Messages: Option to Mark as Read/Unread
I
Imad Ahmed
Business Problem:
Currently, when a conversation is opened, its unread count clears and there is no way to set it back to unread. In shared Inboxes, a teammate may open a conversation that is not theirs, by mistake or just to check something. The conversation then looks handled, and the person responsible can miss the customer's message.
Desired Outcome:
- Users can mark any conversation as unread from the conversation list.
- The unread indicator stays until someone opens the conversation again.
Use Cases:
A teammate opens a colleague's conversation to check an order, then marks it unread so the colleague still sees it.
An agent marks a conversation unread as a reminder to come back to it later.
Current Workaround:
To come back to a conversation later, agents can snooze it. There is no workaround for a conversation opened by mistake.
N
Nabilah Binti Salleh
Merged in a post:
Subject: Feature Request: Mark as Unread, Scheduled Follow-Ups & Simpler Conversation Organization
Jonathan Ramcharitar
I’d like to suggest a few improvements that would significantly enhance conversation management in respond.io.
- Mark Conversations as Unread
A simple one-click option to mark a conversation as unread would be extremely useful. We frequently review messages without being able to act on them immediately, and need a quick way to flag them for attention.
- Scheduled Follow-Up Reminders
Allow agents to schedule a reminder directly on a conversation for a specific date and time, with notifications and a dedicated view of upcoming or overdue follow-ups.
This should be independent of existing notification and mute functionality.
- Simpler, One-Click Conversation Organization
I recognize that Lifecycle stages, tags, and custom inbox filters already provide some organizational capabilities, and admittedly, we may not be utilizing Lifecycle to its full potential.
However, I think there’s still room for a much simpler way to organize conversations based on what action is required next.
For example, quickly placing a conversation into “Needs Attention,” “Follow Up,” or “Pending Internal Action” without configuring filters or navigating multiple menus.
Ideally, these would be accessible directly from the inbox sidebar, with one-click assignment and minimal setup.
The distinction I’d emphasize is that Lifecycle tracks the customer’s journey, whereas these organizational tools would help agents manage their immediate workload.
We handle a large volume of customer conversations across sales, support, and repairs. Not every conversation requires an immediate response, but many require action later.
Having these tools directly integrated into the inbox would substantially reduce the administrative effort required to keep track of conversations and help prevent missed follow-ups and lost sales.
Hever Admin
Strongly agree with all 3 points, especially the third. We also have need for non-lifecycle, eh, "Statuses". We find using Tags is not good enough for this, mainly because we can't use tags in dashboards/stats.
JLL Tung
Why is this feature not implemented yet? 😂
Admin
We need this feature, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could consider implementing it.
Provide your feedback on BizChat
N
Nabilah Binti Salleh
Merged in a post:
Mark conversation as unread
D
Delmi Sejas Perez
Please add the option to manually mark a conversation as unread in the Inbox.
We work as a team sharing inboxes, and sometimes a teammate opens a conversation that isn't theirs to handle (by mistake, or just to check something), which marks it as read for the whole team. There's currently no way to undo that, so the conversation silently drops off everyone's radar even though nobody who's actually responsible for it has seen it yet.
A simple "mark as unread" action on each conversation (similar to WhatsApp, Gmail, etc.) would fix this and help teams avoid missing client messages.
Kutay Duran
+++ Still need this
Mohamad Hauache
Open/Closed tells us the lifecycle. Unreplied tells us who spoke last. Neither answers the question agents ask a hundred times a day: has someone already looked at this and decided it needs nothing right now?
Without unread, agents have to open every open conversation just to find out whether there’s anything new in it. That isn’t an inbox. It’s a pile.
And when I open a conversation as a supervisor, it clears the signal for the agent who owns it, so checking on my own team destroys their queue.
This is the most basic primitive an inbox can have.
GISELE GOLDSTEIN
This has 267 votes. How is it possible it is not even labeled as planned???
N
Nabilah Binti Salleh
GISELE GOLDSTEIN: Hi Gisele, thank you for your feedback, and we'll update once there's any progress. Appreciate your patience and support.
S
Sara Dias
Any updates on this topic?
N
Nabilah Binti Salleh
Merged in a post:
Dedicated Unread Filter Toggle
H
Hamzah Menshawi Khamis
Business Problem:
The current conversation list does not provide a dedicated Unread filter based on the unread badge. Instead, users must rely on other filters that do not accurately show conversations containing messages they have not yet opened or read. As a result, unread messages can easily get lost in high volumes of conversations, making it difficult for teams to ensure every new message is seen.
Desired Outcome:
Introduce a dedicated Unread Filter toggle that:
* Shows only conversations with unread messages (those displaying the unread badge).
* Removes conversations from the filter as soon as they have been opened/read, regardless of whether an agent replies.
* Functions similarly to the unread filters available in WhatsApp, email clients, and other communication tools.
Use Case:
Our team uses the unread badge to track conversations that have not yet been seen. We don't want to filter conversations based on whether they have been replied to—we only want to see conversations containing unread messages. This would help ensure no new customer messages are missed while keeping the inbox focused on conversations that genuinely require review.
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