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Open a thread in Inbox and you can answer it yourself or with AI, forward the whole conversation, translate it, and open the files it carries.
Where
Communication→Inbox
Your role needs
Read access to Inbox read-messages. Admin, Member and Viewer have it by default.
To create or change
create-messages to add one, update-messages to change one, on top of the permission above.
If you cannot find this in your sidebar, your workspace may have a custom menu configuration. Contact support and we will check it for you.

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Before you begin

  • At least one connected email account. If the workspace has none, choosing Reply opens a prompt to add one instead of the compose window.
  • A lead on the thread. The compose window sends against the lead the message belongs to.

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Steps

1

Reply: write it yourself, or let AI draft it

Open a thread and choose Reply, at the top right of the reading pane. Without permission to send messages the button stays where it is but is greyed out; hovering it explains why.The compose window that opens is the same one the inbox compose button uses. It arrives addressed to the other side of the thread, with the original subject unchanged (nothing is prefixed to it), and anything the original message had in CC carried across. The body starts empty, and the message you are answering is quoted underneath the editor. That quote is there for you to read: only what you type in the editor is sent.To have the AI write it, choose Ask AI (1), then Get AI Suggestion for a straight draft, or Custom Instructions to say what the reply should do and choose Get Suggestion. Either way it reads the whole thread, your workspace’s company name and description and what the app knows about the lead, and writes into the body, replacing anything already there. It leaves a subject that is already filled alone. Ask AI stays inert until the window has both a lead and an account to send from, and reads Generating… while it works.Edit whatever comes back, then choose Send. It goes out from the account in From, which starts on the account the thread is already on.
2

Forward the whole thread

Choose the forward icon in the same toolbar. Its tooltip reads “Forward thread”. Unlike Reply, it is absent rather than inert when you cannot send messages.Pick which connected account to send from under Forward from (1), type an address under Send to or pick a team member from the list below it, then choose Forward.It forwards the conversation, not the one message you had open: every message in the thread, newest first, each older one nested inside the one above it. The subject is the subject the thread started on, with any existing Re: or Fwd: stripped and a single “Fwd:” put in front.Files from every message in the thread ride along, except any that are over the attachment size limit or that are no longer in storage. Those are left out silently, and the forward still goes.
3

Translate a thread you can't read

Choose the translate icon (tooltip “Translate thread”) and pick a language from the list.Every message goes off for translation at once, and each swaps in place the moment its own translation arrives. An expanded message marks the wait with Translating… over a dimmed body; a collapsed one shows a small spinner next to its preview line. Once the last one lands, a banner (1) names the language you are reading and offers View original.While a translation is showing, the translate icon does the same thing as View original: it puts the thread back. To translate again, or into another language, choose it once to go back and once more to reopen the list.Translating changes only what you are reading. A reply still starts from the message as it arrived.
4

Open what's attached

Every message in a thread starts expanded, so a message carrying files already shows them at the foot of it: a count, then one chip per file with the file name, an icon for its type and its size. Choose a chip to open that file in a new tab. Past the first few, the rest fold into a count that is not itself clickable.Collapse a message and its files reduce to a paperclip in the collapsed row, with a number beside it when there is more than one.

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What happens next

The compose window closes and a notice confirms the email is queued for sending. The reply appears on the Sent tab carrying a Pending chip, which clears on its own once the account has sent it.A forward confirms one of two things and then closes on its own: that the thread was forwarded, or that it is on its way and will be delivered shortly. The second happens when the account had to be reconnected first and delivery was handed to a background retry.A finished translation says so as well. Opening another thread, or choosing View original, puts a translated thread back into the language it arrived in.

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Troubleshooting

Both come from the same missing permission: your role cannot send messages. Reply stays visible and inert so the toolbar keeps its shape, and hovering it says you don’t have permission to do this; forward is dropped from the toolbar entirely. Ask a workspace admin to grant it: see Permissions reference for what each role can do.
It needs both a lead and an account to send from before it will do anything, so a thread with no lead attached leaves it disabled. If it spins and then leaves the body untouched, the draft could not be used. Nothing is written and no error is shown. Choose it again, or write the reply yourself.
Each message is translated on its own, so one can fail without affecting the rest: a warning tells you some messages could not be translated and that message stays in its original language. To retry, choose the translate icon once to return to the original, then again to pick the language.

Inbox overview

The Inbox and Sent tabs, the thread list and the reading pane.

Compose a new email to a lead

The rest of the compose window’s fields, for starting a thread from scratch.

Agent instructions

How your AI agents handle replies and follow-ups automatically, without you opening the thread at all.