How to answer an incoming chat

The instructions below are for desktops and laptops only.

When a visitor sends a message through your chat widget, you’ll receive notifications in your tawk.to Dashboard, where you can easily open the conversation and respond.

This guide walks you through how to respond to chats on your dashboard quickly and effectively.

To ensure you never miss a new chat, check your sound and browser notification settings.

Here’s how:

2. Click your profile image in the lower-left corner of the dashboard.

3. You can enable desktop and sound notifications by toggling the respective switches. To configure your notifications further, click Manage Sounds & Notifications.

4. In the Manage Sounds & Notifications pop-up, you can configure notifications for various scenarios, such as new chats, new visitors, new agent messages, and more. Click Save to save your changes.

These settings help you stay responsive by notifying you immediately when someone starts a conversation.

Tip: Ensure your browser allows notifications from tawk.to so you can receive alerts properly.

To respond to a new chat:

2. When a new chat comes in, you’ll see an Incoming notification in the left sidebar.

• Pink – A new incoming chat that hasn’t been answered

• Green – A chat you’ve joined or one with a new message from the visitor

• Red – A chat that’s in the process of being transferred

• Gray – A chat that has already been answered by another agent

You’ll also see colored circles next to each visitor’s name:

• Green circle – The visitor is active

• Orange circle – The chat hasn’t been answered in over 10 minutes and needs attention

To learn more about notifications and chat behavior, see

Understanding Incoming Chat Notifications

Click the notification to open the chat.

3. Before replying, you can choose an alias from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the chat window.

This lets you respond under a different display name if you’ve set one up. Learn more about aliases with this guide: Creating and managing aliases

Then, click Join Chat.

Once you’ve joined, you’ll be able to type and send messages directly to the visitor.

Sometimes you may need to step into a conversation that’s already active—whether it’s being handled by another team member or AI Assist.

Here’s how to do that smoothly:

1. Open the chat you want to join from the left panel or your Inbox.
   
   

2. Click Join Chat, then click Join to confirm.
   - If AI Assist is handling the conversation, it will automatically leave when you take over.
   - If another human agent is active, they’ll remain in the chat unless they choose to leave.
   
   

3. Once you take over, you become an active participant. Your responses will appear to the visitor in real time.

If the chat ends and the visitor sends a follow-up message later, it will appear as a new conversation. AI Assist may rejoin (depending on your settings), and you can take over again if needed.

For the complete step-by-step walkthrough, see this guide:

How to take over a chat from another agent or AI Assist

Need help writing your answers?

Use AI Assist’s AI Commands and Smart Reply for instant ideas.

See these guides to learn more:

Using Smart Reply

Using AI Commands

Did you know AI Assist can help you answer every chat?

Available 24/7, AI Assist can answer customers’ questions when you’re busy or unavailable. Turn on AI Assist and never miss a chat again. See these guides to learn more:

Getting started with AI Assist

Deploying multiple AI Agents across support channels

How to get your AI agent to greet visitors when they start a chat

Using Suggested Message and AI Assist to create scripted chat sequences

Customers reaching out on Facebook?

Connect Facebook Messenger to tawk.to and easily handle all customer conversations in your centralized inbox. With AI Assist, you can deploy AI agents to help answer your customers’ questions when you’re busy or unavailable. See these guides to learn more:

Connecting Facebook Messenger to tawk.to

Connecting multiple Facebook accounts to a property

Setting up AI Assist to handle Facebook conversations

Get SMS messages in your inbox

Connect Twilio SMS to tawk.to and keep all your customer conversations in one place. AI Assist can reply to SMS inquiries anytime, helping you deliver faster support. See these guides to learn more:

Connecting Twilio SMS to your tawk.to Inbox

Connecting multiple Twilio SMS accounts and inboxes

Updating Twilio SMS inbox settings

Purchasing Twilio phone numbers

Twilio SMS: Troubleshooting message delivery issues

If you have feedback about this article, or if you need more help:

• Click the green live chat icon

• Schedule a call with us

• Visit our community