Reply to visitors and take over conversations

Your team answers visitors from Chat History in the dashboard. You can reply, take the conversation from the AI, give it back to the AI, and resolve it. For how these states work together, see Conversations and handoff. You can also reply from ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI assistant. See MCP server.

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Before you start

• Plan: any plan. See Plans and limits.
• Role: any team role, including Agent. See Team members.
• To get alerts for new escalations, set up notifications.

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Find conversations that need you

1. In your chatbot’s sidebar, select Chat History.
2. Select the Attention view. It lists open conversations that are escalated, have an unread visitor message, or have negative feedback.
3. Select a conversation to open it.

Escalated conversations show the Escalated badge. For all views and filters, see Review conversations.

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Reply to the visitor

When you reply, the conversation switches to human mode. The AI stops answering in this conversation. The visitor sees your reply in the chat. Replies from Chat History reach visitors who chat in the website widget, on WhatsApp, on Messenger, or by email. On WhatsApp, a reply is delivered only within 24 hours of the visitor’s last message, and only when the WhatsApp add-on covers the number. See WhatsApp. On Messenger, a reply is delivered within 24 hours of the visitor’s last message, or up to 7 days later if your Meta app has Meta’s Human Agent approval. See Messenger. In an email conversation, the reply goes to the customer as an email in the same thread. See Email. Replies do not reach visitors on Slack and other connected channels. Reply to those visitors in that tool. See Integrations. A reply alone does not lock the conversation. The visitor can still select Continue with AI to go back to the AI. To stop this, take over the conversation before you reply. The dashboard shows Take over the chat only while the AI answers the conversation, or while an escalated conversation waits for your team to answer the visitor’s last message. In human mode it shows Release to AI instead. To lock that conversation, use Lock conversation. See Lock a conversation that your team holds. With API v2, POST /api/v2/chatbots/{chatbotId}/conversations/{threadId}/take-over locks it. A reply from an AI assistant (the SiteGPT MCP server) or from API v2 works differently. If the AI still answers the conversation, or an escalated conversation waits for your team, the reply takes the conversation over first. The visitor sees “A human agent has joined the conversation” and cannot select Continue with AI. See reply_to_conversation in the MCP tool reference.

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Send files with a reply

You can send files with a reply, for example a photo, a PDF, or a price list. This works in conversations in your website chat (the widget and the hosted chat page) and on WhatsApp. In other conversations, and in HIPAA workspaces, the reply box has no attach button. A reply with files works like any other reply: the conversation switches to human mode. For the number of files and the size of each file, see Files in a team reply. If SiteGPT refuses a file when you attach it, the file shows the reason in red, and SiteGPT does not upload it or deletes it. If a file is refused when you select send, nothing is sent. The dashboard shows the reason in a message that does not name the file. Your text and files stay in the reply box, and the conversation does not switch to human mode. For each message, see A file cannot be attached to a reply.

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What the visitor gets

• Website chat: the files show under your reply. Photos (JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP) show in the chat. The visitor selects a photo to open it full size. Other files show as a card with the file name and size. The visitor selects the card to open or download the file. A reply with only files shows only the files.
• WhatsApp: your text goes first. Then each file goes as its own WhatsApp message. Only some file types can go on WhatsApp. See Send files on WhatsApp.

In the website chat, each file opens through a link that works for a short time. The chat gets new links while it shows the files, so a visitor who comes back later can still open them. A link that someone copies out of the chat stops working. It then shows “This link has expired. Open the chat again to get a new one.” For the time, see Files in a team reply.

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Where the files show

• Chat History shows the files under your reply. Photos show as a picture. Select a photo to open it full size in a new tab. Other files show as a card with the file name and size. Select the card to download the file. You must be signed in as a team member of the chatbot.
• CSV exports, the iPhone app, API v2, the MCP server, and the email that SiteGPT sends to the visitor show only the text of a reply. A reply with only files shows a paperclip and the file names, for example ”📎 price-list.pdf”.

You can send files only from Chat History in the dashboard. Replies from the iPhone app, API v2, and the MCP server are text only.

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How long SiteGPT keeps the files

• Sent files stay as long as their conversation. When you delete the conversation, delete the visitor’s data, or delete the chatbot, SiteGPT also deletes the files.
• Files that finished uploading but that you do not send are deleted about 24 hours after you attach them. A finished file that you remove with the x is deleted at once. A file that you remove while it still says “Uploading…”, or that was uploading when you closed the tab, may stay stored longer.

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Take over the chat

Take over when you want the AI fully out of the conversation.

1. Open the conversation in Chat History.
2. At the top of the conversation, select Take over the chat. It shows while the AI answers the conversation, or while an escalated conversation waits for your team to answer the visitor’s last message.

While you hold the conversation:

• The AI does not reply. If an AI answer is being written when you take over, it stops.
• The visitor sees “A human agent has joined the conversation”.
• The visitor cannot switch back to the AI. The Continue with AI button does not show.
• The visitor’s messages still arrive in the conversation.

Taking over does not send escalation emails and does not mark the conversation as escalated.

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Lock a conversation that your team holds

After a team member replies, or in a conversation that started in human mode, the conversation is in human mode without a lock. The top of the conversation shows Release to AI, and the visitor can still select Continue with AI. To stop this:

1. Open the conversation in Chat History.
2. At the top of the conversation, open the … menu.
3. Select Lock conversation. The menu says “The visitor cannot switch to the AI.”

