Find an order conversation
Use Messages to find conversations associated with orders in the current account and project scope. Each inbox card represents an order rather than a standalone contact, so confirm the business and order number before opening it.
Before you start
- Sign in to the intended project with an account that can access the relevant business and order.
- Restore connectivity before relying on the inbox for a current operational decision.
- Treat business names, order numbers, dates, and conversation counts as private operational data.
How the inbox is organized
| Area or state | What it shows | When it appears | What to do next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messages | Order conversation cards available to the signed-in scope | After the inbox request returns | Match the business and order before opening a card. |
| Newest | Conversations ordered by their latest direct-message activity | When the default sort is selected | Start here for recent activity, then verify the order identity. |
| Order number | Conversations ordered by order number | When that sort is selected | Use it when you already know the order number. |
| Unread badge | A count returned for that order and signed-in account | When the current inbox response reports unread items | Treat it as an attention cue, not as proof that another participant has or has not read a message. |
| Load more orders | The next page of conversation cards | When more pages are available | Load another page if the order is not in the current list. |
An inbox card can show the business, order number, order date or time, order status, and an unread badge when available. Select the card to open the order's conversation. Sending messages, attachments, and participant contact actions are separate tasks and are not covered by this overview.
Understand inbox states
| State | What it means | Safe next action |
|---|---|---|
| Loading placeholders | The initial list, a new sort, a refresh, or another page is still loading | Wait for the placeholders to clear before deciding that no conversation exists. |
| Populated list | The service returned order conversations for the current scope | Match the business and order number, then open the intended card. |
| Sorry, no results found | The current request returned no cards | Confirm the project and account scope, then refresh. The empty result does not prove that the order has no messages. |
| Network Error or another error | The list could not be established from the current request | Restore connectivity, refresh once, and ask the project administrator to verify scope if the problem continues. |
| A card moves or its badge changes | A later event or refreshed response changed local inbox data | Recheck the business and order before opening it; refresh when accuracy matters. |
Open and return from a conversation
Opening a card starts private order, business, and conversation reads. When you return to the inbox, the source-intended flow can attempt to mark messages through the latest loaded message as read on the service. The app can also set the card's local unread count to zero before that remote response is robustly confirmed. This attempt can change account-specific read data, but it does not prove server acceptance, order ownership, message delivery, or that another participant read the conversation.
- Select Messages in the bottom navigation.
- Choose Newest or Order number.
- Match the business name and order number on the card.
- Select the card to open the order conversation.
- When you return to the inbox, refresh if the unread badge or ordering of cards matters to the next action.
Opening or leaving a conversation can change the local unread presentation. Do not use the badge as a delivery receipt, participant read receipt, or authorization record. If the count appears stale, refresh the inbox and use the visible conversation only for the order you have verified.
Verify the result
The opened conversation belongs to the business and order number selected from the inbox. If you return to the list, the card remains associated with that same order. No participant read state or message delivery is verified by the inbox badge alone.
Limits and variations
- The inbox lists order conversations available to the current account scope. A missing order can reflect project, business, account, pagination, loading, or connectivity boundaries.
- Newest uses direct-message activity. An order with no qualifying activity can appear later or without the same ordering signal.
- The list can react to message and order events while connected, but event delivery, timing, and completeness are not guaranteed. Refresh before a time-sensitive decision.
- An unread badge is account-specific list data. It does not establish who owns the order, who received a message, or whether another participant read it.
- Source establishes the intended inbox and access checks, but the deployed Business App and API relationship is not attested.
Troubleshooting
| What you observe | Likely boundary | Safe next action |
|---|---|---|
| The expected order is not listed | The list is still loading, another page exists, the sort differs, or the order is outside current scope | Wait, try the other sort, load more, refresh, and verify the project and business scope. |
| The unread badge does not match what you just viewed | Local list state and the latest service response may not match | Refresh the inbox; do not infer participant read state from the badge. |
| A card changed position | A refresh or later event changed its message activity or order data | Match the business and order number again before opening it. |
| The conversation does not open | Navigation, order access, or the conversation read failed | Return to Messages, refresh, and ask the project administrator to verify order access if it persists. |
| Network Error remains after reconnecting | The request still cannot establish the list or account scope | Reopen the app only through the normal workflow, then contact the project administrator with the visible error text. |
Related articles
:::note Visual status Visual guidance is deferred pending an authorized synthetic capture program with exact populated-list, loading, empty, scoped-error, pagination, Newest-sort, Order-number-sort, unread-badge, conversation-loading, conversation-scoped-error, conversation-return, refreshed-list, socket-connected, socket-disconnected, and stale-event states; accepted R1 synthetic fixture and read budget, build and API deployment attestation, exact asset allowlist, redaction, and independent visual QA. :::