Read older WhatsApp history into the Inbox
The Inbox only knows what happened after the app started handling a number. A lead you’ve been texting for a month can open on one message. WhatsApp keeps the rest, and the app can read it in.
It reads leads. On somebody’s own phone, only the people already on that business’s sheet are read, and every other chat on it is left alone.
Read the history
Section titled “Read the history”To pull it in:
- Open
Inbox, thenConversations. - Pick the business in the picker at the top of the page.
- Press the history button beside the search box,
Read older conversations from WhatsApp. - Press
Read the history.
The window is Read older conversations. Open the info mark beside the title for the rule in brief: it pulls what WhatsApp still holds for every lead on that sheet.
A bar fills as it works, with a line like 12 of 40 leads · 85 messages added. It reads 8 leads at a time and carries on by itself until it reaches the end.
When it finishes it says how many messages are now in the inbox. Done. Everything WhatsApp still holds was already here. means there was nothing new to add.
Read every chat on a business line
Section titled “Read every chat on a business line”A number marked as a business line gets a choice before you start:
Just the leads on this sheet, which is picked for you.Every chat on this number, which reads each chat on the line.
The wider choice is never offered on somebody’s own phone, and the app refuses it there even if asked.
On a business line only one business uses, a stranger found this way becomes that business’s lead. On a line several businesses share, their history is read but they’re left unassigned. The window counts those, and says read as history only.
A chat another advisor already owns stays with them. The line counts it as left with another advisor.
Stop and carry on
Section titled “Stop and carry on”Stop after this one finishes the batch in hand and stops. Closing the window stops it too.
Nothing is lost when it stops. The window says Stopped. What was read is kept., and Run it again starts over from the top. Messages already in a thread aren’t added twice, so a second run only adds what’s missing.
If WhatsApp answers slowly, the run stops by itself and says so. Press Run it again, and what was already read is skipped.
What a thread looks like afterwards
Section titled “What a thread looks like afterwards”The older messages slot into each thread in date order, among what was already there. Pictures and PDFs come in with their captions while WhatsApp still has the file. For an old file WhatsApp no longer keeps, only its caption arrives.
A thread keeps its place in the list. Reading in old messages doesn’t jump it to the top, unless a newer message arrived while the run was going.
If the person is already a card in your pipeline, the thread is linked to that card and takes its name. Reading history never creates a card. A thread where the lead has written to you is marked as replied.
When it finds nothing
Section titled “When it finds nothing”WhatsApp is not keeping any history for this number. means exactly that. History has to be switched on in Green API before the phone is linked, so a district admin switches it on just before the next reconnect. See Connect or reconnect a WhatsApp number.
Will this read my personal chats on the same phone?
No. On a number that isn’t marked as a business line, only people already on that business’s sheet are read.
Is it safe to run twice?
Yes. Every message is checked against the thread first, so a second run adds nothing the first one already brought in.
Does reading history text anybody?
No. It only reads. Nothing is sent to any lead.
Can I read history for a colleague’s business?
Only for a business you can open in the picker. The window reads the business that’s picked.