Reading, Replying & Composing Email

Conversations is MonuDesk's built-in email inbox. Find it in the left sidebar under Conversations (between Inventory and Order Summary), where every email sits next to the right contact and order.

How threads work

Conversations groups email the way a chat app does: one thread per contact, not one per subject line. Every message to and from the same email address collapses into a single conversation, so a customer's whole history lives in one place.

• The grouping key is the other person's email address. All mail with jane@example.com threads together, even across different subjects.

• If you see two threads for the same person, check that they aren't writing from two different email addresses. Each address is its own thread.

• Threads appear in the left rail. Each row shows the contact, a preview snippet, the time of the last message, and unread status. Unread means there's new activity since you last opened it, so a teammate reading a thread doesn't mark it read for you.

The reading pane

Click any thread in the left rail to open it in the center pane. You'll see the full back-and-forth, oldest to newest, with each message as its own bubble.

• The header shows the contact, any linked order chips, and quick actions (star, archive, trash, link).

• New inbound mail appears almost instantly. Conversations updates in real time and also refreshes in the background, so you rarely need to wait.

• To pull anything new right away, click the Refresh button (circular-arrow icon) next to the search box.

• The reply composer sits at the bottom of the open thread, ready whenever you want to write back.

Composing a new email

To start a brand-new conversation, click the Compose (pencil) button at the top of the left rail. This opens the compose modal.

• Pick a contact, or create one inline if they aren't in MonuDesk yet.

• If the contact has no email on file, you'll be prompted to add one before you can send.

• If an active thread with that contact already exists, MonuDesk opens it instead of starting a duplicate, so you keep one clean thread per person.

• Choose which mailbox to send from, add an optional subject, and write your message in the rich-text body.

In the body you can insert a saved template, drop in your signature, and type / to insert variables like the customer name, order number, or promise date (these fill from the linked contact and order).

Replying and forwarding

Inside an open thread, use the composer at the bottom to reply. For a single message, use its message-level Reply or Forward action to respond to just that message or send it on to someone else.

• If you've turned on Use signature in replies (Settings → Profile), your signature is added automatically. A message that contains only your signature doesn't count as real content, so Send stays disabled until you write something.

• You can attach files that are already on a linked order, with no need to dig them out of another system.

Attachments and the 25 MB limit

You can attach files to any message, including files already attached to a linked order.

• The total size of all attachments on a single message must stay at or under 25 MB.

• If you go over that limit, the send will fail, so split large files across messages or share a link instead.

When a send fails

Sends are optimistic: your message appears in the thread right away while it's on its way. If something goes wrong, the message bubble is marked failed and you'll see a "Could not send message" notice.

Common reasons a send fails:

• The mailbox isn't connected (it may be syncing, revoked, or disconnected).

• No recipient could be determined for the message.

• The message body is empty.

• Attachments exceed the 25 MB total limit.

A send can also be reported as failed by your email provider a moment later. If that happens, fix the cause above and send again.

Related articles:

• Getting Started with Conversations

• Linking Emails to Contacts and Orders

• Email Templates & Your Signature

• Filters, Search, Tags, Archive & Trash