Live chat in Inbox

Open Team inbox to handle live chat and email in the same conversation view.

Availability

People normally follow team opening hours. Personal working hours can narrow those hours. Only people using manual online availability need to switch online to receive live chats. Use Take a break to stop receiving new work, then Resume availability when you return.

Closing the app does not always make you unavailable. Email, SMS and Telegram can invite you to claim new work. Team opening hours, personal leave, breaks and work limits control whether you can receive that work.

A personal assignment is different: a teammate has already given the conversation to you. Your enabled email, SMS, Telegram and Boei App alerts can notify you even outside your working hours or during leave. Taking a break does not mute those alerts. Turn off a channel in your profile if you do not want its alerts. SMS uses your normal messaging allowance.

Configure people in Settings > People and teams > People. For an AI entry point, configure handoff conditions in AI agent > Handoff. See Teams and routing for the full setup.

Is the Visitor Still There?

At the top of every live chat, right next to the customer's name, Boei shows whether their chat window is still open:

  • Online (green dot): their chat window is open right now, so they can see what you type.
  • Offline (grey dot): they closed the window, switched tabs for a long time, or left your site. Boei waits about 20 seconds of silence from their browser before switching the badge.
  • No badge at all: this conversation did not come through the chat widget (an email conversation, for example), so there is nothing to measure.

The same status appears as a small Active or Inactive label next to the customer's email and phone number.

If the customer has not done anything for more than 10 minutes, a yellow strip appears in the conversation telling you how long they have been quiet, so you can close the chat instead of waiting for a reply that is not coming.

Did My Message Arrive?

Every message you send in a live chat gets a small check next to its time:

  • One grey check: the message left your inbox, but the visitor's chat window has not picked it up yet.
  • Two green checks: the message arrived in the visitor's chat window. This tells you it is on their screen. It does not prove they read it.
  • Envelope icon: the message was also sent to them by email (see the next section).

Hover over the check and Boei tells you the same thing in words: "Received by visitor" or "Not received yet".

Checks only appear on chats that run through the chat widget on your site. Email and WhatsApp conversations cannot report back, so they show no checks.

Replying When the Visitor Has Left

If the visitor is Offline and their email address is on the conversation, an Email copy option appears inside the reply box.

That option is ticked for you, so unless you untick it, your reply goes into the chat and to the email address shown in the conversation header. The email includes a link that brings them back to the same conversation, so nothing is lost.

If the visitor is Offline and there is no email address on the conversation, the email option does not appear. Your message waits in the chat and they see it when they come back.

This is why it helps to ask visitors for an email during a chat: it turns a missed reply into a conversation they can pick back up.

Active Conversations

Live chats appear at the top of your inbox with special indicators:

  • Unassigned - Customer waiting for someone to pick up the chat
  • Active - Conversation in progress
  • Unread count - Number of new messages

Claiming a Chat

When a customer requests live help:

  1. The chat appears in your inbox without an owner
  2. Click Claim to take the conversation
  3. You become the owner. A colleague cannot claim it at the same time.
  4. Start responding. If you are full, a confirmation asks whether to take extra work.

You can deliberately claim work outside your usual hours. Access rights, breaks, leave and work limits still apply. Automatic assignment continues to follow working hours.

If the team cannot help live, the request stays in the inbox for follow-up. When email follow-up is offered, choose Pick up and reply by email. It does not expire like an unclaimed live chat. A team alert is sent only when a matching notification rule is set up.

Taking Over AI Conversations

If a customer is chatting with your AI chatbot and needs human help:

  1. Find the AI conversation in your inbox
  2. Click Take over when the visitor is still available, or use email follow-up when offered
  3. You now control the conversation
  4. The customer sees they're talking to a human

Live Chat Indicators

Recognize live chats by:

  • Live badge - Shows it's an active conversation
  • Online / Offline badge - Whether the customer's chat window is still open
  • Unread count - New messages since you last viewed
  • Time since last message - How long customer has waited

Handling Multiple Chats

You can handle several live chats at once:

  1. Each chat appears in your inbox list
  2. Click between chats to switch
  3. Unread indicators help you track new messages
  4. Prioritize based on wait time

Ending a Chat

When the conversation is complete:

  1. Send a closing message
  2. Click Resolve in the conversation toolbar
  3. The chat moves out of active conversations

Best Practices

  • Set working hours and alerts: make sure new work reaches you when you can help.
  • Claim quickly - Reduce customer wait time
  • Use saved replies - Speed up common responses
  • Take over when needed - Help if AI can't answer

Moving from AI to your team

A visitor can ask for a person, or match a handoff rule you have set. If an email is required and missing, the chat shows an email field before the handoff starts.

A New live chat link with a pulsing dot appears in the app header when a chat needs attention. It stays visible as you scroll. Click it to open that conversation. An asynchronous follow-up has a quieter label.

When your plan includes handoff summaries and credits are available, Boei prepares a short internal summary in the background. Your team can pick up the chat while it is being prepared. This is available during the trial too.

Visitors can choose End chat from the chat menu. For an AI conversation this finishes the conversation, unless an action is still in progress. For a conversation already handled by a person, it closes the visitor's chat view. The team's work stays open until a team member resolves it.

Approvals and conversation states

Waiting parks unfinished work. You may be waiting for a customer, a teammate or your own follow-up. Use tags to group these conversations. Resolved means the work is finished.

An approval is a separate task. Approving an action does not take over the conversation. A reviewer may have access to the action without access to the customer's transcript. Open conversation appears only when they already have conversation access.

The single attention link beside the Boei logo points to pending approvals first, or waiting live chats. Show completed requests is beside Refresh in Approvals. An uncertain action needs a result check before another attempt; it is not safe to assume it never ran.

Working with teammates

A notice shows when a colleague is writing. Sending checks whether newer messages arrived after you started the draft. If so, read the new messages before retrying; your draft is preserved.

Use an internal note and the @ button, or type @ and choose a teammate, for private collaboration. Save the note to alert the teammates still mentioned. The button is hidden when no other colleague can reply in this team. It keeps the current owner. To hand over responsibility, use Transfer and add a handoff note. See Saved replies for the team's shared answers.