Act on many conversations at once

Getting here

Inbox → tick a row, or use the All checkbox above the list. The bar appears between the filters and the list. In the app: the inbox header's Select conversations, then the bar at the bottom.

Before you start

• An owner, admin or agent can use every button. A viewer can use only Mark unread, which is personal; every other action is refused for them.
• At most 100 conversations at a time.
• The tag has to be one you are happy to create: typing a new one adds it.

Fields

Close

Closes each selected conversation, exactly as closing one does.

Reopen

Puts each selected closed conversation back in Open.

Mark unread

Marks each one unread for you only.

Tag

Adds one tag to each selected conversation.

Limits: A conversation tag, not a contact tag. It only ever adds.

Assign to…

Assigns every one to the teammate you pick, or Unassign for none.

Clear

Drops the selection without doing anything.

How it works

• Each conversation is handled one at a time, with its own permission check and its own line in the conversation's history. It is not one sweeping change.
• Because of that, a run can land partly: the bar then says {applied} of {count} updated — {error}, naming the first thing that went wrong.
• When everything lands the bar says {applied} updated; when nothing does, Nothing was updated.
• Close does everything a single close does: the close time, the conversation's own line, your read marker, the conversation-closed workflow trigger and the satisfaction survey when it is switched on.
• Tag adds a tag to the conversation, not to the contact. A contact tag is edited on the contact.
• Tags are added, never replaced, and a tag already there is not added twice.
• Assign to… checks each target is still a member of the workspace before assigning.
• Mark unread is personal: your list changes, your teammates' lists do not.
• The All checkbox ticks the rows on screen. Because a view renders only the first few hundred rows, and the bar allows 100, ticking All on a busy view usually goes over the limit at once.
• Over the limit, every button is switched off and the bar says {limit} at a time is the maximum — deselect {remaining}.
• The app's selection bar works the same way and shares the same limit and the same wording.

When it fails

• {limit} at a time is the maximum — deselect {remaining}. — nothing runs until the selection is small enough.
• Nothing was updated. — every single one failed. The message beside it names the first reason.
• {applied} of {count} updated — {error} — some landed and some did not. The ones that landed stay done.
• You don’t have permission to change this conversation. — you are a viewer, or not a member of this workspace.
• That teammate isn’t a member of this workspace. — the person you picked has left.
• This contact already has an open conversation on this channel — one of the reopens was refused because a newer conversation is already open with that person.
• Applying… while it runs. The bar stays until the run is finished, however long the list is.

Limits

• The bar writes no message itself. Close can still reach customers: it sends the satisfaction survey when that is switched on under Settings → Conversations, and starts any workflow triggered by a closed conversation.
• It can only close, reopen, mark unread, tag and assign. It cannot snooze, pin, mute or route to a team.
• It acts on the rows you ticked. All ticks what is on screen, not everything the view matches — the view itself renders only the first few hundred rows.
• A partly-finished run is not undone. The conversations that were changed stay changed.
• Tag adds one tag per run and never removes one. Removing a tag is done on the conversation.
• The tag it adds is a conversation tag. It does not change the contact, and it does not move anyone through a lifecycle stage.
• Mark unread is per person, so it cannot be used to put work back into a teammate's queue.

Best practices

• Narrow the view first, then select. A tidy view is safer than a long selection.
• Close in batches of a few dozen rather than the whole screen — a smaller run is easier to read when it partly fails.
• Read the result line. {applied} of {count} updated means some rows still need you.
• Tag before you close, so the closed conversations can still be found by that tag afterwards.
• Assign rather than close when the work is not finished. Closing takes it out of everybody's working view.

Use cases

• A morning of duplicate greetings from one campaign: select, Tag them, then Close.
• A teammate has left: select their open chats and Assign to… somebody else.
• You closed a batch by mistake: select them under Closed and Reopen.
• A set of chats you skimmed on a phone: select and Mark unread, so they come back on the desk.
• Fifty chats from one broken advert: tag them so the report can count them.

FAQ and troubleshooting

How many conversations can I act on at once?

100. Above that every button is switched off and the bar says how many to deselect.

Does the All checkbox select everything in the view?

No — only the rows on screen. A view renders only the first few hundred rows, and the bar allows 100, so All on a busy view usually goes over the limit at once.

The bar says some were updated and some were not. What happened?

Each conversation runs on its own, so one can be refused while the rest go through. The ones that were changed stay changed; the message names the first reason.

Does the tag go on the customer or on the chat?

On the chat. Tagging a contact is done from the contact, and it is a different list of tags.

Can I snooze or pin several conversations at once?

No. Those are on one conversation at a time.

Will the customers know I closed their chats?

Only if something messages them: the satisfaction survey when your workspace has it switched on, or a workflow that starts when a conversation is closed. Closing in bulk does both, exactly as closing one does.

Related

• Close, reopen, snooze, pin and mute a conversation — Clear a chat out of your working views without losing it, park it until later, or keep it on top of the list.
• Assign, route to a team, add collaborators — Decide who owns a conversation, which team it belongs to, and who else should see it and get its notifications.
• Find the conversation you need — Views, search, the channel filter and the Unreplied switch narrow the inbox down to the chats you still have to answer.
• Build your own inbox view — Save a set of filters as a named view, so the list you work from every morning is one click away for the whole team.