Conversation routing: reopen the same or create a new one

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Conversa Labs

Last updated on Oct 13, 2026

Overview

When a contact messages again after their conversation was resolved, the platform can do one of two things — and you choose per inbox:

Reopen the same conversation — the previous conversation is reopened, keeping all history, summary, assignment and context in one place.
Create a new conversation — each new contact after resolution opens a fresh conversation (useful when every interaction should be handled as an independent ticket).

The control lives under Inbox settings → Conversation routing.

Prerequisites

Administrator role to edit the inbox.
Applies to WhatsApp (Cloud and Web), Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, SMS, Line, TikTok, website and API inboxes. The email channel threads by subject/headers and does not use this option.

Step by step

Open Settings → Inboxes and select the inbox.
Scroll to the Conversation routing section.
Pick one option:
- Reopen the same conversation — reopens the resolved conversation when a new message arrives.
- Create new conversations — opens a fresh conversation on each message after resolution.
Save. The change takes effect immediately for the next messages.

Settings & options

Open a conversation in another inbox

In a conversation, open More actions → New conversation in another inbox. The contact stays selected; choose another available inbox. WhatsApp/SMS need a phone number and email needs an email address. Only inboxes you can access appear; a unified Cloud/Web pair counts as one logical inbox.

Opening the form and choosing an inbox sends no messages. Use Create without message to open without sending, or prepare and confirm sending explicitly. This does not transfer the original conversation. If the destination has single-conversation mode enabled, the platform may reuse or reopen an existing conversation rather than create another ID.

If loading fails, use Retry. An empty list means no other compatible inbox is available; do not copy Instagram or other channel identifiers to bypass this restriction.

The default varies by channel: the website widget ships as Reopen; messaging channels (WhatsApp, etc.) ship as Create new conversations. Adjust to your operation.
Only the latest resolved conversation is reopened. If an open conversation already exists for the contact, the message goes into it (the team never loses the active thread).

Use cases

Continuous support (relationship, recurring support): use Reopen to keep the contact's whole history in a single conversation.
Independent tickets (each request is a new ticket): use Create new conversations.

Tips, limits & best practices

Reopen fires the "conversation reopened" automation trigger and resumes the same bot/Maestro with the existing summary.
Create new conversations fires the "conversation created" trigger on every new conversation — welcome automations and flows run again, and assignment/CSAT restart. Ad (CTWA) attribution is not carried onto the new conversation.
Muted contacts have their message attached to the existing conversation, but it stays resolved (intentional).

Troubleshooting

"It keeps creating new conversations even though I want to reopen" → the inbox is set to Create new conversations. Open Conversation routing and select Reopen the same conversation.
The option doesn't show → confirm it's a supported messaging inbox (not email) and that you have the administrator role.