Save time with canned replies and working hours

Two small settings that take ten minutes and save you from typing the same paragraph several hundred times.

Saved replies

A saved reply is a block of text you insert with a short keyword.

Setting them up

1. In Chatbox, open Saved replies.
2. Click add, and fill in:
   • Title — what it is, for your own list.
   • Shortcut — the keyword you will type. Letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores; keep it short: hours, delivery, refund.
   • Reply text — the message itself.
3. Save.

Using them

In any conversation, type / followed by the shortcut. Matching replies appear as you type; pick one and it drops into the message box, where you can edit it before sending.

Editing before sending is the point — the saved reply gets you 90% of the way, and you add the customer's name or their specific detail.

Worth saving

The five or six things you answer every single day:

• Opening hours and location
• Delivery times and charges
• Return and refund policy
• Payment methods
• "Let me check and come back to you" — the holding reply
• Your address, with directions

Working hours

Tells the inbox when you are open, so an out-of-hours message gets an immediate honest answer instead of silence.

1. In Chatbox, open Working hours.
2. Set your timezone — do this first, everything else depends on it.
3. Either tick Always open (24/7), or set the times you open and close.
4. Write an away message — what someone gets outside those hours.
5. Turn on Send this automatically outside hours if you want it delivered. Leave it off and the hours only show your team an "outside hours" marker in the inbox.

Leaving the message blank is fine once the switch is on. We send a default that names your hours — "we're open Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 7 pm" — built from the schedule you just set, so it stays right if you change your hours later. The box shows you that exact wording as its placeholder.

Writing a good away message

Say when you will actually reply, and give them something to do meanwhile:

Thanks for messaging! We're closed right now and will reply when we open at 10am. For anything urgent, call us on 044 1234 5678.

Avoid "we will get back to you shortly" at 11pm. It is not true, and being caught in a small lie is a poor first impression.

What it costs

The away reply is charged per reply, at the rate on the pricing page. Replies you type yourself inside the 24-hour window stay free, as they always have — this is charged because the platform sends it for you while nobody is at the keyboard, the same way an AI assistant reply is.

You are only charged once per customer per closing, not once per message. Somebody who sends you five messages at 10pm gets one away reply and is billed once. If they message again the following evening, after you have opened and closed in between, they get it again.

If something goes wrong

• / does nothing. No saved replies exist yet, or the shortcut has characters that are not allowed. Check the list.
• No away message goes out at all. The switch is off, or you have not set your hours — with no hours there is nothing to be outside of. Both are in Working hours. It will also stop if your balance runs out, since the reply is charged.
• The away message goes out during working hours. The timezone is wrong. It is the first field for a reason.
• Someone got it twice in one evening. They shouldn't — it is sent once per customer per closing. If it happens, tell us, because that is a fault rather than a setting.
• A colleague cannot see your saved replies. They are shared across the account. Ask them to reload.

Next

Greet people automatically.