Skip to main content

How to Give Ellipsend Control of Your Conversations (Thread Control)

If messages aren't showing up in Ellipsend, won't send, or an automation stops after its first message, two settings on your Facebook Page are the usual cause. Here's how to fix them.

In this guide

Is This You?

Check these two settings if any of this sounds familiar.

  • Messages show up in Instagram or Facebook but never reach your Ellipsend inbox.

  • You can't send a message from Ellipsend.

  • An automation sends its first message, then stops. The contact taps the button and the link never arrives.

  • You've used ManyChat, GoHighLevel, or another DM tool on this account, now or in the past.

This applies even if you only use Ellipsend for Instagram. Ellipsend connects to Instagram through your Facebook Page, so the settings live on the Page.

What's Going On

Meta lets more than one app connect to your Page, but only one app holds a conversation at a time. The app holding it is the one that can send.

Two settings decide who that is. The default routing app is the app that gets new conversations. Take control of conversations lets an app grab a conversation another app is holding, so it can send.

If another tool is the default, or Ellipsend isn't allowed to take control, Ellipsend gets stuck partway through a conversation. If no default is set at all and another tool is connected, both tools get every message and both can reply. That's where double replies come from.

Before You Start

You need to be someone who manages the Facebook Page your Instagram account is connected to. If that's not you, send this to the person who does.

Ellipsend needs two settings changed on our Facebook Page so it can send and receive our DMs. It has to be done by someone who manages the Page. In the Page's settings, open Page setup and set Ellipsend as the default routing app under Instagram conversation routing and Messenger conversation routing. Then open Advanced messaging, click Edit next to Ellipsend, turn on all four toggles, and click Save. Full steps: https://docs.ellipsend.com/en/articles/17509725-how-to-give-ellipsend-control-of-your-conversations-thread-control

If it is you, get to the right place first.

  1. Go to facebook.com. Click your profile picture in the top right and pick your Page from the list of profiles.

  2. Click your profile picture again, then Settings & privacy, then Settings. If you see Page setup in the menu on the left, you're on the Page. If you don't, you're still on your personal profile.

  3. Open Linked accounts and check your Instagram account. Under Connected Instagram, Allow access to Instagram messages in Inbox should be on.

The links in this article open the right Facebook screen directly. They only work once you've switched into the Page.

Step 1: Make Ellipsend the Default Routing App

  1. Open Instagram conversation routing. You can also get there by clicking Page setup in the Settings menu, then Instagram conversation routing.

  2. Under Default routing app, click Set up, then Get started. Skip past the message that appears and click Continue.

  3. Pick Ellipsend in the App dropdown and click Continue.

  4. Open Messenger conversation routing and repeat the same clicks.

If another app is already the default, change it to Ellipsend.

Meta now sends new conversations to Ellipsend, whether an automation or your team handles them.

Step 2: Let Ellipsend Take Control of Conversations

Conversations that started before you changed the default stay with the app that had them. This step lets Ellipsend pick those up.

  1. Open Advanced messaging. You can also get there from Page setup.

  2. Under Connected Apps, click Edit next to Ellipsend.

  3. Turn on Access standby channel and Take control of conversations under Messenger permissions, and the same two under Instagram permissions.

  4. Click Save.

Access standby channel lets Ellipsend see conversations another app is holding. Take control of conversations lets Ellipsend take them over so it can send. If you use both Instagram and Facebook you'll see four toggles. All of them should be on.

Still Using Another Tool?

That's fine. The common case is a new follower automation, a welcome message that sends when someone follows you. Ellipsend doesn't send those, so plenty of teams run one on another platform.

Keep Ellipsend as the default routing app. Then in Advanced messaging, click Edit next to the other app, turn on Take control of conversations for it too, and click Save. Now it can send its messages.

Make sure the two tools aren't replying to the same trigger, or your contacts get two replies.

Still Not Working?

Test it first. Comment your keyword from another account, or have a teammate DM you. Check that the whole automation runs and the conversation lands in your inbox.

If it doesn't, check the other usual causes.

For a wider list of causes, see A Message Won't Send and Messages Aren't Arriving: The Connection Checklist.

If none of those fit, message us in the chat with the usernames of one or two affected contacts and we'll take a look.

Related Articles
Did this answer your question?