# Bridge help center · Every guide, every step > Animated, step-by-step guides on the real screen of Bridge (the app people use every day) and of the Bridge admin console. Each guide explains one page; each step explains one part of it. ## Bridge ### Get to know your conversations > All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. - Type: Screen tour - App: Bridge - Screen: Chats - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 1 of 8 - Also searched as: chats, messages, conversations, inbox, customers, teammates - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md Every conversation with your contacts and your team, in one place Chats keeps your conversations with contacts and your internal chats with teammates in one list. Find any chat in seconds, see what is still unread and reply on the channel each chat uses, without leaving the screen. #### What you can do - Who is who at a glance - Find any chat in seconds - Unread chats stand out - Reply on the right channel #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Contacts and teammates at a glance The colour of each avatar tells you who is in the chat. Violet avatars are contacts, the people and companies you serve. Blue avatars are Bridge users, your teammates. A chat takes the colour of the people in it: violet when a contact takes part, blue for an internal chat among teammates. With several people, one circle is split between them. - Violet avatar: a contact - Blue avatar: a teammate in Bridge - Split circle: several people in the chat Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Every chat in one list All your chats in one list, ordered by section. Pinned chats stay at the top and the rest follow under Chats, each group with its count. Every row shows the last message, its time and how many messages you have not read. Click a row to open the chat; the open chat stays highlighted. New contact and New chat, beside the title, add a contact or start a chat. - Pinned first, then Bridge and your sections - Each row: last message, time and unread count - New contact and New chat, beside the title Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Find the chat you need Find any chat or contact in seconds. The filters show All chats, the Unread ones, chats with Contacts or My team, your chats with teammates. The search narrows the list as you type a name, ignoring accents and capitals, and works together with the selected filter. - Filter by All, Unread, Contacts or My team - Search chats and contacts by name - Search and filter work together Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Everything about the open chat The open chat: who you are talking to and every message. The header shows who you are talking to and the contact’s details, such as phone and email. On the right are Notes AI, Search, Tasks, Calls and meetings and More options. Below, the contact’s messages appear on the left and yours on the right, each with its channel and time; the ticks on yours show whether it was sent or read. Private notes, seen only by your team, appear in amber with a lock. - Header: who you are talking to and their details - Their messages on the left, yours on the right - Private notes in amber: only your team sees them Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Reply on the chat’s channel Write your reply in the box at the bottom. Write in the box at the bottom. Under the text it shows where the message goes, Via WhatsApp, Via email or Internal chat, following the open chat, with Attach and Template beside it. Click Send or press Ctrl + Enter: the message joins the end of the chat and becomes the last message in the list. - Choose the channel beside the tools - Attach, add emoji, format or a template - With no text, the mic records a voice note Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Your menu, your status and this guide The menu takes you through Bridge; Help is always at its foot. On Chats the menu folds into icons so the conversation has more room; rest the pointer on it to open it over the screen. Your avatar at its foot opens your status, the language and the appearance of Bridge. Help, at the foot of the menu, opens this guide again at any time. - Rest the pointer on the menu to open it - Your avatar: status, language and appearance - Help: this guide and the help center Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats/6?lang=en #### Related guides - Tasks on this screen: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### Find a chat > Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: Chats - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 2 of 8 - Also searched as: search, find, chat, conversation, unread, filters, waiting for a reply, chat list - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. Chats brings your conversations together in one list, ordered by section. Learn to open it, see what is unread and who is waiting for a reply, and find any chat with the search and the filters. #### What you can do - Chats, from the menu - The list, by section - What is pending, in view - Search and filters #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Chats Chats is in the menu on the left, under Conversations. In the menu on the left, Chats is the first item under Conversations. On this screen the menu folds into icons to give the conversation more room; rest the pointer on it to see the names, then click Chats. - Click Chats, under Conversations - The menu folds into icons - Rest the pointer on it to see the names Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Go through the list by section All your chats, in one list ordered by section. The list is ordered by section: Pinned first, then Bridge, with Notifications and Briefings, and then your sections, such as Contacts and Team, plus the ones you create. Each section shows how many chats it holds and how many are unread, and its arrow collapses or expands it. Each row shows the name, the last message and its time. Released and archived chats stay at the end, in collapsed sections. - Pinned first, then Bridge - Then your sections: Contacts, Team and your own - Each section shows its total and collapses Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Spot what you have not read What you have not read yet stands out at once. A chat with unread messages shows a blue counter with their number, and the preview of its last message looks darker. Each section heading adds up its unread chats. Opening the chat marks it as read; from the row menu you can mark it as unread again. - Blue counter: unread messages - The preview looks darker - Opening the chat marks it as read Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Attend first to whoever is waiting Rows tell you when a contact has been waiting. When a contact is waiting for your reply, the row shows how long they have been waiting instead of the time, with a coloured line on the left: yellow when the wait is about to expire and red once it has expired. When you reply, the alert goes away. - The time becomes the waiting time - Yellow: about to expire; red: expired - Your reply removes the alert Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Search for a chat Find any chat by typing part of its name. Type in Search chats and contacts: the list narrows as you type and finds the chat by its name, its participants, the company or the last message, ignoring accents and capitals. If nothing matches, the list says so. - Type in Search chats and contacts - By chat, participant, company or message - Accents and capitals do not matter Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Filter the list The filters leave only what you are looking for. Under the search, the filters show All chats, only the Unread ones, chats with Contacts or those of My team, your chats with teammates. Bridge’s own chats appear in All and Unread. The filter works together with the search. - All, Unread, Contacts or My team - My team: your chats with teammates - The filter works with the search Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Open the chat and see who you are talking to Open a chat and the header tells you who you are talking to. Click a row to open the chat; the row stays highlighted. The header shows the avatar and the name and, under it, the contact’s details, such as phone and email; in a group, the participants, and with more than two, +N shows the rest. The name opens the chat information. Next: Reply to a customer. - Click the row to open the chat - The header: name and contact details - Next: Reply to a customer Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat/7?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### Reply to a customer > Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: Chats - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 3 of 8 - Also searched as: reply, send message, attach, emoji, mention, private message, template, whatsapp, 24-hour window - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. The box at the foot of the open chat is where you reply. Write and send, check the channel, attach files, add emoji, answer a specific message, mention someone, leave a private message for your team and send a template when WhatsApp requires one. #### What you can do - Send on the right channel - Files, images and emoji - Quotes and mentions - Private messages for your team #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Write and send your reply The box at the foot of the chat is where you write your reply. Open the chat and type in the box at the bottom, in Write a message. While it is empty, the microphone on the right records a voice note; once you type, Send appears. Click Send or press ⌘ ↵ (Ctrl + Enter): the message joins the end of the chat and the list row shows it as the last message. Each chat keeps its own draft. - Type in the box at the bottom - Send or ⌘ ↵ sends the message - With no text, the microphone records a voice note Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Check where it goes Your reply goes out on the channel shown beside the tools. Beside the tools you see the channel your reply goes out on: WhatsApp or Email, following the chat. Click it to change it; Email shows as unavailable, with No email, when the contact has no email address. In a chat with teammates only, the channel is Internal chat and has no menu. - WhatsApp or Email, following the chat - Click the channel to change it - With no email address, Email is unavailable Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Attach files and images Share documents, photos and videos without leaving the chat. Click Attach and choose File, for any file, or Image or video. Your computer’s file picker opens, then a tray where you review everything before sending: the preview and an optional text for each file. Nothing is sent when you pick. You can send up to 5 files per message. - File, or Image or video - Review everything in the tray before sending - Up to 5 files, each with its own text Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Add emoji, GIFs or stickers Emoji, GIFs and stickers, in one panel. The emoji button opens Emoji, GIF and stickers. Each emoji goes in at the cursor and the panel stays open so you can add several in a row. A sticker is sent at once; a GIF shows over the box and what you type becomes its caption. As you type, faces such as :) turn into emoji. An email only has emoji. - The panel stays open for several emoji - A sticker is sent at once - :) turns into 🙂 as you type Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Reply to a specific message Quote the exact message you are answering. Rest the pointer on the message: a bar appears with quick reactions, Reply and More options. Choose Reply and the quote sits above the box, with who wrote it and its text; the X removes it. Your reply is sent with that quote, and clicking the quote takes you to the original message. - Rest the pointer on the message - Choose Reply: the quote sits above the box - The X removes the quote Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Mention someone with @ Get the attention of someone in the chat. Type @ and, if you like, the start of a name: the list of the chat’s participants who match opens, with their avatar and whether they are a Contact or Team. Choose with a click, Enter or Tab, and the name is marked in the text. The person you mention receives a notification on their phone. Emails have no mentions. - Type @ and the start of the name - Choose with a click, Enter or Tab - The person receives a notification Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Write a private message for your team A note for your team that the client never sees. In the channel, choose Internal private message. The box takes an amber frame with Only your team · the client never sees it, and the button reads Send private message. The contact never receives it; in the chat it shows in pale amber with a lock. It is available in chats with contacts when more than one Bridge user is in the chat, and your next message stays private until you choose WhatsApp or Email again. There, mentions only offer your team. - Channel › Internal private message - The client never receives it - Go back to WhatsApp from the same menu Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Open Templates when the button is blue With the WhatsApp window closed, only templates can be sent. When the contact’s last message is more than 24 hours old, the WhatsApp window closes and only WhatsApp templates approved by Meta can be sent. The only signal is the Templates button in blue. When you open it, WhatsApp templates come first, with the Re-engagement tag already selected; rest the pointer on one to see how the contact receives it. At the top, Always available holds Request call permission, Callback request and Send my contact. If you send free text while the window is closed, the system automatically sends a Re-engagement template. The window opens again when the contact replies. - Blue Templates: the window is closed - Re-engagement comes selected - The preview shows how it arrives Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Complete and send the template The template sits in the box, ready to complete. When you choose a template, the box shows it as it will be sent, with its name and Change template to pick another one. The details Bridge already knows, such as the contact’s name, come filled in; you type the others inside the text. While one is missing, Send template stays off and the box reads Fill in the template variables. Next: Release a conversation. - Known details come filled in - Complete the others inside the text - Next: Release a conversation Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer/9?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### Release a conversation > Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: Chats - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 4 of 8 - Also searched as: release, release chat, release conversation, close conversation, finish attending, end session, released, assign to me again, recover chat, hand back chat - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. When you release a conversation, the chat leaves your list and anyone can talk to the contact again on the same WhatsApp line. Learn when to release it, how, what happens next and how to recover it, in 6 steps. #### What you can do - When to release - From the chat’s options - What happens next - How to recover it #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Understand what releasing means Release a conversation when you have finished attending the contact. Releasing a conversation closes your session with the contact. Your session starts when the conversation is assigned to you, as the message «… was assigned to this chat» shows in the chat, and lasts until you release it. Release it once you have finished attending the contact: the chat leaves your chat list and its whole history is kept. Only chats with contacts can be released; internal chats with your team cannot. - Your session runs from assignment to release - The chat leaves your list - Its history is kept Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Open the chat’s options Every chat in the list has its own options menu. In the chat list, rest the pointer on the chat’s row: the Options button (…) appears on the right. Click it to open the chat’s menu; a right click on the row opens it too. The menu holds the chat’s actions: Pin or Unpin chat, Mark as read or unread, Mute, Move to section, Move to new section…, Archive chat and, at the end, Release chat. - Rest the pointer on the row - Click Options (…) - Or right-click the row Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Choose Release chat Release chat is the last option in the menu. Release chat is the last option in the menu, set apart from the others by a line. It only appears in chats with contacts; internal chats do not have it. When you choose it, Bridge asks you to confirm before releasing the conversation. - At the end of the menu, after a line - Only in chats with contacts - Bridge asks you to confirm Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Confirm that you want to release it Bridge asks you to confirm and, if your company asks for it, the reason. The window «Release the chat with …?» asks you to confirm and reminds you that you can recover it with its whole history from Released. If your company asks for it, the window includes Release reason: choose a reason from the list, or write it if your company uses a written reason; Other lets you write your own. If the reason is required, the chat is not released without it. The administrator sets this in the console, under Conversations › Settings › Release reason. Select Release to close your session with the contact, or Cancel if you have not finished attending them yet. - Reason: only if your company asks for it - It can be required; Other lets you write one - Release closes your session Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · See what happens next The conversation is free for whoever attends the contact next. The notice «Chat released», with the reason if you gave one, confirms that the conversation is free: the chat leaves your sections and moves to Released, at the end of the list, with its whole history. Anyone who needs to talk to the contact can search for them and write; this starts a new conversation on the same WhatsApp line, not on a new number. If the contact writes while the conversation is released, your company’s configuration decides who takes it up: an AI agent, such as FrontDesk or Service Desk, or the last person who talked to the contact, whose chat is reactivated. - The chat moves to Released - If the contact writes: an AI agent or the last person, per your company - Anyone can write to them, on the same line Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Recover the conversation