# Who is handling it (https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/inbox/conversation/assignment)

Taking a conversation, handing it over with a note, and why an owner matters more than it looks.

Every conversation is either owned by somebody or lying in **Unassigned**. That single fact drives
the buckets, and it is the difference between a guest being answered twice and not at all.

![Screenshot: inbox/assignment](https://docs.serviata.ru/screenshots/en/inbox/assignment.png)

1. Who owns this conversation — and where you take or hand it over

## Taking one [#taking-one]

The button in the conversation header shows the current owner, or **Unassigned**. Open it:

* **Assign to me** — you own it. It moves out of **Unassigned** into your **Assigned to me**.
* **Unassign** — you're putting it back for somebody else.
* **Assign to…** — hand it to a named colleague.

Take a conversation *before* you start typing. It costs a click and prevents the two failures that
make a guest write "is anybody there?": two people answering at once, and everybody assuming somebody
else has it.

Taking a conversation also stops the assistant answering it on its own — see
[what the assistant does](https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/inbox/assistant/).

## Handing it over [#handing-it-over]

**Assign to…** opens a small form with two fields:

* **Team member** — who takes it next. Only people with inbox access to this conversation's property
  are offered, so you can't hand a guest to somebody who can't open the thread.
* **Handoff note** — optional, and the most useful field on this screen: "Promised a late checkout at
  14:00, needs the front desk to confirm."

The handover is recorded in the thread itself as a notice between the messages, so the next person
reads why it arrived rather than guessing.

<Callout title="Write the note as if you're going off shift — because you are">
  "FYI" is not a handoff note. What was promised, what is still open, and what the guest is waiting
  for: three short clauses save the next person from reading forty messages, and save the guest from
  being asked the same question twice.
</Callout>

Not everyone can reassign to other people — that needs the **Assigns conversations to colleagues**
permission in your role. Anyone who can reply can take a conversation themselves and put it back.

## Doing several at once [#doing-several-at-once]

Hovering a row in the list reveals a checkbox. Tick a few and a bar appears above the list with the
count and what you can do to all of them:

* **Assign…** — to yourself, to nobody, or to a colleague.
* **Mark status…** — see [statuses](https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/inbox/conversation/statuses/).
* **Close** — for the run of conversations that need nothing more.
* **Clear** — drop the selection.

This is the tool for a Monday morning queue: sweep the obvious ones into the right hands, then work
what's left one at a time.