Overview

This lesson covers the act of sending a reply: composing the message, attaching files, and the small differences between channels. The next lesson goes deep on AI suggestions specifically. This one is about the basics of getting a message out the door.

The composer

Open any conversation. The reply composer is at the bottom of the middle pane. From here you can:

• Type a freehand reply

• Insert a message template

• Attach files or images

• Send (or save as draft)

For email-channel conversations, the composer expands into a full email composer with rich formatting, To/Cc fields, and a subject line. For chat-style channels like Airbnb the composer is a single text box — that's intentional, because those channels don't support email-style formatting on the receiving side.

Sending a reply, step by step

1. Open the conversation

2. Read the latest message (and anything in the right-hand context panel that's relevant)

3. Type your reply in the composer

4. (Optional) attach a file — drag-and-drop into the composer, or click the paperclip icon

5. (Optional) insert a template — see Message Templates

6. Click Send

That's it. The message goes to the guest through whatever channel the conversation is on. You don't have to switch tools or pick a delivery method — it just goes.

Channel-aware formatting

Different channels support different things. Sparrow Intel handles this for you, but it helps to know what's going where:

If you write rich formatting (bold, bullets) into a chat-channel composer, Sparrow Intel strips it before sending so the guest doesn't see literal markup characters.

Multi-language guests

1. Detects the language on the incoming post

2. Stores both the original and an English translation (so you can read it)

3. When you ask Chirp AI to draft a reply, the draft comes back in the guest's language

4. When you send your reply, it goes out in whatever language you wrote it in

If you write in English and want the reply translated for the guest, you can ask Chirp AI to draft — it'll produce a reply in the guest's language automatically.

Attachments

To attach a file, drag it onto the composer or click the paperclip icon. Multiple attachments are supported.

What goes through depends on the channel — see the table above. If you attach something the channel can't deliver, Sparrow Intel will tell you before the message is sent.

Inbound attachments from guests are stored on the post and shown inline. Click any inbound attachment to download or view it.

Drafts and saving

If you start typing and switch to a different conversation, your draft text stays in the composer until you either send it or delete it. There is no separate Drafts folder — the draft lives on the conversation.

If a teammate is also typing on the same conversation, you'll see their typing indicator and can avoid stepping on each other (Working as a Team).

What happens after you send

• The post appears in the thread immediately

• The conversation moves to the top of any default-sorted view

• If your team has a rule that fires on outbound posts (e.g., "auto-close after agent reply"), it runs

• The guest receives the message via the appropriate channel

You don't have to mark the conversation as "responded" — that state is implicit in the message having been sent.

Up next

AI Reply Suggestions & Confidence Scoring — let Chirp AI do the heavy lifting on the first draft.