This is the short version of Settings. It covers the handful of settings that decide whether your inbox works the way you expect once your team is in it. Everything else is in the full Settings guide.
In this guide
Set Your Time Zone
Go to Settings → Profile. Under Local Timezone, pick your time zone so the times you see in Ellipsend match your day.
While you're there, turn on Dark mode under Appearance if you prefer it.
Invite Your Team
Go to Settings → Team and click the + next to Team.
Enter the person's Email and choose a Role.
Turn on Add as Inbox Agent for anyone who will reply to contacts.
Click Send Email. They get an email to set up their name and password.
Don't skip step 3. A login only lets someone read the inbox. To reply to contacts they have to be an Inbox Agent, and that toggle makes them one as you invite them.
Most teams use these roles.
Regular for setters.
Manager for a setter manager.
Admin or Manager for anyone else on the team.
Inbox Agent Seats
If you don't see Add as Inbox Agent, every Inbox Agent seat on your plan is in use. Plans and Limits lists the seats on each plan.
The Inbox Agent Seats card under the Settings menu shows how many seats you've used. To add more, click Purchase Inbox Agent Seats on that card, or move up to the next plan.
To make someone who's already on your team an Inbox Agent, go to Settings → Inbox → Inbox Agents and click Edit on the Inbox Agents table. Type their name under Add team member, select them, click Add, then click Save Changes.
More detail is in What Is an Inbox Agent?
Decide How Contacts Get Assigned
Assignment decides which setter owns which contact. Both settings are on one page, Settings → Inbox → Inbox Agents. Set them in this order.
Auto-Assign on Agent Message
Turn this on first, however your team works. It assigns a contact to the setter who messages them. Pick one of the two options.
Only If Unassigned. A contact nobody owns is assigned to the first setter who messages them. We recommend this for most teams.
Even If Assigned. A contact is reassigned to anyone who messages them, even if a teammate already has it.
Here's why it matters on day one. When you connected your account, Ellipsend pulled in your existing conversations, and every one of those contacts starts out unassigned. With one of these options on, each contact gets assigned as your team works through them. With both off, they stay unassigned, and unassigned contacts don't count for anyone on the Agents tab in Reports.
Auto-Assignment
This one handles new contacts, and most teams turn it on. Every new contact is assigned to one of your Inbox Agents automatically, in rotation, based on the percentage you give each person. With two setters at 50% each, new contacts alternate between them.
Turn on Enable Auto-Assignment. A window opens where you set each agent's percentage. The percentages have to add up to 100%. Click How does this work? on the page to see the order contacts will be handed out in.
Leave it off if your setters cover different hours. Say John works the inbox from 9 to 5 and Sally works it from 5 to 9. With auto-assignment on, new contacts would keep getting assigned to Sally while John is the one online. With it off, Auto-Assign on Agent Message does the job, and each contact goes to whoever messages them first.
Choose Who Can See Which Conversations
Go to Settings → Inbox → Inbox Settings. The first setting, Allow Non-Admin Users to View All Contacts, is off by default.
While it's off, a setter can only see contacts assigned to them and contacts that aren't assigned to anyone. John can't see Sally's conversations. If your setters tell you they can't see every conversation, this is why.
Most teams turn it on. Leave it off if you want each setter working only their own contacts and you'd rather they couldn't pick up each other's.
Shared Read Status
Right below that is Shared Read Status. When it's on, a conversation one person reads is marked as read for everyone.
Most teams leave it off, so each person keeps their own unread list. Turn it on if your team works the unread conversations together as one shared list.
Typing Indicators and Read Receipts
Both are under Message indicators, and both make your replies feel like they're coming from a person.
Typing indicators. The contact sees that you're typing while someone on your team writes a reply in Ellipsend.
Read receipts. When someone on your team opens a conversation in Ellipsend, the contact's latest message is marked as seen on Instagram or Facebook.
Turn off Read receipts if you don't want contacts to know a message was opened before your team replies.
Pause Automations
This is the one to check before you finish. Pause Automations After Agent Sends Message is on by default. When someone on your team messages a contact, automations stop triggering for that contact for 1 day.
That keeps an automation from firing in the middle of a real conversation. If a contact types one of your keywords while your setter is talking with them, an automated reply would throw the conversation off.
Use the Pause Automations for dropdown to change the length, anywhere from 30 minutes to Forever. We recommend 1 day or 7 days. You can also turn the setting off.
What's Next
That's everything you need for the inbox to work the way you expect. For every other tab, including Connections, Integrations, Campaigns, Labels, and Saved Responses, see the full Settings guide.