# Chats and the shared inbox

Find conversations from supported connected channels, understand unread messages, and distinguish customer replies from internal CRM notes and tasks.

Canonical: https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/inbox/overview/


## What this area is for

**Chats** brings customer conversations from the workspace's connected accounts into one screen. You can read a conversation, reply through its original account, and work with the participant's linked CRM contact.

Inbox availability depends on the connected account, the network's messaging support, and your access. A channel that supports publishing is not necessarily an inbox channel. The platform names in the filter come from the conversations actually returned; they are not a promise that every connected network supports messages here.

## Pages in this area

- This overview explains the conversation list, read states, customer card, and availability limits.
- [Read and reply to a conversation](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/inbox/reply/) covers sending a reply, adding an internal note or task, and handling failures.

## Find and open a conversation

1. Open **Chats** at `/inbox`. **All conversations** shows the conversations that loaded for your workspace.
2. Enter a participant name or words from the latest message in **Search conversations…**. The search filters the loaded list; it is not a search through every message in the full thread history.
3. If conversations span more than one platform, use **All channels** to show a particular platform. Clear the search and return to **All channels** to remove both restrictions.
4. Select a conversation. Its participant name and, when available, the connected account's username appear above the messages. Check these before replying, especially when a person messages more than one business account.

On a wide screen, the list, conversation, and **Customer** card appear beside each other. On a smaller screen, opening a conversation replaces the list; use **Back to conversations** to return. The first conversation can be selected automatically on a wide screen. Changing a filter does not necessarily close a conversation you already opened.

## What the conversation list shows

| Item | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| Participant name or identifier | Who the provider reports as the other participant. A missing name can be replaced by their identifier. |
| Preview | The latest message's text, or **Attachment** when the provider reports an attachment-only preview. |
| Platform icon or name | The network that supplied this conversation. An unfamiliar network can appear by name rather than an icon. |
| Time or date | The conversation's update time, formatted using the workspace time zone. |
| Unread number | The number of messages reported as unread for this conversation. |

Unread counts are acknowledged when the conversation is actually visible, not merely selected behind the list on a phone. After the read acknowledgement succeeds, the badge clears. If that acknowledgement fails, the conversation remains readable and the badge can remain. An unread badge is not a delivery receipt for a reply you sent.

Messages are grouped by day and show times in the workspace time zone. Incoming attachments may display an image or an attachment title; the reply composer itself sends text, not a new attachment upload.

## The customer card and CRM

The **Customer** card can show the participant's network, account, available profile link, and permitted CRM details. **View profile** appears only when a link is available.

- **Save as contact** saves a conversation participant as a CRM contact when the required identifier, supported contact channel, and permissions are available.
- **Open contact** opens the existing contact. If the save detects an existing record, open that record rather than creating another one.
- Phone, email, and tags depend on the saved record and your access. Seeing a participant in Chats does not grant access to another person's private contact details.
- **How did they find us?** can appear for a contact saved from this screen when you have the required editing access.
- **Internal note** and **Task** write to that linked CRM record. They do not send a message to the customer. Only **Reply** sends a customer-facing response.

On smaller screens, the save-contact action is also offered near the composer when appropriate; the full customer side panel is not displayed.

## Available now and coming soon

Reading existing conversations, sending text replies, and permitted CRM notes and tasks are available. **New message**, **Scheduled send**, and **Active automations** are marked **Coming soon**. They are not controls for starting a new conversation, scheduling a reply, or configuring an inbox automation today.

## If something goes wrong

| Symptom | What to check |
| --- | --- |
| **No conversations yet** | Check the workspace and its connected accounts. There may be no conversations returned by the supported messaging channels yet; this is not evidence that every network has no messages. |
| **No conversation matches that search.** | Clear the search and channel filter before concluding a conversation is missing. |
| A warning says a platform could not load | The visible list can be incomplete even when other channels loaded. Check that account's connection and access before reloading the page. |
| **We couldn't load your conversations.** | The list failed to load. Check your connection and reopen the page; do not treat the empty list as a confirmed absence of messages. |
| **You no longer have access to this account.** | Ask the account or workspace owner to restore the appropriate access, or use an account you are allowed to use. Reload after access is restored. |
| Notes or tasks are unavailable | Wait for the contact lookup, save or open the CRM contact, and check the relevant contact permissions. Conversation access and CRM editing access are separate. |

## Related pages

- [Read and reply to a conversation](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/inbox/reply/)
- [Connect social accounts](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/channels/connect-social-accounts/)
- [Contacts and CRM](https://docs.lead-knight.com/en/contacts/overview/)