# Work with your Inbox

Read conversations, find the right thread, send manual replies, and understand what the workflow is doing.

## Find a conversation

Conversations on a Line with [Private AI mode](/channels/private-ai/) enabled are intentionally hidden from Inbox. Human agents cannot view or reply to them. Check the Line’s setting if you expected a conversation here; a private AI Line is different from a team-supported customer-service Line.

Open **Inbox** and use the available search and filters to narrow the conversation list. Check the Line and the conversation details before replying; customers may contact your team through more than one channel.

Select a conversation to read its message history. Look at the latest customer message and the recent automated responses together so your reply continues the conversation naturally.

## Reply manually

Enter your message in the conversation composer and send it to the selected conversation. Check the destination and wording before sending. A manual reply is a real customer message.

Do not assume a manual reply disables all automation. If a workflow should stop answering during a handoff, design that behavior explicitly using your conversation statuses and workflow conditions.

## Understand a waiting workflow

A Receive Message node can leave a run waiting for a customer response. This can be normal: the workflow has asked a question and has not yet received the kind of answer it expects.

Check **Workflow Activity** when the conversation and your expected automation do not match. Inbox shows the conversation; activity helps explain the run.

## Keep conversations organized

Use [conversation statuses](/conversations/statuses/) consistently. Agree with your team on what each status means and what actions are appropriate before marking a conversation complete or moving it back into active work.

Maintain customer details in [Contacts](/conversations/contacts/) where appropriate. Avoid putting private access credentials in conversation notes or workflow Properties.

## A practical handoff pattern

1. The assistant recognizes that it cannot answer confidently.
2. It tells the visitor that a person needs to follow up.
3. It updates the conversation to your team’s handoff status.
4. The team finds and replies to the conversation in Inbox.

The status name alone does not stop another workflow. Make the intended behavior part of your workflow logic. See [branches and fallbacks](/workflows/branches/).