Conversationsbeginner

Keyboard shortcuts reference

Every keyboard shortcut for the conversation list, the conversation view, and the reply editor — plus the global G-chords, the command palette, and the snippet/action/emoji typing shortcuts. Memorize the handful you'll use most (D, T, A, Z, Enter, Cmd-Shift-Enter) and your conversations-per-hour climbs significantly.

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Keyboard shortcuts reference

Atender is keyboard-first for agents who want speed. Memorize the few you’ll use most; the rest reveal themselves through repetition.

Two-key sequences (press the first, then the second, within about a second):

  • G then I — Jump to Active conversations
  • G then Z — Jump to Snoozed conversations
  • G then D — Jump to Done conversations
  • G then A — Jump to Analytics
  • G then H — Toggle the Help panel (window ↔ hidden)
  • G then K — Jump to Knowledge Base
  • G then S — Jump to Incidents
  • G then , — Jump to Settings
  • G then C — Jump to CRM
  • G then N — Open Notifications
  • G then M — Toggle minimalist mode
  • G then F — Toggle full-screen conversations. In Settings, this toggles the stored wide-mode preference instead; the wide layout is only applied while a specific settings section is open. On the Settings landing page, the rail and settings menu remain visible.
  • G then E — Jump to Prognosis (only if it’s enabled for your workspace and you have access)
  • G then B — Open the feedback / bug report dialog
  • G then P — Jump to Cases (only if Cases is enabled for your workspace)
  • G then J — Jump to Handbook
  • G then O, then V — Toggle phone availability (online/offline)
  • G then O, then T — Toggle text-channel availability
  • G then O, then C — Toggle all-channel availability

G then O alone is just the first half of the online/offline chords above — it doesn’t navigate anywhere by itself; it arms the sequence for one second while it waits for V, T, or C.

Mnemonic: G for “go to,” then usually the first letter of the destination — a few letters are reassigned where two destinations would otherwise collide (e.g. S for Incidents, since I is Active; J for Handbook, since H is Help; P for Cases, since C is CRM).

These chords work from anywhere in the app, not just from a conversation — except while you’re typing in a text field, while a dialog is open, or while a saved-views/sort pop-up owns the keyboard.

Search and the command palette

  • / — Open the search panel. If the page you’re on has its own local search box (e.g. Settings), that field is focused instead.
  • Cmd / Ctrl + K — Open the command palette — works everywhere, even while you’re typing in a text field, including the reply editor.
  • Cmd / Ctrl + Shift + C — Copy a link to the current page. On Windows/Linux, some browsers reserve this combo for DevTools; the binding still works wherever the browser leaves it free.
  • S then S — Open the command palette straight to Saved Searches. Doesn’t fire while a dialog is open.
  • Ctrl + Alt + D (Cmd + Option + D on Mac) — Toggle the Twilio debug panel

Conversation list and tab stack

These work while the Conversations section is active, your cursor isn’t in a text field, and no dialog is open.

  • N — Start a new conversation — works even with nothing selected
  • B — Open the sort pop-up for the list. Works whenever the list is visible (split view, or full-screen without a conversation open); not while a conversation fills the screen in full-screen mode
  • V — With no conversation open: opens the saved views pop-up. With a conversation open: applies a macro instead (see below)
  • ↑ / ↓ — Move to the previous/next conversation in the list. If the tab stack is visible, moves between stacked tabs instead
  • @ — Add the open (or checkbox-selected) conversation(s) to the tab stack
  • = — Show/hide the tab stack
  • Tab — Move focus between the conversation detail pane and the tab stack, when the stack is visible and focus is already in one of the two
  • 1–9 — Jump to that numbered tab in the stack
  • W — Close the current tab
  • W W (twice, within ~400ms) — Close all tabs (asks for confirmation)
  • X then a letter — Open a tool dock bound to that letter — only if your workspace has tool docks with keyboard shortcuts configured. Press X, then the dock’s assigned letter within one second.
  • Shift + X — Toggle checkbox selection for the open conversation

In-conversation actions

Single-key shortcuts available when a conversation is selected, your cursor isn’t inside a text field, no dialog is open, and you’re not mid-way through an X-then-letter tool-dock shortcut:

