Set up the team inbox: one list for the whole team
How to set up the team inbox in stipt: teams and access, topics, custom views, quick replies, urgency flags and talking with colleagues in team chats.
In this guide
- What is the team inbox in stipt?
- How do I control who sees which conversations?
- How do I sort conversations with topics?
- How do I create a custom view in the inbox?
- How do quick replies work?
- How do I assign conversations and work through the queue?
- How do I see which conversations are urgent?
- How do I talk to colleagues without the customer seeing it?
- Frequently asked questions
Short answer
In stipt an admin sets up the team inbox under Settings, Inbox: topics to sort conversations, custom views with filters, and quick replies with variables and attachments. Who sees which conversations is decided by teams and each member's inbox access. Conversations are assigned to a colleague or a team, a shared flag marks what is urgent, and internal discussion runs through notes and team chats.
By the makers of stiptUpdated October 5, 20269 min read
What is the team inbox in stipt?
The inbox is your team's shared mailbox in stipt. Emails and WhatsApp messages from customers arrive as conversations, and everyone works from the same list. Nothing gets missed and nothing gets answered twice. You find it under Inbox in the main navigation.
The model is simple. A conversation is New as long as the customer's last message has not been answered; once you send a reply it becomes Answered. To take a conversation off your list without replying, you mark it as handled. The default views run on this difference.
The inbox is part of stipt's core: there is nothing to install in the Module center, and it comes with every User or Admin seat. Connect your mail and WhatsApp first under Settings, Email and Settings, WhatsApp; the guide on connecting email explains how. The inbox settings themselves live under Settings, Inbox and are for admins.
How do I control who sees which conversations?
Start with teams. Under Settings, Teams you create teams such as Customer service or Planning, each with a name, colour and icon. You can mark one team as the default team, so new members land in it automatically. Teams show up when you assign conversations and in views such as Team - New.
Then set the inbox access per member, under Settings, Members. There are three modes. Follows visibility is the default: the member sees conversations of their own customers, plus anything assigned to or started by them. Entire inbox shows every conversation in the company, for whoever handles the general mail. No inbox hides the tab. Admins always see the entire inbox.
The member list shows this as an envelope icon: green means the member has inbox access, red means no inbox. A member with the Mobile only role, such as a field technician, works only in the mobile app and has no inbox.
How do I sort conversations with topics?
Topics are labels with a name and a colour, for example Quote, Fault or Planning. You manage them under Settings, Inbox, Topics. Each row shows how often the topic is used. In the inbox, topics appear as folders below the views, so one click shows every conversation on that topic.
You do not have to add a topic to every conversation by hand. A rule in Studio can add a topic automatically, based on a condition you write yourself: mail from a supplier's domain becomes Purchasing, for example. dot can also give conversations a topic; once your rule has set one, dot leaves it alone.
To clean up a topic you choose between two options. Only stop offering it keeps the topic on existing conversations, but nobody can pick it any more. Remove everywhere takes it off those conversations too. Topics for tasks are separate, under Settings, Tasks.
How do I create a custom view in the inbox?
A view is a saved, filtered list in the sidebar. The defaults include Personal - New, Team - New, All - New and Not important. Admins create their own views under Settings, Inbox, Views. The dialog has three tabs: General (name, icon, sort order and whether a count badge shows in the sidebar), Filters, and Who sees it (everyone, only you, or one team).
Filters come in groups: about the conversation (status, topics, channel, subject line), about who (assigned to, team), about urgency and follow‑up (flag, urgency, reminder), about the customer and record (contact type, linked record, record type and record status) and about time (age, quiet for). Conditions sit in groups where all or just one of them must match, and between groups you choose AND or OR. That gets you, for example: assigned to me, and urgency at least yellow or quiet for more than three days.
While you build, stipt counts live how many conversations match, for example 20 open of 300. The sidebar badge only counts what is still open. When a view matches nothing, that line turns amber, so you spot a view that contradicts itself before you save it.
How do quick replies work?
Quick replies are saved texts you insert while typing. An admin manages the company‑wide quick replies under Settings, Inbox, Quick replies. Each one has a title, shown in the search box, and a body with the same formatting as a normal email: bold, italic, lists and links.
