The Inbox

The Inbox puts every conversation you can see in one list: chats with colleagues and clients, email threads with their replies, text message conversations, calls and voicemails, Concierge conversations, and communications someone logged by hand. Pick an item to read it on the right and act on it there: reply, call back, file it to a matter, or take over from Concierge. The list keeps itself up to date, so new activity shows up without a refresh.

Nothing moves out of its usual place. Floating chat panels, a matter's Communications tab, the Concierge page, and lead pages all work as before. The Inbox is the one place to see all of it and answer it.

Before you begin

• Who sees the Inbox. Firm owners always do. Other members see it when their role includes at least one of these: the Chat permission, View access for communications, or View access for leads (on firms that use Concierge). Each kind of conversation then follows its own permission. See Who sees what.
• A connected mailbox sends your email replies. With Gmail or Outlook connected, Esqase sends each reply for you. Without one, you finish the send in your own mail app. Through Outlook, your client's next answer also comes back into the Inbox. See Connecting Outlook and Zoom and Connecting Google (Gmail, Calendar, Meet).
• Text messages and calls need your firm's phone line. Until your firm has one, those kinds show an empty list. If you can manage your firm's communication settings, the empty list offers Set up phone line.
• The Inbox is not your notification bell. The bell tells you that something happened. The Inbox is where you read the conversation and answer it. See Notifications.

Open the Inbox

1. In the sidebar, click Inbox, just below Calendar.
2. Or click the Messages icon in the header, then View all messages at the bottom of the menu.

On a wide screen, the Inbox opens with the newest conversation showing on the right.

A red dot on the Inbox entry means something you can see is unread: a chat, an email reply, a text message, a call, or a Concierge conversation. The dot appears on every page, so you can tell from anywhere that something is waiting.

Old links to the Messages page, bookmarks included, open the Inbox. A chat notification opens its conversation in the Inbox too.

The sidebar shrinks to icons

When you open the Inbox, the app sidebar collapses to its icons to make room for the list. The Inbox icon stays highlighted, with its red dot. When you leave the Inbox, the sidebar goes back to how you had it.

To see the labels while you are in the Inbox, click the thin rail along the right edge of the sidebar, or press Cmd + B on a Mac or Ctrl + B on Windows. The list and the open conversation move right to make room. See Navigating the dashboard.

The list

The list runs down the page next to the sidebar, under the Inbox heading. The newest activity is always at the top. A new message, an email reply, a call, or a Concierge turn moves its item up to the top.

Each item shows:

• An icon for the kind of item. A missed call and a voicemail each have their own icon.
• The person or the subject, and how long ago the last activity was.
• A line naming the kind, such as Email, Text message, Incoming call with its length, Missed call, Voicemail, or Concierge with the channel, followed by the matter or lead the item is filed to.
• A Draft badge on an email draft, an Unverified badge on an email Esqase did not send itself, and a New badge on a Concierge conversation nobody at your firm has opened yet.
• Up to two lines of the latest message.

An unread item has its name in bold and a red dot beside it. See What counts as unread.

Scroll down to load older items, or click Load more at the bottom. If something new arrives while you are scrolled down, the list stays where you are and a New activity button appears at the top. Click it to go back to the newest items.

On a wide screen, the newest conversation opens on the right when you arrive, and it is marked read, as on the old Messages page. When there is nothing to open, the right side reads Select a conversation.

The Inbox leaves out archived text message conversations, archived logs, and Concierge conversations marked as spam.

Filter by type and unread

Two controls sit beside the Inbox heading: Type and Unread.

1. Click Type. A list of kinds opens with a check box beside each: Chats, Email, Text messages, Calls, Concierge, and Logged. You only see the kinds your role lets you see.
2. Tick the kinds you want and untick the rest. Every kind is ticked to start. The last ticked kind cannot be unticked.
3. The button now names your choice, for example Email, Calls. To go back to every kind, open Type again and click Clear filters.
4. Turn on the Unread switch to show only unread items. Logged items are never unread, so they drop out while it is on.