if you need it You can take the conversation back whenever you need it. To attend the contact again, open the Released group at the end of the list; it starts collapsed. Open the chat’s options and choose Assign to me again: the notice «Chat assigned» confirms that the chat is back in your list. You can also search for the contact in Search chats and contacts and write to them: once you send the message, the chat is back in your list. Next: Start a new conversation. - Released › Options › Assign to me again - Or search for the contact and write - Next: Start a new conversation Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat/6?lang=en #### Related guides - Tour of this screen: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - Previous in Getting started: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### Start a new conversation > Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: New chat - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 5 of 8 - Also searched as: new chat, write, first message, template, whatsapp, reach out - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md Start a conversation with a contact in a few clicks New chat opens the conversation right on the Chats screen. Add contacts and teammates, choose the line and how to start, and send the first message: the chat is created when you send it. #### What you can do - Contacts and teammates together - The line of each brand - WhatsApp, Assist, Call or Email - The template, ready to send #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Start a new chat New chat is where you connect with a contact for the first time. Click New chat beside the title Chats. The new conversation opens on the right with the people search open, and the list shows it as New chat until you send the first message. - Click New chat beside the title Chats - It opens on the right, with the search open - The list shows New chat until you send Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Add the people One field for everyone in the chat: contacts and teammates. One field for everyone in the chat. The search finds contacts and Bridge users by name, email or phone; each person you choose goes straight into the field. The X on a person removes them. - Search contacts and Bridge users together - By name, email or phone - Each pick goes straight into the field Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Choose the brand (several brands only) Only for companies with several brands: choose the one you write from. This step applies only to companies that run several brands. If yours does, choose the brand and its line you write from: it is required and never preselected, and the chat keeps the brand you chose. With a single brand, Bridge does not ask. - Only for companies with several brands - Required, never preselected - The chat keeps the chosen brand Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Choose how to start Choose how the first contact happens. Start with WhatsApp, Assist, Call or Email, in this order. Call and Email appear only when they are enabled, and Assist and Call only in a chat with one contact. - WhatsApp, Assist, Call or Email - Call and Email only when enabled - Assist and Call: one contact only Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · The first WhatsApp message The first WhatsApp message to a new contact is always a template. A contact who never had a WhatsApp conversation starts with a template. The message box shows the template that will be sent, with Change template to choose another one. Send template creates the chat. - The template shows in the message box - Change template picks another one - Send template creates the chat Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Name, privacy and discard The last details are optional and never stop you. With two or more people the chat takes their names; the conversation name is optional and never blocks sending. Private chat is on by default. Discard deletes the draft without creating anything. - Conversation name: optional, never blocks - Private chat is on by default - Discard deletes the draft Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat/6?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### Send a message to several contacts > Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: Contacts - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 6 of 8 - Also searched as: contacts, send message, several contacts, message many, filter contacts, select contacts, saved views, WhatsApp template, quick template, never contacted, start chat, notifications, export contacts - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. Learn how Contacts works, how to find the people you need with filters and views, and how to send them all a message at once, in their open chat or with a template that starts the chat, in 19 steps. #### What you can do - Filter by any attribute - Select the whole view - One message, the right channel - The result in Notifications #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Contacts Contacts gathers the people your company talks to. Contacts is under Conversations, in the menu on the left. A contact is a person your company talks to, such as a customer or a prospect: it has a first name, a last name, a mobile with its country code, an optional email, a language and the attributes your company created, such as City or Segment. As an advisor, you see only the contacts assigned to you. With administration permissions you see the whole team’s contacts, with the Assigned to column, and every send goes out in the name of each contact’s advisor. In the header, New contact creates a contact, assigned to whoever creates it. Mass marketing campaigns are not sent from here: they have their own module, Campaigns. - Under Conversations, in the menu - Advisor: only your contacts - Administration: the whole team Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Read each contact Each row shows a contact and where things stand with it. Each row is a contact. Contact shows the name and, under it, the email or No email; Mobile shows the number with its country code. Connection status and Attempts tell where the chat with the contact stands, and Responsiveness how likely it is to reply (the next two steps). Last activity shows the channel and how long ago the last message or call was; resting the pointer on the icon shows who wrote to whom and the exact date. The table is sorted by Last activity, most recent first, loads more contacts as you scroll and says at the bottom how many it shows out of how many. In Columns you choose the columns you see, including any contact attribute. Click a row to open the contact’s information: its data, which you can edit right there, its chats, and Go to chat or Start chat. - Name, email and mobile - Last activity: channel and how long ago - Click the row: the contact’s information Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Understand the connection status The connection status says whether there is already a chat with the contact. Connection status has three values. Open: the contact answered and there is an open chat, that is, an ongoing conversation with them. Never connected: a WhatsApp template was sent to open the chat, but the contact never answered it. A WhatsApp template is an approved message used to start a conversation. Never contacted: nothing has been sent to the contact yet. For never connected contacts, Attempts counts how many templates went without a reply; resting the pointer on it shows the last one and its date. A contact can have several chats, one per line and person: you see one pill per status, for example Open × 2, and the chevron on the last one opens Chats with their name, showing who each chat is with, its line and its status. - Open: the contact answered - Never connected: template without a reply - Never contacted: nothing sent yet Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · See who usually replies Responsiveness says how likely the contact is to reply. Responsiveness tells whether the contact replies when written to and how fast, from its last 12 attempts and in business hours: High, 65 to 100; Medium, 30 to 64; and Low, 0 to 29. It does not measure how often you write. Resting the pointer on the pill shows the score, how many times the contact replied and how long it usually takes. A contact with no history starts at 20, Low. - High, Medium or Low - From its last 12 attempts - No history starts at 20 Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Search for a contact The search finds a contact in seconds. Search contacts finds a contact by name, mobile, email, company or city, regardless of accents or capital letters; with administration permissions, also by its advisor. The search works on the active view and filters. When the search changes, the table goes back to the top and the selection clears. - Name, mobile, email, company or city - Regardless of accents or capitals - It clears the selection Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Use the views The views show the contacts by status, with their count. The Saved views button carries the name of the active view, All contacts at first. It opens the default views, each with how many contacts it has: All contacts; Reply pending, when the contact wrote last and is waiting for your reply; Waiting on contact, when you replied last; Never connected; Never contacted; and Duplicates, contacts with the same mobile or the same email. The counts take the filters into account, but not the search. Under them are your personal views and, at the end, Save current view. Choosing a default view keeps your filters; choosing a personal view applies its own. - Each view with its count - Reply pending: your turn to reply - Below, your personal views Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Filter by an attribute Filter narrows the table by any field of the contact. Filter opens every field you can filter by, whether it is shown as a column or not: first Contact attributes, the ones your company created, such as Company, City or Segment; then Status, Activity and Bridge fields. Search fields finds them by name. Choose a field to see its values, each with how many contacts have it, and No value for those that have none. Tick the ones you want, for example Medellín and Cali in City, and choose Apply. A text attribute also filters by Contains, and a number attribute by a From and To range. Clear unticks the values, and All fields goes back to the list. - Contact attributes first - Each value with its count - Tick the values, then Apply Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Adjust and save the filters Active filters become chips you can adjust. Each active filter becomes a chip next to Filter, for example City: Medellín +1, and Filter shows how many filters are on. Click the chip’s text to change its values, or the × to remove it; Clear filters removes them all. Several values in one filter add contacts: Medellín or Cali. Several filters apply together: City and Segment. To use the same combination again, open Saved views and choose Save current view: type the View name and choose Save. The view joins your personal views, which only you see, and it needs at least one filter. - Click the chip to change it - Several values: one or the other - Save the combination as a view Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Select the contacts The selection decides who gets the message. Tick the box of each contact you want to write to. The header box selects the contacts loaded in the table, and Select all 18 selects every contact in the view, even those not loaded. On the right you see how many are selected and Clear, which removes the selection. With contacts selected, Send message appears with their number. Export, the download icon, is always there: it exports the selection or, with none, every contact in the view, and the file arrives by email with all its attributes. With administration permissions, Assign to also appears, which reassigns the selection to another advisor. - Tick the boxes - Select all 18: the whole view - Send message appears Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Open Send message Send message picks the way for each contact. Send message opens a panel that picks the way for each contact according to its status. At the top, the summary says how many contacts the send reaches, how many messages go out when some contact has several chats and, in Line, the line each one goes out from. A line is a WhatsApp number of your company: each contact has one per brand, the one of the first message ever sent to it, and everything always reaches it through that line. If the selection mixes never contacted contacts with contacts in other statuses, Send to splits the two groups: Never contacted, which opens first, and Other statuses. You send to one group and then to the other, because a never contacted contact starts a new chat and you choose who takes it. Cancel closes the panel without sending. - Summary: contacts, messages and line - Never contacted comes first - Then, Other statuses Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/10?lang=en ##### Step 11 · Choose the line and who replies A never contacted contact needs a line and someone to reply. For never contacted contacts, To start a chat asks for two required details. From appears if you write from more than one line: choose the line the first message goes out from, which becomes the contact’s line. If you are on a team with an exclusive line, the message always goes out from it. Replies go to sets who gets the chat the send starts: a Bridge user; a Team, whose routing assigns it to one of its members; or an AI agent, which takes it and answers. Choose the type and then the name in the list. The chat is created with the send and appears with the message in the Chats of whoever you chose, so they can follow up even if the contact does not answer. If either detail is missing, sending shows the warning under it and nothing is sent. - From: the line of the first message - Replies go to: who takes it - Both are required Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/11?lang=en ##### Step 12 · Choose the WhatsApp template A WhatsApp template is what starts a new chat. A new chat always starts with a WhatsApp template. The list shows the approved templates available to your team, by name, with their category and tags; the workspace default is marked Default and comes chosen. The Tag filter comes with the opening tags, Start with a customer and Start with a prospect, and you can change it. If the template has its own variables, the Variables box asks for the text of each one: the same text goes to every contact of the send and, if you leave it empty, the template’s default text goes. Standard variables, such as the contact’s first name, are filled by Bridge with each contact’s data. Sending WhatsApp templates is a permission: without it, contacts without a chat are left out with a warning. - Approved templates only - The default comes chosen - Variables: the same text for all Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/12?lang=en ##### Step 13 · Check how it arrives The preview shows what the contact receives. On the right, the preview shows the message as the first contact of the group receives it, under the title How … receives it, with the contact’s first name: the line, the header, the text, the footer and the buttons. Every variable appears filled and highlighted: in violet the ones Bridge fills with each contact’s or the sender’s data, and in blue the ones you type for this send. When the group has contacts with an open chat and contacts without one, Start a chat and Open chat switch between the two messages. The preview is indicative and varies by device. - The first contact’s message - Violet: Bridge fills it - Blue: you type it Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/13?lang=en ##### Step 14 · Send to the first group Each group is sent separately. The Send to button shows how many messages go out; choose it. The send starts in the background and the panel stays open: it moves to the other group, Other statuses, with a notice saying how many contacts are left to send to. Contacts who receive the template become Never connected, with one more attempt, until they answer. The send’s status appears at the bottom left. If you choose Cancel at this point, the first send carries on and nothing else is sent. - Send to 6: the first group - The panel moves to Other statuses - The send runs in the background Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/14?lang=en ##### Step 15 · Choose what each open chat receives Contacts with an open chat get the message in that chat. In their open chat groups the contacts that already have an open chat: the message reaches them inside that chat as a WhatsApp service message, with the cost of that kind of message. Choose how: Quick template, Write a message or WhatsApp template. A quick template is a text your company saved with a shortcut, such as /followup, and it is sent only inside an open chat: choose one from the list and, if it has its own variables, type them in Variables. With WhatsApp template, if the group also has contacts without a chat, they all get the same template chosen below. Under it, To start a chat gathers the group’s never connected contacts: they get a WhatsApp template from the line of their first template. - A WhatsApp service message - Quick template: text with a shortcut - Never connected: WhatsApp template Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/15?lang=en ##### Step 16 · Write your own message You can also write the message yourself. Write a message opens the same editor as quick templates. In Header you choose None, Text or a file: Image, Video or Document. In Message body, required, write the text and format it with Bold, Italic or Strikethrough, which mark it with *, _ or ~; add an emoji; with Variable insert the Recipient’s data (first name, last name, phone, email and their attributes) or the Sender’s, which each contact receives with their own data; or use Write with AI so Bridge AI drafts it and you review it before sending. The counter allows up to 1,024 characters with a header or buttons, and 4,096 without them. In Buttons you add up to 3 quick replies or a single website button. If the body is empty, sending shows Write the message. - Bold, italic, strikethrough and emoji - Contact and sender variables - Up to 3 buttons Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/16?lang=en ##### Step 17 · Check who is left out The panel says who will not get the message and why. Before you send, the panel says who will not receive the message and why. A contact with several open chats gets one message in each: Choose chats lets you remove the ones you do not want, and a contact with no chat chosen is left out. A contact whose conversation is on a line you do not write from is left out. Contactability counts too: Do not contact is a contact who asked not to be contacted, because Bridge AI detected it in the chat or a person marked it, and it is left out; Paused · No response is a contact Bridge stopped sending templates to after several without a reply, and it is left out when it would need a template. Without the WhatsApp templates permission, contacts without a chat are also left out, with their warning. - Several chats: Choose chats - A line you do not write from - Do not contact or paused Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/17?lang=en ##### Step 18 · Send and keep working The send continues in the background while you work. Choose Send to for the second group. The panel closes, the selection clears and the send continues in the background, because sending to many contacts can take a few minutes. At the bottom left, the send’s status shows Sending, how many messages are out of how many and a progress bar. In the table, contacts still waiting for their message show Sending in Last activity and change to their new status as their message goes out. You can keep working in Contacts: filter, open contacts or start another send. Leaving Contacts does not interrupt the send. - Sending: messages and progress - Rows change as messages go out - Leaving does not stop the send Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/18?lang=en ##### Step 19 · Check the result The result of each send arrives in Notifications. When it finishes, the send’s status says how many messages went out and, with a warning, how many could not be sent. Open Notifications shows the detail: Bridge posts a notice to Notifications, the Bridge system chat in Chats, with how many messages went out in their open chat, how many contacts got a template to start the chat, who gets the replies and the names of those not sent. The notice arrives even if you left Contacts and stays there as the record of the send. A message that fails is only marked Not sent on the contact: it is not retried and nothing else changes; to try again, send it another message. When contacts reply, their chats appear in Chats. Next: See the customer’s information. - Open Notifications: the detail - Not sent: no retry - Replies arrive in Chats Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send/19?