Messages collects the enquiries people send from your storefront's contact form. This article shows you how to read them, reply from your own email, keep track of what you have answered with read and unread, and delete what you no longer need.
Where messages come from
Your storefront has a contact page, linked as Contact in its footer and from your FAQ page. Anyone can use its form, with or without an account. The visitor fills in:
| Field | Required | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Yes | Up to 120 characters. |
| Yes | The address you will reply to. It must contain an @. | |
| Subject | No | Up to 200 characters; anything longer is cut off. |
| Message | Yes | Up to 5,000 characters. |
When they send it, the storefront thanks them and says you will reply by email. The contact page also shows your store's contact email address, phone number and address, and a WhatsApp button if you have one. See Update your store’s details and Set up your footer and WhatsApp button.
Each new message puts a notification in the console's bell, such as New message from Leila Haddadin. No email is sent to you about messages, so keep an eye on the bell. See Keep up with notifications.
Tip
Your contact page tells customers you read every message and usually reply by email within one business day. Check Messages at least once each working day so that promise holds.
Messages is on every plan. Reading and replying need the Read messages permission (Reply only opens your email app). Marking messages read or unread and deleting them need Manage messages. The Store owner, Store manager and Sales staff roles all have both. See Staff roles: what each one can see and do.
Until the first message arrives, the page says No messages yet and explains that enquiries from your storefront contact form arrive here.
Unread and All
- In the sidebar, open Messages.
Two tabs choose what you see:
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| All | Every message. The page opens on this tab. |
| Unread | Only the messages you have not marked as read. Its badge counts them. |
Unread messages come first, newest first, then the read ones, newest first. An unread message has a New badge beside its date and a coloured line down its side.
More than 25 messages: Show more
The inbox loads your first 25 messages. When there are more, a line under the last message says how many you are seeing, for example Showing 25 of 63, with a Show more button beside it.
- Under the last message, select Show more.
The next 25 messages, the older ones, are added under those already shown, and the count moves on, for example to Showing 50 of 63. Select Show more again for the next 25. Once every message is on the page, the count and the button go away.
The Unread tab works the same way, and its count covers only unread messages. Switching tabs starts the list again from its first 25.
If the next messages cannot be loaded, the console shows Could not load more messages. Try again. The messages already on the page stay as they were, and you can select Show more again.
Read a message
There is nothing to open: each message is shown in full in the list.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The name the visitor typed. |
| Email address | The address they typed. Select it to write to them from your email app. |
| New | The message is unread. |
| Date and time | When they sent it. |
| Subject | Their subject, in bold, if they wrote one. |
| Message | Everything they wrote. |
| Reply | Opens your email app with a reply ready to write. |
| Envelope icon | Mark as read on an unread message (an open envelope); Mark as unread on a read one (a closed envelope). |
| Bin icon | Deletes the message, after asking you. |
Opening the page, reading a message or replying does not mark it as read. Only the envelope icon does, so you decide when a message is done.
Reply: your own email app opens
You answer from your own email, not from the console.
- Find the message. The Unread tab lists the ones waiting for you.
- Select Reply.
Your device's email app opens a new email, addressed to the customer, with the subject Re: followed by their subject, or Re: your message if they left the subject empty. In the Arabic console the subject starts with «رد:» instead.
- Write your answer and send it from your email app as usual.
- Back in Messages, select the envelope icon to mark the message as read.
Your reply goes from your own email address, so the customer sees it and their answers come straight back to you. The customer's message is not copied into the email: quote any part you need.
If nothing opens when you select Reply, your device has no email app set up for email links. Copy the customer's email address from the message and write to them from the email service you use.
Mark as read or unread
To mark a message as read:
- Select the envelope icon on the message (Mark as read).
The New badge and the coloured line disappear, and the Unread badge goes down by one. The page does not reload, so any messages you added with Show more stay on it.
On the All tab, the message keeps its place in the list. The inbox puts unread messages first each time the list loads, so the message moves down among the read ones only when the list next loads: when you open the page again, switch tabs or select Show more.
On the Unread tab, the message leaves the list at once.
If you mark every message shown on the Unread tab read while more unread messages are still to be shown, the next ones load by themselves.
To put a message back on your list, for example when you need to come back to it:
- Select the envelope icon on a read message (Mark as unread).
It gets its New badge back and the Unread count goes up by one. It stays where it is in the list until the list next loads, when it moves up among the unread messages: when you open the page again, switch tabs or select Show more.
If the change cannot be saved, the console shows Could not update the message. Try again.
Delete a message
- Select the bin icon on the message (Delete).
The console asks Delete this message? and warns that the message and the email address it came from are deleted, and that this cannot be undone.
- Select Delete.
The message disappears and the console shows Message deleted. If it was unread, the Unread count goes down too. The rest of the list stays as it was, without reloading. If you delete the last message on the page while more are waiting, the next ones load by themselves. To keep the message, select Cancel instead.
Warning
A deleted message is removed completely, with the customer's email address, and cannot be brought back. Reply first, or copy the address, if you might need to write to them later.
If the delete fails, the console shows Could not update the message. Try again. and the message stays.
All caught up
When you have marked every message as read, the Unread tab says All caught up and Every message has been read. Select All under it to see all your messages again.
If the inbox does not load
If the messages cannot be loaded, the page says Could not load messages with a Try again button.
- Select Try again.
- If it still does not load, check your internet connection and reload the page.
If the page never loads for you but does for the store owner, your role probably does not include messages. Ask the store owner to check your role.
What to do next
- Update your store’s details, including the contact details your contact page shows.
- Add questions to your FAQ page, so customers find common answers before they write.
- Open your messages (opens in a new tab).