Early access. These guides cover the current product build. Access and connected-channel availability depend on your organization's setup. Public Instagram messaging access is not available yet.

Read the inbox

The inbox shows recorded conversations for your workspace. Eligible workspaces can separately enable manual text replies and controls to save a follow-up time, add labels, assign a teammate or pause Echo's replies to incoming direct messages in one conversation.

Inbox access, pause controls, teammate assignment, conversation labels, recording new incoming messages, live updates, follow-up reminders and manual replies are separate early-access capabilities. All eight are off by default. Seeing Inbox does not mean the other capabilities have been enabled, and enabling recording does not make Inbox visible. These instructions do not imply public Instagram messaging approval or availability for every workspace.

Open a conversation

Open Inbox when it is available in your workspace.
Choose a conversation. Check its contact and channel before reading the messages; conversations on different channels are separate.
Use Older and Newer, when shown, to move through recorded pages.
Choose Refresh to check for newly recorded messages. Optional live updates can refresh the view when changes are detected; see the refresh guidance below.

A missing contact name or channel label means that information is unavailable. It does not establish who sent the message. Similar names across channels do not prove that two contacts are the same person.

Live updates and manual refresh

Both Inbox access and live updates must be enabled for your workspace. Live updates are off by default. Where enabled, a change signal prompts the page to read the latest records you are allowed to see. The signal does not carry message text or attachments, and it does not grant access to another workspace.

Live updates are not a guarantee that every change appears immediately. History may still be incomplete, and refreshing does not import earlier provider chats. You can use Refresh to check the latest recorded state if the connection is interrupted or the view seems out of date.

Automatic refresh waits while you are editing conversation controls or a change is saving. If you see Updates are waiting, finish editing or use Refresh when you are ready. Review the latest state before retrying a conflicting edit. If Automatic updates are unavailable appears, use Refresh to check for changes. A listening status means the page is waiting for change notices, not that every record is already up to date.

Live updates only refresh the view. They do not send replies, create reminders, change an assignment or pause, or trigger an automation.

Pause Echo in one conversation

Both Inbox access and pause controls must be enabled for your workspace. You must be signed in as an owner, admin or editor in a workspace with active or trial status to change a pause. Viewers can read the recorded state but cannot change it.

Open the conversation and choose Pause Echo 1h, Pause Echo 4h or Pause Echo 24h. Wait for the saved state before treating the pause as set. The displayed end time uses your workspace's time zone. Choose Resume Echo to remove an existing pause early.

This pauses Echo's automatic replies to incoming DMs in the selected conversation. Comment automations, including private replies triggered by comments, stay on. It does not pause every conversation with that contact or switch Echo off for the workspace. Work already authorized or in flight may still finish; a pause cannot cancel a send already underway.

If another tab or teammate changed the pause, your request does not overwrite that newer state. The page shows the latest recorded state. Review it and choose the action again if you still want to make the change.

Resuming or reaching the end time sends nothing and does not replay held messages. It only removes this pause; other checks, including the applicable 24-hour messaging window, still apply. If pause controls become unavailable, an existing pause remains in effect until its end time or an authorized resume.

Assign a teammate

Both Inbox access and assignment controls must be enabled for your workspace. To assign or unassign, you must be signed in as an owner, admin or editor in a workspace with active or trial status. Viewers can see the recorded assignment but cannot change it.

In the conversation, choose an eligible owner, admin or editor from your own workspace in Teammate, then choose Save assignment. Wait for the recorded assignment to update. Choose Unassign to clear it. If no eligible teammates are available, you cannot save a new assignment.

If another tab or teammate changes the assignment first, the page shows the latest state instead of overwriting it. Review that state, choose the teammate again if needed, and explicitly retry. If your selected teammate is no longer eligible, refresh before choosing someone else.

Removing a teammate from the workspace or changing their role to viewer automatically clears their assignments, even when assignment editing is disabled. Use Refresh to check changes made elsewhere, including when live updates are unavailable.

Assignment only records responsibility. It sends no notification, message or reminder and does not pause or resume Echo or replay messages. An existing Echo pause stays in place when you assign, unassign or remove a teammate. The usual messaging window and other checks still apply.

Add conversation labels

Both Inbox access and label controls must be enabled for your workspace. An owner, admin or editor in an active or trial workspace can add or remove labels; viewers can read the recorded labels but cannot change them.

