> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.artific.nl/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.artific.nl/en/for-administrators/conversations/review-and-handover.md).

# Review, assignment and handover

How work moves between people in the conversation module, and how live chats are taken over.

## E-mail: how conversations are shared

The e-mail Inbox is a **shared queue**, not a set of personal inboxes. Everyone with access sees the same conversations under the same three tabs.

| Tab          | What is in it                                                            |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Open**     | New conversations, and answered ones where the sender has written again. |
| **Answered** | Conversations someone has replied to.                                    |
| **Closed**   | Conversations deliberately ended.                                        |

There is no assignment step. Nobody is allocated a conversation and nobody can allocate one to someone else. The platform records who has engaged with a conversation, but that is a record, not an owner.

{% hint style="info" %}
Because the queue is shared, agree a working practice in the team. For example, filter by channel, or divide the day into shifts. Without one, two people can end up drafting the same reply.
{% endhint %}

### Ending and reopening

**End conversation** moves a conversation to **Closed**, after which it cannot be answered. If the sender writes again, it reopens automatically and returns to **Open**, so closing is not final in the way it sounds.

### Handing a conversation to someone outside the platform

**Forward** sends the conversation history to people who do not use the platform: a specialist, another department, a supplier.

* Recipients go in **To**, with **Cc** and **Bcc** available.
* An **accompanying message** goes at the top, above the history.
* Up to twenty recipients in total.

Forwarding starts a new thread rather than replying to the sender, and it does not change the conversation's status: a closed conversation stays closed, an open one stays open. Whoever receives it replies to you by normal e-mail, outside the platform.

## Direct Chat: live handover

Direct Chat is separate from e-mail. It applies to people chatting with an assistant in real time, and it only exists when **Chat with an employee (Direct Chat add-on)** is switched on for that assistant.

### How it works

1. A visitor asks to speak to a person, or the assistant offers.
2. The conversation appears under **AI assistants → Direct chat → Chats with AI**.
3. The visitor is told an employee will take over shortly.
4. A colleague opens it and chooses **Take over chat**.
5. The conversation moves to their **Chats with me**, and the visitor is told who they are now talking to.
6. The colleague chats directly. The assistant steps back.
7. **End conversation** finishes it.

### The two lists

| List              | What is in it                                    |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| **Chats with AI** | Waiting for a person. Nobody has stepped in yet. |
| **Chats with me** | Conversations you personally took over.          |

Takeover is self-service: you take a conversation, you cannot give one to a colleague. Whoever presses **Take over chat** first has it.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Someone is waiting on the other end of a Direct Chat request, watching a message that says an employee will take over shortly. Unlike e-mail, this queue is only useful if somebody is actually watching it. Decide who does that, and during which hours, before you switch the add-on on.
{% endhint %}

**End conversation** in Direct Chat takes effect immediately, without a confirmation step. Be sure before you choose it.

### Notifications

An assistant can e-mail addresses you nominate when someone asks for a person. Configure this under the assistant's [advanced settings](/en/for-administrators/assistants/advanced-settings.md) with **Direct Chat email notification** and **Enable email notifications**. Set it up. It is the difference between a queue that gets watched and one that does not.