The Messages inbox brings together conversations with clients across your organisation's caseload, including replies to messages sent from Joy.
This guide explains what the inbox shows. It does not cover answering or closing a conversation; see How to reply to a client and tidy your inbox. Creating reusable wording is covered in How to create and use a message template.
When Messages appears
The conversation inbox is available when your organisation has Messenger switched on. If it is off, the page says Messenger is not enabled and Ask your organisation owner to enable Messenger for your organisation.
Owners and Admins can also open Templates & automations from this area. They can see that administration section even when Messenger is off.
Read the inbox
The main Messages screen has three areas:
the conversation list on the left;
the selected conversation in the centre;
an Options panel on the right.
Until you choose a row, the centre says Select a conversation. On a smaller screen, selecting a row opens the thread on its own; use All conversations to return to the list.
Each row shows the client's name, GP surgery when one is held, the latest message or email subject, its time, and either an unread-count badge, Open or Done. A flag marks a conversation where Action needed is on.
Use the tabs and filters
The conversation list opens on Unread. Its four tabs are:
Unread — conversations containing at least one client reply that has not been read;
Open — read conversations that have not been marked done;
Done — conversations marked as dealt with;
All — the complete set, with unread rows grouped before open rows.
The number beside each tab is a conversation count, not a count of individual messages. The larger badge beside Messages counts unread messages.
Use Search client name or keyword to search names, sent message subjects and bodies, and client replies. Use All staff to narrow the list to the owner of a conversation. Ownership comes from the latest member of staff to send a message, falling back to the staff member assigned to the client.
Select Load more when there are more conversations than the first page.
How replies are matched
Messages sent with replies enabled carry a unique reply link. A reply submitted through that link is attached to the original message and therefore to the correct client.
Provider replies to text and WhatsApp messages are also matched back to the contact they answer. The thread then shows sent and received messages together in date order, with the channel beside each one.
Opening a thread marks its unseen replies as read. The unread counts in the list, sidebar and header refresh to follow that change.
Use the header inbox preview
When Messenger is switched on, the message icon in the header carries the unread conversation count for email and SMS. WhatsApp has its own header indicator.
Select the message icon to open Inbox. It has:
My Inbox — recent conversations owned by you;
All — recent conversations across the organisation;
Archive — read email and SMS conversations, with Search archived conversations… and Load more;
Clear read messages — hides read rows from the current preview without deleting them.
The counts beside My Inbox and All are unread conversation counts. Select a preview row to open that client's conversation on the full Messages page.
Other controls
New message searches clients by name or NHS number and opens the chosen conversation.
Groups opens saved groups for group SMS messaging. This is separate from sending a bulk email from a list.
Select one or more conversation checkboxes to use Mark done. On the Done tab the equivalent action is Reopen.
Owners and Admins use Templates & automations to manage reusable messages and automation rules.