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en ### See the customer’s information > Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: Chats - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 7 of 8 - Also searched as: chat info, customer information, contact details, edit contact, chat id, whatsapp line, participants, files, release chat, recover chat, released chats, leave chat, private chat - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. Chat info brings together what you need to know about the chat and your customer. Open it from the chat header, check the Chat ID and the line, see and correct the customer’s data, find their other chats, released ones included, and the files that were shared, in 9 steps. #### What you can do - The chat, its Chat ID and its line - Each contact’s details - Their other chats, released ones too - Files, photos and settings #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Chat info Chat info opens from the chat header. In the open chat, click the name or the avatar in the header. Chat info opens on the right, over the conversation, and the X closes it. It has the same structure in every chat: with one contact or several, and in internal chats with your team; only the data change. - Click the chat’s name or avatar - It opens on the right, over the conversation - The same design for every chat Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Check the name, the Chat ID and the line The header identifies the chat and the line it goes out on. At the top you see the chat’s name; the pencil lets you change it. Below it, whether the chat is open or private, and the Chat ID, the chat’s unique identifier: the copy icon copies «Chat ID:» with the full identifier, ready to paste wherever you need it. In a chat with a single contact you also see the number of the WhatsApp line the conversation goes out on, which you can also copy. Help lets you email support or copy the chat’s details for a chat with support. - The pencil changes the chat’s name - Copy «Chat ID:» with its identifier - Also, the chat’s WhatsApp line Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · See who is in the chat Everyone in the chat, customers and team, in one list. The tabs Participants, Files and Media show how many items each one holds. In Participants, Contacts are the external people, your customers, and Bridge users are the people in your company who use Bridge, with their status and team. Admin marks whoever manages the chat, and the phone icon whoever receives its calls. A chat can have several external contacts: each one has its own row. If a contact is not synced with the CRM, its row shows an icon. Add brings people into the chat, and each row’s menu holds its actions. - Contacts: your customers; Bridge users: your team - Several contacts, one row each - Add brings people into the chat Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Check the customer’s details Each customer’s details, one click away. Click a contact to expand their details: phone, email, the attributes your company defined, such as Company, Type, Source or City, the connection and whether they are synced with the CRM. Rest the pointer on a value to copy it. In a chat with several contacts, each one also shows their own WhatsApp line. With a single contact, the details are already expanded. - The customer’s phone, email and attributes - Rest the pointer on a value to copy it - CRM: whether it is synced Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Correct the customer’s details Details are corrected right where you read them. Click Edit and the details box becomes a form, in the same place. First name, Last name and Phone are required and marked with an asterisk; if one is missing or an email is not valid, the field says so. At the foot, Bridge counts the unsaved changes; Save applies them and Cancel returns the details as they were. Saved details sync with the CRM. Only one contact is edited at a time. - Edit turns the details into a form - Required fields carry an asterisk - Save syncs them with the CRM Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · See the customer’s other chats All the customer’s chats, without leaving Chat info. Under the contact’s details, Chats shows how many open and released chats they have; click it to see them in the same panel. In your panel holds yours, with the current chat marked. With other advisors holds the ones someone else handles: depending on your access and the chat’s privacy, you can go to the chat, join it or request access. The back arrow returns to Chat info. If Bridge finds records of the customer that share a phone or an email, Duplicates also appears under their details. - Chats: the customer’s open and released chats - Yours and other advisors’ - Go to chat, Join or Request access Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Recover a released chat A released chat is not lost. Released gathers the customer’s chats that someone released, with who did it and when. A released chat keeps its whole history and can almost always be recovered: Go to chat opens it again and, once you write in it, it returns to your chat panel. - Who released it and when - It keeps its whole history - Go to chat recovers it Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Find the files and photos What was shared in the chat, always at hand. The Files tab holds the documents shared in the chat, with their size, who sent them and when; search them by name and download them with their icon. Media holds the photos and videos, in a grid of 3 or 6 per row. - Files: search and download - Media: photos and videos - A grid of 3 or 6 per row Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Privacy, release and leave The chat’s privacy and the actions to close it on your side. In Settings, Private chat sets who can join: in a private chat a chat admin approves each request; in an open one, any Bridge user on the team can join. At the foot, Release chat takes it out of your chat panel and keeps the history; if the contact writes again, the AI qualifies them again. Leave chat stops showing you its messages; it is not available when you are the only Bridge user in the chat. Next: call the customer or schedule a meeting. - Private chat: an admin approves who joins - Release chat keeps the history - Next: call or schedule a meeting Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info/9?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Call or schedule a meeting](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md): Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### Call or schedule a meeting > Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. - Type: Task - App: Bridge - Screen: Chats - Section: Conversations - Getting started · 8 of 8 - Also searched as: call, phone call, whatsapp call, phone, call permission, transfer, group call, meeting, schedule, book a meeting, teams, google meet, recording, transcript - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/calls-meetings.md Call a contact on WhatsApp or by phone, or schedule a meeting, without leaving the chat. From any chat you call the contact on WhatsApp or by phone, add people, transfer the call to a teammate and schedule meetings on your workspace’s platform. It all happens in the Calls and meetings panel, and you learn it in 11 steps. #### What you can do - WhatsApp or phone - WhatsApp permission - Add and transfer - Workspace meetings #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Calls and meetings The chat’s calls and meetings have one place: this panel. In the open chat, the header has on its right, in this order: Notes AI (only in chats with contacts), a vertical line, Search, Tasks, Calls and meetings, which is the phone icon, and More options. Click Calls and meetings: a panel opens on the right with the chat’s name and three sections, Call, Meeting and Recent in this chat. Every call and meeting of the chat starts from this panel. The X closes it. - Header › phone icon - Call, Meeting and Recent in this chat - The X closes the panel Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Choose how to call Each chat offers the ways it can be called. Under Call you see the ways the chat can be called. In a chat with a contact: Call on WhatsApp and Call by phone, each with its Call button. In a chat with teammates only: Internal call and Video call. In a group, the Call button has an arrow and opens the list of the chat’s people so you choose whom to call; the button reads Call and the name, or the number of people. Call on WhatsApp is unavailable when the chat has no WhatsApp line. Phone calls go out from the workspace’s voice number. - With a contact: WhatsApp or phone - With teammates: internal or video call - In a group, you choose whom to call Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Ask for permission to call on WhatsApp Without the contact’s permission, WhatsApp does not allow calls. WhatsApp requires the contact to agree to receive calls from the company. If they have not yet, Call on WhatsApp opens No permission to call on WhatsApp. Click Request permission: the request reaches the contact as a WhatsApp message and the panel shows Permission request sent; Bridge lets you know in this chat when they accept. So you do not have to wait, click Call by phone in the meantime. The same request is in Templates, under Always available, as Request call permission. In a group, contacts without permission are listed apart, with Request permission. - Request permission sends a WhatsApp message - Bridge lets you know when they accept - Meanwhile, call by phone Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Talk to the contact Everything about the call is in the same panel. When you call, the panel shows the contact, the channel with their number and Calling… until they answer; then the call time runs. Below are the controls: Mute, Hold, Add, Transfer and Hang up. While it rings, only Mute and Hang up are active. In an internal call, Camera and Present take the place of Hold and Transfer. The chat shows the Call in progress bubble. There is one call at a time: if you are already in one, Call takes you to it. - Calling…, then the call time - Mute, Hold, Add, Transfer, Hang up - One call at a time Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Add people to the call Bring in more people without hanging up. Click Add: Add to the call opens, with the search for the chat’s people and your teammates with a Bridge account (Bridge users). Choose someone and Bridge calls them at once: a contact on WhatsApp if they gave permission and, if not, by phone; a teammate through Bridge. With two people or more, the call becomes a Group call: one card per person with their channel and status (Ringing, In the call, No answer), and Call again for anyone who did not answer. - Search the chat’s people or teammates - WhatsApp with permission; if not, phone - Two or more: Group call Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Transfer the call to a teammate Hand the call to whoever can help best. In a call with one person, Transfer opens Transfer to a Bridge user. Choose the teammate and you see their status and team; the X chooses someone else. Transfer now hands the call over at once. Consult first puts the client on hold and calls your teammate; when they answer, you see they are on the line and the client cannot hear you, and you choose Transfer or Back to the client. Calls are only transferred to a Bridge user, never to a contact. - Only to a Bridge user - Transfer now: at once - Consult first: the client on hold Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Keep working with the call minimized Close the panel and the call goes on. The panel’s diagonal arrows button, Minimize the call, or the X close the panel without hanging up. The call stays in a bar over the chat with the contact, the time, Mute, Open the call and Hang up; drag it by its grip out of the way. The name, Open the call or the chat’s Call in progress bubble open the panel again. The call goes on even if you switch chats. - Diagonal arrows: minimize - The bar stays over the chat - Open the call returns to the panel Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Hang up and review the result The call leaves its summary in the chat. Hang up ends the call. The panel shows Call ended with the duration, the Call details row, Call again and Close. Bridge AI prepares the summary, the analysis and the transcript in a few seconds; meanwhile, the Call details row shows that Bridge AI is preparing the summary. The chat keeps the Call ended card with Summary and analysis, which opens the details. If nobody answers, the call leaves no record. - Duration and Call details - Bridge AI prepares the summary - The card stays in the chat Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Start a meeting now A meeting in one click, with the link in the chat. Under Meeting, Meet now opens a meeting on your workspace’s meeting platform, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet; there is nothing to choose. Click Start: the link is shared in the chat and the button turns into Join, to enter the meeting. - Workspace platform, nothing to choose - Start shares the link in the chat - Join enters the meeting Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Schedule a meeting Schedule the meeting without leaving the chat. Click Schedule meeting: the form opens in the panel and the title becomes Schedule meeting, with the arrow to go back. The Title comes as Meeting with and the name. Choose the Date, the Time and the Duration, from 15 min to 2 h, or type another. The time is in the workspace’s time zone; Change picks another one. Participants already holds everyone in the chat; Add brings in people or an email. Write the Invitation message, with bold, italic, strikethrough or emoji, and click Schedule and send. The row shows Scheduled with the date, time, duration and time zone. - Date, Time and Duration - Workspace time zone - Schedule and send Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/10?lang=en ##### Step 11 · Review calls and meetings The chat’s history, with what Bridge AI found. Recent in this chat lists the chat’s calls and meetings, newest first. Clicking one opens its details in the same panel: date, duration, participants, Bridge AI’s summary with the next steps, the analysis (sentiment, closing, objections and participation) and the activity. From there you listen to the recording, read the transcript or ask Bridge AI about the call. A scheduled meeting shows Join and Copy link. Missed calls have no details. - Newest first - Summary, analysis and transcript - One click opens its details Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/calls-meetings/11?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Get to know your conversations](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chats.md): All your conversations with customers and teammates, in one place. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chats?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Release a conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/release-chat.md): Close your session with a contact when you have finished attending them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/release-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Start a new conversation](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/newchat.md): Reach a contact for the first time, with the right people and line. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/newchat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Find a chat](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/find-chat.md): Locate any conversation and see what needs your attention. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/find-chat?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Reply to a customer](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/reply-customer.md): Write and send your reply on the right channel, from the chat box. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/reply-customer?lang=en - More in Conversations: [See the customer’s information](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/chat-info.md): Check and correct the customer’s data, see their other chats and everything shared in the conversation. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/chat-info?lang=en - More in Conversations: [Send a message to several contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/contacts-send.md): Filter your contacts, select them and send them a message, each one through the right channel. