Conversations & Threads
How a visitor holds several conversations at once, starts new ones, and what happens when one is closed or blocked
A visitor is not limited to one conversation. They can ask a question, get it answered, and later start a separate one - each kept apart, each with its own history.
The Messages Tab
The Messages tab lists the visitor's conversations rather than dropping them straight into one. Each row shows its most recent message, so they can pick up whichever they meant to continue.
| State | What the visitor sees |
|---|---|
| No conversations yet | "No conversations yet" - start one and it appears here. |
| Conversations exist | The list, newest activity first. |
| Load failed | "Could not load your conversations", with a prompt to check the connection and retry. |
The Home tab can also surface this: the Your conversations block links straight into the list, and a Recent message block shows the latest one inline.
Starting a New Conversation
Ask a question opens a new conversation. It appears wherever you have placed it - the ask-question Home block, a quick action, or the empty state in Messages.
Each new conversation is independent: its own messages, its own status, its own assigned operator.
On the operator side these arrive as separate threads under one contact row, not as separate people. An operator sees every thread the visitor has opened, numbered in order, and replies on the one they choose. See Conversations & threads in the inbox docs.
Resolving
A visitor can close a conversation themselves with Resolve conversation. An operator can resolve it from the inbox. Either way the conversation shows as resolved, and the transcript records who did it.
When a Conversation Is Closed
A closed conversation becomes read-only. The visitor can still read everything, but the composer is locked.
They see "That's a wrap 👋" with a note that the conversation is closed and they can start a new one whenever they like, plus a Start a new conversation action.
This is why multiple conversations matter: closing one does not shut the visitor out. The old thread stays readable as history and a new question gets a clean thread, instead of a resolved conversation being reopened months later.
Blocked Visitors
Blocking also locks the composer, but it is not the same as closing, and the wording differs so the visitor is not told to start a new conversation they cannot start.
| Level | What the visitor sees |
|---|---|
| This conversation | "This conversation is blocked" |
| The visitor, globally | "You can no longer send messages" |
Blocked takes priority over closed. If a conversation is both, the visitor sees the blocked message and gets no "start a new conversation" prompt - a blocked visitor cannot route around the block by opening a fresh thread.
Blocking is done from the inbox - at thread level, or for the contact as a whole. See Conversations & threads → Blocking.
Offline and Reconnecting
The widget keeps working when the connection drops:
| State | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| Offline | An "You're offline" banner appears. |
| Message sent while offline | Marked "Waiting for connection" and sent when the connection returns. |
| Send failed | Marked "Not delivered" with a Retry action. |
| Reconnected | A "Back online" confirmation. |
Nothing the visitor typed is lost to a dropped connection.
Related
- Transcript download - saving a conversation as a file
- Conversations & threads - the operator's side
- Content configuration - the Home blocks that link here