# Inbox

Section: Guest Management · Page: https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/inbox

(Plans: All plans)

When a guest writes back instead of clicking, or an exhibitor asks for more
places the night before the preview, the Inbox gathers it in one calm list. Open
**Inbox** in the sidebar, under **All Guests**; the red count beside it is how
many messages are new. The Inbox is marked **Beta** while we keep improving it.

## What's in it

| | What lands there |
|---|---|
| **Guests** | Replies guests send to your invitations and booking emails. |
| **Exhibitors** | Messages from every portal group's partners once they write in, each labelled with its portal group. The welcome message every portal gets, and anything only your organisation sent, stay out. Organisations that aren't art fairs see them as **Portals**. (Plans: Expert) (Access: Admins only) |

Both share one list, newest first: what's still waiting, then what you've marked
**Done**, faded, with a tick. Each message says whether it came from a
guest or an exhibitor. The box icon beside the search picks what you're looking
at, with how many are waiting in each:

- **All**, the default.
- **Guests** or **Exhibitors** on their own, when you have exhibitors.
- **Archived**: conversations you've taken out of the list.

**Done** is a mark, not a separate list. A handled conversation stays where it
is, below what's waiting. **Archive**, in the menu beside **Done** or on a row's
right-click menu, is the way out of the list. Opening a message marks it as read
for your whole team. The list updates as new messages arrive. Each portal
group's own inbox keeps working, and shows the same conversations.

The tag icon beside the search narrows the list to one tag: for guests,
**Can't attend**, **Questions** and the other tags; for exhibitors, **Spot
requests** and **Messages**.

## Your Inbox address: guest replies

Guests reply to emails. Your Inbox has its own address, such as
*"northgate@inbox.artsvp.com"*. Make it your support email and every guest email
your organisation sends through ARTSVP replies to it, so a quick *"Sadly I can't
make it"* no longer disappears into someone's personal mailbox.

Booking confirmations, reminders, cancellations, tickets and invitations all
carry it as their reply address. The **Reply to** field in the invitation
composer shows it too, and you can still type a different address for one send.
New organisations start with their Inbox address as their support email.

### Using your Inbox address, or your own

(Access: Admins only)

- **From the Inbox:** click **Use my Inbox address**. It replaces your support
  email.
- **From settings:** go to **Settings** → **Organisation info** → **Support
  email** and choose **Your Inbox address** or **Your own email**, then save.
  With your own email, guest emails reply to that address instead. Replies to
  emails you've already sent still reach your Inbox.

Each reply is matched to the guest's invitation or booking, so you see who wrote
and what they booked. A reply from an address we don't know still arrives, marked
**Not matched to a guest yet**. If we can't confirm an email really came from the
address it shows, it's marked **Sender not verified** and isn't linked to anyone's
booking or invitation.

### Sorted by what the guest wants (Plans: Pro & Expert)

Each reply is tagged with what the guest wants: **Can't attend**, **Can attend**,
**Date changes**, **+1 requests**, **Transfers**, **Refunds** or **Questions**. A
reply can have more than one tag. A guest who asks about parking and whether they
can bring a friend appears under both **+1 requests** and **Questions**, and
answering them, or clicking **Done**, marks both handled. Replies with no tag,
such as a simple thank-you, are under **Other**. Automatic replies, such as out
of office notices, are marked done by themselves, so they never ask for your
attention. Replies that need an answer get a suggested reply, drafted only
from your event's own details, which you can edit before sending.

Tags follow what the guest wants now. A later email can take an earlier ask
back: *"Sadly I can't make it"* then *"Sorry, I can come after all. Can I bring
a guest?"* ends as **+1 requests** only. An ask nobody took back still stands,
so *"Can I bring my partner?"* then *"Also, is there parking?"* keeps both **+1
requests** and **Questions**. A **Transfers** tag means they want to pass the
place to someone they name or describe; asking to free up a space without
saying who should have it is **Can't attend** only. **Can attend** means they're
coming, and it never stands with **Can't attend**.