  • Enter — Open the reply editor (or, in full-screen list view, open the highlighted conversation)
  • R — Same as Enter — reply to the open conversation. With more than one conversation checkbox-selected, opens bulk mass reply instead
  • T — Open the tag picker
  • D — Toggle Done / Active. With conversations checkbox-selected, toggles all of them (with confirmation)
  • Z — Snooze, when enabled
  • A — Assign to agent or team. With conversations checkbox-selected, opens bulk assign instead
  • Shift + T — Open the switch channel dialog
  • V — Apply a macro to the open conversation
  • I or 0 — Toggle the conversation info / contact panel
  • P — Toggle the previous conversations panel
  • K — Toggle the conversation tools panel — only if Cases or Issues is enabled for your workspace. The visible label depends on your workspace modules: Cases, Issues, or Cases & Issues. Workspaces with both modules see tabs inside the panel; workspaces with only one module do not.
  • M — Toggle the side conversations panel
  • L — Toggle the Sidekick panel
  • J — Toggle the comments panel
  • < — Jump to the top of the conversation thread
  • > — Jump to the end of the conversation thread
  • Esc — Close an open side panel; if none is open, exit full-screen conversation view back to the list; if neither applies, clear any active filters

Workspace snooze policy can disable the Z shortcut entirely; admins configure this for the workspace.

Archive is deliberately not bound to a single-key shortcut because it is terminal. Launch it from the command palette or from the conversation action bar/menu instead.

Flagging is launched from the flag icon in the conversation header (or the command palette) — there is no single-key shortcut for it.

In the reply editor

  • Cmd + Enter — Send the reply
  • Cmd + Shift + Enter — Send and close — sends the reply AND marks Done in one action
  • Cmd + B — Bold
  • Cmd + I — Italic
  • Cmd + U — Underline
  • Cmd + E — Inline code
  • Esc — Close the snippet/action/knowledge-article picker if one is open; otherwise close the reply editor

Cmd-Shift-Enter is the bread and butter — most resolved-on-this-reply conversations should use this. Reply, resolve, move on. (What happens right after — stay put, jump to the next conversation, or return to Active — follows your saved after-reply preference.)

Cmd/Ctrl + K does not insert a link inside the reply editor — that combo is caught first by the global command-palette shortcut, which opens the command palette instead, even while you’re typing. Insert a link from the toolbar’s link button.

(Windows / Linux users: substitute Ctrl for Cmd.)

Snippets and actions — not shortcuts, but adjacent

Type !! in the reply editor to open the snippet picker. Search by title, content, or category, then pick one — it’s inserted inline with merge tags resolved, and any files attached to the snippet are attached to your reply automatically.

!!refund

Type ;; to open the action picker, which inserts a placeholder for: a Custom Form, a File Upload Request, ID Verification, a Signature Request, a Payment Request, a Scheduling Request, or a link to a Knowledge Base article.

Esc closes whichever picker is open. Neither of these is technically a keyboard shortcut, but it’s the same speed flow.

Emoji shortcuts — also adjacent

Typing a recognized emoticon, like :), replaces it with the matching emoji as you finish typing it.

Typing : followed by two or more letters (e.g. :smile) opens a small emoji suggestion menu. Use ↑/↓ to move through it, Enter or Tab to insert the highlighted emoji, and Esc to dismiss it.

Modifier conventions

  • Cmd — Command key on Mac (the ⌘ key)
  • Ctrl — Control key on Windows / Linux
  • Shift — Hold while pressing the next key
  • + — Held simultaneously
  • then — Pressed sequentially (release first, press second)

Patterns that pay off

Flows that use shortcuts in sequence to move fast:

Send and move on

  1. Enter — open reply editor
  2. Type the reply (or insert a snippet via !!code)
  3. Cmd-Shift-Enter — send and close
  4. The next conversation opens automatically; back to step 1

Triage

  1. Read the first few words from the list preview
  2. T — tag it
  3. A — assign it (to a specialist team)
  4. Move to next conversation with ↓

Wait-and-watch

  1. Open the conversation
  2. Z — snooze for an appropriate window (“4 hours”, “tomorrow morning”)
  3. The conversation disappears from your Active tab; re-emerges when timer expires or customer replies

Working a batch with the tab stack

  1. Check off several conversations in the list
  2. @ — stack them all as tabs
  3. 1–9 (or ↑/↓ with the stack visible) to move between them
  4. W to close the one you’re done with, or W W to close the whole stack at once

See also

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