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The Channel Catalog: Your Communications Hub

This article introduces the Channel Catalog — the settings hub of the Engage inbox where you connect, monitor, and manage every communication channel your clinic uses. Understanding the catalog makes every other Engage setup guide easier to follow, because this is where each setup wizard and settings panel is launched from.

What the Channel Catalog Is

The Channel Catalog is a panel that slides in over the inbox and lists every channel available to your clinic as a card: Email, SMS, Calls, Fax, WhatsApp Business, Instagram DMs, Facebook, Gmail, Office 365 / Outlook, AI Chat Assistant, and Conversation routing — 11 cards in total. Each card shows its live connection state, so at a glance you can see what is up and running and what still needs to be set up.


Opening the Channel Catalog

Click Channels in the navigation rail on the far left of the Engage inbox. You can also click the settings cog at the bottom of the same rail — both open the Channel Catalog.

The Engage navigation rail with the Channels button below Inbox and the settings cog at the bottom

To close the catalog, click the X button in the top-right corner, or click the dimmed area outside the panel.

Browsing with Tabs and Search

Under the header you will find filter tabs — All (with a count showing 11), Business Messaging, Calls, SMS, Fax, and Email — plus a search field with the placeholder Search Channel Catalog, which matches on channel names. If your search matches nothing, the catalog shows "No channels match" with the suggestion "Try a different search or browse all categories."

The Channel Catalog on the All tab before any channels are connected, showing Popular ribbons and Connect buttons

NOTE: On the All tab, the Fax card appears under the "SMS" section heading. If you are looking for fax, the quickest route is the Fax tab.

The Channel Catalog filtered to the Email tab, showing the built-in Email card, a connected Gmail card, and a not-yet-connected Office 365 / Outlook card

Reading a Channel Card

Most cards carry a ribbon in their top corner: Popular while the channel is not yet connected, or a green Live ribbon once it is working. Below the channel name and description, a status line tells you exactly where things stand:

  • "checking…" — the catalog is fetching the latest status. Statuses are refreshed each time you open the catalog, so a number bought or an account connected moments ago shows correctly without a page reload.
  • "not connected" — the channel has not been set up yet. A coloured button such as Buy a number, Set up SMS, Set up WhatsApp, or Connect starts the setup flow.
  • "status unavailable" — the status lookup failed temporarily. This does not mean the channel is disconnected; close and reopen the catalog to retry.
  • A connected card shows what is connected — for example "Two-way" with your text number, "Messenger" with your Facebook Page name, or "Gmail" with the connected email address.

The Channel Catalog with every channel Live, each card showing a green Live ribbon, its connected account or number, and a Manage button

TIP: The Email card is always Live — Engage email works two-way out of the box, and connecting Gmail, Office 365 / Outlook, or forwarding an existing inbox are optional extras with their own cards. We suggest reading our Email in Engage: Sending, Forwarding and Mailboxes Explained article for the full picture.

What the Buttons Open

Connected cards switch to a row of buttons. The primary Manage button opens that channel's settings panel — for example, the SMS card's Manage opens your text number settings, the Calls card's Manage opens Call Setup, and the Fax card's Manage carries a badge counting your fax numbers. Secondary buttons sit alongside it, such as Buy another, Port a number (on the Calls and Fax cards), and Manage templates (on the WhatsApp Business card). The Conversation routing card has a single Open builder button that opens the routing workflow builder.

The SMS, Fax and Calls cards in the Channel Catalog: the SMS card Live with Buy another and Manage, the Fax card with Port a number, Buy another and a Manage button carrying a count badge, and the Calls card Live with Port a number, Buy another and Manage

Each setup flow has its own step-by-step guide — see the related articles below for two-way SMS, calls, fax, WhatsApp Business, Facebook, Instagram, email, porting, and routing.

NOTE: The SMS card may show an amber warning strip reading "Reminders don't use this number yet" with a one-click fix. We suggest reading our How to Make Pabau Reminders Reply-Capable (SMS Sender Warning) article for what it means and how to resolve it.

If a Channel Is Missing from Your Inbox Sidebar

The inbox navigation rail only shows filters for channels that are set up — a missing entry is not a bug. As soon as you connect a channel or buy a number from the Channel Catalog, its filter appears without a reload.

We suggest reading our How to Set Up Two-Way SMS in Engage, How to Set Up the Calls Channel in Engage (Buy a Number), How to Set Up Fax in Engage (Buy a Fax Number), How to Connect WhatsApp Business to Engage, How to Connect Facebook Messenger to Engage, and How to Connect Gmail or Microsoft 365 (Outlook) to Engage articles to start connecting your channels.

For more guides, refer to related articles below, select additional guides, or use the search bar at the top of the page. These guides will help you get the most out of your Pabau account.

Additionally, to help you fully utilize and understand your Pabau account, we recommend exploring additional guides and resources offered at the Pabau Academy.