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Work the inbox · 4 of 5

Label, assign, reply

Stop reading, start doing. Your assistant tags, routes and answers chats for you, and nothing reaches a customer until you say “send”.

You'll learn to
  • Turn a triage into labels and owners
  • Reply safely: draft first, send second
  • Close and reopen chats, or just react
⏱ 10 minMakes real changes
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Plan, then act

The one rule: ask for a plan first, confirm it, then act. Practise on demo chats, and only send to numbers you own.

Let the assistant propose the changes as a numbered list, then approve only what you agree with. Labels and owners show up in TimelinesAI straight away, exactly as if a teammate had set them.

A plan separates thinking from doing. The assistant can be wrong about a label or an owner, and a numbered list lets you catch that before anything changes.

Why it matters

Labels and owners stop a shared inbox from becoming nobody's job. A chat with a clear owner gets answered; a chat without one is a risk. The assistant does the sorting, and you stay the one who decides.

  1. 1

    Ask for a plan without changing anything.

    Prompt
    Look at my unread chats. Propose labels and an owner for each, as a numbered list. Don't change anything yet.
  2. 2

    Approve the ones you agree with.

    Prompt
    Apply 1, 2 and 4.
  3. 3

    Or label and assign one chat directly. The assistant looks your teammate up first, so the chat never lands with the wrong person.

    Prompt
    Label chat [chat ID] as 'follow-up-needed' and assign it to [teammate name].

Reply, draft first

Messages the assistant sends come from your WhatsApp number, and the customer can't tell the difference. So every reply starts as a draft you read.

A draft costs nothing and can be changed; a sent message can't be taken back. That's why every prompt here that reaches a customer ends with “show me first”.

Why it matters

Speed matters, but so does your voice. Drafting gives you both: the assistant writes the first version in seconds, and you keep the final word on anything a customer reads.

  1. 1

    Ask for a draft.

    Prompt
    Draft a reply to chat [chat ID] based on the conversation. Show me the draft. Don't send yet.
  2. 2

    Read it, change anything you like, then send.

    Prompt
    Send it.
  3. 3

    Reply to one specific message.

    Prompt
    Reply to the customer's last question in chat [chat ID] with: "Yes, Thursday works." Show me first.
  4. 4

    Or just react.

    Prompt
    React 👍 to the last message in chat [chat ID].

Close the loop

Finish the way a teammate would: close what's handled, and reopen what needs you again. Both can be undone, so they're safe to practise on demo chats.

Closing a chat moves it out of the active inbox without deleting anything; the full history stays. Reopening brings it back as it was, with its labels and owner.

Why it matters

A clean inbox is a signal you can trust. When only open conversations are in view, everyone sees at a glance what still needs work, and nothing old hides something new.

  1. 1

    Close a chat that's handled.

    Prompt
    Close chat [chat ID]. It's handled.
  2. 2

    Reopen one that needs you again.

    Prompt
    Reopen chat [chat ID] and assign it back to me.
?

Watch your quota. Messages sent this way count against the same monthly messaging quota as the web app. Before sending to more than a few chats, ask: “How much messaging quota do I have left?”