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/contacts-send?lang=en ### See what is happening in your operation right now > See who is waiting for a reply and who on the team is connected, right now. - Type: Screen tour - App: Bridge - Screen: Live operations - Section: Reports - Also searched as: live operations, real time, right now, awaiting a reply, unattended, SLA, connected, presence, leads, queues, supervision - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/live-operations.md See who is waiting for a reply and who on the team is connected, right now. Live operations shows the current state of the conversations awaiting a reply and of the Bridge users on shift. Learn to read each figure, narrow the view and open the detail of each person, in 9 steps. #### What you can do - What is happening now - Each wait against the SLA - Who is connected - Every figure opens its detail #### Steps ##### Step 1 · See what is happening now The page shows the current state, with no date filter. Live operations is under Reports, in the menu on the left. The page has no date filter: it shows what is happening right now with the conversations awaiting a reply and with the Bridge users on shift. Data arrives in batches and can be up to 15 minutes behind; the information icon next to Data up to 15 min behind shows when each source was last updated, and Refresh loads the latest batch. - No date filter: it is the current state - Data up to 15 min behind - Refresh loads the latest batch Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Narrow the view The filters narrow every figure and table. Teams and Bridge users narrow every figure and table; left empty they show everything and, with several selected, each person and each conversation counts once. Conversations separates Leads, which come from Sales and marketing, from Other conversations, with existing customers and service: choose Leads to see what is waiting for sales right now. A lead is a handoff from an AI agent or a new contact who wrote straight to a person. This filter applies to what is waiting now. With a Bridge users filter, team queues are not shown. - Left empty, they show everything - Leads: what comes from Sales and marketing - Applies to what is waiting now Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Read who is waiting for a reply The first figure counts the customers awaiting a reply. Awaiting a reply counts the conversations where the customer wrote last and nobody on the team has replied; a shared conversation counts once, and internal notes and AI summaries are not replies. The wait is measured in business minutes from the first unanswered message, against the workspace reply target (60 minutes in this example). The bar splits the total into Unattended, when the deadline has passed; SLA at risk, when 10 minutes or less remain, and Within SLA. The three parts add up to the total. - The customer wrote last, nobody replied - Red: overdue; amber: 10 min or less - The three parts add up to the total Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Attend first to what is overdue Two figures flag what is overdue and what is about to be. Unattended contacts counts the customers past the response deadline and shows the oldest wait. SLA at risk counts those with 10 minutes or less to the deadline: they are the next to pass it. The arrow on each figure opens the exact list of conversations, most urgent first. - Unattended: deadline passed - SLA at risk: the next to pass it - The arrow opens the list Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Check what nobody has taken This figure shows the customers nobody has taken. No user assigned adds the messages waiting in a team queue that nobody has taken and the LeadScout handoffs that found no available Bridge user, marked Awaiting assignment. Under the figure you see the oldest wait and how many messages are in team queues. - Messages nobody took in team queues - Handoffs awaiting assignment - Below, the oldest wait Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · See who is connected This figure shows who is connected to reply. Connected now counts the Bridge users who are Online, Busy or Away, out of everyone expected to work; it leaves out invited users who have not activated, disabled accounts and people on leave. The bar shows how many are in each presence. Offline means the person is not connected; No data means there are no session records, and it is never read as Offline. - Online, Busy or Away: connected - Out of everyone expected to work - No data is never Offline Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Compare the Bridge users The table puts every Bridge user side by side. The Bridge users table shows each person’s presence and their unattended contacts right now. The table’s Period, the last 7, 30 or 90 days, only changes the Conversations, Active, Avg. reply time and SLA breaches columns. The Conversations pill opens the breakdown of their conversations, and the red Unattended contacts pill opens the oldest wait and what is at risk, with View detail. The table is sorted by unattended contacts, highest first. - Presence and unattended: right now - The Period changes only four columns - The pills open their breakdown Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Compare the teams Teams shows the same reading per team. Choose Teams to see one row per team: Connected now, Awaiting a reply with its bar, Unattended contacts, No user assigned, Oldest wait and how the wait changed over the last hour, with a sample every 10 minutes. A conversation counts once per team, even when several Bridge users take part. Click a team to see its Bridge users and what is awaiting a reply. - One row per team - The wait over the last hour - A click opens the team Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Open the detail of a person Each person opens in a panel with their detail. Click a row of Bridge users to open that person’s panel on Live operations: their figures right now, Pending handoffs, Connected today and the list of conversations awaiting their reply, with the status and deadline of each one. The Performance tab shows how they worked over a period. Next: Review your team’s performance. - Their figures and what awaits them - Performance: how they worked in a period - Next: your team’s performance Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations/9?lang=en #### Related guides - More in Reports: [Review your team’s performance](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/team-performance.md): See how your team served customers over a period, per person and per team. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance?lang=en ### Review your team’s performance > See how your team served customers over a period, per person and per team. - Type: Screen tour - App: Bridge - Screen: Team performance - Section: Reports - Also searched as: performance, team, productivity, reply time, answered on time, SLA, interactions, tasks, branch, showroom, download, report - Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/team-performance.md See how your team served customers over a period, per person and per team. Team performance shows how your team worked in Bridge over a period: conversations and how they were answered, reply times, interactions and tasks, per person and per team. Learn to read it and compare, in 13 steps. #### What you can do - Everything in one period - Answered on time - People and teams side by side - Every list downloadable #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Choose the period and who to see Everything on the page follows one period. Team performance is under Reports, in the menu on the left. Choose the Period: by default the last 7 days, with up to 90 days of history. Every figure, chart and table uses that period and is compared with the previous period of the same length. Teams and Bridge users narrow the page; left empty they show everyone. A branch or a showroom is a team, so you can also see it on its own. - By default, the last 7 days - Compared with the previous period - A branch or showroom is a team Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Choose how times are counted The selector sets how times are counted. The Times selector, next to the filters, sets how reply times are measured. In Business hours the clock stops outside the working day (08:00 to 18:00 in this example); in Calendar hours every hour counts, nights and weekends included. It changes the average time, the 90th percentile, the first response and the resolution; replies on time and SLA breaches are always measured in business hours. - Business hours: the clock stops - Calendar hours: nights and weekends too - Replies on time do not change Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · See who works in Bridge The first figure shows who works in Bridge. Active users counts the expected Bridge users with a sign-in or recorded work in the period, out of everyone expected. The bar splits them into Signed in, No sign-in, Never signed in and No data, when records are missing. Invited users who have not activated, disabled accounts and people on leave are not counted, and the page says who they are. Each figure shows its change against the previous period. - A sign-in or recorded work - The bar splits the access - Who is not counted is on the page Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · See how they were answered This figure shows how conversations were answered. Conversations counts those with a message, call, email or meeting in the period; a shared conversation counts once. A conversation is answered when a Bridge user replied at least once in the period. Answered on time: the first reply came within the SLA target (60 business minutes in this example). Answered late: it came after. Not answered: the customer wrote and nobody replied. Below, the share of conversations answered. - Answered: at least one reply - On time, late or not answered - Below, the % answered Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Add up the work with customers This figure adds up the work with customers, by channel. Interactions adds up the messages, calls, emails and meetings with customers in the period, and the bar splits them by channel. Internal notes and AI summaries never count. - Messages, calls, emails and meetings - The bar splits them by channel - Internal notes and AI summaries never count Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Read the reply time This figure shows how fast the team replies. Avg. reply time is the average of the period; lower is better. Below it you see the share of replies on time, the 90th percentile and the first response. Rest the pointer on those values to see the detail: replies on time, SLA breaches, average, 90th percentile, first response, resolution and the hours in use. The 90th percentile shows the slow replies the average hides. - Lower is better - On time, 90th percentile and first response - The pointer shows the detail Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Check the tasks This figure shows the follow-up with tasks. Tasks completed counts the follow-up tasks done in the period. Below, how many were created in the period and how many are overdue now, of those still open. - Tasks done in the period - Created in the period - Overdue now, of those open Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Follow one measure day by day The chart follows one measure day by day. The chart shows one measure at a time: Interactions, Conversations, Replies on time, Reply time, Active users or Time connected. It shows every day of the week, Saturdays and Sundays included, and the dotted line is the previous period of the same length. Today appears as so far. - One measure at a time - Every day, Saturday and Sunday too - Dotted: the previous period Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Compare people The table puts every person side by side. The Bridge users table puts every person on the same measures: Conversations, Answered, Replies on time, Avg. reply time and Tasks done. Answered shows the share and a bar with on time, late and not answered. Signal flags up to two reasons to look closer, such as Low activity or Never signed in; it is not a rating. Columns adds Access, Interactions per day and Connected per day. Below, who is not counted and why. - The same measures for everyone - Signal: a reason to look, not a rating - Columns adds more measures Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Compare teams Teams shows the same reading per team. Choose Teams to see one row per team, with its active users, the same measures and how many people have something to review. Since a branch or a showroom is a team, you can compare them side by side. Click a team to see its Bridge users and what is awaiting a reply now. - One row per team - A branch or showroom is a team - A click opens the team Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/10?lang=en ##### Step 11 · See when the work happens The heat map shows when the work happens. Interactions by day and hour shows, from Monday to Sunday and hour by hour, how many interactions there were in the period. Darker colours are the busiest hours, and each day’s total is on the right. - Monday to Sunday, by hour - Darker: more interactions - Each day’s total on the right Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/11?lang=en ##### Step 12 · Open one person’s performance Each person opens in a panel with their performance. Click a row to open that person’s panel on Performance, with the same period and the same Times selector. It shows Active days, Interactions, Avg. reply time and Tasks completed, and sections that open with a click: the chart per day, AI read, which is an estimate; Interaction types and Impact on contacts, which are AI metrics updated once a day; Compared with the team, Interactions by day and hour and their conversations. Live operations shows what is waiting for them now. - Same period and same times - Sections that open with a click - AI read: an estimate Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/12?lang=en ##### Step 13 · Open and download the detail Each figure opens the list of the people behind it. The arrow on each figure opens the list of the people behind it, with that figure’s columns and sorted by that measure. Search, filter and use Download to get every row of the list. Click a person to open their performance. Next: See what is happening in your operation right now. - Only that figure’s columns - Download gets every row - Next: what is happening now Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/team-performance/13?lang=en #### Related guides - More in Reports: [See what is happening in your operation right now](https://help.bridge.new/md/bridge/live-operations.md): See who is waiting for a reply and who on the team is connected, right now. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/bridge/live-operations?lang=en ## Admin console ### Set up Bridge with the setup guide > Follow the 9 steps on My Bridge to set up your company, your workspace and its connections. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: My Bridge - Section: My Bridge - Getting started · 1 of 6 - Also searched as: set up, setup, setup guide, getting started, get started, my bridge, home, onboarding, steps, connections, integrations - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/setup-guide.md Follow the 9 steps on My Bridge to set up your company, your workspace and its connections. The setup guide on My Bridge brings together everything you need to start working with Bridge: 9 steps in 3 sections, the status of each one and a direct link to the page where it is done. Learn to use it in 10 steps. #### What you can do - 9 steps in 3 sections - The status of each step - Each step opens its page - Channels and integrations #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open My Bridge My Bridge is the home page of your workspace. My Bridge is the home page of your workspace and the first screen you see when you enter the admin console. It is the first item in the menu, with a house icon. It brings together three blocks: the setup guide, the state of your channels and integrations, and the month’s usage, with licences, add-ons, AI agents, other products and WhatsApp spend. Everything it shows belongs to the workspace selected in the menu; if you switch workspace, the page updates. - The first item in the console menu - Setup guide, connections and the month’s usage - Shows the selected workspace Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Check your progress The guide’s header shows how much is left. The setup guide sits at the top of My Bridge. Its header shows how many of the 9 steps are completed, for example 3 of 9, and a progress bar. Bridge marks a step as done when it detects it in your workspace. When all 9 steps are done, the title changes to “Bridge is set up”. - Steps completed out of 9, with a progress bar - Bridge marks a step as done when it detects it - With all 9 done: “Bridge is set up” Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Get to know the 3 sections The steps follow the order in which Bridge is set up. The 9 steps are arranged in 3 sections, in the order a company sets Bridge up. Company setup: Languages, Authentication and Workspaces. Workspace settings: Users and Teams, Contacts and Conversations settings. Connections: WhatsApp, Voice calls and Email and meetings. Each section shows how many of its steps are done, for example 2 of 3. - Company: languages, authentication and workspaces - Workspace: users, contacts and conversations - Connections: WhatsApp, calls, email and meetings Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Check the status of each step A mark next to each step shows how it stands. Each step shows its status with a mark next to its title. Done, a green circle with a check: the step is complete. Needs attention, an amber circle: something is missing and the step says what; for example, the WhatsApp number is connected at the provider but is not yet linked to Bridge. Pending, an empty circle: the step is not done yet. - Done: the step is complete - Needs attention: the step says what is missing - Pending: the step is not done yet Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Start with the highlighted step The next pending step is always highlighted. The next step is the first one that is not done yet, in the order of the guide. It is highlighted on a blue background and its Open button is the primary one. In the example, the next step is Languages, in Company setup. When you complete it, the guide highlights the next one. - It is the first step not done yet - Blue background and the primary Open button - Once complete, the next one is highlighted Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Open each step in a new