# Contact Messages

https://docs.wisecp.com/de/contact-messages

Read, answer and sort the messages your website contact form collects, and hand the ones that need follow-up to the support queue.

## Reaching the Screen

Panel menu: **Site Management** then **Contact Messages**: `{admin}/manage-website/messages`

Adding a message number opens that message directly, in whichever folder it now sits: `{admin}/manage-website/messages?id={message}`

The address follows the message you have open, so the link you copy points at what you are reading.

## What Is on the Screen

There are three columns: folders on the left, the message list in the middle, the reader on the right. Choosing a message opens it on the right and marks it read.

### Folders and list controls

- **Message Folders**: **Inbox**, **Replied**, **Spam** and **Trash**, each with its own count. Right-clicking a folder offers the action that empties it.
- **Unread**: Two chips above the inbox list, **All** and **Unread**. They belong to the inbox; the badge counts messages nobody has opened.
- **Search messages...**: Searches the sender name, email address, phone number, message text and IP address inside the open folder.
- **Select Message**: The checkbox above the list picks every row on the page. Each row carries its own checkbox as well.
- **Actions**: Wakes up once a row is checked: **Mark as Read**, **Mark as Unread**, **Mark as Spam** and **Delete Message**. In Spam and Trash, marking read or unread returns the message to the inbox, or to Replied when it has an answer.
- **Folder notice**: Spam and Trash carry a band above the list with **Clear All Spam Messages** or **Empty Trash Now**.

Unopened messages come first, then the newest. A row shows the sender, the time and the email address. The opening of the message follows, with a **Replied** or **Converted to Ticket** badge.

### The reader

The reader opens with the sender line: email address and IP address, with a lookup action. That line ends with a link to the matching client record, or **No account**. A caret at the end of that line opens the phone number, **Came From** and the visitor's browser. It appears only when at least one of the three is known. Colleagues who already opened the message appear next to the date.

Under the message body come the actions for the current folder. A copy of the answer you sent follows, then the ticket band once the message became a ticket. The reply box comes last, where the folder allows one.

## Fields

- **Quick Replies**: Optional. Fills the reply box with a predefined reply written in the visitor's language.
- **Your Reply**: Required. The text emailed to the visitor.
- **Save this reply as a template.**: Off by default. Adds the answer to the predefined reply library after it goes out.
- **Enter template name**: Required once the option above is on. The same name and text are stored for every installed language.
- **Block this email address from sending future messages.**: On by default in the spam dialog. Adds the sender's email address and phone number to the Prohibited List.
- **Report to the spam filter to improve future detection.**: Off by default. Blocks the sender's IP address.
- **Priority Level**: Starts on **Low**. The priority the new ticket opens with.
- **Department**: The support department that receives the ticket. Only the departments you defined under Support appear here.
- **Assign to Staff**: Starts on **Auto-assign**. Choosing a person assigns the ticket and notifies them.
- **Additional Notes**: Optional. An internal note the support team sees on the ticket.

## Tasks

### Reply to a message

1. Open the message and write the answer under **Reply to Message**, or pick one from **Quick Replies**.
2. To keep the answer for later, turn on **Save this reply as a template.** and name it.
3. Click the **Send Reply** button. The visitor receives the answer by email and the message moves to **Replied**.

### Convert a message to a ticket

1. In Inbox or Replied, open the message and click the **Convert to Ticket** button.
2. Set the priority, the department and the assignee, and add a note for the team.
3. Click **Create Ticket** in the dialog. The message text becomes the first ticket message and the reader gains a **View Ticket** link. The visitor is notified that the ticket is open, by email and by SMS when an SMS module is on. Notification Templates turns that notice off.

### Mark a sender as spam

1. Open the message and click **Mark as Spam**, or check several rows and choose it under **Actions**.
2. Decide whether to block the sender and whether to report the address.
3. Click **Mark as Spam** in the dialog. The messages move to the spam folder.

### Delete, restore and empty a folder

1. In Inbox or Replied, **Delete Message** moves the message to Trash.
2. In Spam and Trash, **Restore Message** returns it to the inbox, or to Replied when you already answered it.
3. In the same two folders, **Delete Permanently** and **Delete Forever** remove the record for good.
4. Right-click a folder for **Empty Folder**, **Clear All Spam Messages** or **Empty Trash**, then confirm.

## Things to Watch

> **Spam and Trash are the end of the line**
> 
> Deleting there erases the record, and so does emptying either folder. Deleting from Inbox or Replied only moves the message to Trash. Neither folder empties itself: the clean-up is the button on the band.

> **One reply per message**
> 
> The reply box closes once an answer goes out or the message becomes a ticket. It never opens in Spam or Trash. Further correspondence belongs in a ticket.
> 
> Converted tickets are guest tickets
> 
> They open under the sender's name and email address, even when the message matches a client record. The client never sees them in their panel.

> **Blocking reaches past this screen**
> 
> The two spam options write to the Prohibited List and the blocked address list. Both cover the whole site, and you undo them on the security screens.

## Privileges

**Site Management** access opens the screen. **Edit** covers reading, replying, moving between folders, marking spam and converting to a ticket. **Delete** covers permanent removal and emptying a folder.

## Related Screens

- [Ticket Detail](https://docs.wisecp.com/en/ticket-detail)
- [Predefined Replies](https://docs.wisecp.com/en/predefined-replies)
- [Prohibited List](https://docs.wisecp.com/en/prohibited-list)
- [Client Detail Overview](https://docs.wisecp.com/en/client-detail-overview)