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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.

The screen has two panels: the conversation list on the left, the open conversation on the right. Until you pick one, the right side just says "No conversation selected".

Finding the conversation you want​

Channel tabs​

A row of tabs across the top, one per channel you have connected — except email, which has no tab of its own and only shows up mixed into the rest of the list:

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

Facebook and Instagram each get two tabs: a direct message and a comment are different conversations, with different rules.

After a separator sit two more: Playground, your own test conversations (once you've used the Playground), and Flagged, conversations ReadyChatAI marks as spam or bots.

Each tab carries its own unread count.

Filter pills​

Under the search box, pills you can switch on and off. They stack with each other and with whichever channel tab is active, so "Unread" plus WhatsApp gives you unread WhatsApp conversations.

  • Unread
  • Favorites
  • Needs human — see below
  • Leads, when lead tracking is on for your business

The search box filters by customer name only. To find something a customer actually said, open the conversation and use the search icon in its header — it searches that conversation's messages (2+ characters) and highlights each match.

"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 filter pill collects all of them — check it first each morning.

Two things about this state surprise people:

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

The mark clears when a human replies — a human, specifically. A reply from you or a teammate clears it; a reply from the bot does not, and neither does another message from the customer. You can also clear it without replying: amber rows show a Mark as handled button. A new request re-marks the conversation, so it isn't a way to silence one for good.

You also get an alert when this happens: ReadyChatAI notifies you in the dashboard, and sends an email to your business address. The email only goes out if that address has been verified and escalation notifications are switched on in your notification preferences — an unverified address means the alert goes nowhere, so it's worth checking.

Reading and replying​

Open a conversation and you get the customer at the top with a Show Profile link, the full 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. It shows the identity and contact details ReadyChatAI knows, channel and contact statuses, and—when available—a conversation summary and key lead details. Some channel-specific facts, such as Instagram profile signals or Messenger local time, only appear when that channel supplies them.

The profile's Notes section lets your team add, edit and delete internal notes. Notes show their author and time, are never sent to the customer, and do not teach the assistant new facts. Put customer-facing knowledge in the Knowledge Base instead.

Any teammate can edit or delete a note someone else wrote — there's no author or role check. Deleting is immediate, with no confirmation and no history, so an overwritten or deleted note can't be recovered.

If lead tracking is enabled for your business, the profile also has a pipeline stage selector. You can leave a contact without a stage, move it through open stages, or mark it won or lost. The current stage also appears in the conversation list. Businesses without the Leads feature do not see these controls.

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, and every further message from your team restarts the pause. When the pause runs out, the bot resumes.

How long that pause 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, and there is no way around them:

  • "Meta restrictions apply to this conversation." — Facebook and Instagram only let you message a customer within 24 hours of their last message to you.
  • "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. Those are people who explicitly asked for you.
  • 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, on a channel you don't usually check. It is the cheapest quality control there is, and 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.