window Each step takes you to the page where it is configured. The Open button of each step opens its page in a new browser window, so My Bridge and the setup guide stay in view while you work. When you hover over the button, a tooltip says so, for example “Opens Contacts in a new window”. Languages is the exception: it has no page of its own and opens in a side panel on My Bridge. - Open shows its page in a new window - My Bridge stays open so you can continue - Languages opens in a panel on this page Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Check each page’s guide Each step links to its page’s guide. Under the description of each step is the link See how it works. It opens the guide of that step’s page in a new window, in your language, so you know what to do there before you start. Languages has no such link because it has no page of its own. - See how it works, under each step - Opens that page’s guide in a new window - Always in your language Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Show or hide the steps Choose between every step or only the next one. While you have 5 steps done or fewer, the guide shows every step. With 6 or more, it collapses to the next step only, with its section, for example “Next: WhatsApp · Connections”. All steps shows the 3 sections and Hide steps goes back to the next step only. - With 6 or more done, you see only the next step - All steps shows the 3 sections - Hide steps goes back to the next one Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Check your channels and integrations See at a glance what is connected and what is missing. Under the guide, Channels and integrations shows how many of the 9 destinations are connected, for example 7 of 9. All connections shows them in three columns: Channels (WhatsApp, Voice calls and Email), Applications (Brands, Meetings, Bridge Bookings and CRM) and Developers (API keys and Webhooks). Each destination says Connected or Not connected. Clicking a row opens the section where it is configured; Bridge Bookings opens in a new tab. When more than half are connected, the block shows only those that are not. - Connected or Not connected, for each destination - Channels, Applications and Developers - Click a row to go to its settings Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Complete the 9 steps With the 9 steps done, Bridge is set up. When all 9 steps are done, the guide shows “Bridge is set up”, 9 of 9 completed, and the Hide button, which removes it from My Bridge. To begin, follow the order of the guide: the first step is Languages, in Company setup. The next guide, “Choose your company’s languages”, shows you how. - With all 9 done: “Bridge is set up” - Hide removes the guide from My Bridge - Start with Languages, the first step Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide/10?lang=en #### Related guides - Next in Getting started: [Choose your company’s languages](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-languages.md): Set the languages your company uses with customers, and which one is the default. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages?lang=en - More in My Bridge: [Choose your company’s languages](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-languages.md): Set the languages your company uses with customers, and which one is the default. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages?lang=en ### Choose your company’s languages > Set the languages your company uses with customers, and which one is the default. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: My Bridge - Section: My Bridge - Getting started · 2 of 6 - Also searched as: languages, language, default language, templates, translation, locale, new contacts, company setup - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-languages.md Set the languages your company uses with customers, and which one is the default. In Languages, the first step of the setup guide, you choose the languages your company uses with its customers and the default one: the language your users see in Bridge and the one new contacts are created with. Learn how in 7 steps. #### What you can do - The languages you use with customers - The default language - Templates in every language - A step of the setup guide #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Languages Languages is the first step of the setup guide. On My Bridge, find the setup guide. Languages is the first step of the Company setup section. Click Open: unlike the other steps, Languages does not open a new window but a side panel on the same page, because it has no page of its own. - My Bridge › Company setup › Languages - Click Open - A side panel opens, without leaving My Bridge Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Review how languages are used The panel’s notice sums up how Bridge uses each language. The Languages panel starts with a notice that explains how Bridge uses your company’s languages. The default language is the one your users see in Bridge. When templates are used, it is also the first language used with the customer, and new contacts are created with it. Each additional language you add automatically gets its own version of every template. - Default: the language your users see in Bridge - With templates, the first one used with the customer - New contacts are created with it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Add the languages Add each language your company uses with its customers. Under Languages used with customers, open the Add a language list. You can type to search; the list shows only the languages you have not added yet. When you choose one, it is added at once. The first language you add becomes the default. Repeat for each language your company uses with its customers. - Choose in Add a language; you can search - It is added to the list at once - Each additional language gets its templates automatically Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Choose the default language One of your languages is the default. Each language in the list has the Default option. Select it for the language your users see in Bridge and that new contacts are created with. There can be only one default language; when you select another, the previous one stops being the default. - Select Default on its row - Only one language is the default - The first one you add starts as the default Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Remove a language Remove from the list a language you do not need. To remove a language, use the trash icon on its row. The default language cannot be removed: its button is disabled and, when you hover over it, it says “Choose another default language first”. To remove it, first make another language the default. - Use the trash icon on its row - The default language cannot be removed - Make another one the default first Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Save the languages Save to apply the languages to your company. Click Save. The button is enabled when there is at least one language in the list. When you save, the panel closes, the “Languages saved” notice shows the default language, and the Languages step is marked as done in the setup guide. Cancel closes the panel without saving the changes. If you open Languages again, you see the saved list. - Save is enabled with at least one language - The Languages step is marked as done - Cancel closes without saving Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Continue with the setup Languages is done and the guide takes you to the next step. After you save, Languages shows as done in the setup guide and the progress adds one step. The guide highlights the next pending step so you can continue. You can open Languages again at any time to review the saved languages. - Languages shows as done - Progress adds a step: 4 of 9 - The next step is highlighted Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages/7?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Set up Bridge with the setup guide](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/setup-guide.md): Follow the 9 steps on My Bridge to set up your company, your workspace and its connections. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Set how people sign in](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-authentication.md): Decide how the people of your company sign in to Bridge, in all its workspaces. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication?lang=en - More in My Bridge: [Set up Bridge with the setup guide](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/setup-guide.md): Follow the 9 steps on My Bridge to set up your company, your workspace and its connections. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/setup-guide?lang=en ### Set how people sign in > Decide how the people of your company sign in to Bridge, in all its workspaces. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: Authentication - Section: Company - Getting started · 3 of 6 - Also searched as: authentication, sign-in, sign in, login, password, passwordless, Google, Microsoft, Entra ID, SSO, directory, domain, verify domain, DNS, security - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-authentication.md Decide how the people of your company sign in to Bridge, in all its workspaces. In Authentication you allow the sign-in methods, connect Google and Microsoft, validate people against your directory and verify your domains. Changes wait in a draft and apply to everybody at once, after you review them. Learn how in 10 steps. #### What you can do - The methods you allow - Google and Microsoft connections - Directory and verified domains - Review before applying #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open the company administration Authentication is in the company administration. Authentication is a page of the company administration, not of a workspace. In the console menu, click the workspace picker under the company name and choose Manage company (Norte SAS). The workspace menu is replaced by the company menu. You can also get there from the setup guide on My Bridge: Authentication is the second step of Company setup, and its Open button opens the page in a new window. - Workspace picker › Manage company - The company menu replaces the workspace menu - Or from My Bridge › Company setup Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Choose Authentication in the company menu Sign-in belongs to the company, not to a workspace. The company menu has one section, Company, with five pages: Company information, Usage and costs, Workspaces, Company members and Authentication. Choose Authentication, the last one. The band at the top, Company configuration · Norte, is a reminder that sign-in belongs to the company: each person has one identity and takes it into every workspace they can reach. That is why a change here reaches everybody, in every workspace, at their next sign-in. - Company › Authentication, the last page - One identity for every workspace - A change reaches everybody at their next sign-in Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Check the status of each method Each method shows its policy, its setup and its use. Sign-in methods shows four methods: Basic authentication, with an email address and a password; Sign in with Google; Sign in with Microsoft, with a work account; and Passwordless sign-in, with a single-use code sent to the email address. Each method shows separately its Policy (Allowed or Not allowed), its Setup (Configured, Connected, Not configured or Needs attention) and how many people sign in with it. Only a method that is allowed and set up works. In the example, Sign in with Microsoft is allowed but needs attention, with its card outlined in the warning colour: the consent given to Bridge expired, so nobody can use it until it is granted again. - Policy: Allowed or Not allowed - Setup: Configured, Connected, Not configured or Needs attention - It works only if allowed and set up Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Allow or withdraw a method The switch decides whether the company accepts the method. Each method has a switch on the right, with its state: Allowed or Not allowed. Turn it on so the company accepts that method, or off to withdraw it. The change waits in a draft: nothing saves on its own. Allowing a method does not set it up: a method that is allowed but not set up is no way in. In the example, you turn on Sign in with Google, which is still Not configured. - Allowed or Not allowed, on each card - It waits in a draft until you apply - Allowing does not set the method up Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Connect Google or Microsoft Google and Microsoft are connected with the provider. Sign in with Google and Sign in with Microsoft need a connection with the provider. Click Connect, or Reconnect when the method already had a connection, like Microsoft. Bridge asks you to confirm: you will be sent to the provider to sign in as an administrator and grant Bridge the access it needs. Bridge asks to read the name, the email address and the directory of that account, and it never receives the password. Click Continue. - Connect, or Reconnect if it had a connection - You sign in to the provider as an administrator - Bridge never receives the password Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Check the connection A new connection is a draft until you apply it. Once the provider confirms who granted access, the method’s Setup changes to Connected and its note says when and by whom it was connected. The Connected notice is a reminder that it is still a draft: the connection only becomes a way in once the method is allowed and you apply the changes. For Microsoft, Reconnect renews the expired consent, and the note names the verified domain it is restricted to. - Setup changes to Connected - The note says when and by whom - A way in once allowed and applied Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Validate people against your directory Validation decides who may exist in the company. Corporate validation holds Microsoft Entra ID validation. It checks every person who signs in against your organisation’s directory and reads the groups they belong to. It is not the Microsoft button on the sign-in screen: it decides who may exist in the company. Connect sends you to Microsoft to sign in as a directory administrator and choose the tenant the company is validated against. Before it decides who may sign in, the tenant has to be bound to a verified domain and the group rules have to be written. In the example it is Not allowed: nobody is checked against a directory. - Checks every person against the directory - Not the Microsoft button on the sign-in screen - First: a verified domain and group rules Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Verify your domains Only a verified domain can restrict a method. Verified domains lists your company’s domains with their status: Verified, Verification pending or Not verified. A method can only be restricted to a domain your company has proved it owns. The list of domains is kept in Company information; the ones you add there appear here as Not verified. Click Verify: the domain changes to Verification pending, “Waiting for the DNS record to appear”, and it is not verified until the DNS record is found. In the example, norte.co is verified and you verify norteadvisors.co. - Verified, Verification pending or Not verified - The list is kept in Company information - Verify waits for the DNS record Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Review the changes before applying them Before applying, you review what changes and who it reaches. The bar at the bottom shows Unsaved changes and how many methods work today with the draft, for example 3 methods work today. Discard goes back to what was saved. Review and apply opens Review the sign-in changes: What changes lists each change, for example that Sign in with Google becomes a way in for everybody and that verification starts for norteadvisors.co. After this is applied sums up which methods people can sign in with, which are not working today, whether directory validation is on and who the change reaches: every person in all 4 workspaces. - The bar shows unsaved changes - Review and apply shows what changes - Discard goes back to what was saved Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Apply all the changes at once The whole draft is applied, in one operation. Click Sign in again and apply. Bridge asks you to sign in again, applies the whole draft in one operation and keeps a record of who changed what. If the draft would leave nobody able to sign in, the alert says so and the button is disabled. When it is applied, the Sign-in methods applied notice confirms that everybody uses them from their next sign-in; sessions already open are not closed. Keep editing returns to the page without applying. Then continue with Workspaces, the next step of Company setup: the guide “Create and organize your workspaces” shows you how. - Sign in again and apply - Refused if nobody could sign in - Open sessions stay open Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication/10?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Choose your company’s languages](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-languages.md): Set the languages your company uses with customers, and which one is the default. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-languages?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Create and organize your workspaces](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-workspaces.md): Create your company’s workspaces, edit them, go into each one and archive the ones you no longer use. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces?lang=en - More in Company: [Create and organize your workspaces](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-workspaces.md): Create your company’s workspaces, edit them, go into each one and archive the ones you no longer use. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces?lang=en ### Create and organize your workspaces > Create your company’s workspaces, edit them, go into each one and archive the ones you no longer use. