Answer an email conversation

Summary

The email console is the screen where your team reads and answers mail. Select Conversations in the left sidebar of the KonversAI console, then select Email. The list on the left carries the heading Emails. Select a row to open the thread in the middle pane. The assistant writes a reply for each inbound mail and parks it as a draft with the badge Pending review. A person reads the draft, edits it, and selects Send. KonversAI then sends the mail to the customer.

Who can do this

Any team member whose role includes the View conversations permission can open Conversations > Email in the KonversAI console and read a thread. To send a reply, your role also needs the Modify conversations permission. A Tenant Admin has both permissions. A Tenant Operator has both by default. The Draft reply editor, with its Send and Save draft buttons, appears inside a thread that holds a reply waiting for review.

The plus button that starts a new message on a thread with no draft is different. Today the KonversAI console shows that button only to a Tenant Admin. If you do not see the plus button under the last message, ask a Tenant Admin to send that message, and tell KonversAI support.

Before you start

Email is a per-tenant feature flag in KonversAI. When the feature is off, Email is missing from the Conversations group in the left sidebar of the console, and the address of the email console sends you back to your tenant home. Contact support to switch the feature on.

Set up the email channel before you open the console. KonversAI needs an inbound address, an outbound “from” address and the DNS records for your sending domain. Without them, no mail arrives, and no reply leaves. Read Set up the email channel for that work. This page covers only the reading and the answering.

Know the two things a person cannot change from the email console. KonversAI sends a reply from the outbound “from” address of the email configuration, not from your own mailbox. KonversAI also keeps the subject of the thread on every reply, so the mail stays in the same thread in the customer’s mail application.

Steps

1. Select Conversations in the left sidebar of the KonversAI console, then select Email. The list on the left opens with the heading Emails. On a wide screen the console opens the newest thread by itself.
2. Find the thread. Type in the search box above the list and select Search, or select Filters to filter by Outcome, Closed, Created and Updated. Select Show more at the end of the list for the next page.
3. Read the badge on each row. Pending review means a draft waits for a person. Ready to send means KonversAI has the reply in its send queue. Sent means the customer has the reply. Awaiting reply means the last message is the customer’s and the assistant has written nothing yet. Rejected marks an older draft that a person replaced. Draft in process… means the assistant is writing right now.
4. Select the row. The thread opens in the middle pane, with the subject as the heading. A thread with no subject shows (no subject). A line under the heading counts the messages, and a thread with no messages shows No messages on this conversation yet.
5. Select any message header to open or close that message. KonversAI opens the newest message for you. Each message shows who wrote it: Customer for inbound mail with no name on file, AI Assistant for the assistant, and the name of the team member for a reply that a person sent. A reply from the assistant also carries a small AI chip. An outgoing message with no author on file reads Outbound.
6. Read the draft. A thread with a reply waiting for review holds a card with the title Draft reply, and the text box shows the placeholder Edit the draft reply before sending… The draft is Markdown. Edit it as much as you want.
7. Select Send to send the reply. KonversAI shows Sent successfully. at the top of the thread, and the message badge changes to Sent. KonversAI refuses an empty reply with the message Message body cannot be empty.
8. Select Save draft instead to keep your edit without sending. KonversAI shows Draft saved. The thread stays in Pending review, so a colleague can finish it. KonversAI refuses an empty draft with the message Draft body cannot be empty.
9. Select Open in email client to hand the reply to your own mail application. KonversAI opens a new message there with the customer address, the subject and your edited text. This button leaves the KonversAI thread untouched: KonversAI sends nothing, and the draft stays in Pending review.
10. Write a message on a thread with no draft. Select the round plus button under the last message, which carries the accessible name Add message to thread. A text box opens with the placeholder Write your reply… Type the message, then select Send, or select Save draft to keep it.
11. Read the panel on the right for the conversation details, such as the queue, the outcome and the customer contact information. On a phone, select Details above the thread to open the same panel.
12. Select Delete conversation at the top right of the thread only when you want the thread gone. A window opens with the title Delete this conversation? and the warning This permanently removes the conversation and all of its messages and related data. This cannot be undone. Select Delete permanently to confirm, or Cancel to keep the thread.

