Live Chat in Inbox

Handle live chat conversations directly from your inbox. See waiting chats, go online/offline, and take over AI conversations.

How to get there: Go to Inbox in the top menu. The Online/Offline toggle appears in the inbox toolbar once live chat is enabled on a chatbot. Agents on the Scheduled hours only availability mode see Scheduled hours there instead of the toggle.

Enabling Live Chat First

Before the toggle appears in the inbox, live chat needs to be turned on for a chatbot:

  1. Go to Setup → AI agent in the top menu and click your chatbot
  2. In the sidebar, open Behavior → Live Chat
  3. Toggle Enable Live Chat on and configure business hours and agent routing

See Live Chat Agents Overview for the full setup.

Going Online/Offline

Control your availability for live chat:

  1. Look for the Online/Offline toggle in the inbox toolbar (top of the Inbox page)
  2. Click to switch your status
  3. When Online: You can receive and claim new chats
  4. When Offline: New chats go to other online agents or the AI

If you see "Scheduled hours" instead of the toggle

Your availability mode is set to Scheduled hours only. Your weekly schedule decides when you receive chats, so there is no status to switch. Opening the Inbox or picking up a chat does not make you available outside those hours.

To change your hours or switch to a different mode, go to Setup → Team and edit the agent. See Live Chat Agents Overview for what each availability mode does.

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:

  • Waiting - Customer waiting, no agent assigned
  • 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 as "Waiting"
  2. Click Claim to take the conversation
  3. You're now the assigned agent
  4. Start responding to the customer

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
  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 Mark Closed in the conversation toolbar (or change the status to Closed from the status dropdown)
  3. The chat moves out of active conversations

Best Practices

  • Stay online when available - Don't leave customers waiting
  • Claim quickly - Reduce customer wait time
  • Use saved replies - Speed up common responses
  • Take over when needed - Help if AI can't answer