# 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.

## Quick start

1. Open **Inbox** and find **Custom** in the views rail on the left.
2. Click **+** beside **Custom** (**New custom view**). Any member may create one.
3. Type a **Name**, for example `Unassigned WhatsApp`.
4. Pick your **Status**, **Assignee**, **Lifecycle stage**, **Channel** and **Contact Tag**.
5. Click **Create view**. It appears under **Custom**, for everyone in the workspace.

## Watch out

- A saved view is shared: everyone in the workspace sees it, and there is no private one.
- The default **Status** reads **Active (open + pending + snoozed)** but leaves snoozed chats out. Only **Status: Snoozed** shows them.

![The new custom view panel: Name, Status, Assignee, Lifecycle stage, Channel and Contact Tag.](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/inbox/custom-inbox-views-1.webp)

![The form's Channel and Contact Tag fields, the Only unreplied checkbox, and Create view ready to press.](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/inbox/custom-inbox-views-2.webp)

## Getting here

**Inbox** → the views rail → the **Custom** group → **+** (**New custom view**). In the app the same saved views appear under **Custom** in the inbox drawer; they can be opened there, but not created or changed.

## Before you start

- Any member of the workspace can create a view. Only the person who created it, or an **owner** or **admin**, can edit or delete it.
- Everyone in the workspace sees every saved view. A custom view is shared, not private.
- Lifecycle stages and contact tags only appear as choices once the workspace has them.

## Set up

1. Open **Inbox**, find **Custom** in the views rail, and click **+** beside it.
2. Give the view a **Name** — up to 60 characters, and it cannot be empty.
3. Set the filters you want. Every one you set has to match for a conversation to appear.
4. Click **Create view**. To change it later, hover the view in the rail and click the pencil, then **Save**.

## Fields

| Field | What it means | Default | Limits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Name | What the view is called in the rail. | — | Up to 60 characters, and it cannot be empty. |
| Status | Which conversation state to include: **Open**, **Pending**, **Snoozed** or **Closed**. | Active (open + pending + snoozed) | Left as it is, the view shows open and pending chats and leaves closed ones out. It leaves snoozed chats out too, although the wording says otherwise — only **Status: Snoozed** shows them. |
| Assignee | **Anyone**, **Me**, **Unassigned**, or one named teammate. **Me** is read against whoever is looking. | Anyone | — |
| Lifecycle stage | **Any**, **No stage**, or one stage. | Any | — |
| Channel | One channel type, or any. | any | — |
| Contact Tag | One or more tags, comma separated. A conversation matches when any one of them is on the contact or on the conversation. | — | The suggestions offer only tags that already exist; text you type is saved as it is. |
| Only unreplied (awaiting your reply) | Keep only chats where the customer wrote last. | off | — |

## How it works

- The view stores the filters you picked. It does not store a list of conversations, so it re-reads the inbox every time you open it.
- All the filters apply together: a conversation has to match every one of them to appear. Within **Contact Tag**, any one of the tags is enough.
- Leaving **Status** as it is includes open and pending conversations and leaves closed ones out. Snoozed chats are left out too, although the wording on that choice says otherwise — only **Status: Snoozed** shows them.
- **Assignee: Me** is read against whoever is looking, so one saved view gives each teammate their own list.
- A blocked contact's conversations never appear in a custom view, exactly as in the built-in views.
- The view is saved for the workspace and appears in everybody's rail, in the order the views were created.
- The pencil beside a view (**Edit {name}**), shown on hover to its creator, an **owner** or an **admin**, reopens the same form with the saved filters in it. **Save** replaces them.
- Deleting asks first — **Delete the "{name}" view?** — and removes the view for everyone.

## When it fails

- A view whose stored filters can no longer be read shows a warning sign (**Invalid filter — edit to fix**) and a greyed name in the rail. The list then shows **This saved view is invalid — edit it to fix its filters.** It is never treated as "match everything".
- Saving with an empty name is refused: **Name can’t be empty.**
- A name longer than 60 characters is refused: **Name is too long.**
- Editing or deleting a view somebody else created, when you are not an **owner** or **admin**, is refused: **Only the view’s creator or an admin can change it.**
- A delete that does not go through says **Could not delete "{name}".**
- A new view that fails to save says **Could not create this view. Please try again.**; an edit that fails says **Could not save this view. Please try again.**

## Limits

- A custom view filters. It does not assign, close, tag or change anything on the conversations it shows.
- It is not a team inbox. Routing a conversation to a team is a separate action in the conversation header.
- It cannot be made private. Every member of the workspace sees every saved view.
- It holds one value per field, except **Contact Tag**. To follow two channels separately, save two views.
- There is no way to build or edit a view on the phone. The app shows the saved views under **Custom** and nothing more.
- A view is subject to the same list limits as any other: it reads the loaded inbox and renders only the first few hundred rows.

## Best practices

- Name a view after the job, not the filter: `Unassigned WhatsApp` beats `WhatsApp + unassigned`.
- Build one **Assignee: Me** view for the team instead of one per person. It shows each teammate their own work.
- Keep the number of saved views small. A rail of twenty views is slower to read than the search box.
- Before saving, set the same filters on the built-in views and check the list looks right.
- Agree who owns the shared views. Anybody can create one, and only an **owner**, an **admin** or the creator can clean it up.

## Use cases

- `Unassigned WhatsApp` — everything on WhatsApp that nobody has taken.
- `VIP waiting` — contact tag `vip`, with **Only unreplied** switched on.
- `New leads` — lifecycle stage "New lead", assignee **Anyone**.
- `My open chats` — assignee **Me**, status left as it is.
- `Closed this week for review` — status **Closed**, one channel, for a quality check.

## FAQ and troubleshooting

### Do my teammates see the view I saved?

Yes. Saved views belong to the workspace, and everybody's rail shows them. Only the creator, an **owner** or an **admin** can change or delete one.

### Can I make a view only I can see?

Not today. If the point is to see your own work, save one view with **Assignee: Me** — it shows each person their own conversations.

### My view is empty and it was not yesterday.

Check whether the rail marks it **Invalid filter — edit to fix**. If it does not, the filters are simply matching nothing right now — try widening **Status** or clearing the tag.

### Does a view freeze the conversations that were in it?

No. It stores the filters and reads the inbox afresh every time. A conversation leaves the view as soon as it stops matching.

### Can I edit a view on my phone?

No. The app lists the saved views under **Custom** so you can work from them, but the form for building one is on the web only.

### Why does the closed conversation I expected not show?

The default **Status** leaves closed conversations out. Set **Status** to **Closed** to build a review list.

## Related

- [Find the conversation you need](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/inbox/find-a-conversation)
- [Act on many conversations at once](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/inbox/bulk-actions-in-the-inbox)
- [Assign, route to a team, add collaborators](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/inbox/assign-route-and-collaborate)
- [Close, reopen, snooze, pin and mute a conversation](https://inchat.inseller.my/help/inbox/close-reopen-and-snooze)

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Source files: `src/components/inbox/CustomInboxBuilder.tsx`, `src/components/inbox/CustomInboxGroup.tsx`, `src/app/(app)/inbox/custom-inbox-actions.ts`, `src/lib/inbox/custom-inboxes.ts`, `src/lib/inbox/custom-inbox-filter.ts`, `src/components/inbox/InboxListPane.tsx`, `src/components/contacts/TagSuggestInput.tsx`, `supabase/migrations/0017_custom_inboxes.sql`, `src/lib/i18n/messages/inbox-list.ts`, `mobile/src/components/inbox/InboxDrawer.tsx`, `mobile/src/lib/inbox/list.ts`