> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.minidesk.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Messenger

> Messages to your Facebook Page become conversations in your inbox.

Customers message your Facebook Page on Messenger; it becomes a conversation
in your inbox; your reply goes back to them on Messenger. They never leave
Messenger, and you never leave your inbox.

## What you need

A Facebook Page you are an admin of, and two minutes. Nothing to host, nothing
to install, and no code.

Only an Owner can connect it.

## Set it up

<Steps>
  <Step title="Add the channel">
    In the dashboard, go to **Channels** and pick **Messenger**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Press Continue to Meta">
    The login happens on Meta's own screen. Log in with the Facebook account
    that admins your Page, and share the Page when Meta asks.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose your Page">
    Meta sends you back to the dashboard, which asks which Page to connect.
    Pick it and press **Connect Page**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Send the Page a message from a different Facebook account to confirm it works.
It should appear in your inbox within a few seconds.

<Note>
  The **Choose your Page** list is only valid for 30 minutes. If you leave it
  open longer, it says the link has expired. Press **Connect again** to go
  through Meta once more.
</Note>

## One Page per workspace

A workspace connects one Page, and a Page belongs to one workspace. In the
list, a Page that another workspace already uses is marked **Connected to
another workspace** and cannot be picked.

To switch to a different Page, disconnect the first.

### If your Page is not in the list

The list shows what Meta shared with us, nothing more. If your Page is missing,
or the dialog says Meta did not share any Pages, check that you are an admin
of it and that you ticked it on Meta's screen. Then press **Connect again**.

## Only messages from now on

Messages sent after you connect become conversations. Your existing Page inbox
is not imported, so a customer you were already talking to starts a new
conversation the next time they write.

## What arrives

Messages, and what comes with them.

Photos and PDFs are stored alongside the message, up to 10MB each, the same as
everywhere else in the product. Videos, voice messages and other files are not
stored. An internal note names each one, so your team knows something was sent
and can look in Messenger.

We stop at images and PDFs because almost every support attachment is a
screenshot, and every file type we accept is one we have to store and serve
safely.

A message with no words, like a photo on its own, still becomes a
conversation. It gets a short placeholder line, like "(sent a photo)", so the
thread is not blank.

Comments on your Page's posts do not arrive. Only Messenger messages do.

## Which conversation a message joins

A chat has no threads, just one continuous stream. So a new message joins the
customer's open conversation if they have one. If every conversation with them
is resolved or closed, it starts a new one.

That means a customer coming back a month later opens a fresh conversation
rather than reviving a finished one.

## Their name and picture

The customer's Facebook name is used as their name in your inbox. Where they
have a profile picture, we fetch it whenever they start a new conversation and
show it beside their name. People with no picture keep the initials circle.

The image is stored privately and shown through a short-lived signed link, not
a public URL. Erasing a customer deletes the file along with the record.

## Replying

Your reply goes back on Messenger. Three things are worth knowing.

**Meta only lets businesses reply within 24 hours of the customer's last
message.** A reply written by a person gets 7 days instead. The AI does not
get the extra time, and does not need it: it answers within minutes. Once the
window has closed, nothing reaches the customer until they write again.

**Long replies are split.** Messenger caps a message at 2000 characters, so a
longer reply arrives as several messages, broken at a line or a space.

**Only the text goes.** Files you attach to a reply stay on the conversation
in miniDesk. If the customer needs one, send a link.

### A reply that did not arrive says so

If Messenger refuses a reply, you get an internal note on the conversation
saying it was not delivered, and why: the 24 hours have passed, the Page needs
reconnecting, or Messenger did not accept it. The note is there so nobody on
your team believes the customer has an answer they never got.

## Replies sent from Messenger

You can still answer from Messenger yourself. That reply is added to the
conversation, labelled **Messenger app**, so the thread in your inbox stays
complete. It is not sent a second time.

A conversation you start yourself from the Page does not become a ticket. It
is not a support request.

## Automated replies

If you have AI auto-reply switched on, Messenger follows it like any other
channel. Once the Page is connected, the **Reply automatically on** list under
**AI Agent → Settings** gets a **Messenger** switch. It starts on, so you can
turn it off for Messenger and leave it on for email, or the reverse.

## The confirmation message

When the AI is not answering a new conversation, the customer hears nothing
until someone on your team replies. Switch on **Confirmation message** in
**Channels → Messenger** to send them one line straight away, so they know it
arrived.

It goes once, when a conversation starts, and only if the AI did not reply on
its own. Leave the text as it is to send ours: "Thanks for your message! We'll
get back to you as soon as we can." Or write your own, up to 500 characters.
Clear the field to go back to ours.

It is off until you switch it on. Your team does not see it as a message in
the thread. It is listed as **Confirmation sent** in the conversation's
history, and the conversation still counts as unanswered.

<Warning>
  If **Instant reply** is also on in Meta Business Suite, customers get both.
  Switch one of them off.
</Warning>

## On the free plan

On the free plan, the first message we send in each conversation ends with
the line "Sent from miniDesk.ai". That is the confirmation message if one went
out, or the first reply if not. Paid plans never add it, and upgrading removes
it straight away.

## The states

The Channels screen shows which one you are in:

| State | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Waiting for the first message** | Connected, but nobody has messaged the Page since |
| **Live** | At least one message has arrived and become a conversation |
| **Paused** | You switched it off |
| **Reconnect needed** | Meta stopped sending this Page's messages to us |

**Reconnect needed** usually means your access to the Page changed on Meta's
side. Open **Channels → Messenger** and press **Reconnect** to log in on Meta
again. When you come back, your Page is already chosen in the list: press
**Done**.

Log in with the same Facebook account you connected with. If you use a
different one, the dashboard says so and stops, because the Page's connection
belongs to the first login.

## Pausing and disconnecting

**Pausing** is the **Accept new conversations** switch. While it is off,
nothing customers send is picked up, not even replies to conversations already
in your inbox, and nothing is kept for later. The connection is kept, so
switching it back on picks up from the next message.

**Disconnecting** removes the connection and withdraws the access Meta gave
us. The Facebook Page itself is untouched and stays exactly as it is.

Conversations that already arrived stay in your inbox either way. They are
your support history, not part of the connection.

## Through the API

Conversations that start on Messenger have `source: "messenger"` in
[the REST API](/api-reference/introduction). Their requesters are never
verified: Meta vouches that a Facebook account exists, not that it belongs to
one of your customers.


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