In Labels, choose an Existing label and select Add label. Or enter a Label name and choose Create or add label: an exact, case-sensitive match reuses the existing name; otherwise it creates one. For example, Follow up and follow up are different names. The picker shows up to 100 names; enter an exact name to use another existing label.

Use a name of 1–48 characters on one line. Spaces at the start and end are removed. A conversation can have at most ten labels. Choose Remove beside a recorded label before adding another when the limit is reached. Removing a label here removes it from this conversation, not from the workspace's catalog.

If another edit changed the labels, review the latest state and explicitly retry. Use Refresh to see changes made elsewhere. Catalog management and label filtering are not available here. A catalog name linked to any conversation cannot be renamed or deleted until all its conversation links are removed.

Labels apply only to this conversation. They do not change contact tags, assignment or Echo's pause state. Adding or removing a label sends no message, notification or reminder and does not trigger an automation.

Save a follow-up time

Both Inbox access and follow-up controls must be enabled for your workspace. An owner, admin or editor in an active or trial workspace can change the saved time. Viewers can read it but cannot change it. Follow-up controls are off by default and are separate from assignment, labels and Echo pauses.

Open the conversation's Follow-up section and choose Follow up in 1h, Follow up in 4h or Follow up in 24h. Wait for Follow-up time saved. before treating the change as confirmed. There is one saved time per conversation; choosing a new duration replaces it. The displayed time uses your workspace's time zone. Choose Clear follow-up to remove it.

When the saved time arrives, it is shown as Follow-up due in the inbox and conversation. It stays due until you clear it or choose a new time. Becoming due does not send a notification, reply or reminder message, trigger automation, change the assignee or pause/resume Echo. It does not extend a messaging window. There is no separate queue that puts all due conversations first.

If another tab or teammate changed the time first, review the latest state before explicitly trying again. Use Refresh if a change could not be confirmed or the displayed time is unavailable. Live updates, where enabled, can refresh recorded changes; they do not complete or clear a due follow-up for you.

Send a manual reply

Both Inbox access and manual replies must be enabled for your workspace. Manual replies are off by default. You must be signed in as an owner, admin or editor in an active or trial workspace to send; viewers can read recorded messages but cannot send a reply.

Check the selected conversation's contact and channel before writing. Replies are text only, with a limit of 1,000 characters. You cannot attach a file. Sending still requires a connected, eligible channel and the applicable 24-hour messaging window, plan and access checks. Seeing the reply controls does not guarantee that a send will be allowed.

In Reply, enter Reply text, review it, then choose Send reply once. While Sending reply… is shown, wait for the recorded outcome. If the provider accepts the reply and it is recorded here, that is not confirmation of delivery. Choose Write another reply only when you intend to send a separate message.

A manual reply is attributed to the teammate who sends it, not to Echo. Sending does not resume Echo or change an existing pause, assignment, label or follow-up. It does not extend the messaging window.

If a reply is pending or its outcome is uncertain, do not send it again as a new reply. A lost connection or missing confirmation does not prove that nothing was sent. Use Check reply status to check the existing attempt without resending. Refresh or reload the conversation to check the recorded outcome before taking another action; recovery does not automatically resend the message. An uncertain attempt stays locked against another send.

Only when an attempt is confirmed safe to retry does the page offer Retry this reply for the same text or Edit a new draft. Review the result before choosing either. If the reply text is unavailable after a reload, recovery does not enable a retry with missing text.

Understand the history

History may be incomplete. When recording is enabled for an eligible connected channel, new incoming direct messages can be saved as they are processed. There is no historical backfill: enabling it does not import earlier provider chats. An empty inbox does not prove that nobody has messaged the account.

This recording capability receives incoming messages only. It does not send a reply or guarantee that every outgoing message is present in the conversation. A repeated delivery of the same recorded message does not create an extra copy.

If you expected a conversation, check Channels for connection issues and confirm which early-access capabilities your workspace has. Use the night log for recorded Runner actions; it is a different view from the conversation history.

Read attachment markers

Attachment recorded. Preview unavailable. means the record indicates an attachment was present. A caption may appear with it. The inbox does not display an attachment preview or offer a download.

Message content unavailable. means the record has no displayable text or confirmed attachment marker. Do not assume that the original message was empty or that it had no attachment, especially for older records.