Offline messages — the inbox
Under Offline messages are the messages that visitors have left via the offline form of the widget. That is, when no one was available.
Not to be confused with the widget setting „Offline message“. This is the text that a visitor will see. Here we are talking about the inbox with what they wrote afterwards. The text is explained in the article Business hours.
When a visitor sees the form at all
The widget is considered offline if no agent is online or the business hours have expired. What the visitor then gets is controlled by the offline behavior per widget (Widgets → Open widget → Offline behavior):
| Setting | What the visitor sees |
|---|---|
| Form (default) | The contact form. These submissions end up here. |
| Chatbot | The bot continues to respond. If it can't do that right now — AI off, emergency switch pulled —, the widget falls back to the form. |
| Hide | Nothing. The widget disappears, and nothing arrives in the inbox. |
If nothing arrives for you, Hide is the first place you should check.
The message is first saved, then sent
SilentChat stores each submission before attempting to send an email. This is intentional: In the past, these submissions were pure emails and were silently lost if no recipient was entered. Today, the message is in this inbox in any case — even if the notification has not reached anyone.
„No recipient“ — what this means
This label means: The message is there, but no one was notified. It is not lost, it is just waiting for someone to look here.
Recipients are searched in this order, the first entry with an entry wins:
- Per widget — Widgets → Open widget → Offline behavior → Email recipient. This way, each widget can go to a different team.
- Client-wide — the settings of the client, if nothing is specified in the widget.
- The account holders — if nothing is specified there either.
If no address is found at any of the three levels, the message gets „No recipient“. The warning message at the top of the page counts these cases along with the unread ones.
Editing
Mark as completed removes the message from the warning. It remains in the list — the mark is a check, not a deletion.
Replying happens outside of SilentChat, via email to the address that the visitor left. An offline message does not become a conversation in the inbox.
If nothing arrives — in order
- Is the offline behavior of the widget set to Hide? Then there is no form.
- Is the widget offline at all? As long as an agent is online and the business hours are running, the visitor sees the normal chat.
- Are there recipients at one of the three levels? Without them, the messages still arrive here — just without an email.