Composing Messages

The composer sits at the bottom of every conversation thread. You use it to reply to a lead, and it also holds the tools teams use day to day: internal notes, attachments, AI drafts, WhatsApp voice notes, and translating a draft into the lead's language.

Enter sends; Shift+Enter adds a new line.

Note

When Gene is on for a conversation, you can type freely but your send is held until you turn Gene off, so you and Gene never reply at the same time. See AI replies and handover.

Write and send a reply#

• Type and send (text box plus Send): Enter sends, Shift+Enter inserts a line break. Send is disabled when the draft is empty with no attachment, or while a file is still uploading.
• Smart Compose (grey ghost text under the box): after a short typing pause, Gene proposes a grey continuation.
  • Press Tab to accept it, Esc to dismiss it, or just keep typing.
  • A "Thinking..." note shows while it is being fetched.
  • It is skipped in internal-note mode and while recording a voice note.
• Choose the channel (channel button, top left of the composer): picks which connected channel the reply goes out on.
  • It starts on the channel the lead last wrote on, when they wrote after a teammate's last message. Otherwise it starts on the channel your team last sent on, and otherwise on the conversation's own channel. So a lead who answers your email on WhatsApp gets the reply on WhatsApp.
  • WhatsApp is offered for any contact with a phone number.
  • Other channels appear once they are enabled for the account and can reach that contact (Telegram also reaches a contact by phone number).
• Turn Gene on or off (the Gene switch, beside Send): controls whether Gene answers this conversation. See AI replies and handover.

Let Gene draft a reply#

Click AI drafts (the sparkle icon, next to the paperclip). Gene reads the conversation and drafts three replies, or three follow-ups when you sent the last message.

1. Click a draft to put it in the box.
2. Edit it if you like.
3. Press Send.

The refresh button drafts again. Use AI drafts whenever you would have reached for a saved reply: it replaced snippets, and there is no Snippets page or "/snip" command any more. AI drafts is hidden in internal-note mode.

Reply to a specific message#

On WhatsApp you can quote one message in your reply:

1. Hover a message in the thread and press the reply arrow, or right-click it and choose Reply.
2. A "Replying to ..." strip with the quoted text appears above the box. The x cancels it.
3. Type and send your reply.

The lead sees your message as a quoted reply, the same as one sent from a phone. On a number connected through Twilio it arrives as an ordinary message. Messages that failed to send cannot be quoted.

Leave an internal note#

• Internal Comment (toggle, top right of the composer): switches the composer into note mode. The surface turns yellow and the placeholder changes. Notes post to the thread for your team only and are never sent to the contact.
• @mention a teammate (type @ in a note): opens a teammate picker. Pick a name to insert it and notify that person. Use the arrow keys plus Enter or Tab to choose, Esc to close.

Attachments, emoji and voice notes#

• Attach a file (paperclip icon): uploads one file in the background.
  • A chip shows the filename with a spinner while it uploads, then a paperclip and a remove (x).
  • Images send as images, everything else as a document. The recipient sees the original filename.
• Add an emoji (smile icon): opens a picker with category tabs (Smileys, Hearts, Hands, Objects, Food). Clicking one inserts it at your cursor.
• Record a voice note (mic icon, WhatsApp only): flips the input into a recording bar with a live waveform and a timer. Send uploads it as a WhatsApp voice note; the x cancels without sending.

Translate your draft#

Click the translate icon. Gene rewrites what you have typed into the lead's detected language and drops it back in the box for you to review. Then you press Send.

• If the language cannot be detected, it falls back to English.
• It is disabled while the draft is empty or in note mode.

Email fields#

When the channel is Email (available once an email channel is connected), extra fields show above the box:

• Subject.
• Cc/Bcc toggle, which reveals Cc and Bcc address fields.
• Thread selector, when the conversation already has email chains. Reply into an existing chain (the reply inherits that chain's subject), or choose "Start a new chain..." and type a fresh subject.

These fields do not appear in internal-note mode.

Rate a Gene reply#

Thumbs up and down sit under each AI message.

• Thumbs-up records that the reply was good. Clicking it again clears the rating.
• Thumbs-down opens a "What was off?" dialog with an optional note. Cmd/Ctrl+Enter submits; Skip closes without a note. The down rating is recorded either way and routes to your team for review.

