The Inbox is where you manage all your WhatsApp conversations with contacts. From here you can read and reply to messages, use templates, trigger Journey flows, and keep track of your conversations — all in one place.
Navigating the Inbox
When you open Conversations from the left sidebar, you'll see a list chats. Click on any conversation to open it and see the full message history with that contact.
At the top of each conversation you'll find key contact details, and on the right side you can access additional information such as contact attributes, tags, and notes.
Replying to a Contact
To send a message, use the composer at the bottom of the conversation. You can:
Type a free-form text message
Use quick replies to send pre-defined responses faster
Want to add something extra? Select 📎 and you can attach images, videos and files
Hit Send or press Enter to send your message.
The 24-Hour Window
WhatsApp limits when you can send free-form messages to a contact. You can only reply with a regular message within 24 hours of your contact's last inbound message.
This is a Meta rule that applies to all WhatsApp Business accounts — it cannot be disabled or changed.
📖 Learn more: Not sure about the difference between conversation types? Check out our article on Conversation Types to understand how service, marketing, and utility conversations work on WhatsApp.
What happens when the window is closed?
If you try to reply outside the 24-hour window, you'll see a notice that you can't send a free-form message. Here's what you can do instead:
✅ Option 1: Send an update template (recommended)
Send a marketing or utility template to re-open the conversation. You can create one in Studio — for example, a simple message like:
"Hi! If this is still relevant for you, just reply with Yes."
Once the contact replies, the 24-hour window reopens and you can continue the conversation normally.
Use templates to save cost by not turning user initiated conversations into marketing conversations. Use an update template to restart a conversation outside of a 24hr window.
✅ Option 2: Trigger a Journey flow
If you have a Journey with automated responses set up, you can trigger it directly from the conversation to re-engage the contact.
⚠️ Make sure the flow has the trigger Trigger - Agent Trigger or the keyword/exact match has Trigger can be used as Agent Trigger is toggled on:
Write an internal note
Internal comments are message that can only be seen by other agents. They’re a great tool to summarise the case:
