Use notes, mentions, tags, and canned responses
Collaborate privately, classify conversations, and reuse approved replies without confusing internal and customer audiences.
Inbox collaboration uses several objects with different purposes. Internal notes hold teammate-only context, mentions notify specific teammates, tags classify a thread, and canned responses insert reusable text into a customer-facing reply.
This guide explains those visibility boundaries and gives the team a maintenance routine. The goal is faster work without sending private context to shoppers or allowing saved replies to become stale policy copies.
How this fits into Humind
Inbox is the operational record of customer conversations. It combines message history, shopper and product context, internal collaboration, human-handoff state, tags, and tickets. Customer replies and internal notes have deliberately different visibility.
A consistent team routine matters more than any individual filter. Agree when to take over, when to leave an internal note, when to create a ticket, and when to return a conversation to the AI so ownership remains clear to every operator.
Before you start
Access: Inbox write access is required for replies and notes. Managing company canned responses or tags may require company settings permissions in addition to Inbox access.
- Agree on tag names, note etiquette, mention urgency, and canned-response owners.
- Review current support and policy language before creating reusable replies.
- Confirm the thread and composer mode before entering customer or internal content.
Step-by-step workflow
Add an internal note
Open a conversation and switch the composer to Note. Write the context another teammate needs, focusing on facts, work completed, uncertainty, and the next action. The note is stored separately and never reaches the customer widget.
An internal note does not take over an AI-active or queued thread. Use Reply only when the shopper should receive the message and the resulting ownership change is intended.
Mention the right teammate
Mentions are available in note mode. Select the intended teammate so Humind can create the mention and send the associated per-user notification. Use a mention for a specific request, not as a substitute for an established queue.
When editing a note, the composer restores hydrated mention chips so they can be reviewed or removed. Check the final note before saving.
Apply tags consistently
Use system tags for the Humind-defined meanings and merchant tags for company-specific classification. Add only tags that support routing, filtering, analysis, or a documented process.
Periodically remove ambiguous company tags through the approved settings workflow. A long uncontrolled list makes filters less useful and causes teammates to classify the same issue differently.
Insert and review a canned response
In Reply mode, open the canned-response picker or use its supported keyboard flow. Search or navigate the results, insert the saved reply, and review substitutions, policy wording, tone, and customer context before sending.
Canned responses are customer-facing and therefore unavailable in note mode. The management link is permission-gated and opens the company settings area for saved replies.
Maintain the collaboration system
Assign owners and review dates to canned responses that contain policy language. Audit merchant tags and note conventions with the team. Use internal links to authoritative Knowledge when a saved reply would otherwise copy a long policy.
Train operators to verify composer mode after editing a message. Humind derives the edit mode from whether the original operator message is internal, but the user should still confirm the audience.
Permissions and important caveats
- Notes are private by construction, while canned responses are inserted only into customer replies.
- Mentions can notify teammates by email; avoid unnecessary or broad mentions.
- Tags classify but do not assign a ticket owner or resolve work.
- Saved replies must be reviewed after policy, brand, or legal changes.
Verify the result
Use this checklist before considering the work complete:
- Internal context appears as a note and not in the shopper-visible conversation.
- Mentions identify a specific teammate and action.
- Tags use documented meanings and support an actual workflow.
- Every inserted canned response is edited for the current customer before sending.
Troubleshooting
Mentions are removed when switching modes
Mentions belong to internal notes. Switch back to Note for teammate collaboration or remove internal references before sending a customer-facing reply.
A canned response is missing
Confirm you are in Reply mode, search by title or text, and check the company saved-response configuration and your permission. Refresh after an administrator updates the list.
A tag cannot be found
Determine whether it was a system or merchant tag, clear search or filters, and ask a company administrator to confirm the merchant tag still exists and is intended for use.