Reply and Add Notes to Conversations

Conversations are the communications with your customers in Help Scout — you might be used to calling them tickets or just emails if you've been working with other systems. Emails, phone notes, and chat transcripts are different types of conversations in Help Scout, but replying or adding a note to any of these conversations is the same. 

This article will walk you through those actions.

Reply to a Conversation

Click into a conversation, then click Reply below the most recent thread in the conversation, or type R to use the keyboard shortcut, to open the reply editor. Type your reply in this box and click Send when you're done.

It's really that simple!

Let's get into the smaller details and explain all of the options you see here. 

Anatomy of the Reply Editor

CC/BCC

Click CC/BCC to open fields where you can add any email addresses you'd like to copy or blind copy on your reply. 

Text Formatting

There are a few different ways to format text in the conversation editor. 

Markdown
The conversation editor supports a few Markdown elements which allow you to format as you type. 

Formatting	Markdown
	Surround your text with double asterisks: **your text**
	Surround your text with single asterisks: *your text*
	Surround your text with tildes: ~your text~
	Surround your text with backticks: `your text`
	Type an angle bracket, then press Space before your text: > your blockquote
	Type 1 and a period, then press Space in front of your text: 1. your text To indent, press Tab
	Type dash or asterisk, then press Space in front of your text: - your text To indent, press Tab

The conversation editor does not support other Markdown elements or other formatting options at this time.  

Formatting Menu

If you prefer to format after you've typed it all, just highlight the text you want to format, using the keyboard or the mouse, and you’ll see a formatting menu bar pop up where you can select options like bold, italic, code, and more. 

See Keyboard Shortcuts: Text Editor for the details on the keyboard shortcuts to format text, if you're more of a keyboard queue crusher. 

For adding links, you can also just paste in the URL — the editor will automatically link any text that is a URL, or highlight text you want linked and paste the URL over it. 

Shortcut Menu

Use the shortcut menu to add attachments, browse and insert saved replies and Docs articles, and more! The shortcut menu has been thoughtfully designed to help you move through the options efficiently, whether you like to work with the keyboard or the mouse, or a combination of the two. 

There are two ways to access the full menu of options:

Keyboard queue crushers can use the slash command (/) to open the menu without having to touch the mouse.

Mouse maestros can click the plus sign (+) at the bottom right corner of the editor to open the menu.

Use the keyboard to type the names of options or the arrow keys to navigate and hit return/enter to select them, or use the mouse to navigate and select the options. Or switch it all up and combine the two, whatever helps you work the best! 

Options you'll find in the shortcut menu: 

• Attachment: If the total amount of all attachments on a reply is more than 8 MB, we send the files as links in the email instead of attachments to the email. There is a 10 MB limit to any individual file — cloud filesharing services are better suited for sharing larger files. This conversion to links and the file size limit is to make sure your email gets through, as different email providers have different attachment size limits. 
• Docs link: Search or scroll through Docs articles to insert a link to the article in your reply. Preview the Docs article before you insert it by holding down the Option key on Mac or the Alt key on Windows and clicking, or press the right arrow key when the saved reply is highlighted. 
• Emoji: Browse through a list of emojis and choose one to insert in your reply. 
• Image: Opens your computer's file system so that you can upload an image to the conversation. To insert an image hosted elsewhere, just paste in the URL to the image and it will automatically be added to your reply. 
• Saved Reply: Search or scroll through saved replies and choose one to insert. Preview the saved reply before you insert it by holding down the Option key on Mac or the Alt key on Windows and clicking, or press the right arrow key when the saved reply is highlighted. Choose Save this reply to save the text currently in the editor as a new saved reply. 
• Switch to a note: Changes the reply form to the note form. See below for more on notes in general. 
• Text formatting: Choose from Blockquote, Bulleted list, Code, and Numbered list. See Text Formatting above for other formatting options. 

Send Options

The bottom of the reply editor offers you the opportunity to override the defaults for Status and Assignment before you send. There is a dropdown option next to Send to override the default redirection after you send or change that default setting. 

Check out Move Between Conversations With Redirect Options for more on that feature. 

The defaults for Status and Assignment are set on the inbox level and can be changed by your Account Owner or an Administrator. See Customize Your Inbox Settings: Default Settings for more. 

Change the subject

To change the conversation subject line, click on the existing subject text just above the oldest thread in the conversation. Type in your new subject, then hit return/enter or click out of the field to save your changes.

Add an Internal Note

Notes are internal memos that can be added to any conversation by any Help Scout user. Just click Note below the most recent thread in the conversation, or type N to use the keyboard shortcut, to start a note.

If you've already started a reply, you can use the shortcut menu option to Switch to a note.

You'll notice that the editor window when composing a note is yellow and the button is Add Note.

Notes are never sent to the customer.

The shortcut menu option to Switch to a reply will show when you're in a note, and there is one additional choice:

• Mention someone: allows you to insert an @mention to reach out to other Help Scout users. Check out Use @mentions in Notes for more information on this collaboration tool. 

There is no option to save a draft of a note.