Threaded Conversations

Every ticket contains a conversation thread—a chronological record of all messages, notes, and activities. This guide explains how threading works in Relay.

Understanding Threads

A conversation thread includes:

• Customer messages: Inbound communications
• Agent replies: Your responses to the customer
• Internal notes: Private team comments
• System events: Status changes, assignments, etc.

Thread Structure

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📧 Customer: "I need help with..."     │  ← Original message
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🔒 Agent (note): "Checking order #123" │  ← Internal note
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 👤 Agent: "Thanks for reaching out..."  │  ← Public reply
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 📧 Customer: "That worked, but..."      │  ← Customer response
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 👤 Agent: "Great! Regarding the..."     │  ← Follow-up reply
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Message Types

Customer Messages

Inbound messages from the customer, received via:

• Email
• Chat widget
• SMS
• Social channels

Visual indicator: Customer avatar, different background color

Agent Replies

Your public responses visible to the customer.

Visual indicator: Agent avatar, "Public" badge

Internal Notes

Private comments only visible to your team.

Use cases:

• Recording phone call summaries
• Leaving context for colleagues
• Tracking investigation steps
• Handoff notes

Visual indicator: 🔒 Lock icon, "Internal" badge, muted background

System Events

Automatic entries for ticket changes:

• Status changes
• Assignment changes
• Priority changes
• Tag modifications
• SLA events

Visual indicator: System icon, compact format, gray text

Reading Threads

Chronological View (Default)

Messages displayed oldest to newest:

• Original issue at top
• Most recent activity at bottom
• Natural reading flow

Reverse Chronological

For long tickets, optionally show newest first:

1. Click the sort toggle in conversation header
2. Newest messages appear at top

Collapsed View

Long messages can be collapsed:

• First few lines shown
• Click "Show more" to expand
• Attachments shown as thumbnails

Thread Navigation

Jump to Latest

• Click "Jump to latest" button
• Or use keyboard shortcut End

Jump to Original

• Click "Go to original" link
• Or use keyboard shortcut Home

Search Within Thread

1. Press Cmd/Ctrl + F in ticket view
2. Type search term
3. Navigate between matches

Multi-Channel Threading

When customers use different channels, messages are unified:

Customer emails → Thread
Customer texts → Same thread
Customer chats → Same thread

How Matching Works

Relay matches messages to existing tickets using:

1. Email threading: In-reply-to headers
2. Customer identity: Same customer within timeframe
3. Subject line: Similar subjects (email)
4. Phone number: SMS matching

Channel Indicators

Each message shows its source channel:

• 📧 Email
• 💬 Widget
• 📱 SMS
• 💼 Slack
• 📲 WhatsApp

Handling Long Threads

Best Practices

1. Use internal notes: Add summaries of complex threads
2. Link to key messages: Reference specific responses
3. Split when needed: Create new tickets for separate issues

Thread Summary

For long conversations, AI can generate summaries:

1. View the AI summary in the sidebar
2. Updated as conversation progresses
3. Captures key points and status

Email Threading

How Email Threads Work

When customers reply to emails:

1. Relay checks email headers (In-Reply-To, References)
2. Matches to original ticket
3. Adds reply to existing thread

Handling Thread Breaks

If a customer starts a new email instead of replying:

1. A new ticket may be created
2. Merge tickets if it's the same issue
3. Or keep separate if it's a new topic

Email Signatures

Relay automatically:

• Detects email signatures
• Collapses repeated content
• Shows "quoted text" indicator for previous messages

Activity Log

Every ticket has a complete activity log showing:

Access the activity log:

1. Open ticket
2. Click Activity tab
3. View complete history

Troubleshooting

"Customer reply created new ticket"

• Email headers may be missing
• Customer started fresh email
• Solution: Merge the tickets

"Thread is out of order"

• Check message timestamps
• Some channels have delivery delays
• Contact support if persistent

"Can't find a specific message"

• Use search within ticket
• Check if message was deleted
• Review activity log for events

"Internal note visible to customer"

• Double-check: Notes are never sent
• Customer may see reply, not note
• Verify message type in thread

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