause, and when it runs out the bot resumes. How long it lasts is yours to set, in Configure → "How long should the bot pause when a human replies?" — anywhere from 0 to 240 minutes. At 0 the bot never pauses, so it can reply in the middle of your own conversation with the customer.

Use Chat AI off for the conversations you want to own permanently; use the pause for ordinary "let me handle this one" moments.

Notices you may see above the reply box​

These are Meta's rules, not ReadyChatAI's:

  • "Meta restrictions apply to this conversation." — a person on your team can reply for 24 hours after the customer's last message on WhatsApp, and for 7 days on Messenger and Instagram. The bot and automatic messages get 24 hours on every channel. After that, the customer has to write to you again.
  • "Comment conversation. The 24-hour DM window is closed — you can still reply on the post." — they reached you by commenting, not by direct message: use Reply on post to post publicly under it; the DM window opens once they message you directly.
  • "This customer has opted out of messaging." — they asked not to be contacted. They will not receive anything you send.
  • "This account is deactivated. Click to reactivate." — the channel this conversation belongs to is switched off.

Good habits​

  • Work the "Needs human" pill first, every morning.
  • Watch the Flagged tab occasionally. Spam detection is automatic and can be wrong in both directions; enough flags eventually turn Chat AI off for that customer. Open View Details for the reasons, and use Verify as Human to clear the flag, turn the bot back on, and exempt that customer from re-flagging for 30 days.
  • Read a handful of bot replies each week; what you find belongs in the Knowledge Base.
  • Prefer replying over switching Chat AI off. Replying pauses the bot automatically and brings it back by itself; a switch stays off until someone remembers to flip it.