Popups and dialogs#

• Gene is on for this conversation. If you press Send (or Enter, or translate-and-send) while Gene is on, this dialog opens instead of sending. Turn off Gene & send switches Gene off for this conversation only and then sends your message; Keep Gene on cancels. Internal notes are never held back this way.
• Turn Gene off for this conversation? Flipping the Gene switch off asks you to confirm first. Turning it back on is immediate.
• Emoji picker. Opened by the smile icon. Category tabs across the top, an emoji grid below.
• Teammate picker. Opens above the box when you type @ inside an internal note.
• "What was off?" Opened by thumbs-down on an AI message. An optional note box ("Tell us what Gene got wrong"), then Submit (or Cmd/Ctrl+Enter) or Skip. The down rating is already saved when the dialog opens.

Good to know#

• The composer has no filters. The channel button limits its options to the channels available for that contact.
• Internal notes are the place for "I called him, leave it with me" handoffs. The yellow surface is your cue that what you type stays inside the team.
• Translate writes the result back into the box on purpose, so you read it before it goes out instead of firing blind.
• AI drafts and translations come back without dashes between clauses, like everything Gene writes (see No dashes in what Gene sends). What you type yourself is sent exactly as typed.
• Voice notes only appear on WhatsApp, since that is where they are delivered.
• When WhatsApp has stopped a QR number from messaging new people, the composer warns before you write to someone who has never been in touch on it, for example "This number can't message new people until Fri 3:00 PM (WhatsApp restriction). This send will fail until then." It is a warning, not a block (only where WhatsApp message actions are enabled for your account).
• A message your team sent on a QR number can be edited for 15 minutes (text only), or deleted for everyone for about 2 days, from its right-click menu where WhatsApp message actions are enabled (see Per-message right-click menu).

---

Details#

Every control on the composer, in one list, for when you need to look one up. The keyboard shortcuts for the whole Inbox are under Keyboard shortcuts.

Composer#

• Message text. Multi-line box. Enter sends; Shift+Enter inserts a newline.
• Smart Compose suggestion. Grey ghost-text continuation after a typing pause. Tab accepts at the cursor, Esc dismisses, any other key dismisses. A "Thinking..." note shows while it loads. Skipped in note mode and while recording.
• Internal Comment toggle. Switches to note mode. The surface turns yellow and the placeholder changes. The note is visible to your team only and never sent to the contact. Voice note, translate, and Smart Compose are hidden in note mode.
• @mention. In note mode, typing @ opens a teammate picker (arrow keys plus Enter/Tab to choose, Esc to close). Mentioned teammates get a notification in Gene App and an email; their names render in the accent color in the posted note.
• Channel button. Picks which connected channel the next message goes out on, limited to the channels available for the contact.
• Emoji. Smile icon. Opens a picker with tabs (Smileys, Hearts, Hands, Objects, Food); clicking inserts at the cursor.
• Attach file. Paperclip icon. Uploads one file; a chip shows a spinner then the filename with a remove (x). Images send as images, other files as documents. Disabled while uploading or with no conversation.
• AI drafts. Sparkle icon, next to the paperclip. Opens a popover where Gene drafts three replies from the conversation (three follow-ups when you sent the last message).
  • Clicking one replaces the text in the box so you can edit it before Send. The refresh button drafts again.
  • It never sends on its own, and it is hidden in note mode.
  • This is where quick replies come from now: snippets and the "/snip" command were removed.
• Translate draft. Languages icon. Rewrites the draft into the lead's detected language (English if unknown) and puts it back in the box for review; it does not auto-send. Disabled when the draft is empty, in note mode, or while translating.
• Record voice note (WhatsApp only). Mic icon. The input becomes a recording bar with a live waveform, a timer, a cancel (x), and Send. Send uploads it as a WhatsApp voice note; cancel discards it. Hidden in note mode.
• Gene switch. Beside Send, labeled "Gene". On means Gene answers this conversation. Hidden in note mode and before a contact exists.
• Send. Sends the message. Disabled when the draft is empty with no attachment, or while an upload is in flight.