Each tag has its own colour, on the reply and under the tag icon, so you can see
at a glance what a guest wants. If a tag is wrong, click the tags above the
conversation to add or remove one. **Auto-tag new replies**, in that same menu,
is on by default. Turn it off and the tags stay as you set them, even when they
write again; **Auto-tag off** shows beside the tags. Changing a tag by hand
doesn't turn it off.

### Answering and acting

- Write in the reply box and click **Send**, or press Cmd+Enter (Ctrl+Enter on
  Windows). The guest receives an email from your organisation, threaded under
  their own message, and their next reply comes back to the same conversation.
  Sending marks the conversation done; it stays in the list, below what's still
  waiting.
- **Draft a reply** writes a reply into the box as you watch, from your event's
  details and the guest's booking or invitation. Edit it before you send it.
- Click **Done** when nothing needs saying, and the next waiting conversation
  opens. Done can't be undone: their next message opens it again.
  Right-click a reply in the list to change its tags, **Mark as done**, or
  **Archive**.
- **Archive** takes the conversation out of the list and marks it done. Find it
  again under **Archived**. **Move to Inbox** shows only there, and puts it back
  still marked done. A new email from the guest, other than an out-of-office,
  brings an archived conversation back by itself; so does a new exhibitor
  message.
- Exhibitors' messages work the same way: replying, **Done**, or **Archive**.
  Above each one you see their portal, its portal group and how many of their
  places are used; click it to open the portal. **Draft a reply** works there
  too.
- If they write again while you have a conversation open, **New email in this
  conversation** appears with **Show**, so a draft you're writing isn't
  overwritten.
- When a guest who hasn't booked says they can't come, **Mark declined** asks
  you to confirm, then declines their invitation. Nothing is emailed. With
  **Suggest replies** on, the draft is rewritten to tell them, marked
  **Rewritten after you declined**. When a guest with a booking can't come,
  **Cancel booking…** lets you cancel it, with or without an email to them.
- When a guest asks to pass their place to someone they name, click the guest
  above the conversation to open their booking or invitation and change the
  name. If they also said they can't come, **Mark declined** or **Cancel
  booking…** still shows, and you pick which to do.
- Above each conversation, when we know which invitation or booking the email
  is about, you see where the guest stands, and the thread shows the emails we
  sent them about it, such as a cancellation, with whether they were delivered
  and opened. A multi-use invitation that still has a use left shows the
  invitation and the bookings made from it. Click the guest there to open their
  booking or invitation, for changes such as a new date or a refund.

## Requests from portals (Plans: Expert)

When a partner asks for more places from their portal, the request appears in
the Inbox, marked **Spot request**, with **Decline** and **Approve…**.
**Approve…** opens a second line with the number of places filled in from the
request, which you can change before you click **Approve**. An allocation that
is already unlimited approves in one click with **Approve**. Approving adds the
places to that portal's allocation and tells the partner in their portal inbox;
declining tells them too. An allocation that has been closed or removed can
only be declined.

**Done** or **Archive** on a request marks it handled in your list without
approving or declining; the partner isn't told until you **Approve** or
**Decline**.

## Inbox settings

Click **Settings** at the top of the Inbox. (Access: Admins only)

| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Tag replies by what the guest wants** (Plans: Pro & Expert) | Tags each reply. Turn it off and replies still arrive, untagged. |
| **Suggest replies** (Plans: Pro & Expert) | Drafts an answer to each reply that needs one, for you to edit and send, and adds **Draft a reply** to the reply box. |
| **Email me about what's waiting** | One email with what's waiting, guest replies and (when you have them) exhibitor messages, sent to your notification email. Choose **Every hour** (the default), **Twice a day, at 9:00 and 17:00**, **Once a day, at 9:00**, or **Never**. It goes only when something new has arrived since the last one, lists the five most recent, and is never one email per message. Times follow the time zone of your latest event. When a conversation is in the Inbox, a partner's message waits for this digest instead of sending its own email; with **Never**, you're not emailed about them. |

One thing to be aware of: answer from the Inbox rather than from your own
mailbox, so the reply stays on the guest's record for your whole team.

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Keep reading: [Portals](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/portals) · [Invitations](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/invitations)

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