Working with conversations
Read, answer and triage patient messages from every channel in one place.
The Inbox gathers every WhatsApp, SMS and email exchange into one screen. This page shows you how to read a conversation, reply, leave internal notes, attach files, and keep the queue tidy with assign, snooze and close.
Open the Inbox from the sidebar. The page has three panes: the conversation list on the left, the open thread in the middle, and the contact panel on the right.
Find the conversation you need
- Switch between the Open, Snoozed and Closed tabs above the list. Open is everything that still needs attention.
- Narrow the list with the channel filter (All channels, WhatsApp, SMS, Email), the assignee filter (Mine, Unassigned, Anyone, or a colleague), and the Unread toggle.
- Type in Search conversations to match a contact's name, phone number, email address or the last message.
Unread conversations show a badge with the unread count, and the header shows how many conversations are unread in total. New inbound messages appear in the list the moment they arrive.
The list works from the keyboard: press j/k (or the arrow keys) to move, Enter to open, and Esc to close the thread. Opening a conversation marks it as read.
Read the thread
Messages from the patient sit on the left; yours sit on the right with delivery ticks — a clock while sending, one tick for Sent, two for Delivered, and two coloured ticks for Read. Scroll up to load older messages. Emails show their subject line; click Show full email to expand a long one.
A conversation can span more than one channel — the same patient's WhatsApp, SMS and email messages live in a single thread, each message marked with its channel icon.
Reply
Open the conversation and click into the composer at the bottom. Make sure the Reply tab is active.
If the thread spans several channels, check the channel picker next to the attach button. It defaults to the channel the patient last wrote on; click it to reply on a different one.
Type your message. For email replies you can set a subject — leave it blank to reply on the thread's latest subject.
Press Enter or click Send. Shift+Enter adds a new line instead.
You can't send on a channel that is disconnected or that the patient has opted out of — the composer tells you why and lets you pick another channel. WhatsApp replies are also subject to the 24-hour window; see Channels.
Attach a file
Click the paperclip icon in the composer, pick a file, and send. Attachments are limited to 10 MB each. SMS doesn't support attachments, so the paperclip is hidden on SMS replies.
Leave an internal note
Switch the composer to the Note tab, write your note, and click Add note. Notes appear in the thread on an amber card marked "not visible to the patient" — they are never sent. Use them for handovers and context.
Triage a conversation
The thread header carries the triage actions:
- Click Close when the conversation is dealt with (or Reopen to bring it back).
- Open the actions menu (the
⋮button) for the rest:- Assign to — hand the conversation to a colleague, or set it back to Unassigned.
- Snooze — hide it until Later today (+3h), Tomorrow 9:00 or Next Monday 9:00.
- Mark unread — put it back in the unread queue for a second look.
- Link to patient — see below.
Snoozed conversations reopen on their own when the timer runs out — and immediately if the patient replies. An inbound message also reopens a closed conversation, so nothing slips past the Open tab.
Link a conversation to a patient
Messages from a number or address SmileLine doesn't recognise arrive as an "Unknown contact". Link them so the exchange lands on the patient's timeline:
Click Link patient in the thread header (or Link to patient in the contact panel).
Search by name, phone or email and pick the right patient — or click Create a new patient.
The conversation and all its past messages are added to the patient's timeline.
Each patient has one conversation thread. If the patient you link already has one, the two threads merge into it automatically.
Once linked, the contact panel on the right shows the patient's details and journeys. You can edit contact fields directly there, or click Open full patient record.
Retry a failed message
If a message can't be delivered, the bubble shows Not delivered with the failure reason and a Retry button. Fix the cause if there is one (for example, a wrong number) and click Retry to send it again.
Start a new conversation
Click New in the Inbox header, choose a channel, enter the recipient's phone number or email address, and write the first message. If a thread already exists for that contact and channel, your message lands there instead of creating a duplicate. Business-initiated WhatsApp messages must use an approved template — see Message templates.