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An inbox is your own view of the conversations you follow. It sits next to your lines in the switcher. It can be bigger than a line, with several lines in one list, or narrower, like only the callers who pressed 1 for Sales. Each person has their own inboxes. Creating, editing or muting an inbox never changes what your teammates see. Available on: Allo desktop and web app. Inboxes are rolling out team by team.

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What you can do with inboxes

Split a phone menu

Your website line plays “1 for Sales, 2 for Support”. Sales reps get a Sales inbox, support gets a Support inbox. No forwarding to other lines.

Keep a callback list

An inbox on your lines with the “To call back” and “Follow-up later” tags. Every call that needs a follow-up lands in one place.

Follow a topic across lines

A “Porting” inbox across two support lines with the “Porting Issue” tag, so one person can own every porting case.

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How to create an inbox

1

Open the switcher

Click the line name at the top of the sidebar to open the switcher.
2

Click New inbox

Give the inbox a name, and an icon if you want one.
3

Pick the lines

Choose one or more lines on the left. For each line, choose what to follow (see How to follow only part of a line).
4

Add filters (optional)

Under More filters, narrow the inbox to some contacts or some call tags.
5

Create inbox

The inbox shows in your switcher, at the same level as your lines.
To change an inbox later, open its ⋯ menu in the switcher and choose Edit inbox. Deleting an inbox removes the view only. Your lines and conversations stay as they are. You can have up to 50 inboxes.

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Suggestions

The Suggestions list in the editor comes from how you work: the phone menu options that ring you, and the lines where you answered calls or sent texts this month. Click Use this to add one. Allo can also offer an inbox in the switcher, for example “You’re rung on Sales. Create an inbox for it?”. Click Create or Not now.

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Your first inboxes

The first time inboxes are on for you, Allo sets some up from how you work and tells you which ones. Keep them, edit them, or click Undo to remove them and set things up yourself.
You can also set up inboxes by asking your AI assistant, for you or for a teammate. See Allo MCP.

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How to follow only part of a line

For each line in an inbox, choose what to follow: Only part of it needs a phone menu on the line. A line without a menu can only be followed whole. Texts never go through the phone menu. To see texts in a partial inbox, tick Texts and callers who pressed nothing. Each line keeps its own choice, so one inbox can follow a whole line and one option of another line.

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How to filter an inbox

Filters narrow an inbox to the conversations that match, on every line of the inbox. You can filter on:
  • Types of conversation
  • Teammates who answered
  • Contacts and contact lists
  • Call tags, applied by AI or by hand (see Call tags)
Set contacts and tags in the inbox editor, under More filters. You can also filter the conversation list and click Save to inbox to keep those filters on the inbox. Filters you don’t save reset when you switch inboxes.

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How to match tags: Any call or Latest call

When an inbox filters on tags, choose how tags are matched: Use Latest call for a to-do list like “To call back”: once you call the contact back and that call isn’t tagged, the conversation leaves the inbox.

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How to pin conversations and favorite inboxes

Pin a conversation to keep it at the top of your inbox, in the Pinned section. Pins are personal. You can pin up to 10 conversations. Favorite an inbox to keep it at the top of the switcher. Open the inbox’s ⋯ menu and choose Add to favorites.

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How inbox notifications work

Inboxes never change who a call rings. Your call flow decides that. Inboxes decide the alerts that come after the fact: missed calls, voicemails and texts, for people who were not rung. You are always notified for:
  • Calls that ring you
  • @mentions
  • Thread replies
For everything else on a line: An inbox covers a conversation through its lines and phone menu options. Saved filters (tags, contacts, types, teammates) don’t change alerts. Safety net: if nobody was rung and nobody’s inbox covers a conversation, the line’s usual recipients are alerted. Mute is per inbox. Open the inbox’s ⋯ menu and choose Mute notifications, or turn off Notify me in the inbox editor. Calls that ring you, mentions and thread replies still notify you.

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Known limits

  • Inboxes work on the desktop and web app. They are not on mobile yet.
  • The switcher doesn’t show an unread count per inbox. Inside an inbox, the Unread and Needs action tabs show their counts.
  • Search doesn’t span all the lines of an inbox yet.

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FAQ

Check these, in order:
  • The inbox is muted. Open its ⋯ menu. If you see Unmute notifications, it is muted.
  • Your inbox doesn’t cover that part of the line. If you follow only option 1 on a line, you are not alerted for option 2 or for texts, unless you ticked Texts and callers who pressed nothing.
  • Another inbox covers the line, not this one. Once you have any inbox on a line, you get alerts only through your inboxes on that line.
  • Saved filters don’t affect alerts. An inbox filtered on a tag still alerts you for every conversation on its lines and options.
Calls that ring you, @mentions and thread replies always notify you, whatever your inboxes.
  • The caller pressed another menu option. A partial inbox shows only the options you ticked.
  • It’s a text, or the caller pressed nothing. Tick Texts and callers who pressed nothing on that line.
  • A saved filter hides it. Check the filters on the inbox. With tags on Latest call, a conversation leaves after a newer untagged call.
  • The line isn’t in the inbox. Edit the inbox and add the line.
The conversation is still on its line. Open the line from the switcher to find it.
No. Who a call rings is set by the line’s call flow. Inboxes only change what you see and which after-the-fact alerts you get.
No. Inboxes are personal. Admins and managers can set up an inbox for a teammate with Allo MCP. That inbox belongs to the teammate.
No. Deleting an inbox removes the view only. Every conversation stays on its line.

Build a phone menu

Build the phone menu an inbox can follow

Call tags

Tag calls by hand or with AI, then filter an inbox on them

Call flows

Decide who a call rings

Allo MCP

Set up inboxes with your AI assistant