Live Chat in Inbox

Handle live chat conversations directly from your inbox. See waiting chats, go online/offline, and take over AI conversations.

How to get there: Go to Inbox in the top menu. The Online/Offline toggle appears in the inbox toolbar once live chat is enabled on a chatbot.

Enabling Live Chat First

Before the toggle appears in the inbox, live chat needs to be turned on for a chatbot:

  1. Go to Setup → Chatbot in the top menu and click your chatbot
  2. In the sidebar, open Behavior → Live Chat
  3. Toggle Enable Live Chat on and configure business hours and agent routing

See Live Chat Agents Overview for the full setup.

Going Online/Offline

Control your availability for live chat:

  1. Look for the Online/Offline toggle in the inbox toolbar (top of the Inbox page)
  2. Click to switch your status
  3. When Online: You can receive and claim new chats
  4. When Offline: New chats go to other online agents or the AI

Replying When the Visitor Has Left

If you reply to a live chat after the visitor has closed their tab, Boei automatically emails them a copy of your message so the conversation isn't lost.

  • The visitor's presence is tracked as Online (widget open), Away, or Offline (tab closed).
  • When you send a message to an Offline visitor, it's queued in the thread and also sent by email (using the address captured during the chat).
  • The message shows a small Delivered by email label in the composer so you know how the visitor received it.
  • If no email is on file for that thread, the message stays in the thread only.

This is why encouraging visitors to leave an email during escalation matters: it turns a missed reply into a resumable conversation.

Read Receipts

Once you send a reply, Boei shows whether the visitor has seen it:

  • Sent - message left your inbox
  • Seen - visitor's widget rendered the message

Read receipts flow both ways: when the visitor opens the widget and reads your reply, the thread is marked seen on your side, and when you open the thread in your inbox, the visitor sees your typing/read state on theirs.

Active Conversations

Live chats appear at the top of your inbox with special indicators:

  • Waiting - Customer waiting, no agent assigned
  • Active - Conversation in progress
  • Unread count - Number of new messages

Claiming a Chat

When a customer requests live help:

  1. The chat appears in your inbox as "Waiting"
  2. Click Claim to take the conversation
  3. You're now the assigned agent
  4. Start responding to the customer

Taking Over AI Conversations

If a customer is chatting with your AI chatbot and needs human help:

  1. Find the AI conversation in your inbox
  2. Click Take Over
  3. You now control the conversation
  4. The customer sees they're talking to a human

Live Chat Indicators

Recognize live chats by:

  • Live badge - Shows it's an active conversation
  • Typing indicator - Customer is typing
  • Unread count - New messages since you last viewed
  • Time since last message - How long customer has waited

Handling Multiple Chats

You can handle several live chats at once:

  1. Each chat appears in your inbox list
  2. Click between chats to switch
  3. Unread indicators help you track new messages
  4. Prioritize based on wait time

Ending a Chat

When the conversation is complete:

  1. Send a closing message
  2. Click Mark Closed in the conversation toolbar (or change the status to Closed from the status dropdown)
  3. The chat moves out of active conversations

Best Practices

  • Stay online when available - Don't leave customers waiting
  • Claim quickly - Reduce customer wait time
  • Use saved replies - Speed up common responses
  • Take over when needed - Help if AI can't answer
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