If your role lets you see only one kind, the Type button is not shown.

The filters and the item you have open are kept in the page address. Reload the page, or share the link with a colleague, and the same view opens. A colleague still sees only what their own role allows.

Search the Inbox

1. Click in the Search box under the heading.
2. Type a name, a subject, an email address, or a phone number.

The list narrows as you type and keeps your Type and Unread choices. To find a phone number, type at least three of its digits. Search does not look inside the messages themselves. When nothing matches, the list reads No matches.

Start something new

The New button under the search box starts a conversation or records one without leaving the Inbox.

1. Click New.
2. Choose what to do:
   • New chat opens the New message dialog. Pick one person for a direct chat, or several for a group. See Start a group chat.
   • Send email opens the Send email composer. Pick the matter or lead it belongs to in the Link to field. See Sending email.
   • Send text message texts a client from your firm's phone line.
   • Call calls a client from your firm's phone line. Esqase rings your mobile first, then connects you.
   • Log email, Log call, and Log text message record a communication that happened outside Esqase. See Logging communications.
3. Finish in the dialog that opens. When you send or save, the new item appears at the top of the list.

New chat needs the Chat permission. The other entries need Create access for communications. Send text message and Call also need your firm's phone line. If your role allows none of them, the New button does not appear.

Read and answer each kind

Click an item to open it on the right. The header above it shows where you are, for example Inbox > Email > the subject, and the buttons for that item sit on the right of the header.

• Opening an item marks it read. For chats, email, and calls that is for you alone. For text messages and Concierge conversations it is for the whole firm, because they are shared.
• New activity that arrives while the item is open is marked read as well.
• If the automatic mark does not go through, a Mark as read button appears in the header. Click it to try again.
• Open matter or Open lead opens the record the item is filed to. When the item belongs to a matter you cannot open, the header reads Restricted matter instead, with no link.
• On a window narrower than 1280 pixels, the header buttons show only their icons. Hover one to see its name.

Chats

A chat opens with its full history and the message box at the bottom. Everything works as it does in a floating chat panel: files, mentions, reactions, replies, edits, and deletes. Click the conversation's picture at the right of the header to open the conversation menu, where you rename a group, see its members, or delete the conversation. See Messages (chat).

If you leave the chat or delete it, the pane reads This conversation is no longer available.

Email threads

An email thread gathers an email sent from Esqase, the replies that came back to it, and the replies you sent from the Inbox. A manual email log is a thread of its own.

The subject and the matter or lead the thread is filed to sit at the top. The messages run from oldest to newest, and the thread opens at the newest one, at the bottom. A message that arrives while you read scrolls into view only if you are already at the bottom.

Each message shows an Incoming or Outgoing badge, Draft or Unverified when they apply, the date and time in your firm's time zone, who it was from and to, any Cc (and Bcc when there is one), then the message and any notes added to it.

The buttons in the header:

• Reply answers the thread. See Reply to an email below.
• Open draft appears when the newest message is a draft. A draft saved through Gmail or Outlook opens in the Send email composer, ready to send. Any other draft opens in the Edit email log dialog. See Edit an email draft.
• Open matter or Open lead opens the record the thread is filed to.

Open draft needs Update access for communications.

Reply to an email

1. Open the email thread and click Reply.
2. The Reply composer opens with everything filled in:
   • To is the person who wrote the message you are answering. When you are answering your own message, it is the people you sent it to. Anyone in Cc stays in Cc, except you.
   • Subject is Re: followed by the original subject. A subject that already starts with Re: is kept as it is.
   • The reply is filed on the same matter or lead as the thread.
   • The message starts with your signature, then a copy of the original under a line such as "On Nov 3, 2026 at 9:41 AM, Dana Lee wrote:".
3. Write your reply above the copy. Change anything you need, then click Send.