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: Workspaces - Section: Company - Getting started · 4 of 6 - Also searched as: workspaces, workspace, create workspace, areas, teams, archive, manage company, go into a workspace, switch workspace - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-workspaces.md Create your company’s workspaces, edit them, go into each one and archive the ones you no longer use. A workspace is a part of the company with its own people, contacts, conversations, channels and settings, such as Sales team or Customer success. In Workspaces you create them, edit them, go into any of them and archive the ones you no longer use. Learn how in 10 steps. #### What you can do - Each workspace keeps its own data - A new workspace starts empty - Go into any workspace - Archiving is not deleting #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Workspaces Workspaces is in the company administration. Workspaces is a page of the company administration. From a workspace menu, open the workspace picker and choose Manage company; in the company menu, choose Workspaces, the third page. You can also get there from the setup guide on My Bridge: Workspaces is the third step of Company setup. A workspace is a part of the company with its own people, contacts, conversations, channels and settings; nothing crosses between workspaces on its own. The band at the top is a reminder that belonging to the company and having access to a workspace are two different things. - Workspace picker › Manage company - Company › Workspaces - Or from My Bridge › Company setup Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Check the list of workspaces Each row is a workspace, with its status and its people. The table shows one workspace per row: its name with its colour, the Description, how many People reach it, its Status and when it was Created. The Status can be Active, Being set up, Inactive or Archived. The colour follows each workspace across the company pages. The number of people comes from each person’s assignments and is never typed in; when nobody belongs yet, it says Nobody yet, like Marketing, which is Being set up. Use Search a workspace to find one by its name. - Name, Description, People, Status and Created - People comes from the assignments - Nobody yet: nobody belongs yet Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Create a workspace A new workspace needs a name and a description. Click Create workspace, at the top right of the table. The New workspace panel opens. Type the Name, which is required: it is the name people see when they switch workspace. Add a one-line Description that says what it is for. The Status stays fixed on Being set up, and the Workspace ID is assigned when it is created. In the example, you create Spare parts, for the sales of spare parts and accessories. - Create workspace, above the table - Name required, plus a description - The ID is assigned when it is created Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Check what it starts with A new workspace starts empty, on purpose. What it starts with sums up what a new workspace comes with: no contacts and no conversations, because they belong to the workspace they arrived in; no channel connected, because WhatsApp, voice and email are connected inside it; and no templates, agents, API keys or webhooks. It only shares the company identity, billing and sign-in methods with the others. The alert says it is created as Being set up and becomes Active once it has at least one person and one channel. - No contacts, conversations or channels - Shares identity, billing and sign-in - Active with one person and one channel Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Save the workspace Once created, it is Being set up. Click Create workspace, at the foot of the panel. If the name is missing, the field says so and the workspace is not created. Once it is created, the Workspace created notice confirms that it is being set up, that nobody belongs to it yet and that no channel is connected, and the workspace appears in the table. Cancel closes the panel without creating anything; the panel only closes with Cancel or the X. - Create workspace, at the foot of the panel - It is Being set up - Cancel closes without creating Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Edit a workspace The name changes; the workspace ID does not. In the row’s three-dot menu, choose Edit. The panel shows the workspace with how many people it has and when it was created. You can change the Name, the Description and the Status. The Workspace ID, for example ws_sales, is stable: renaming the workspace does not change it, so nothing inside it moves. Click Save workspace; the Workspace saved notice confirms it. - ⋮ menu › Edit - Name, Description and Status - The ID does not change on rename Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Check who has access Belonging to the company gives no access to a workspace. Belonging to the company gives no access on its own: a person reaches a workspace only when they are assigned to it, from Company members or inside the workspace. In the edit panel, People in this workspace shows each person with their company role, for example Administrator or Manager. What they can do there, their licence and their team are set in the workspace itself, under Users and Teams. The People count in the table always follows these assignments. - Reached by assignment, not by belonging - Each person with their company role - Permissions and licence: in Users and Teams Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Go into a workspace From the list you go into each workspace’s panel. In the row’s three-dot menu, Go to this workspace opens that workspace’s admin panel on My Bridge, with the workspace menu in place of the company menu. The same button is in the edit panel. You can also go in from the Choose a workspace picker, at the top of the company menu. - ⋮ menu › Go to this workspace - Its panel opens on My Bridge - Also from the edit panel Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Archive a workspace you no longer use Archiving is not deleting: it can be brought back. In the row’s three-dot menu, choose Archive workspace. Bridge asks you to confirm and tells you how many people reach that workspace: its contacts, conversations, channels and agents stop being reachable with it. Archiving is not deletion: the workspace keeps its identifier and its history, nobody is removed from the company, and it can be brought back. What it is billed for, if anything, is settled with your Bridge contact. Click Archive workspace to confirm. - ⋮ menu › Archive workspace - It keeps its ID and history - Nobody leaves the company Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Set up each workspace Each workspace is set up from inside. With the workspaces created, go into each one to set it up: open Choose a workspace, at the top of the company menu, and choose the workspace. Each option shows how many people it has or whether it is being set up. Its admin panel opens on My Bridge, where the setup guide continues with Workspace settings: Users and Teams, Contacts and Conversations settings. - Choose a workspace, at the top of the menu - Its panel opens on My Bridge - Continue with Users and Teams Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces/10?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Set how people sign in](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-authentication.md): Decide how the people of your company sign in to Bridge, in all its workspaces. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Connect WhatsApp and add a line](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-lines.md): Connect your company’s WhatsApp Business account to this workspace and get its lines ready. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines?lang=en - More in Company: [Set how people sign in](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-authentication.md): Decide how the people of your company sign in to Bridge, in all its workspaces. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-authentication?lang=en ### Connect WhatsApp and add a line > Connect your company’s WhatsApp Business account to this workspace and get its lines ready. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: WhatsApp Lines - Section: Connections - Getting started · 5 of 6 - Also searched as: whatsapp, whatsapp line, whatsapp number, connect whatsapp, waba, whatsapp business account, meta, add number, main line, priority, whatsapp calls, deactivate line - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-lines.md Connect your company’s WhatsApp Business account to this workspace and get its lines ready. Connect a new account through Meta or use one your company already has in Bridge, add lines and set each one’s type, priority and calls. In 11 steps. #### What you can do - A new account or one already in Bridge - Main, Marketing and Test lines - Priority and calls per line - Pause or deactivate a line #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open WhatsApp Lines The page starts with two ways to connect WhatsApp. In the console, open Connections › WhatsApp Lines. If the workspace has no WhatsApp Business account yet, the Accounts and lines tab shows “No WhatsApp account is connected” with two options: Connect a new account, through Meta, or Use an account already in Bridge. The Brands and teams, Onboarding, Consent and Delivery alternatives tabs stay locked until an account is connected. Both options require an administrator of the workspace. The WhatsApp Business account (WABA) is your company’s account at WhatsApp that holds its numbers, and each number is a line. - Connections › WhatsApp Lines - A new account or one already in Bridge - The other tabs open once connected Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Connect a new account through Meta Meta connects the account and the number in its own window. To connect a new account, select Connect WhatsApp. The Connect WhatsApp window explains what happens: a window from Meta opens where you sign in, choose or create the WhatsApp Business account, add the number and verify it. Before you start you need a Facebook Business account you administer, a number that is not registered in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business application, access to that number to receive the verification code by message or call, and the business name, description and category customers will see. The window belongs to Meta: Bridge cannot complete those steps for you, and if the sequence ends before the number is verified, nothing is connected. No password reaches Bridge. Select Open the Meta window. - A Facebook Business account you administer - A number not registered in WhatsApp - No password reaches Bridge Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Check the connected account Bridge finishes the connection and the first line becomes the main line. When the Meta window closes, Bridge finishes the connection on its own: it reads the WhatsApp Business account, registers the number, subscribes to message events and loads the approved templates. You can close the Finishing the connection window without stopping it. When it is done, WhatsApp connected shows the account, its WABA ID, the number and its two states: Connected at WhatsApp and Linked in Bridge. This first line is the main line, so new conversations start from it. Select Go to accounts and lines: the other tabs of the page are now open. - Connected at WhatsApp and Linked in Bridge - The first line is the main line - Closing the window does not stop it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Or use an account already in Bridge Use an account of your company without going through Meta. If your company already connected a WhatsApp Business account in another workspace, you do not need Meta: select Choose an account. Only your company’s accounts are listed, each with its free lines, its WABA ID, its approved templates and the workspaces that already use it. An account can be shared by several workspaces, but each line belongs to one only, and nothing is taken from the workspaces that already use it. Choose the account and select Choose the lines. - Only your company’s accounts - The account is shared; lines are not - Nothing is taken from other workspaces Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Choose this workspace’s lines Each line belongs to one workspace only. Mark the lines this workspace will use. Lines of another workspace are disabled and show that workspace’s name. A free line still in review at Meta can be chosen: it starts working once approved. The first line you mark becomes the Main line here, and Make it the main line changes which one it is. The account’s approved templates come with it, and the lines you choose belong to this workspace only. Select Use this line or Use these N lines: Bridge brings them into the workspace and shows WhatsApp is ready here, with each line Linked in Bridge, or In review at Meta while it is not approved yet. - Lines of another workspace cannot be chosen - A line in review at Meta can - One of them is the main line Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Review your lines The table shows each line’s type and states. With an account connected, Accounts and lines shows the WhatsApp Business account at the top, its WABA ID, the workspaces it is shared with and the provider state. Below, the table lists every line with its number and these columns: Workspace; Meta status, the review of the display name (Approved, In review or Rejected); Type; WhatsApp, what the provider reports; Bridge status, whether this workspace can use the line (Online or Pending); and Calls. Lines of other workspaces on the same account are faded and cannot be opened. If your company uses brands and teams, their exclusive lines show the type Brand and its name. - Meta status: the review of the name - Bridge status: whether this workspace can use it - Lines of other workspaces, faded Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Add another line Connect a new number to the same account. To add a number to the account, select Add a line. WhatsApp opens its own window: you sign in with the Facebook account that manages the WhatsApp Business account, add the number and enter the code WhatsApp sends by SMS or call, so keep the phone at hand. When WhatsApp confirms the number, Bridge shows Number connected and asks for two things: the Display name, which customers see and WhatsApp reviews, and the Type: Main, Marketing or Test. Select Add line. The new line shows In review and Pending, and goes Online as soon as WhatsApp confirms it. - Verified with a code by SMS or call - Display name and type - Online once WhatsApp confirms it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Set the type and the priority The type says what a line is for; the priority, in which order it is used. Click a line to open its panel. In Type you choose what it is for: Main starts new conversations in the order of its priority; Marketing carries marketing messages, such as campaigns, and does not start service conversations; Test is for trying things out and is not used with customers. Every Main line has a Priority from 1 to 100, which the table shows next to the type (Main 1, Main 2…). Bridge starts every new conversation from the Main line with the lowest number and moves to the next when a line cannot carry it. The panel lists the other Main lines with their priority. Select Save. - Main, Marketing or Test - Priority 1 to 100: Main 1 first - If one cannot, the next one takes it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Turn on the line’s calls Calls are turned on inside each line. WhatsApp voice calls are turned on line by line, inside each line. In the line’s panel, under Voice calls, turn on Allow voice calls from this line. It can only be turned on for numbers where WhatsApp already allows calling; otherwise the switch is disabled and the notice “Calling is not available on this number” explains why. When you turn it off, your team can no longer start new calls from that number, and calls in progress continue. The table’s Calls column shows On, Off or Not available. Select Save. - Allow voice calls from this line - Only if WhatsApp allows calls on that number - On, Off or Not available Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Pause or deactivate a line Stop using a line without losing its history. At the end of the line’s panel, select Deactivate line. The Take out of use window offers two options. Stop new conversations: current conversations continue on the line and contacts can keep replying, but the line is no longer offered to start new conversations, Assist or campaigns. Deactivate the line: it stops sending and receiving in Bridge and leaves routing; conversations and history are kept and the number stays in the WhatsApp account. Either can be undone from the line. Bridge refuses any change that would leave the workspace without a line to start conversations from. - Stop new conversations: current ones continue - Deactivate: no sending or receiving - Both can be undone Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/10?lang=en ##### Step 11 · Continue with the setup The other tabs are open to continue. With an account connected, the other tabs of WhatsApp Lines are open. If your company works with brands or teams, in Brands and teams you give each one exclusive lines, in order of priority; a line is assigned to a brand or team there once it is online. In Onboarding you set the first messages of every conversation Bridge starts, in Consent the question asked before commercial messages, and in Delivery alternatives which template goes out when a Marketing one is not delivered. In Getting started, the next item is creating a WhatsApp template. - Brands and teams: exclusive lines - Onboarding, Consent, Delivery alternatives - Then: create a WhatsApp template Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines/11?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Create and organize your workspaces](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/company-workspaces.md): Create your company’s workspaces, edit them, go into each one and archive the ones you no longer use. