Manually merge conversations

Overview

There may come a time where you have separate threads about the same topic. In those cases, merging the conversations can help your productivity so that all context is in one thread.


How it works

When you can merge

  • If conversations are emails.
  • If conversations are Tweets.

When you cannot merge

  • You've selected two different conversation types, such as an email and a Tweet.
  • One or more of the emails started as a Front Form submission, then continued as email. 
  • If the number of messages or activities across all conversations you're merging exceeds 100. You will receive an error that says "These conversations are too big to be merged."

What happens when you merge

The behavior and end result of the merge will be based on the following hierarchy of conditions, in order.  We only check additional conditions in the case of ties:

  1. The conversation with the most number of messages becomes the primary copy.
  2. The conversation with an assignee becomes the primary copy.
  3. The conversation with the most recent comment becomes the primary copy.
  4. The conversation with the most tags becomes the primary copy.
  5. The conversation that was created first becomes the primary copy.

The primary copy determines which conversation id is kept and can be found by searching in-app and by the API.  However, several attributes of the final merged conversation are only determined by which one was last "bumped".  From the conversation with the most recent bump, the resulting conversation will inherit:

  1. The primary recipient used by plugins
  2. The subject line used in the conversation list and preview
  3. Whether the conversation has been replied to used by rules

Instructions

Step 1

Select the multiple conversations you wish to merge by pressing COMMAND or SHIFT and clicking the emails. Click the More menu, then select Merge conversations.

Step 2

An alert will pop up confirming that you want to merge these conversations. If you're ready, select Merge. Keep in mind, this cannot be undone and there is no way to unmerge the conversations.

Step 3

The messages will then appear as one conversation. If the conversations you are merging have different subjects, the subject applied will be the subject of the conversation with the most number of messages, activities, and assignees.

18 replies

    • Rachel_Carrell
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    It says above that you can merge SMS but I tried -- both merging two SMSs and merging an SMS with an email -- and had error messages both times telling me that I couldn't. 

    • front
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Rachel. Apologies, but SMS messages cannot be merged. I have updated the article. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    • Jonathan_Towell
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I have two messages sent to us through the new Form inbox. When I try to merge them, it says "You cannot merge email conversations"

    • front
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi Jonathan,

    Currently you cannot merge from the Forms inbox, but it is on our roadmap.

    • Jonathan_Towell
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Cori Morris Got it. Would love to see that. In fact, would love to see merging for all message types together. It is a very common use case for us to receive a message via email, then the same request via another channel ... those pesky, impatient users! 🙂

    • Andrea_Gibbins
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    So you can't merge FB messages and email conversations?  That needs to be a feature to add as we get messages via one, then usually another.. be good to have them merged so we can see the customer has reached out in both channels...

    • Community Manager
    • Joyce_Lee
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Cori Morris Is there a way to separate emails in the same conversation into different conversations?

    • front
    • 6 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Joyce Lee Not right now, but this is on our roadmap for later this year.

    • Paul_Pritchard
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Cori Morris any update on this? We need this feature to continue using Front.

    • front
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Paul Pritchard Unfortunately not. Other higher priority items were scheduled instead. Hopefully next year!

    • Patrick_Grant
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Cori Morris This is also a pain that we don't have this functionality for our team - any indication as to when this will be implemented yet?

    • front
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Patrick Grant we are actively working on this feature now and while we can't share an exact ETA, we hope it will ready in the few weeks.

    • jhornby
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Do you have any plans to facilitate merging more than 100 messages - this arbitrary limit makes no sense and our email chains for projects often run considerably beyond this.

    • Customer Support Representative
    • Lemuel_Chan
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    jhornby Yes, we have an open feature request to merge more than 100 messages. I have added a +1 vote for you on this capability to our product team. We'll follow up with you when the limit has increased.

    • Ashley_Grant
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Lemuel Chan Please +1 me on this as well.

    Thanks!

    • Customer Support Representative
    • Lemuel_Chan
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Ashley Grant added another +1 for you!

    • Mira_Yardan
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Can we now merge SMS to emails? 

    • Technical Support Engineer
    • Raymond_Ching
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Mira Yardan you are still unable to merge two conversation types - apologies for the inconvenience!