Inbox and channels

How do conversations and assignment work?

Every message from every channel lands in the same list. Tabs let you switch between All, Mine and Unassigned, and between Open and Closed, and you can filter by channel. Open a conversation and you can assign it to someone from the thread header, which is how you stop two people replying to the same customer at once. The person you assign gets a notification, and the change is recorded in the thread so everyone can see who picked it up.

You can also leave an internal note that the customer never sees, tag contacts, and see when a teammate is typing a reply. Closing a conversation clears it out of your Open list, and if that customer messages again it reopens by itself, with the whole history still attached.

What are AI reply suggestions and how do I turn them off?

When a customer message comes in, HiveThread drafts a reply above the composer using your knowledge base: your website, your own questions and answers, your hours and prices. You can send it as it is, choose Edit first and change it, or dismiss it. By default nothing is sent until a person decides.

To change any of that, go to Settings, then AI, where the AI Reply Suggestions switch turns drafting off for the whole organisation, or switch it off for a single channel under Settings, then Channels. Auto-Send AI Replies is a separate setting that is off unless you turn it on, and when it is on, HiveThread sends a draft by itself only when it clears the confidence level you choose. Owners and admins can change these.

How do auto-responders and business hours work?

Settings, then Auto-responders, holds three automatic replies. All three are off until you switch them on, and you write the wording yourself:

• Business hours reply: answers the first message of a new conversation while you are open.
• After-hours reply: answers the first message when you are closed.
• Missed call auto-text: texts the caller back when a call to your business number goes unanswered (set the forwarding number on the channel first).

Your opening hours and time zone live in Settings, then General, and each auto-responder can be limited to the channels you choose. A contact gets at most one automatic reply in 24 hours, and none at all if someone on your team has already replied in that thread. Your website widget has its own separate auto-reply, set per channel under Settings, then Channels.

How do I block a contact, and what happens when someone texts STOP?

To block someone, open the conversation, use the menu in the thread header and choose Block contact. From then on their incoming messages are dropped quietly and for good (they do not arrive later), with no bounce message and nothing to tell them they were blocked, and you cannot send to them either. Unblock from the same menu, or from the blocked list in Settings, then Help and Support.

STOP is a different thing: it is the customer opting out, and it is handled for you. If someone replies with STOP on its own (or STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END or QUIT), HiveThread records the opt-out, and scheduled messages and review requests to that person stop. Their message still shows in the thread so you can see what happened. You cannot opt them back in yourself: they have to text you again, or send START, YES or UNSTOP.

What is the web chat widget and how do I install it?

The widget is a small form on your website. A visitor leaves their name, mobile number and message, it lands in your inbox as a text conversation, and you reply by text like any other message. It is texting rather than a separate live chat product, and the widget and your text number count as one channel, not two.

To install it, go to Settings, then Channels, open your text channel and find the Text-capture widget section. There are step by step instructions for Shopify, WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy and plain HTML, plus the one line script tag to paste into your site. Two limits worth knowing: the widget only works once your number is approved, and it only accepts visitor numbers from the same country as your number.