The Instagram DM inbox

Click Inbox in the left sidebar, or go to /inbox. Conversations are listed newest first, with a dot on the ones that have something unread.

The Inbox shows messages that arrive after your account is connected. It does not import older conversations from Instagram.

Everyone who has written to you is in one list. The open chats menu above it chooses what is waiting on you. Open chats, the default, are the conversations where their message is the latest word. Closed chats are the ones where you, or one of your automations, replied last. All chats shows both. The unread and hot lead chips narrow the list further. The box labelled search conversations looks through names, usernames, the email or phone number someone shared, and, from two characters up, the text of every message; when the match is inside the thread, the row shows that line with your words highlighted.

The outreach chip holds threads where only you, or one of your automations, has written so far; they join the list the moment the person replies. The archived chip holds what you have put away, and snoozed holds what is asleep until later.

Click a conversation to open it. Opening a thread marks it read, on every device where you have the Inbox open.

The Inbox updates by itself while it is open: a new message moves its conversation to the top and appears in the open thread within a second or two, and a short chime plays. The speaker button above the list turns the chime off.

A reel, post or story someone shares with you shows as a card with its title and an Open on Instagram link. A link typed into a message is clickable. Photos appear in the thread, videos and voice messages play in it, and PDFs and other files open from a card that shows their size.

Type in the box labelled write a reply and press Enter to send, or Shift and Enter for a new line. A reply can be up to 1,000 characters.

Instagram allows a free-form reply for 24 hours after the person last wrote to you. A clock in the thread header counts down what is left, and when the window has closed you can answer as soon as they write again.

Hover over a message to quote it in your reply or react to it with an emoji. The share button next to the box sends one of your own posts or reels into the chat.

Type / at the start of the reply box and your saved replies open above it. Keep typing to narrow the list by title or text, use the arrow keys to move, and press Enter to put the reply in the box. It is not sent until you press Enter again, so you can change a word first.

Manage saved replies, at the foot of that list, adds, edits and deletes them. A workspace keeps up to 50, each with a title of up to 40 characters and text of up to 1,000, and everyone in the workspace shares the same set.

Suggest replies, the sparkle button beside the reply box, writes up to three drafts from the last 20 messages in the thread, your saved replies, your note on the person and up to eight replies you have typed in the Inbox before. Click one to put it in the reply box; nothing is sent until you press Enter.

Suggestions are offered while the person’s message is the latest one and the 24-hour window is open. They come with replying, so they need Influencer or Creator, and they use no AI credits.

Use the flame button to mark a hot lead, the pin button to keep a thread at the top, the check button to mark an open chat closed when you have dealt with it without replying, and the archive button to put it away. A closed chat comes back to open chats if the person writes again, and the same button reopens it. An archived thread comes back on its own when the person messages you again.

Mute, in a row’s menu, keeps a conversation in the list and still marks it unread, but leaves it out of the unread badge in the sidebar and never plays the chime for it. Snooze hides a conversation until later today, tomorrow, the weekend, next week or a date and time you pick, up to a year ahead; it comes back at the top, unread, marked Back from snooze, or sooner if the person writes.

In the details panel (the i button), add tag attaches your own labels, up to 8 per conversation, and Private note keeps up to 1,000 characters about the person. The note saves as you type and only your workspace sees it.

Click the select conversations button above the list, then tick the rows you want, or Select all. The bar under the list archives or restores them, marks them read or unread, mutes them, or adds one tag to all of them. One action covers up to 100 conversations.

Open lead pipeline shows a board with four columns: New, Interested, Won and Lost. Marking a conversation a hot lead puts it in New, and the Pipeline buttons in the details panel move it to any stage. On a computer you can also drag cards between columns; on a phone, each card’s menu has Move to and Remove from pipeline. Archiving a conversation does not take it off the board.

Insights shows your median response time, the replies you sent, the messages you received, a chart of both per day, and lead conversion: the leads marked Won out of every lead on the board, with a bar for each stage. Choose 7, 30 or 90 days.

Response time only counts replies typed in the Inbox; messages an automation answered are left out. Insights work on every plan.

The @ button above the list opens Mentions: the comments where someone tagged your account, and the captions when Instagram reports them, newest first, with who wrote it, what they said and a dot on the new ones. Instagram does not give ReelDrop a link or preview for the post a comment was left on, so a comment card has none; the posts you are tagged in do show a preview and an Open on Instagram link. A new mention also puts an item in the notification bell; a burst of them is one item with the count, not one each. Mentions are part of the paid plans, Influencer and Creator.

Reply opens a box under the card and sends a public comment from your account. Everyone who can see the post sees it and it cannot be edited, only deleted on Instagram. Dismiss puts a mention away without deleting anything, and the Dismissed filter brings it back.

Check tagged posts looks for posts you are tagged in. Instagram does not announce those as they happen, so they only appear when you press it. Instagram does not let an account comment on a post it is tagged in, so those cards link out instead of offering a reply.

Mentions only arrive from the moment your account is connected on a paid plan; Instagram keeps no history to catch up on. Story mentions and anything from private accounts are not shared with ReelDrop. Mentions are deleted 90 days after they were saved.

The details panel shows the person’s name and a link to their Instagram profile, their pipeline stage, tags and your note. Under Activity it lists the date of their first message and the automations that have messaged them, newest first, each with its trigger and date. The banner above the thread names the first automation that reached them and the keyword they used.

When someone shares their email address or phone number through a quick reply in one of your automations, it shows under Contact info in the details panel of their conversation, with the date they shared it. Click it to email or call them, or use the copy button next to it. You can also search the Inbox by email or number.

The download button above the list exports everyone who shared an email or phone number as a CSV, with their name, Instagram username and link, the details they shared, their tags and pipeline stage. Exporting works on every plan.