The reply joins the same thread in the Inbox. What happens in your mailbox depends on the mailbox:

• Outlook. Esqase sends it as a reply in the same Outlook conversation. When your client answers it, that answer comes back into the same thread in the Inbox, usually within a minute.
• Gmail. Esqase sends it from your Gmail with the Re: subject. Because the Gmail connection can only send, Gmail and your client's mail app may show it as a new conversation. Your client's answer is not brought back into Esqase. Record it with Log email if you need it on file.
• No mailbox connected. The button reads Continue and opens Send from your mail app, as for any email. Your mail app sends the reply as a new message, not as part of the earlier conversation. If you record it with Log as sent (unverified) or Save as draft, the record joins the same thread in the Inbox. See Send from your own mail app.

You need Create access for communications to see Reply. Esqase always answers the newest message that was actually sent or received, never a draft. A reply you save as a draft stays in the thread until you send it.

Text messages

A text message conversation opens with its messages, the newest at the bottom, and a message box underneath.

1. Type in the Write your text box at the bottom and click Send. The text goes out from your firm's phone line.
2. If Agreement to texts appears instead of the box, choose How they agreed and click Confirm first. Esqase asks for this before the first text to a client.

If the client has opted out of texts from your firm, the conversation says so and the box does not appear.

The buttons in the header:

• File files the conversation to a matter or lead. Once it is filed, the button reads Move.
• The ... button (More conversation actions) holds Archive. Archiving takes the conversation out of the list. A new text from the same number starts a new conversation.

File, Move, and Archive need Update access for communications.

• Open matter or Open lead opens the record the conversation is filed to.

Calls and voicemails

A call opens with who called whom, when, and for how long, and the matter or lead it is filed to. Depending on the call and your firm's settings, it also shows:

• Recording, with Play recording.
• Transcript, with Show transcript.
• Summary, written for you after the call.
• Notes, where you write about the call. Saved notes are also added to the call log.
• Legal hold, a switch that keeps the recording and transcript past your firm's retention period.

The buttons in the header:

• Call back opens the Call dialog with the number already filled in. Esqase rings your mobile first, then connects you to the client.
• File, under the call's details, files a call that is not yet on a matter or lead.
• Open matter or Open lead opens the record the call is filed to.

Call back needs Create access for communications.

Concierge conversations

A Concierge conversation is a call, text conversation, or website chat that the AI concierge answered. It opens with the caller's details, then Summary, Recording, Captured details, Bookings, Consent, and Transcript, as on the Concierge page.

With Update access for leads, you can act on it with the buttons below. They sit in the header on a wide screen, and above the conversation on a smaller one.

• Take over stops Concierge and lets you answer yourself. Type an Introduction message and click Take over and send, or click Take over without a message. Your replies then go out as a text message from the firm's number, or appear in the website chat, depending on where the conversation is. On a phone call you cannot type a reply. To talk to the caller, call them back.
• Hand back to the AI returns the conversation to Concierge.
• Close conversation stops Concierge from answering and asks you for the outcome. On a finished conversation the button reads Change outcome.
• Mark as spam closes the conversation as spam, and Concierge stops answering texts from that number. The conversation leaves the Inbox.

Open lead opens the lead behind the conversation.

Logged items

A logged item is a record of a call, a text conversation, or a chat that the Inbox does not already show another way: a call or text log typed in by hand, a call or text Esqase recorded that is not listed as a call or a text conversation, a website chat log, or a saved chat transcript. It opens with its details (who it was from and to, the date, and the subject) and the message or the call notes below them.

A line under the details tells you where the log came from:

• Logged by a member of your firm. Someone at your firm typed it in. You can edit it.
• Recorded by Esqase and read-only. Esqase captured it. A recorded call or text shows the call or the conversation itself, and you can add a note but not change it.

The buttons in the header:

• Edit opens a log a member typed in, in its edit dialog.
• Add note adds a note to a call or text Esqase recorded.
• Open matter or Open lead opens the record the log is filed to.

