SMS routing and conversations
Inbound texts follow the same routing brain as calls — your inbound rules — then live as conversations that stay with whoever owns them.
How an inbound text finds its owner
- An open conversation wins. If the sender already has a conversation on that DID, the new message joins it — routing rules are not re-evaluated mid-conversation, so a customer mid-thread doesn't get bounced to someone new by an office-hours flip.
- Otherwise, inbound rules decide. The DID's rule (or a matching CID rule) is evaluated, office-hours aware, exactly like a call. A rule resolving to an extension delivers to that user; a ring group or queue delivers to the team.
- Untextable destinations fall back. If the rule points somewhere that can't chat (IVR, voicemail, fax), the trunk's SMS fallback destination takes it; with no fallback, the message is recorded as unrouted in the chat log rather than lost silently.
Team numbers: claim-on-send
A text routed to a ring group or queue appears for all current members, marked as unassigned. The first member to reply claims the conversation — it moves to their chat and leaves everyone else's list, and the customer talks to one person from then on. Closing the conversation (the Close action in the thread) releases the thread; the customer's next text routes fresh.
Replies and the sending number
Replies in a conversation are always sent from the DID the customer texted — the thread is pinned to its number, so nothing ever arrives from an unfamiliar caller ID mid-conversation.
New outbound conversations send from the user's own SMS-capable caller-ID number when they have one, otherwise from the trunk's main number; the composer header shows "Sending as +1…" so there's never a surprise.
Calls and texts together
A conversation's header has a Call button — the customer's number dials directly from the thread, and with a CRM integration the whole exchange can be journaled to their contact when the conversation closes.