Lock conversation does the same as Take over the chat. The visitor sees “A human agent has joined the conversation”, and the Continue with AI button does not show. Release to AI still gives the conversation back to the AI in one click. The menu shows Lock conversation only while your team holds the conversation without a lock. It does not show after a take over or in a resolved conversation. It also does not show while the AI answers, or while an escalated conversation waits for your team to answer the visitor’s last message. In these two cases, use Take over the chat.

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Release to AI

When you finish helping and the visitor may have more questions, give the conversation back to the AI.

1. Open the conversation.
2. Select Release to AI.

Release to AI shows at the top of the conversation while your team holds it: after you take over, or while the conversation is in human mode, for example after a team member replied or because it started in human mode. One exception: an escalated conversation that no team member answered since the visitor’s last message shows Take over the chat instead. The visitor sees “Continuing with AI”. The AI answers the visitor’s next message in the same conversation.

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Mark as Resolved

Resolve a conversation when it is finished.

1. Open the conversation.
2. Select Mark as Resolved.

A resolved conversation is closed:

• It leaves the Attention view and moves to Closed. It shows the Resolved badge.
• If an AI answer is being written, it stops.
• The reply box is hidden, and you cannot take over the conversation.
• Lead forms and feedback buttons in that conversation stop working.

What the visitor sees depends on where they chat: A new conversation uses your chatbot’s chat mode. Resolving does not guarantee that the AI answers next. To continue the same conversation with the AI, use Release to AI instead. To act on many conversations, select them in the list and select Mark as Resolved in the bar that appears.

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Mark as Unresolved

Only your team can reopen a resolved conversation. Open it and select Mark as Unresolved. A new message from the visitor never reopens it.

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When SiteGPT emails your reply to the visitor

Visitors often leave before you answer. SiteGPT can email your reply to them. This also applies to replies that you send from ChatGPT, Claude, or another AI assistant through the SiteGPT MCP server, and to replies sent with API v2. This section does not apply to WhatsApp, Messenger, and email conversations. There, your reply goes to the person on WhatsApp or Messenger, or is itself the email, so SiteGPT sends no separate email. See WhatsApp, Messenger, and See what happened to each reply. SiteGPT sends the email only if all of these are true:

• SiteGPT has the visitor’s email, for example from a lead form.
• The visitor was not active in the chat after your reply.
• The conversation is not resolved.
• The visitor did not mark an earlier SiteGPT email as spam.
• The chatbot owner has an email address.

SiteGPT waits about 2 minutes after your first reply. Replies you send in that time go out in one email. The subject is “New reply from” and your chatbot name. The email contains your reply and an Open the conversation link that opens the chat. The email has no attachments. If your reply has files, the visitor opens them in the chat. A reply with only files shows in the email as a paperclip and the file names.

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When the visitor answers the email

If the email says “You can reply to this email.”, the visitor’s answer comes back into the conversation. This is the case for every chatbot that is not in a HIPAA workspace, also when the chatbot has no email address. If it has an email address that answers, the answer goes back through that address.

• The answer shows in the conversation as the visitor’s message, without the quoted earlier messages and the signature. Attachments show by name, type, and size. The files are not kept. The AI does not answer it.
• Your team gets an email with the subject “New email reply -” and your chatbot name. It goes to the same people as your escalation emails. The iPhone app also sends a push under Handover requested. See Notifications.
• SiteGPT takes only answers from the visitor’s own email address. It ignores other senders and automatic replies, with no alert.
• SiteGPT adds the answer only if the sender’s email provider vouches for the visitor’s address, and the conversation is not resolved. Otherwise, the alert email contains the answer, and the answer is not added to the conversation.

In a HIPAA workspace, the email does not say “You can reply to this email.”, and the answer goes to the first of these addresses that is set:

1. The chatbot’s Support Email in Settings > General.
2. The first address in your escalation email list, if Enable Escalation Notifications is on.
3. The chatbot owner’s email.

SiteGPT skips an address that is not a valid email address. If the first address in the escalation email list is not valid, the answer goes to the chatbot owner’s email. On HIPAA workspaces, the email does not include your reply. It only tells the visitor that there is a new response.

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See whether the visitor got the email

The conversation shows a line under your last reply of each email batch. WhatsApp, Messenger, and email conversations show no such line, also for older replies. A Messenger reply that Facebook refused shows its own line. See Messages that Facebook refuses. The conversation keeps the 20 most recent results. The line shows only in the dashboard, not in the iPhone app.

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Check that it works

The chat button of the dashboard preview does not show while a conversation is open in Chat History, so it does not cover the reply box. Use a second browser tab for the visitor side.

1. On your chatbot’s Dashboard page, open Chat with your chatbot in a new browser tab. Ask for a person, then send a message.
2. In the first tab, in Chat History, open the conversation from Attention and select Take over the chat.
3. Send a reply. The chat in the second tab shows “A human agent has joined the conversation” and your reply. The AI does not answer.
4. Send a reply with a file. The file shows under your reply in both tabs.
5. Select Release to AI. Send another message in the second tab. The AI answers.
6. Select Mark as Resolved. The second tab shows “This conversation has been closed.”