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/company-workspaces?lang=en - Next in Getting started: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en ### Create a WhatsApp template > Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: Templates - Section: General settings - Getting started · 6 of 6 - Also searched as: template, templates, WhatsApp template, message template, create template, new template, approved message, WhatsApp approval, Meta, variables, category, marketing, utility, languages, start a conversation - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. A WhatsApp template is a message that WhatsApp approves and that your team uses to start or restart a conversation. You give it a name, a category and its languages, write the message with variables and send it for approval. Learn how in 12 steps. #### What you can do - Name, category and tags - One message per language - Variables that personalize - WhatsApp approval #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Create template WhatsApp templates are created on their own tab of Templates. In the console, go to Templates, under General settings, and choose the WhatsApp templates tab. The page also holds quick templates, internal text your team inserts with a shortcut in a conversation that is already open. Click Create template, in the WhatsApp Business account row. The New template panel opens, with the editor on the left and the preview on the right. Nothing is saved or sent until you create it. - Templates › WhatsApp templates › Create template - Quick templates have their own tab - Nothing is saved until you create it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Give it a name The template name is the one your team sees. Under Template information, type the Template name, for example Spring welcome. Only your team sees this name. The WhatsApp template name is created from it automatically, with lowercase letters, numbers and underscores, and cannot be edited. - Template name: only your team sees it - The WhatsApp name is created for you - That name cannot be edited Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Choose the category The category sets how WhatsApp reviews and bills the template. Every WhatsApp template has a category. In WhatsApp category, choose Marketing, for offers and invitations, or Utility, for confirmations and updates. WhatsApp reviews and bills each category differently. The category cannot be changed once WhatsApp registers the template. - Marketing: offers and invitations - Utility: confirmations and updates - Fixed once WhatsApp registers it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Add tags and teams Tags group templates and teams decide who sees them. In Tags, open the list and select the ones that apply. Tags group templates in the library and in the composer, and they are the same across the whole workspace. Tags with a lock come with every workspace and cannot be changed, such as Start with a customer, Start with a prospect and Re-engagement. In Available for, choose the teams that see the template in their composer; leave it empty and everyone sees it. - The same tags across the workspace - Tags with a lock cannot be changed - Available for empty: everyone sees it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Add the languages Each language is a version of the same template. Under Configure message, the template starts with one language, marked Default. To add another, click Add language and search for it; the list holds main languages only, without regional variants. Each language is a separate version of the template, with the same name: its message, buttons and examples are written separately, and WhatsApp reviews each language on its own. With two languages or more, the Default selector appears: Bridge sends the version in the contact’s language and, when there is none, the default one. - Main languages only, with search - The first one is the default - Each language has its own message Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Write the message The body is the message the contact receives. In Message body, write the text, up to 1,024 characters, with bold, italic, strikethrough or emoji if you need them. With Variable you insert data Bridge fills in on every send: from the Recipient, such as their first name; from the Sender, the Bridge user who sends it; or the Organization name. The text cannot start or end with a variable: if it does, the error shows as you type and Send for approval is disabled until you fix it. - Up to 1,024 characters - Variable: Recipient, Sender or Organization - Do not start or end with a variable Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Create your own variable Your own variable carries data the user types or the API sends. For data Bridge does not hold, open Variable and choose Create custom variable. Type the Variable name, with lowercase letters, numbers and underscores, and the Default text, which is required. The user types the value in the composer, or the API sends it; when it arrives empty, the default text is used. Your variables appear under Custom variables (API or User filled), below the message, where you can copy, edit or delete them. - Name: lowercase letters, numbers, underscores - The default text is required - Copy, edit or delete it in its box Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/7?lang=en ##### Step 8 · Add a header, footer and buttons A header, a footer and buttons complete the message. These parts are optional. In Header, choose None, Text, Image, Video or Document. In Footer, write a short line under the message, without links, up to 60 characters. In Buttons, use Add button to add up to 10, such as Quick reply, Visit website or Call phone number. - Header: text, image, video or document - Footer: one line, no links - Up to 10 buttons Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/8?lang=en ##### Step 9 · Give examples and check the preview Examples let you read the message as the contact will see it. In Preview examples, type an example value for each variable you used. Examples are used only in the preview and in WhatsApp’s review, and never reach a contact. On the right, the Preview shows the message as the contact receives it; the Examples switch toggles between the example values and the variables. It is indicative: it varies by device. - One example per variable - Only for the preview and the review - Examples: values or variables Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/9?lang=en ##### Step 10 · Send it for approval One click creates the template and sends it to WhatsApp. Click Send for approval. This creates the template and sends the language on screen to WhatsApp. If anything is missing, a window lists what to resolve before sending. Once sent, the notice Template created and sent for approval confirms it and that language moves to In review. The other languages are sent from the same editor, with Send for review. Cancel closes the panel; if you changed anything, Bridge asks before discarding it. - Creates the template, sends the language on screen - That language moves to In review - The others, with Send for review Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/10?lang=en ##### Step 11 · Follow the approval WhatsApp decides each language; the list shows its status. The template appears in the WhatsApp templates list, with one row per language. The Approval column shows WhatsApp’s decision for each language: In review, Approved, Rejected, Paused or Not submitted. Only approved languages can be sent. If WhatsApp rejects a language, what it said shows when you hover over the status: open the template, fix it and send it again. The Sync column says whether Bridge holds WhatsApp’s latest copy. - One row per language - Only approved languages can be sent - If rejected, you see what WhatsApp said Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/11?lang=en ##### Step 12 · Activate, hide or delete it Hiding does not delete the template; deleting it from WhatsApp does. The Active switch shows or hides the template from people in Bridge and applies to all its languages. An inactive template still exists in WhatsApp, so the API can still send it. To remove it for good, use Delete from WhatsApp in the row menu: it deletes that row’s language and cannot be undone. If it is the last language, the whole template is deleted, and the name of an approved template cannot be reused for 30 days. Once WhatsApp approves it, your team finds it in Bridge, under the Templates button of the chat. - Inactive: hidden in Bridge, still in WhatsApp - Delete from WhatsApp cannot be undone - Once approved, your team uses it in the chat Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template/12?lang=en #### Related guides - Previous in Getting started: [Connect WhatsApp and add a line](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-lines.md): Connect your company’s WhatsApp Business account to this workspace and get its lines ready. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-lines?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know the people in your workspace](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md): Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md): Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - More in General settings: [Import contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md): Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a contact attribute](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md): Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - More in General settings: [Choose who sees contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md): Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your team's rules and hours](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md): How your team writes and when it replies. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en ### Get to know the people in your workspace > Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. - Type: Screen tour - App: Admin console - Screen: Users and Teams - Section: General settings - Also searched as: users, people, teams, licences, permissions, roles, access, add user - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md Everyone who works in Bridge, in one place Add the people of this workspace, give them a licence, group them in teams and decide what each person can do. Everything here applies to the workspace you are working on. #### What you can do - Add people or import a list - Licences and add-ons, seat by seat - Access by area, or with a role - Teams, managers and out of office #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Each row is a person who works in Bridge See everyone who works in this workspace, one row per person. The Users tab lists everyone in this workspace with their teams, access, licence and status. Click a row to open the person; a chip such as “2 teams” shows its detail without opening anything. The other tabs organise the same people: Teams, Roles, Org chart and User fields, the extra details you keep about each person. - Each row shows teams, role, access, licence and status - Click a row to open the person - A chip such as “2 teams” shows its detail Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Add one person or a whole list Add one person at a time or a whole list from a spreadsheet. Add user opens an editor in three steps: the person and their licence, their workspace access and their administration rights. The email always uses a domain verified for Norte SAS, and the new person stays Pending until they sign in for the first time. To add many people at once, Import reads a spreadsheet and skips anyone already here. - Add user opens an editor in three steps - Pending until their first sign in - Import reads a spreadsheet and skips people already here Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · A licence lets a person sign in Give each person a licence and the add-ons they need. Each person has Bridge Business, Bridge Call Center or no licence, and without one they cannot sign in. Seats are counted as you choose, for example 8 of 12 Bridge Business seats free. Add-ons such as Voice Local or Bookings are billed on top of the licence, and each one shows how many are left. - Bridge Business, Bridge Call Center or no licence - Without a licence, a person cannot sign in - Add-ons are billed on top of the licence Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · What each person can do in Bridge Decide what each person can do, area by area. Access is set area by area: Chat, Marketing broadcasts, Contacts, Reports, Surveys and Audit. Each area is No access, Full access or Custom, where you tick only the permissions needed, and each report can cover the whole workspace, their teams only or the people they manage. Administrators also get the Admin Panel sections you select. - Each area: No access, Full access or Custom - Reports: whole workspace, their teams or the people they manage - Administrators also get the Admin Panel sections you select Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · One role, the same access for many people Give the same access to many people with one role. A role is a named set of permissions, such as Service advisor. Choosing it in the editor fills every area and the administration rights at once, read only. Editing a role updates everyone who has it, except people whose permissions were adjusted by hand, marked Adjusted. - A role is a named set of permissions - Choosing it fills every area at once - Editing a role updates everyone who has it, except Adjusted Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · People who work together Group the people who work together. A team groups people, and one person can be in several teams, like Daniel Hayes in Commercial and Customer relations. Each team can have a Responsible chosen among its members. The Org chart tab draws every team with its people, built from what you set here. - One person can be in several teams - Each team can have a Responsible - The Org chart tab draws every team with its people Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/6?lang=en ##### Step 7 · Active, out of office or archived Change a person’s status from their row. The status pill in each row changes a person’s status. Out of office asks for the last day away, who attends their customers and an automatic reply, as for Amelia Grant, covered by Olivia Brooks. Archiving stops a person signing in and frees their seat; their conversations and history are kept. - Active, Out of office or Archived - Out of office: last day away, who attends, automatic reply - Archiving frees the seat and keeps the history Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users/7?lang=en #### Related guides - More in General settings: [Get to know your contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md): Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - More in General settings: [Import contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md): Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a contact attribute](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md): Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - More in General settings: [Choose who sees contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md): Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your team's rules and hours](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md): How your team writes and when it replies. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en ### Get to know your contacts > Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. - Type: Screen tour - App: Admin console - Screen: Contacts - Section: General settings - Also searched as: contacts, customers, prospects, import, database, attributes - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md Your customers and prospects, and who can see them Keep the directory of the people your team talks to, decide what Bridge holds about each of them, and choose who can create contacts and which ones each person sees. #### What you can do - A directory that loads as you scroll - Import contacts from a spreadsheet - Attributes that match your CRM - Who can create and see contacts #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Every customer and prospect in one list See every contact your team talks to, in one list. The Directory lists the contacts your team talks to, with their phone, email and company. Status tells you whether a contact has ever opened a WhatsApp conversation: Connected or Never connected. Search also finds values in hidden columns, Columns adds up to two more, and the list loads 50 contacts at a time as you scroll. - Status: has the contact ever opened a WhatsApp chat - Columns adds up to two more; search covers hidden ones - Loads 50 contacts at a time as you scroll Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · What every contact needs Check that each contact has what Bridge needs to reach them. A contact needs a first name, a last name and a phone number with its country code, such as +57 300 118 4472; email is optional. A number without a country code, common in imported files, shows a warning because Bridge cannot tell which country to dial. Edit and Archive are in the menu at the end of each row, and an archived contact keeps its history. - First name, last name and phone with country code - A number without a country code shows a warning - Edit and Archive in the row menu; history is kept Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Many contacts at once, checked before anything changes Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet. Import contacts takes five steps: get the template built from your attributes, fill it in yourself or with an assistant, upload it, optionally start a conversation with each new contact, and check the result. Nothing is imported until the last step: rows with a problem are left out and contacts already in Bridge are skipped. - Five steps, from the template to the final check - Nothing is imported until the last step - Rows with a problem and existing contacts are left out Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · The information you keep about each contact Decide what Bridge keeps about each contact. First name, last name, phone and email come predefined; add your own attributes, such as Company or Segment, as text, number, date, select or multi select. For each one you decide whether it is required and who can see or change it: Bridge users, AI agents and the contacts themselves. Each attribute can correspond to a field of your CRM. - Text, number, date, select or multi select - Required or not, and who can see or change it - Each attribute can match a field of your CRM Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · What your team sees at the top of each chat Choose what your team sees at the top of each conversation. Choose up to three attributes for the header of every conversation in Bridge Chat, such as phone, city and company for James Miller. Drag one slot onto another to swap them and pick an icon for each. The other attributes stay one click away, behind the chevron. - Up to three attributes, each with its icon - Drag one slot onto another to swap them - The other attributes stay behind the chevron Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Who creates contacts and who sees them Set who creates contacts and which ones each person sees. Let everyone create contacts, or only managers with permission to do so. Restrict contact access to show each person their own contacts, their teams’ contacts or all contacts by default. Changes apply when you save, and they never change who can open a conversation. - Everyone creates contacts, or only authorized managers - By default: own, team or all contacts - Applies on save; conversation access never changes Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts/6?lang=en #### Related guides - Tasks on this screen: [Import contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md): Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - Tasks on this screen: [Create a contact attribute](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md): Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - Tasks on this screen: [Choose who sees contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md): Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know the people in your workspace](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md): Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your team's rules and hours](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md): How your team writes and when it replies. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en ### Import contacts > Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: Contacts - Section: General settings - Also searched as: upload contacts, load contacts, excel, csv, xlsx, spreadsheet, bulk, add many contacts, migrate contacts, template - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md Bring all your contacts into Bridge in one go Upload an Excel or CSV file and Bridge creates every contact at once, checks each row and shows you the result before anything changes. In 6 steps. #### What you can do - A template built from your attributes - Fill it in yourself or with an assistant - Optional: a WhatsApp chat with each one - Nothing changes until you confirm #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Import contacts Start from the Directory: the import has five steps. In Contacts, on the Directory tab, select Import in the toolbar. An assistant of five steps opens: the columns, fill it in, upload, start conversations, and check and import. No contact is imported until you select Import contacts on the last step, and you can close it at any point without changing anything. - Contacts › Directory › Import - You can close it at any step - Nothing is imported until the last step Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Download the template Get a file with exactly the columns Bridge expects. The first step lists the columns your file needs, taken from your workspace: first name, last name, phone and email, the owner email, and every contact attribute you created, such as Company, Segment or City. First name, last name and phone are required. Select Download the template to get a file with these headers and one example row. An attribute is a piece of information Bridge keeps about each contact. - Built from your workspace’s attributes - Required: first name, last name and phone - Comes with one example row Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Put your contacts in the template One contact per row, in the template’s format. Choose how: fill the template yourself, or let an assistant such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini reformat your own file with the prompt Bridge gives you, built from your columns. Keep the header row as it is and write one contact per row. Write each phone in a single cell with its country code, such as +57 300 118 4472, and format that column as text so the plus sign is kept. Leave a cell empty rather than guessing. If an assistant prepares the file, review it before uploading it. - Keep the headers as they are - Phone with country code, in one cell - Or let ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini do it Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Upload your file Bridge reads the file without changing anything yet. Drag the file onto the box, or click to choose it: XLSX or CSV, up to 10 MB. At this point Bridge only reads the file; reading is not importing, so your contacts stay as they are. - XLSX or CSV, up to 10 MB - Reading is not importing Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Start conversations, if you want Each new contact can get a WhatsApp from their owner. This step is optional. Turn on Start conversations on import and each new contact gets a WhatsApp message from their Bridge user, the person in the Owner email column, sent from the workspace’s default WhatsApp line. Only approved WhatsApp templates can open a conversation. You choose who sends to rows with no owner, or leave them out. Only the contacts this import creates are contacted. - Optional, from the default WhatsApp line - Sent by the person in Owner email - Approved templates only Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Check and import See the result first, then confirm. Bridge reads the file and shows what will happen: how many contacts are ready, how many have a problem and are left out, and how many are already in Bridge and are skipped. Export the details to see every row with a problem, fix those rows in your file and upload it again; contacts already imported are skipped. Select Import contacts to finish. The new contacts appear in the Directory. - Rows with a problem are left out - Contacts already in Bridge are skipped - Then they appear in the Directory Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import/6?lang=en #### Related guides - Tour of this screen: [Get to know your contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md): Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know the people in your workspace](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md): Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a contact attribute](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md): Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - More in General settings: [Choose who sees contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md): Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your team's rules and hours](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md): How your team writes and when it replies. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en ### Create a contact attribute > Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: Contacts - Section: General settings - Also searched as: custom field, new field, add a field, contact field, property, attribute, dropdown, list of options, crm field, renewal date - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md Keep exactly the information your team needs Add a field to every contact, choose what it accepts and who can see it. It also goes into the import template. In 5 steps. #### What you can do - Text, number, date or a list - Required or optional - In the chat panel, if you want - Who can see and change it #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Create attribute Your own fields live on the Contact Attributes tab. An attribute is a piece of information Bridge keeps about each contact. First name, last name, phone and email come predefined; the rest are your own, such as Company, Segment or City. In Contacts, open the Contact Attributes tab and select Create attribute. - Contacts › Contact Attributes › Create attribute - Predefined: first name, last name, phone, email Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Name it and choose its kind The kind decides what can be entered. Write the name your team uses, such as Customer type. Then choose the kind of information: Text, Number, Date, Select (one option from a list you define) or Multi select (several options from that list). The kind decides what can be entered. Phone and email already come with Bridge, so they are not offered here. - Use the name your team already uses - Text, Number, Date, Select or Multi select Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Set what it accepts Each kind has its own settings; a list needs its options. The settings follow the kind. Text: Short (up to 100 characters), Medium (200) or Long (300). Number: the fewest and most digits. Date: nothing to set. Select and Multi select: add the options one by one, or paste a list copied from a spreadsheet; Bridge removes surrounding spaces and ignores values already on the list. Order them with the arrows or Sort A to Z. Below the list you see what your team will see. - Text: Short, Medium or Long - Number: fewest and most digits - Select: type the options or paste a list Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Decide how it behaves Whether it is required, and whether it shows in each chat. Mark Required when creating or editing a contact if a contact cannot be saved without it, whether created by hand or by import; existing contacts are unaffected. Show it in the chat panel puts it at the top of every conversation in Bridge, with an icon. The panel shows up to three attributes; if it already has three, remove one in the Chat panel card first. - Required: no contact is saved without it - Chat panel: up to three attributes Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Choose who sees it, then create it Who can see and change it, then create it. For Bridge users, AI agents and the contacts themselves, choose No access, View or Edit. By default your team can edit it, AI agents can view it and contacts cannot see it. Select Create attribute: from then on it is on every contact and in the import template. You can map it to a field of your CRM afterwards. - No access, View or Edit, for each audience - Default: your team edits, AI agents view - Then it is on every contact and in the import Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute/5?lang=en #### Related guides - Tour of this screen: [Get to know your contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md): Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know the people in your workspace](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md): Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - More in General settings: [Import contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md): Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - More in General settings: [Choose who sees contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md): Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your team's rules and hours](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md): How your team writes and when it replies. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en ### Choose who sees contacts > Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. - Type: Task - App: Admin console - Screen: Contacts - Section: General settings - Also searched as: contact visibility, contact permissions, restrict contacts, hide contacts, my contacts, team contacts, who can create contacts, access, privacy, assigned contacts - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md Each person sees the contacts they should Decide who can create contacts, and whether each person sees their own contacts, their team’s or all of them. In 4 steps. #### What you can do - Everyone creates, or only managers - Own, team or all contacts - Applies when you save - Conversations stay as they are #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Open Settings Both settings are on the Settings tab of Contacts. In Contacts, open the Settings tab. It has two parts: who can create contacts, and which contacts each person in the workspace sees. - Contacts › Settings - Who creates, and who sees what Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Choose who creates contacts Everyone, or only authorized managers. Contacts can always be created in Bridge; this decides who can. With Let anyone create contacts on, every person in the workspace can add a contact, from the directory or from a conversation they are answering. With it off, only managers with permission to create contacts can add one; everyone else keeps working with the contacts they already see. - On: anyone can add a contact - Off: only managers with permission Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Choose which contacts each person sees What each person sees by default. Turn on Restrict contact access and choose what each person sees by default: Own contacts only (the contacts assigned to them), Team contacts (those of every member of their teams) or All contacts. A person granted wider access elsewhere keeps it. With access not restricted, everyone sees every contact. - Own, team or all contacts - Wider access granted elsewhere is kept - Not restricted: everyone sees everything Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Save the changes Nothing applies until you save. Unsaved changes shows while you edit. Select Save changes to apply them, or Discard to go back. Contact access and conversation access are separate: saving never changes who can open a conversation. Each contact is assigned with its Owner, when it is created or imported. - Save changes or Discard - Conversation access does not change - Contacts are assigned with their Owner Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access/4?lang=en #### Related guides - Tour of this screen: [Get to know your contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md): Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know the people in your workspace](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md): Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - More in General settings: [Import contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md): Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a contact attribute](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md): Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your team's rules and hours](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md): How your team writes and when it replies. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en ### Get to know your team's rules and hours > How your team writes and when it replies. - Type: Screen tour - App: Admin console - Screen: Rules and schedules - Section: General settings - Also searched as: rules, schedules, business hours, edit messages, delete messages, language, response, sla - Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules?lang=en - Markdown: https://help.bridge.new/md/console/rules.md Define how your team writes and when it answers On this page you set how long a sent message can still be edited or deleted, the language your team writes in, your service hours and the maximum time a customer should wait for a reply. These rules apply to everyone in the workspace. #### What you can do - Edit or delete a sent message - Reminders for unanswered customers - Writing language, translation and spelling - Service hours and response objective #### Steps ##### Step 1 · Correct a message after sending it Decide how long your team can still correct a sent message. A team member can edit or delete a message they sent during the time you set, for example 5 minutes. After that time, the message can no longer be changed. You can also show a notice in the conversation when a message is deleted, so everyone knows it was removed. - Edit or delete within the time you set (e.g. 5 minutes) - After that, the message stays as sent - Optional: a notice where a message was deleted Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules/1?lang=en ##### Step 2 · Prevent errors and delays Avoid sending errors and customers left without a reply. The sending delay holds each message for a few seconds before it is sent, so the person can cancel it if they notice an error. The reminder notifies the person responsible when a customer has had no answer for the time you set, for example 8 hours. - Delay before sending: a few seconds to cancel - Reminder when a customer waits too long (e.g. 8 hours) Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules/2?lang=en ##### Step 3 · Choose the language your team writes in Set the language your team writes in with customers. Select the language your team uses with customers. Bridge can also detect the language of each customer, translate their messages for your team and correct spelling while your team types. Turn on only the options your team needs. - The language your team uses with customers - Detect, translate and correct spelling - Turn on only what your team needs Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules/3?lang=en ##### Step 4 · Set when your team serves customers Set the days and hours your team serves customers. Select the days and hours your team serves customers, in your time zone. If you close a day, its hours are kept for when you open it again. You can also close on public holidays. Outside these hours, Bridge considers your team not available. - Days and hours, in your time zone - Optional: closed on public holidays - Outside these hours, your team is not available Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules/4?lang=en ##### Step 5 · Set the maximum response time Set how long a customer should wait at most for a reply. The response objective is the maximum time a customer should wait for a reply, for example 1 hour. Bridge measures it every time a customer message is left unanswered, from that message until someone on your team replies, not only for the first message of the conversation. - Maximum wait for a reply (e.g. 1 hour) - Measured on every unanswered customer message Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules/5?lang=en ##### Step 6 · Save the changes in each tab Save each tab to apply its rules. Each tab is saved separately. Until you save, the bar at the bottom of the page shows that there are unsaved changes. Once saved, a rule applies from that moment on and does not change conversations that are already open. - Each tab is saved separately - The bottom bar shows unsaved changes - Rules apply from the moment you save Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/rules/6?lang=en #### Related guides - More in General settings: [Get to know the people in your workspace](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/users.md): Who works in Bridge, their licence, their access and their teams. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/users?lang=en - More in General settings: [Get to know your contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts.md): Your customers and prospects, and who can see them. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts?lang=en - More in General settings: [Import contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-import.md): Add many contacts at once from a spreadsheet, without duplicates. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-import?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a contact attribute](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-attribute.md): Keep your own information about each contact, such as Customer type or Renewal date. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-attribute?lang=en - More in General settings: [Choose who sees contacts](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/contacts-access.md): Decide who can create contacts and which contacts each person sees. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/contacts-access?lang=en - More in General settings: [Create a WhatsApp template](https://help.bridge.new/md/console/whatsapp-template.md): Create a WhatsApp template and send it for approval to start conversations. · Open: https://help.bridge.new/console/whatsapp-template?lang=en