In the body you add variables that are filled in on send, such as the customer's first name and email address, the agent's name and the conversation subject. Below the text you add attachments, up to 10 files and 20 MB in total; they go along automatically whenever someone inserts the quick reply.
Besides the company‑wide replies, everyone has their own personal quick replies, managed in their Account settings. In a WhatsApp conversation the formatting is converted to WhatsApp formatting; in an internal note the text goes in as plain text, without attachments.
How do I assign conversations and work through the queue?
You assign from the conversation via Assignment: one search field for colleagues and teams, then Assign to me and Unassigned, then the teams. Assign a conversation to a team and it shows up in the team views, such as Team - New. The a key puts the open conversation on your own name in one go. Distribution can be automatic too: a rule in Studio with the action Assign: spread within team gives a new conversation to the team member with the fewest open conversations.
The list defaults to oldest first, so you work the queue down from the top. Tick several conversations and you handle, assign, tag or snooze them all at once. A reminder (snooze) is personal: colleagues do not see yours and can each set their own.
The top of the sidebar holds For you, with fixed lists: Answer today, Waiting on your reply and Mentioned. Under Arrange sidebar you set the order of your lists, views and topics yourself, and hide what you do not use. That layout is yours; colleagues keep their own.
How do I see which conversations are urgent?
A flag marks a conversation for the whole team, in three colours: red (answer today), yellow (within a day or two) and grey (keep an eye on it). Sort the list by urgency and red comes above yellow above grey. Pinning is something else: that is personal and only for you.
With the Inbox urgency tool, dot sets the flag himself too. Every morning dot assesses the open conversations and gives each an urgency from 0 to 99, which rises every working day while the customer is waiting on you. From 10 the flag turns grey, from 25 yellow and from 50 red. Hover the flag to read the reason. dot never touches a flag a colleague set, and once you answer or handle the conversation, dot's flag is removed.
The tool is off by default. An admin turns it on in Studio, under What dot does, Tools, Inbox urgency, and picks the hour of the morning run, the channels, a daily maximum and senders for dot to skip, such as parcel services. dot's work is paid from your workspace's shared pot of AI credits. Red conversations on your name also appear in your Answer today list.
How do I talk to colleagues without the customer seeing it?
In a conversation, click Note at the top of the reply box (or press n). An internal note is only visible to your team and never goes to the customer. An @mention alerts a colleague, who then finds the conversation under Mentioned.
For discussions that are not about one customer there are team chats: chats with colleagues, one‑on‑one or in a group, which you open from any page via the orange dot at the top left. Type # to tag a record, conversation, task, quote or appointment, so colleagues can jump there in one click. From the chat you can also create a task; it appears as a card to tick off in the chat and as a regular task in Tasks.
Field technicians and other external members with portal access join through the Chat tab in the portal; they cannot start a chat themselves. Mention @dot in a team chat and dot replies in the chat, visible to everyone, except in a chat with an external member in it. Messages in team chats are deleted automatically after one year.
Frequently asked questions
Can a team member see only the conversations of their own customers?
Yes. With the inbox access Follows visibility, the default, a member only sees conversations of their own customers, plus anything assigned to or started by them. You set this per member under Settings, Members.
Does every team member have their own email signature?
The signature belongs to the mailbox, not to the person. An admin sets it per email channel under Settings, Email, Mail setup, with variables such as the name, phone number and role of whoever sends. That way everyone's own details still end up underneath.
What does the number next to a view count?
Only what is still open: conversations whose last customer message has not been answered. If a view holds 300 conversations and 20 are waiting for a reply, it shows 20.
Can I remove a topic without losing old conversations?
Yes. Choose Only stop offering it: existing conversations keep the topic and you still find them in the sidebar and in filters. Restore makes the topic pickable again later.
Does WhatsApp land in the team inbox too?
Yes. WhatsApp messages arrive as conversations in the same inbox, next to email. Mind the 24‑hour reply window: once it has closed you can only send an approved template or add an internal note.
What does the team inbox cost?
The inbox comes with every User or Admin seat; there is no separate add‑on. Rules in Studio are built by an admin, or by a user with the Studio add‑on (€30 per month on annual billing, €36 on monthly billing, excluding VAT). What dot does in the inbox is paid from your workspace's AI credits.
Keep reading. More guides on related topics.
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