Use this article to learn how to apply macros in the Inbox — in conversations, internal notes, new tickets, and across multiple conversations at once. To create or manage macros, see Creating and managing macros.
Macros let you group common message content and actions — like tagging, assigning, snoozing, or closing — and apply them with one click.
Note: Applying macros requires the Can use personal macros or Can manage shared macros permission. Contact your workspace admin if macros aren't visible in the composer.
How to apply a macro to a conversation
To apply a macro to a conversation:
Open a conversation in the Inbox.
In the reply composer, click the macros icon, type
\, or type#followed by any word from the macro name.
Select your macro from the list (or press
Enter). The message is inserted into the composer — edit it to personalize before sending.
Review the macro's queued actions shown below the composer.
Edit them if needed — for example, change the tag, reassign to a different team, or remove an action.
Click Send or press
⌘/CtrlEnter. The macro's actions run automatically and are recorded in the conversation timeline.
Note:
The macros that appear in the picker depend on which composer you're in. Macros created for "Reply" only appear in the reply composer, macros created for "Notes" only appear in the note composer, and macros created for "Starting conversations" only appear when starting a new conversation. If a macro isn't showing up, check that its Available when setting matches the composer you're using.
If you have any existing content in the composer, the macros’ content will be appended at your cursor's position.
When multiple actions are included in a single macro, the Conversation Events displayed in the UI may appear in a different order due to priority rules in the codebase. However, this does not affect the actual execution order, which always follows the sequence defined in the macro.
Tip: You can also select the macro icon to pin it to the composer.
How to apply a macro when creating a ticket
Macros are saved combinations of message content and inbox actions. You can apply a macro directly on the ticket-creation screen — before the ticket is submitted — so your first reply and any inbox actions are ready from the moment the ticket is created. This feature is available on all plans that include Tickets.
To apply a macro when creating a ticket:
Open the ticket-creation screen from the Inbox.
Select the customer the ticket is for.
In the Reply or Note pane, click the macros icon, type
\, or type#followed by any word from the macro name.
Select your macro from the list. The message is inserted into the active pane and the macro's actions appear below the composer, ready to run.
Submit the ticket. The message is sent as the first reply and all actions run automatically. The new ticket opens showing the full conversation timeline.
Note: Macro content is personalized against the customer you've selected on the ticket. If you switch the selected customer, the next macro you apply will re-personalize to the new recipient. Make sure you've selected a customer before applying a macro — personalization won't resolve if no customer is selected.
How to apply multiple macros
When dealing with a more specific situation, you can apply a combination of macros.
For example: You need to pass a conversation to your sales team, but they’re off for the weekend. You could use one macro for the assignment message, and one to set expectations and snooze the conversation until Monday:
If there are any conflicting actions like assignments to different teams, the most recently added action (shown in red) won’t occur. To manually choose an action, just remove any conflicts:
Note:
If you have a Close or Snooze action, these buttons will be removed from the composer, and handled by the macro.
All macro actions will be recorded as parts in the conversation.
After making changes to the actions or content, click Send and let the macro take care of the rest.
How to use macros in internal notes
Macros can also be applied to internal notes, and work the same as when you use them in a reply.
Tip: This is particularly helpful for situations like escalating a conversation to another team.
How to apply a macro to multiple conversations
To perform the same actions, or send the same response to multiple conversations at once, just select the conversations in your Inbox list, and click the Edit icon.
Here, you can choose from existing macros, or craft your response and actions manually. Then press ⌘/Ctrl Enter to Send. Any reply content will be sent, and actions applied to all selected conversations.
This is most effective when answering many conversations about the same topic, or setting reply expectations due to an outside event, like an outage.
Macros in the Intercom Conversations app
It’s not currently possible to apply actions with macros in our mobile apps.
If you send a macro with content and actions, only the content will be inserted.
Any macros that are actions only (no content) won’t be available in the macros list.
Macros in Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram conversations
If you use our Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram apps, you can send macros in conversations started from social media, with a few limitations:
Images and GIFs will be removed.
Links will be presented in parentheses.
Bullet points will turn into dashes or numbers.
Styling such as headers, bold or italics will be removed.
Note: Sending GIFs via macro is not officially supported for Instagram. The integration strips images and GIFs from macros before sending to social channels.
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