# Finding the right conversation (https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/inbox/finding)

Buckets, search, filters and sorting — how to get from a full queue to the one conversation you need.

A busy inbox is not a list you read top to bottom. Three tools narrow it, and they stack: the
**buckets** say what kind of conversation you want, the **filters** say which property and which
signals, and **search** finds one person.

## Buckets [#buckets]

The row of buttons above the list is the first cut, and each one carries a count:

| Bucket             | What's in it                                         |
| ------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Assigned to me** | Yours. This is the shift's to-do list.               |
| **Unassigned**     | Nobody has taken them. This is where a shift starts. |
| **Open**           | Somebody else has them and they aren't finished.     |
| **Closed**         | Finished.                                            |
| **Spam**           | Marked as junk, out of the way.                      |

The counts are the useful part: **Unassigned 7** across the top of the screen is the number a duty
manager actually watches.

Which bucket you land on depends on your role — a manager with full access opens on **Open**,
everyone else on **Assigned to me**. The choice is remembered for next time.

<Callout title="Assigned to me and Open never overlap">
  A conversation belongs to exactly one bucket. As soon as you take a conversation it leaves
  **Unassigned** and appears under **Assigned to me**; for your colleagues it moves into **Open**.
  Closing it takes it out of all three.
</Callout>

Managers get one extra control: a small arrow beside **Open** splits it into **All open**,
**New only** and **In progress only** — the difference between "everything in flight" and "nobody
has started this yet".

## Search [#search]

The field above the list searches **name, handle or phone** — as the placeholder says. A guest on the
telephone gives you one of the three, and one is enough.

## Filters [#filters]

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

1. Search, property, and the signal filters

**Property** — the dropdown above the list. Leave nothing selected to see everything you have access
to, tick several to compare, or choose **Entire workspace** for conversations that aren't tied to one
hotel.

Three more narrow the queue by what the conversation *is*:

| Filter        | Use it for                                                                                  |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Alerts**    | Only conversations the assistant flagged for a person — see [the assistant](https://docs.serviata.ru/en/docs/inbox/assistant/). |
| **Sentiment** | How the guest sounds: negative, neutral, positive.                                          |
| **Intent**    | What they want: booking, inquiry, service request, complaint, feedback, other.              |

**Sort** offers **Most recent**, **Unread first** and **Oldest**. "Oldest" is the one nobody uses and
everybody should: it surfaces the guest who has been waiting longest, which is exactly the one you
are about to disappoint.

Your filters live in the address of the page, so a narrowed view can be bookmarked or pasted to a
colleague — and they are remembered when you come back.

## Reading the list [#reading-the-list]

Each row is deliberately dense, because scanning it is most of the job:

* **The name**, with a small icon for the channel it came from.
* **The last message**, so you can often answer without opening anything.
* **An Alert badge**, if the assistant flagged it.
* **The property** it belongs to, or **Workspace**.
* **The time** of the last message, and an unread count.
* **A coloured dot** when the guest's tone reads as clearly negative or positive.

A bucket with nothing in it and a search that matched nothing read differently, so you always know
whether to clear the search or move on.