The omnichannel inbox
Understand how Ona brings patient, lead, external contact, and team conversations into one inbox across secure messages, SMS, email, groups, and internal notes.
The omnichannel inbox is Ona’s staff workspace for conversations. It brings patient, lead, external contact, and team conversations into one place, and you can also open a patient-specific chat from a patient’s chart.
Channel setup is separate from day-to-day messaging. Owners and admins manage communication settings; see Setting up your channels.
What is the omnichannel inbox?
The omnichannel inbox keeps communication organized around the person you are helping, instead of the channel they used. A patient, lead, or external contact can text, email, or start a group chat, and the inbox keeps the conversation history together so your team can read the context before replying. Recorded patient notifications also appear in these threads as their own cards.
Use Threads (1) to review the main inbox list, where conversations and person-level rows appear with the newest activity first. Use Contacts (2) to start from a patient, lead, teammate, or external contact instead of an existing thread. Use Mentions (3) to review internal pages, and use Search and filters (4) to narrow what you see. Use Create a group (5) to start a new group conversation.
The inbox supports these conversation types:
| Conversation type | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Secure message | Portal messaging with a patient. |
| SMS | Two-way text messaging when SMS is enabled. |
| Two-way email when inbox email is enabled. | |
| Note | Team-only notes connected to a patient or teammate. |
| Group | Named multi-party conversations with team members, and optionally patients. |
Fax documents are not part of the omnichannel inbox. They live in the fax workflow instead.
When should I use the omnichannel inbox?
Use the omnichannel inbox when you need the full communication picture: recent conversations, unread messages, mentions, external contacts, lead conversations, groups, and channel switching.
Use the patient chat page when you are already in a patient chart and want to message that patient. The patient chat page uses the patient’s name, phone number, and email from the chart, and respects whether SMS and email are enabled for your practice.
Use channel-specific articles when you need setup or delivery details: Texting and emailing patients, Internal notes and mentions, and Group chats.
How does the omnichannel inbox work?
In the left sidebar, click Omnichannel (1). On desktop, the inbox shows the conversation list with Contacts and a New conversation action in the header, plus the filter row below it. On mobile, the inbox uses a page header with the same actions and keeps Mentions in the filter row.
Use Threads (1) to work the inbox list, Contacts (2) to open a person first, Mentions (3) to review pages, Search and filters (4) to narrow the list, and Create a group (5) to start a group conversation.
Threads is the working list. It shows conversations and person-level rows, with the newest activity first. A row shows the latest channel, a preview, a relative time, an unread badge, and sometimes a Spam badge. Threads can also show recorded patient notification cards in the conversation history.
Contacts is where you start from a person instead of an existing thread. Selecting a patient, lead, teammate, or external contact can open a draft conversation. A draft does not become a real conversation until you send the first message. Groups are different: they are created through Create a group.
Mentions collects internal messages where someone has paged you. Open Mentions from the filter row to review them. The badge on Mentions shows unresolved mentions. Opening a mention takes you to the conversation, and Resolve mention clears the open mention for that conversation.
Channels stay separate, but the person stays central
After you select a person or contact, Ona shows the available channels for that conversation. Switching channels changes the transcript you are reading without losing the rest of the person's context. For example, you can review a patient message and then open email for an attachment.
Use Channel tabs (1) to switch between the conversation’s available channels. Use Selected person (2) to keep the thread’s person in view while you change channels. Use Message composer (3) to write the next message for the open channel.
Some channels depend on setup or contact details. SMS needs SMS to be enabled and a phone number. Email needs inbox email to be enabled and an email address. SMS in the composer is photo-only. Voice notes are not available there. Attachments are allowed on email, secure messages, group chats, and internal notes.
Messages can be external or internal
External messages go to the patient, lead, external contact, or group participants on that channel. Internal notes stay inside Ona for your team. Internal messages are shown with an amber style so they are not confused with sent patient messages.
Use Message bubble styles (1) to tell sent messages from team-only notes. Use Message actions (2) to open the controls for the selected message. Use Internal mode (3) to switch the composer into team-only note mode.
Internal notes can include @mentions. Mentions create entries in Mentions for the teammate who was paged. See Internal notes and mentions.
Conversations can be restricted
A conversation can be open to the team or restricted to selected members. Use Manage access from the conversation menu to review or change membership. Restricted conversations show a lock in the list.
Use Open (1) to keep the conversation available to the team. Use Restricted (2) to limit it to selected members. Use Members list (3) to see who has access to the conversation.
Group conversations are managed separately from one-to-one patient conversations. For details, see Group chats.
Archiving keeps the inbox focused
Archiving moves a conversation or channel out of the active inbox without deleting its history. Use the archive control on a row or channel to archive it, and use the restore control to bring it back. The inbox also keeps a separate Spam section after Archived for numbers that have been marked as spam.
Archive conversation (1) moves the thread out of the active inbox. Archive channel (2) moves the selected channel out of the active inbox.
New activity brings archived conversations back into the active inbox. For example, if a patient sends a new message or a new recorded notification appears, the conversation returns with the latest activity and unread count.
Unread counts follow attention, not every event
Unread badges appear on conversation rows and on Mentions. Use the Unread toggle in the filter row to show only conversations with unread activity, and use Mark all as read to clear the unread state for the inbox. If you already have a conversation open, new messages in that conversation are marked read instead of adding to your unread count.
Use the Unread badge (1) to spot conversations with unread activity. Use the Mentions (2) to see how many unresolved mentions you have. Use Archived thread returns (3) to identify patient notification cards that count as activity in the thread list.
Recorded patient notification cards also count as activity in the thread list. They can bring an archived conversation back into view and update the unread count when they need staff attention.
What are the limitations of the omnichannel inbox?
Doctors use the inbox within the part of the dashboard available to them. Patient deep links can open a patient conversation directly in Omnichannel instead of selecting the first inbox row. Lead deep links are available to owners, admins, and staff; doctors’ dashboards are scoped to their own patients.
Call conversations are not part of the inbox workspace. If replying is unavailable on an SMS or email thread, the composer is replaced with a read-only notice instead.
Only owners, admins, and staff can mark SMS and call threads as spam. Spam controls show in the conversation header for those channels, and spammed numbers move to the Spam section where their texts stay visible and their calls are rejected. Clinicians do not have that spam action.
Replying to a specific message and unsending a message depend on the message and channel. Messages that already left Ona through external channels are not handled the same way as internal or portal-only messages.
Unread state can also be changed from the row hover action and the conversation menu, where Mark as read and Mark as unread appear when they apply.
Common questions
Can I start a message before a conversation exists?
Yes. Selecting a patient, lead, teammate, or external contact can open a draft. The conversation is created when you send the first message, so empty drafts do not clutter the inbox.
Can I schedule a message?
Yes. Scheduled items appear on the conversation header as a scheduled count, and you can jump to them from there. If you cancel a scheduled message, it will not be sent and the text is discarded.
What do patients see?
Patients do not see the staff inbox structure, internal notes, mentions, or recorded patient notification cards. In the portal, they see their own chat experience rather than the staff channel workspace.
Why did a conversation disappear from my inbox?
It may have been archived, moved to Spam, or you may no longer have access to a restricted conversation. A thread can also look different when reply is unavailable and the composer is replaced with a read-only notice.
Where do leads fit?
Lead conversations are part of the operational inbox. Owners, admins, and staff can work lead conversations; doctors are scoped to their own patients. See Managing leads.
What happens when a number is marked as spam?
Its SMS and call threads move to Spam. New texts stay there, and calls from that number are rejected.
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