Clean conversation history helps the next teammate understand what happened without starting over. Think of the Inbox as shared team memory: Write and organize messages so the next person can step in with confidence. This article covers merging duplicate conversations and keeping history readable.
A few habits prevent most of the mess:
• Reply from the existing conversation instead of starting a new one.
• Check the linked person before sending a message.
• Keep notes short and clear.
• Avoid starting a new conversation when an active one already exists.
• Merge duplicates when they belong together (below).
Sent replies are part of the conversation history. CoolFocus does not let staff delete one customer-facing reply after it has been sent. If a message was sent by mistake, send a short follow-up correction or clarification in the same conversation.
Closing, processing, deleting, or merging a conversation affects the conversation record or mailbox view. It does not remove a single sent reply from the history. Internal notes are different: because they are for staff only, your team may edit or delete them when cleanup is needed.
If a conversation has the wrong person, duplicate threads, or missing context, pause before sending another reply. Review the history and decide whether to fix the link, merge conversations, or ask another teammate to check it.
Merge conversations when:
• The same person has two conversations about the same topic.
• A conversation was started separately by mistake.
• Staff need the full history in one place.
CoolFocus only offers merge options that belong to the same person, the same kind of conversation, and the same Inbox Domain. For example, an SMS conversation merges with another SMS conversation for that same person in the same domain — not with an unrelated conversation, not with a different conversation type (such as a secured message thread), and not across Client / Donor / Volunteer domains.
See Inbox Domains: Client, Donor, and Volunteer.
You merge from the conversation you want to fold away into the conversation you want to keep. Open the duplicate (or older) thread first, then pick the keeper.
1. Open Inbox and open the conversation you want to merge away.
2. At the top of the conversation, select the ⋮ (vertical three-dot) menu next to Close or Reopen.
3. Choose Merge into...
Optional shortcut: with the conversation open (and not typing in a message field), press **Shift + ⌘ + M** on Mac, or **Shift + Ctrl + M** on Windows.
4. A picker opens titled Merge into another conversation. It lists other recent conversations for that same person (and the same kind of conversation / Inbox Domain).
5. Use the search box if you need to find the right thread by subject or message text.
6. Select the conversation you want to keep. CoolFocus merges the open thread into that one.
7. When it finishes, you see a success message and CoolFocus opens the kept conversation so you can continue there.
Tips while merging
• Closed conversations can be merged the same way (use ⋮ next to Reopen).
• Conversations marked as spam do not show Merge into.... Mark them Not Spam first if you need to merge them.
• If the list says no matching conversations were found, there is no eligible thread for that person yet (wrong person linked, different conversation type, or a different Inbox Domain).
• You can also open both threads side by side in two browser tabs before you merge, so you are sure which history to keep.
The message history is kept together, and CoolFocus adds a note so your team can tell that a merge happened. Nothing is lost.
Open both conversations before merging. Keep the one with the clearest current context, then merge the older or duplicate conversation into it.