Managing CRM Conversations

4 columns

What you will see inside

The Conversations view is organized into four columns, left to right. Tap a column to see what it does.

Choose what you are looking at

My Inbox for conversations assigned to you, Team Inbox for the broader account view, and Internal Chat for private team threads. The New Conversation button here is how you start a message from scratch.

Scan and filter

Unread, All, Recent, and Starred filters, plus filtering by message type and tags. Icons show you whether each item is an email, a text, or a call, and you can star, mark read or unread, and sort by latest or oldest.

Work the thread

The full history with the selected contact, filterable by message type. Call, archive, favorite, or mark unread from here, and reply using the composer with its formatting options.

Act without leaving

Complete contact information and history, an activity timeline, and the ability to add tasks, notes, and appointments. Associated opportunities, companies, documents, and contracts are all reachable from this column.

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My Inbox vs Team Inbox

My Inbox shows only conversations where you are the contact owner or a follower. Team Inbox shows conversations across the account, limited by your access level and permissions.

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Internal Chat

Private team-to-team threads that clients never see. Use this when you need a teammate's input before you reply to a customer.

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Archive, do not delete

Archiving removes a conversation from your active inbox but keeps the history in the system. Deleting is permanent and takes the record with it.

"Always reply inside the system whenever possible. That way everyone on your team sees the full conversation history, which cuts down on miscommunication."

Key definitions

Terms worth knowing

The central communication hub where all messages from clients, leads, and team members are stored, organized, and managed.

Your personal view, showing only the conversations where you are directly involved as the contact owner or a follower.

A broader view of conversations across the entire account, with visibility determined by your access level and permissions.

Private team-to-team communication that is not visible to contacts or clients, used for internal collaboration.

A conversation removed from the active inbox but still stored in the system, so you can find it again later.

Things to do

Try it now

Open My Inbox and then Team Inbox, and note which conversations appear in one but not the other. Reply to one real conversation from inside the system rather than from your outside email. Star one conversation that needs follow-up, then archive one that is finished.

0 of 3 done

Tips

Worth remembering

Reply within the system instead of your external email client, so the whole thread stays visible to your team.
Use the star to mark conversations that need follow-up, then work your starred list.
Reach for Internal Chat when you need a teammate's input before responding to a client, rather than taking it to a separate app.
Add appointments and tasks directly from inside the conversation while you are already there, instead of navigating elsewhere and losing the context.

Check yourself

Quick Knowledge Check

Four quick questions on this lesson. One attempt each, and the answer is revealed either way.

0 of 4 answered

A conversation appears in Team Inbox but not in your My Inbox. What does that tell you?

To clear a finished conversation out of your active inbox while keeping its history, you should ______ it.

Which column would you use to add a task or note to the person you are messaging?

You need a teammate's opinion before answering a client. What is the right tool?

Apply it

Try this with your favorite AI

💬Build your first-response templates

You are helping me write the short replies I send over and over from my company's unified inbox. Here is my context: - What my business does: [describe it] - Who I am usually messaging: [new leads / existing clients / both] - My tone: [warm / professional / friendly / direct] - My realistic response time: [how fast you actually reply] Write me four short, ready-to-send messages: 1. A reply to a missed call 2. A first response to a brand new lead 3. An after-hours acknowledgment 4. A holding reply for when I have seen the message but need time to answer properly Rules for your answer: - Each message under 40 words - Leave a clear placeholder where the person's first name goes - Do not promise a response time faster than the one I gave you - No software brand names, and no emoji unless my tone is friendly or warm When you are done, ask me which of the four I send most often so you can write two more variations of it.

📋Set your conversation habits

You are helping me build a repeatable daily habit for working a unified inbox, so nothing sits unanswered. Here is my context: - My role: [your job title] - Roughly how many messages I get a day: [number] - The channels they come in on: [email, text, calls, social] - When I realistically have time to work the inbox: [describe your day] Give me: 1. A short daily order of operations for working the inbox, told as numbered steps 2. Three rules for what earns a star and what gets archived immediately 3. One sentence on how I should decide whether something needs a teammate before I reply Rules for your answer: - The daily routine must fit in under 15 minutes - Be specific to my volume and channels, not generic advice - No paragraphs, use short lines - No software brand names Finish by asking which channel currently gets away from me most, so you can adjust the order.