This article guides you through the Engage inbox — where to find everything on screen and how to take your first steps. Engage brings every conversation your clinic has with clients — text messages, WhatsApp, email, fax, Facebook, Instagram and phone calls — into one place.
Opening Engage
To open Engage, click Agents in the Pabau sidebar and choose Inbox. Engage opens in a new browser tab and signs you in automatically — there is no separate login.
The Inbox at a Glance
The screen is arranged from left to right: the icon rail (switching between Inbox, Chat, Agents, Reports and Settings), the sidebar, the conversation list, the open conversation, and the patient panel.
The Sidebar
At the top, the + button starts a new conversation — see our How to Start a New Conversation in Engage article. Below it you will find:
- Filters: All conversations, Unread, Starred, Mine and Unassigned, each with a live count so you can see what needs attention.
- Labels — your clinic's colour-coded tags. See our How to Organise Conversations with Labels in Engage article.
- Teammates — pin a teammate to see the conversations assigned to them.
- Channels — each connected channel with its own numbers and mailboxes nested beneath it, each with its own count. A channel only appears once it is set up.
- Views — saved filters shared with your whole team, such as "Waiting on us". See our How to Create Views in Engage article.
- Closed and Trash at the bottom, for conversations you have tidied away.
NOTE: To connect more channels, click the Settings cog at the bottom of the icon rail — it opens the channel settings. We suggest reading our Channel Settings: Your Communications Hub article for what each channel offers.
The Conversation List
The list has two tabs: Chats for messages and Calls for your clinic's call log, each with a count badge. The toolbar holds Search (⌘K), Sort, Filter and Refresh. Rows show the direction of the last message, a green New badge on conversations started in the last hour, and a blue dot with the unread count. Hover a row for a quick Close conversation action.
TIP: Press ⌘K (or Ctrl+K on Windows) anywhere in the inbox to search messages, patients and fax numbers instantly.
Reading and Replying
Click any row to open the conversation. The pane shows the full history across every channel — messages, calls with their recordings and transcripts, appointment cards and form requests all appear on one timeline. To reply, type in the composer at the bottom and click Send. You can reply on a different channel than the one the client used, insert templates by typing /, personalise with variables such as $balance, or let AI draft write a reply from the conversation's context — see our How to Reply to Messages and Switch Channels in Engage article.
The Conversation Header
The buttons in the header let you call the client, assign the conversation to a teammate, apply labels, mark it read or unread, star it, or close it. The Close button files the conversation under Closed; the More (…) menu moves it to Trash. The right-most button shows or hides the patient panel.
The Patient Panel
Click the panel toggle at the far right of the header to show the linked client's contact details, files, notes and account balance, with Book, Chart, Bill and Profile shortcuts into Pabau. We suggest reading our Understanding the Client Panel in Engage article for a full walkthrough.
Related Articles
We suggest reading our What Is Pabau Engage? article for an overview of the whole product, and our Channel Settings: Your Communications Hub article to connect your first 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.