If you’re new to Textline, here’s an overview of some of our frequently used terms to get you up to speed on the basics:

This is a status for a contact that is reachable and not archived.

Colleagues or co-workers that you add as members in your Textline account. Anyone you add as an Agent can claim Conversations or have a Conversation transferred to them so they can interact with the customer and resolve the inquiry.

The communication between you and your contact. Conversations are initiated by the first-ever message with a contact or the first message after the last conversation resolution. Conversations end with an Agent resolving the communication.

All messages exchanged between you and your contact. This is often made up of multiple Conversations.

The list of conversations between you and your contacts. You can filter this list to see everyone’s Conversation History, only unresolved Conversations, or only your Conversations. You can also search your contacts to find exactly who you are looking for.

Different phone numbers or communication channels within your organization. Depending on which pricing plan you’ve signed up for, you can start with between 1 and 5 Departments, but you can always purchase additional Departments to suit your company’s needs.

Example: A pizza chain may have 6 Departments, one for each location.

The field in which you type and send your messages to contacts or your Whispers to your other team members.

An alert that your organization has received a new text message or that an Agent has transferred a Conversation to you. We currently support Notifications for mobile, desktop, and email.

A contact that can be sent messages through your Textline account. This means they have a phone number that can receive text messages and have not unsubscribed from your messages.

A pre-written template that can be inserted into the Message Box with the click of a button. Shortcuts save your organization time on those frequently asked questions - instead of typing the same answer repeatedly, insert a Shortcut! You can send it as-is, or edit it to personalize the message.

A special department on the Pro plan that allows for more than one phone number to be grouped and function as if it was one department. More info can be found here.

A contact that can not receive messages from your Textline account. The contact could be using a number that is not enabled for texting (a landline or unsupported country for example) or they could have opted not to receive messages by unsubscribing.

An internal note between you and your other members. Whispers happen within existing Conversations and appear in the thread under the name of the Agent who wrote them. Anyone in your organization can see Whispers in any Conversation.