Reply to a customer

Your reply goes to the customer on the channel they wrote from: WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger. You write it the same way in each.

Send a reply

1. Open the chat in the Inbox.
2. Make sure Reply is chosen above the box at the bottom. (The other choice, Private note, is for your team; see Private notes and mentions.)
3. Type your message and press Enter, or click the send button on the right.

Press Shift+Enter for a new line without sending.

Screenshot coming soon

Add emoji

Click the smiley button and pick one. It goes in where your cursor is, so you can add it in the middle of a sentence.

Send photos, videos and documents

1. Click the paperclip (Attach files) and choose one or more files. They upload straight away, while you write.
2. Type a caption if you like.
3. Send.

You can send up to 10 files at a time. WhatsApp carries one file per message, so they arrive as separate messages, in the order you chose them, and your text becomes the caption of the first. Remove a file before sending with the cross on its corner.

Limits: images up to 5 MB, video and audio up to 16 MB, documents up to 100 MB.

To send a file your team keeps in Drive, click the Drive button next to the paperclip. See Send files from Drive.

Send a voice note

1. Click the microphone (Record a voice note). The first time, your browser asks to use the microphone: allow it.
2. Speak. A red dot and a timer show it is recording, for up to 5 minutes.
3. Click stop to attach it, or the bin to throw it away.
4. Send it like any other message.

The ticks on your messages

Each message you send shows its time and a tick:

• A clock: still sending.
• One tick: sent.
• Two grey ticks: delivered to the customer's phone.
• Two blue ticks: read.

If a message could not be delivered, the reason shows in red under it. Messages sent by your AI assistant, a chatbot or an automation are marked Automated.

More in the message box

On WhatsApp chats you also have Send template (see The 24-hour window and templates) and the bag button for products, your catalog or a form (see Send products in a chat). Instagram and Messenger have neither. The lightning button opens your quick replies; see Use quick replies.