Every interaction with a contact—calls, SMS messages, and internal notes—lives in a single conversation thread. This gives your team full context at a glance, so anyone picking up a conversation knows exactly what happened before.
Understanding the Conversation List#
The left panel of your inbox shows all active conversations. Each item displays:
- Contact name or phone number — shows the contact's name if saved, otherwise the raw number
- Last activity preview — a snippet of the most recent call, message, or note
- Timestamp — when the last interaction occurred
- Unread indicator — a blue dot for conversations with unread activity
- Message type badges — a small badge on the avatar marks voicemail (red phone) or SMS (blue message bubble)
- Callback needed: an amber line with a phone icon when a caller is waiting for you to call them back
For callers who aren't saved as contacts yet, dialnote can show a faint "Maybe: [name]" hint with the AI's best guess at who it is, taken from the call transcript. This needs auto-transcription and contact extraction turned on for the number. Save the contact to lock in the name.
Click any conversation to open it in the center panel.
Searching and Filtering#
Search the conversation list#
Click the Search icon next to the filter tabs to open a search box below them and find a thread fast. It runs a server-side search across:
- Contact name (first and last)
- Phone number (the contact's number and the number that texted you)
- Company name
- The last-message preview
- SMS message bodies
- Note content
- Call transcript text
So you can find a conversation by something said inside a call or a note, not just by the contact's name. Results update as you type. Search stays scoped to the phone number you're viewing.
Search inside a conversation#
Once a conversation is open, click the search icon in the conversation header to find text within that thread. Use the up/down arrows (or Enter / Shift+Enter) to jump between matches. Press Esc to close it.
Filter tabs#
Use the filter tabs at the top of the conversation list to narrow the list by read status:
| Filter | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| All | Every conversation |
| Unread | Conversations with activity you haven't viewed |
| Read | Conversations you've already opened |
| Blocked | Conversations with numbers on your blocklist. Shown only once something is blocked. |
Each tab shows a count once it has conversations, so you can see at a glance how many unread items need attention. Blocked conversations are left out of All, Unread, and Read, and the count updates as soon as you block or unblock a number. Opening a conversation marks it read automatically.
Quick triage
Start your day with the Unread filter to catch up on new activity, then work through each one. As soon as you open a conversation it moves to Read, so the Unread tab always shows what's left.
The Conversation Timeline#
When you select a conversation, the center panel displays a unified timeline of all activity:
- Calls — show duration, direction (inbound/outbound), and whether AI participated. The AI summary shows on the call itself, and you can click Transcript to read the full transcript.
- Conference calls — multi-party calls appear with participant details
- SMS messages — display with delivery status indicators (sent, delivered, failed)
- Notes — internal team notes that contacts can't see
Everything appears in chronological order, so you can follow the complete history of your relationship with that contact.
Composing a new message#
Click the compose icon (message square with a plus) in the inbox header to start a new SMS conversation. The Compose SMS modal has three fields:
- From — pick which of your SMS-enabled phone numbers to send from. Custom number names show up here too.
- To — search your contacts or type a phone number directly. The number format is validated before you can send.
- Message — write your text (up to 1,600 characters). A character counter turns amber as you near the limit, and a note reminds you that texts over 160 characters may be split into segments.
Hit Send Message and dialnote opens the new conversation for you.
SMS-enabled numbers only
Compose only works with phone numbers that have SMS turned on. If the button is disabled or no numbers appear, turn on SMS in phone number settings. See SMS & MMS for limits and scheduling.
Real-Time Updates#
Your inbox updates instantly as new activity happens:
- New calls appear in the timeline as they end
- Incoming SMS messages show up immediately
- Notes added by teammates appear without refreshing
- Transcriptions and AI summaries populate when processing completes
You don't need to refresh or reload—dialnote keeps everything in sync automatically.
What's Next#
- Messages — send, schedule, and read SMS inside a conversation
- Notes — add internal notes only your team can see
- Assignment — route conversations to the right teammate
- Inbox overview — how the three-column inbox fits together
- SMS & MMS — message limits, segments, and attachments