Answer portal messages in the Inbox

When a person from a customer or supplier company writes a message on a record in your portal (an invoice, an order, a project), the Inbox gets it as a conversation on the Portal channel, one per company and record. You answer it like any other conversation, and the person reads your reply on the portal, on that record.

Before you start

• The Portal app and the Inbox must both be switched on. Without the Inbox, portal messages stay in Portal → Requests only.
• You need See the inbox of own teams and Reply to customers in the inbox.

Steps

1. Open Inbox. A portal message shows in the list with the Portal badge; its subject names the company and the record.
2. Open the conversation and read the message.
3. If nobody has it, select Take it.
4. Type your answer in Reply and select Send. It is written in the record's message thread on the portal, under your name, marked as from your team.
5. Add an internal note if a colleague should know more; notes never reach the portal.
6. When it is settled, select Close. A new message from the person on the same record opens it again.
7. In Portal → Requests, mark the message Handled when you are done (see answer portal requests).

Good to know

• One conversation per record. Every message about the same invoice or order from the same company joins one conversation.
• Also in Requests. The message stays in Portal → Requests too, so the portal team sees it; marking it handled there sends nothing to the person.
• No window. Portal conversations have no 24-hour rule; you can answer at any time.
• Text only. Replies from the Inbox carry no files.
• Deadlines and assignment work as for other channels (see set response deadlines and assign and hand over).
• Disputes and promises sent from the portal go to Collections, not to the Inbox; see open and resolve a dispute.