FAQ

Does the assistant send an email by itself, or does a person always send it?

By default a person sends it. The assistant writes the reply and parks it on the thread under Conversations > Email with the badge Pending review. A person then selects Send.

You can allow automatic send for some replies. On the Email tab of the Entry-points screen, open Autoreply and fill in Send automatically when with the situations where an AI reply may go out without review. Leave that field empty to review every reply. Anything the description does not clearly cover still waits for a person to select Send.

Why did the assistant write no draft for an email that arrived?

KonversAI blocks the assistant on purpose for mail that must never get a reply. The thread under Conversations > Email in the console then shows the badge Awaiting reply and holds no draft. KonversAI recognizes automated and bulk mail — such as an autoresponder, a mailing list or a no-reply address — and does not draft a reply to it. KonversAI also stops replying automatically after several exchanges in one conversation, so two automated systems cannot email each other forever. Answer such a thread yourself.

What does the customer receive when I select Send?

The customer receives a normal email in their mail application. KonversAI sends it from the outbound “from” address of your email configuration, with the subject of the thread. KonversAI adds the threading headers of the original message, so the reply lands in the same conversation in the customer’s inbox and not as a new one. KonversAI wraps your text in a branded HTML template. The template carries your logo inside the message and a footer under the text. The customer reads the words you left in the Draft reply box inside that template.

Can I edit the assistant’s draft before it goes out?

Yes, and that is the normal way to work. Open the thread under Conversations

Email in the KonversAI console. The draft sits in a card titled Draft reply, with the placeholder Edit the draft reply before sending… Change any word you want, then select Send. KonversAI keeps the original draft in the thread and sends your version, so your team can see later what the assistant proposed and what a person changed.

Where do I read the customer’s original email with its formatting?

Open the thread under Conversations > Email in the KonversAI console and select the header of the inbound message. KonversAI renders the original HTML of the customer mail, with its links, tables and images. KonversAI removes scripts, frames and forms from that HTML first, and opens every link in a new tab, so a hostile email cannot reach your console session. Replies from your own team render as plain text or Markdown, never as HTML.

I selected Send and got “Failed to send.” What now?

Failed to send. on a thread under Conversations > Email in the KonversAI console means the send did not complete. Check three things in this order. First, check that your role includes the Modify conversations permission; without it KonversAI rejects the send. Second, open Settings > Entry-points and the Email tab, and check the Status for sending emails panel: an unverified sending domain stops every reply. Third, check that the thread has a customer address to answer. Your text stays in the box, so you lose nothing. Select Send again after you fix the cause.

What is the difference between the Email screen and the Chat screen?

Both sit under Conversations in the left sidebar of the KonversAI console, and both use the same three-pane layout. Email holds the conversations that arrived as mail, and the assistant parks its reply as a draft for a person. Chat holds the conversations from the chat widget on your website, and the assistant answers the customer at once. The Email item only appears when your tenant has the email feature. Read Take over a conversation from the assistant for the chat side.

A colleague already answered. Why does the thread still say Pending review?

The KonversAI console shows two Pending review badges under Conversations > Email, and each one reads a different message. The badge on a row of the conversation list follows the newest message in the thread, whatever its direction. A customer reply that arrives after the draft changes that row to Awaiting reply. The badge in the header of the open thread follows the newest outbound message whose status is still a draft, so it stays on Pending review until somebody sends that draft. A colleague who selected Save draft left the reply in Pending review on purpose, because Save draft stores the text and sends nothing. Open the thread, read the text in the Draft reply card, and select Send to finish the job. The header badge then goes away, and the row in the list reads Sent once KonversAI delivers the mail.