Assign a chat to a flow

When a flow can handle a chat better than a person (taking a payment, collecting details, a renewal), you can hand the chat to that flow from the inbox.

Hand a chat to a flow

1. Open the conversation.
2. In the header, open the assignee menu and choose Assign to flow….
3. Pick the flow. Each flow says how it starts: Starts with a template, Starts with a message, or Doesn't send first.
4. Choose when it starts:
   • Start now: the flow begins straight away.
   • Start when the customer replies: the flow waits for the customer's next message, ahead of every other flow on the number.
5. Add a reason if it helps whoever reads the chat later, then select Assign.

You need permission to assign conversations and to read messages. A chat a colleague is holding can only be handed to a flow by an owner, admin or supervisor; for agents, Assign to flow… is greyed out with the reason. The list shows only live flows that answer on the chat's WhatsApp number and start on a customer message or Started by a person. Your organisation needs One flow answers each message turned on (under Automation → Numbers). While flows are handling chats, it can't be turned off: take those chats over or send them to the inbox first.

The 24-hour window

WhatsApp only lets you send a plain message within 24 hours of the customer's last message. Outside that window, only approved templates can be sent (see The 24-hour window and templates).

So when the window is closed, Start now is only offered for a flow that starts with a template or sends nothing first. For a flow that starts with a message, choose Start when the customer replies: their reply opens the window again and the flow starts then.

What happens to the chat

• The bot has it. Whoever held the chat is released, and any flow already running on it stops.
• Agents lose sight of it. Chats the bot is handling are only shown to owners, admins and supervisors, under Inbox → Bot conversations. If you're an agent, the chat leaves your inbox as soon as you assign it.
• It comes back when the flow is done. On a number where the bot doesn't handle messages first, the chat returns to the inbox when the flow ends, whether it finished, failed or handed over, and routing places it in a queue or with an agent. On a number where the bot handles messages first, it stays with the bot until a flow hands it over or someone takes it over.
• A flow waiting for the reply shows in the chat's banner, for example "‘Renewals’ will start when the customer replies", and on its row in Bot conversations. Select Cancel in the banner to take it back. The chat stays with the bot, and the customer's next message goes to the number's flows as usual.

How chats move between the bot, the queue and an agent is in Let the bot handle messages first.