Edit and Add note need Update access for communications.

Logged items are never unread. Email logs appear under Email instead, each as its own thread. See Logging communications.

What counts as unread

What makes an item unread depends on its kind. A chat is unread for you until you read its new messages, exactly as in Messages. An email thread is unread for you when its newest message is a reply that arrived after you last opened it. A call is unread for you when a missed call or a voicemail arrives, or a transcript is ready, after you last opened it. A text message conversation and a Concierge conversation are shared by the whole firm: each one stays unread until anyone at your firm opens it, so a colleague who opens one clears it for everyone. Logged items are never unread.

Mark everything read

1. Choose the kinds you want to clear with Type. To clear everything, leave every kind ticked.
2. Click Mark all read at the top right.

Every unread item of the chosen kinds is marked read, and the red dot on the Inbox entry clears once nothing is left. For chats, email, and calls this changes only what you see. Text message conversations and Concierge conversations are marked read for everyone at your firm, because they are shared. The button is unavailable while nothing is unread.

Who sees what

Each kind follows its own permission, so two colleagues can see different lists.

Every button follows your role as well. Reply, Call back, and the New menu's email, text, call, and log entries need Create access for communications. Open draft, File, Move, Archive, Edit, and Add note need Update access for communications. The Concierge buttons need Update access for leads. See Roles and permissions.

Matters with limited visibility. An email, text message conversation, call, or log filed to a matter whose visibility is limited to specific members appears only for the members who can open that matter. Everyone else does not see it at all: not in the list, not from a link, and not in the red dot. A link to such an item reads "This conversation isn't available. It may have been removed, or you may not have access to it." Chats are different, because you were added to them on purpose: you always see the chats you are in, and a chat linked to a matter you cannot open shows Restricted matter in place of the matter's name. Concierge conversations belong to leads, so they follow View access for leads.

Live updates

You never need to refresh the Inbox. Chats arrive the moment they are sent, as in Messages. Text messages, calls (including recordings, transcripts, and summaries), emails (sent, drafted, logged, and Outlook replies), logged communications, and most Concierge activity update the list and the open item within a few seconds. Anything else shows up within a minute, or as soon as you come back to the tab. The red dot on the Inbox entry keeps itself up to date on every page.

The Inbox on a phone

On a small screen the Inbox shows one thing at a time:

1. The list opens first, with Type and Unread at the top.
2. Tap an item to open it full screen.
3. Tap the back arrow at the top left to return to the list.

Mark all read shows as an icon of two check marks. The app sidebar slides in from the side, as on every other page.

Common questions

• Where did the Messages page go? The Inbox replaced it. Set Type to Chats to see only your chats. The Messages icon in the header and the floating chat panels work as before.
• I don't see the Inbox in the sidebar. Your role includes none of the Chat permission, View access for communications, or View access for leads. Ask a firm owner or administrator. See Roles and permissions.
• I don't see Text messages or Calls under Type. Your firm does not use calling and texting yet, or your role lacks View access for communications.
• A colleague opened a text conversation and it is no longer unread for me. That is expected. Text message conversations and Concierge conversations are shared by the firm, so the first person to open one clears it for everyone.
• An email reply I expected is not in the Inbox. Only replies to emails sent from Esqase through Outlook come back on their own, usually within a minute. Replies through Gmail never do. Check that the Outlook account that sent the email is still connected. See Logging communications.
• An item shows on the Communications page but not in my Inbox. It is filed to a matter whose visibility is limited to specific members, and you are not one of them. See Who sees what.
• An open item says it is no longer available. It was archived or deleted while you had it open, you left the chat, or your access changed. Pick another item from the list.
• The sidebar collapsed when I opened the Inbox. That is expected. It comes back when you leave. To expand it while you are here, click its edge or press Cmd + B (Mac) or Ctrl + B (Windows).

Related

• Messages (chat)
• Sending email
• Logging communications
• Notifications
• Navigating the dashboard
• Roles and permissions