Canned responses are pre-written message templates you can insert into any conversation with a single click. Instead of typing the same replies over and over, appointment confirmations, directions, pricing info, you save them once and reuse them whenever you need.
Your whole team shares the same set of templates, so everyone sends consistent, on-brand messages.
Creating a Canned Response#
Head to Settings → Canned Responses to manage your templates. Click New Canned Response and a form opens right on the page. Fill in the details:
- Title - A short label so you can find it quickly (required, up to 100 characters). Something like "Appointment Confirmation" or "Pricing Info."
- Message Body - The actual message text that gets inserted into your conversation (required, up to 2,000 characters). A live counter shows how many characters you've used.
- Category (optional) - Group related templates together, up to 50 characters. For example, "Scheduling," "Billing," or "Support."
- Shortcut (optional) - A quick reference tag like
/confirmor/hours, up to 50 characters. It shows up as a badge in the picker for fast identification.
Templates are shared across your whole organization, so anyone on your team can edit or delete them. Click Create to save, or Cancel to back out.
Keep templates short and flexible
Write templates that work across situations. Use generic phrasing like "your appointment" instead of specific details you'd need to edit every time.
Each template in the list has a pencil icon to edit (the form reopens with the values filled in, and the button becomes Update) and a trash icon to delete. Changes take effect immediately for your whole team.
Deleting is instant
The trash icon deletes the template right away, there's no confirmation prompt and no undo. Since templates are shared, deleting one removes it for everyone on your team.
Using Canned Responses in Conversations#
When you're composing a message in the Inbox, click the lightning bolt icon (⚡) next to the message input. This opens the canned response picker.
The icon only shows when the composer is in Message mode on a conversation whose number has messaging turned on. Switch to Note mode and it disappears, internal notes don't use templates.
From the picker, you can:
- Search by title, body text, or shortcut to find the right template fast
- See shortcuts at a glance - any shortcut you set shows as a small badge next to the title
- Click to insert - the template body drops in at your cursor position in the message field
After inserting, you can edit the text before sending. This is great for templates that need a name, date, or other detail swapped in.
The picker is a flat list
The inbox picker shows all your templates in one searchable list, it doesn't group them by category. Categories help you stay organized on the Settings → Canned Responses page, but they don't appear in the picker. Use shortcuts if you want a quick visual marker while composing.
If you haven't created any templates yet, the picker says so and links you straight to Settings → Canned Responses. The picker loads up to 100 templates at a time, which is plenty for most teams.
Mobile app access
On mobile, tap the lightning bolt in the composer to open the Quick Replies sheet. Search there matches titles only (not body text or shortcuts), and tapping a template appends it to the end of what you've typed rather than inserting at the cursor. Creating and editing templates is web-only, templates your team creates on the web show up automatically on mobile.
A2P registration blocks the picker
On US numbers that can't send SMS yet (no approved A2P 10DLC brand and campaign), the composer's send button and the lightning bolt are both grayed out. Finish registration and the picker comes back.
Organizing Your Templates#
As your template library grows, categories become essential. Here are a few ways teams typically organize them:
- By department - Sales, Support, Billing
- By use case - Scheduling, Follow-ups, FAQs
- By urgency - Quick replies, Detailed responses
Categories and shortcuts both show as badges on the Settings → Canned Responses list, so you can scan your library fast. In the inbox picker, only the shortcut badge appears next to each title, a shortcut like /pricing or /eta helps you spot the right one at a glance while you're typing.
Best Practices#
Start with your most-typed messages. Look at your conversation history and identify the replies you send most often. Those are your first canned responses.
Don't over-personalize templates. A template that says "Hi Sarah, your 3pm appointment on Tuesday is confirmed" only works once. Write "Hi, your appointment is confirmed" instead, then customize after inserting.
Review templates regularly. Outdated pricing, old office hours, or discontinued services in your templates can confuse customers. Do a quick audit every month or two.
Character limits
Canned response bodies max out at 2,000 characters. If you need longer messages, consider breaking them into two templates or linking to a webpage with the full details.
What's Next#
- SMS & MMS - send and receive text messages where you'll use canned responses
- Auto-replies - send automatic texts for missed calls and incoming messages
- Inbox - manage all your conversations in one place