Keeping a text inbox moving
Search, the right-click menu, and bulk reply cover the day-to-day of Messages. A few of those actions also write to the DNC list, so they are not just filing.
Messages is the list of every text conversation, newest activity first. The useful work is less about reading one thread and more about deciding which threads still need a person.
Find the thread before you answer it
Search messages can look at everything, the message text, the contact name, or the number. Partial numbers work. The chips under search split the list into All, Chat, Unread, Archived, and Stopped. Chat is only the threads where you texted and the contact replied, so one-way blasts stay out of the way. Group, tag, and campaign filters narrow it further. A bold name and a colored time mean nobody has read the latest message.
When you open a thread, check the Messaging number at the top before you reply. That is the line the contact will see. Enter sends. Shift+Enter adds a line. Images, GIFs, and emoji sit around the composer. The segment counter is live. Merge fields such as {first_name} are not filled in on a one-to-one reply. They go out as typed, so write the name yourself.
Right-click is the filing cabinet
Right-click a row to mark it read or unread, add or move a group, add tags, archive, or delete. Archive hides the thread from All and leaves it under Archived, where Unarchive brings it back. Delete asks you to confirm and cannot be undone. Unread is a reasonable to-do list: mark anything you cannot answer, then filter to Unread.
Add to group keeps the contact's other groups. Move to group takes them out of every other group first.
Mark as Stopped (DNC) is not a folder. It stops the conversation and adds the number to the do-not-contact list, then the thread shows under Stopped. Use it when someone asks you to stop and you do not want another teammate to reply by habit.
Ten is the bulk-reply cap
Bulk select, the folder icon by search, puts a checkbox on every row. Shift+click selects a range. Select All takes the list you are looking at. Bulk actions can archive, delete, mark stopped or active, add to a group, or add tags. Right-clicking a selected row applies the menu to the whole selection.
Send bulk reply works on up to 10 conversations. Pick the From number, write the message or insert a quick reply or template, and tap a merge field if you want each copy personalized. Continue to preview shows each message and anything likely to be skipped. Send now still runs the normal compliance checks. For more than 10 people, that is a campaign, not an inbox action.
The click-by-click version lives in the Manage your inbox guide.
Walk through it in the product
The guides cover these same workflows step by step, with the screens you will actually use.