Omnichannel Social Inbox & Studio•Essential•Intermediate

Managing Conversations: Unified Inbox, Customer Context & Handoff

Master the Omnichannel Inbox: view customer context, review AI drafts, and seamlessly take over conversations in real time with automated pausing.

6 min read•Updated 2026-09-18

In This Guide

Manage all customer chats from Instagram, Facebook, and Telegram in one real-time workspace.
Inspect live customer context: past orders, total lifetime value, delivery address, and notes.
Take over any conversation with zero friction—the AI automatically pauses when a human replies.
Filter threads by 'Needs You' (escalated), 'Active', and 'Resolved' for efficient team delegation.

Prerequisites

Before configuring this feature, confirm that your store meets the following requirements:

Connected Messaging Channels:At least one active messaging channel connected.

conversora.io/admin/omnichannel-inbox

Managing Conversations: Unified Inbox, Customer Context & Handoff

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Interface view for this workflow.

1. Navigating Threads & Filter Views

The inbox organizes conversations into clear status tabs so your support team knows exactly where to focus:

Needs You: Contains conversations that have been escalated by Aura due to customer frustration, complex policy inquiries, or explicit requests for human assistance.
All Active: Displays all ongoing conversations across all channels currently being handled by either the AI or human staff.
Resolved: Archived conversations that have concluded successfully.

Open Omnichannel Inbox

Click on 'Messaging' in the admin sidebar and select 'Inbox'.

Path:Admin Sidebar → Messaging → Inbox

Select Filter Tab

Click on 'Needs You' to immediately address customers waiting for human attention.

Path:Inbox Header Tabs → Needs You

Select Conversation

Click any conversation row to load the chat timeline, customer context, and order history.

Path:Conversation List → Select Thread

2. Manual Reply & Seamless Human Takeover

Taking over a conversation requires no complex button clicks or mode switches. Simply type your message in the composer and press Enter.

The moment you send a manual message, the AI detects human presence and switches that specific thread to 'Human Mode' for 30 minutes. You can also manually pause or resume the AI at any time using the quick toggle in the conversation header.

Type Message in Composer

Type your reply in the text area at the bottom of the conversation view.

Path:Message Composer → Enter Text

Send Message

Press Enter or click the blue Send button. The message is transmitted to the customer's Instagram or Messenger.

Path:Composer → Send Button

Observe AI Paused State

A banner appears indicating 'AI Paused: Human Agent Active'. Aura will not interfere while you assist the customer.

Path:Thread Header → AI Paused Indicator

Pro Tip

When you finish helping the customer, click 'Mark as Resolved' or 'Re-enable AI' to hand the thread back to Aura immediately.

Practical Business Scenarios

How leading merchants implement this functionality in daily operations:

Custom Sizing Request

Situation: A shopper wants to know if a dress can be customized with 2 inches extra length for an upcoming wedding.

Best practice: Aura escalates the conversation to 'Needs You'. The merchant steps in, confirms with the tailoring team, agrees to the customization, and notes the instruction directly in the customer profile.

Troubleshooting & Common Issues

Diagnose and resolve frequent failure points quickly:

Problem: AI replies to a customer while a human agent was reading the conversation

Why this occurs: The human agent had not yet sent a manual message, so the AI remained in active Autopilot mode.

Resolution: Click the 'Pause AI' button in the chat header as soon as you open a conversation if you plan to review it before replying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I customize the human takeover pause duration?

Yes. In AI Employee > Behavior Settings, you can configure the takeover timeout from 15 minutes up to 24 hours.