Take over from an AI agent, or hand a thread back

Every conversation in Inbox is left either to the AI agent on its number or to a person. The Assistant setting under Details says which, and sending a reply yourself moves it to you.

See who’s answering

While an agent is answering a conversation, a line across the top of the thread names it and ends is answering this one. Type below and it steps back.

That line only appears when the agent really will reply. It’s missing when AI agents is off for the district, when the agent is still a draft, when the conversation has used up the agent’s replies, or during its quiet hours. No line means nothing is answering that lead automatically.

The agent’s own messages carry Assistant above the bubble. A reply rule’s message carries the rule’s name instead, such as Interested rule.

Take a conversation over

To step in:

1. Open Inbox, then Conversations, and pick the lead.
2. Type your reply.
3. Press Send.

Your reply is enough. The moment it goes out, the conversation switches to You are handling it and the agent stops answering it. A message typed on the phone that number runs on does the same.

To stop the agent without writing anything yet, press Details in the thread header and set Assistant to You are handling it. It saves as soon as you pick it.

Once a person is handling a conversation, the agent sends it no replies and no follow-ups, and your reply rules stay out of it too. Starting a chat yourself with the + button beside the search box opens it already set to You are handling it.

When the agent hands over by itself

An agent moves a conversation to You are handling it on its own in three cases:

• It uses Assign to you or your team, if that action is switched on. You’re sent a WhatsApp at your Tell me on WhatsApp number saying who it is, what they said and why.
• It has nothing to say to the lead’s message.
• The conversation reaches Stop after this many replies, which is 12 by default.

The reason, when there is one, is printed at the foot of Details. A lead who asks not to be contacted isn’t handed over. The agent closes the conversation and marks it lost.

Hand a conversation back

To give it back to the agent:

1. Open the conversation and press Details.
2. Set Assistant to Answering for you.

The agent doesn’t reply to a message that’s already waiting. It answers the lead’s next one. If Follow up on inactive conversations is on and the last message in the thread is yours, it can also check in once its wait has passed.

Note that handing back doesn’t reset the reply count. A conversation that already reached Stop after this many replies comes straight back to you on the lead’s next message.

Close a conversation

Set Assistant to Closed when the conversation is finished. The agent, its follow-ups and your reply rules all leave a closed conversation alone, and typing a reply doesn’t reopen it. Pick Answering for you to put it back in the agent’s hands.

Note

An agent answers nobody while AI agents is off for the district, so Answering for you changes nothing until a district admin switches it back on. See Turn texting, agents, rules or workflows off for the district.

FAQ

Does the lead notice when I take over?

No. Every reply leaves from the same business number, whoever wrote it.

I picked Answering for you and nothing happened. Why?

The agent waits for the lead’s next message. If the line across the top of the thread is missing, something else is stopping it: the district switch, a draft agent, the reply limit or quiet hours.

Where do the agent’s comments go?

Into Private note under Details, each one tagged with the agent’s name and the time. The lead never sees them.

Does taking over cancel a check-back my reply rules scheduled?

No. Only the lead writing again, or a message sent from the phone itself, cancels one. See Set reply rules for a lead’s first reply.