# 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