Collaborating on replies with shared drafts
The instructions below are for desktops and laptops only.
Shared drafts let multiple teammates write and edit the same reply in real time. Everyone's changes appear as they type, helping your team avoid duplicate replies and accidental overwrites.
How shared drafts work
This feature applies to SMS, Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp and Email conversations.
Collaborating on a reply
2. Click Inbox in the left navigation bar.
3. Open a conversation that you and your teammates can access.
4. Start typing your reply in the message composer.
5. Ask your teammate to open the same conversation and start typing their contribution.
6. Continue editing the reply together. Your changes appear in real time.
7. When the reply is ready, any teammate can send it.
See who's editing the reply
- Live cursors: See where each teammate is typing, along with their name and avatar.
- Real-time editing: Everyone's changes merge as they type, even when multiple teammates edit the same section at once.
- One shared draft: Each conversation has only one reply draft in progress, preventing teammates from accidentally creating competing replies.
- Contributor credit: The sent reply includes a credit line showing who worked on it.
If a teammate sends or discards the draft, everyone else still editing it receives an immediate notification.
Collaborating on new outbound messages
Shared drafts also work when you start a new outbound message. As soon as you begin typing, another teammate can join the draft and help prepare the message before you send it.
Sharing recipients and attachments
For Email, this includes the To, Cc, and Bcc fields, as well as attached files. When one teammate adds or changes a recipient or attachment, the other teammates working on the draft see the change immediately.
This keeps everyone working with the same message details, not just the same reply text.
Sending and discarding shared drafts
If a teammate sends or discards the draft, everyone else still working on it receives an immediate notification.
Important: Discarding a shared draft permanently discards it for everyone. This behavior is the same across all supported channels.
Email-only sending safeguards
- Checks before sending: Before sending an email reply, tawk.to checks whether a teammate is still typing or whether the customer has just replied. These checks help prevent incomplete or outdated responses.
- Cancel-send (Undo-send): After you click Send, you have a short window to cancel the email before it goes out. Stay on the page until the cancel-send countdown finishes. Closing the tab or navigating away too early can prevent the email from being sent.
These email-only behaviors are current product limitations, not errors on the other channels.
Undoing edits
If a teammate changes part of the shared draft, review the text carefully before sending it.
Troubleshooting shared drafts
Refresh the conversation. If the draft still doesn't appear, confirm that both of you have permission to access the conversation.
My email reply doesn't appear to have been sent.
Check whether you closed the tab or navigated away before the cancel-send countdown finished. If you did, the email might not have been sent. Reopen the conversation and check its status before trying again.
Additional considerations
- Shared drafts aren't private
If multiple teammates can access and reply to a conversation, they can collaborate on its draft. You can't create a private draft within a conversation that other teammates can also reply to.
- Discard carefully
Discarding a shared draft removes it for everyone. Make sure the team no longer needs the draft before discarding it.
- Check before sending
Although edits merge in real time, review the complete reply and its recipients before sending, especially when several teammates have contributed.
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