What is the Inbox (Colab)?

One Inbox for Every Conversation

The Inbox is the one place where every call, text, email, and Google Local Service Ads (LSA) lead lands. KeyBolt groups everything from one customer interaction into a single thread called a Colab. Instead of jumping between your phone log, your texting app, your email, and your Google leads, you open one screen and see the whole story.

The Inbox is included on both plans, Basic ($99/month) and KeyBolt Pro ($189/month), at no extra charge. Find it in the left sidebar on a computer, or the bottom tab bar on your phone, labeled Inbox.

One thing to know up front: sending a text from a Colab needs your own business phone line, which is part of KeyBolt Pro. On Basic you can still read everything, add notes, attach photos, and reply by email. You just can't send texts. See Replying to a Customer from a Colab for the details.

The Tabs at the Top

When you open the Inbox, a row of tabs filters the list:

• All. Everything still live. This is where you land by default. Closed, cancelled, and archived Colabs are not here.
• Unassociated. New leads from people who aren't a customer in your records yet. This tab only shows for owners, managers, and dispatchers, because matching a lead to a customer is a dispatch job. See Colab Statuses for what 'unassociated' means.
• Messages. Colabs that came in as a text, an email, or a Google lead.
• Phone. Colabs that came in as a call. A Colab stays on the tab it arrived on, even after you reply another way.
• Team. Your shop's internal team chat. This is your crew talking to each other, not customer conversations.
• Closed. Finished Colabs. Completed and cancelled work moves here for reference.
• Archived. Colabs you tucked away without closing them. They are grouped into a folder per customer, so an old property manager thread is easy to find again. Open a folder, pick the Colab, and tap Restore to bring it back.

Each tab shows a small count badge when it has items. The Unassociated badge turns amber when there are new leads waiting, so you can spot them fast.

Searching

The search box at the top finds a Colab by customer name, business name, contact name, title, address, or work order number. Type a plain number like 1133 (or #1133) to jump straight to that Colab. Press Enter to search, and clear it with the X to go back to the full list.

Opening a Colab

Tap any row to open the thread. At the top you'll see:

• A status pill (more on that below) and the source it came in on (for example 'via call' or 'via email').
• The title, which is the customer name if one is linked, otherwise the caller's phone number, otherwise 'New Colab'.
• A Customer line naming the business and the exact person you talked to. This is your record of who authorized the work, which matters if a property manager ever disputes a charge. Beside it are the Phone and Address lines.
• The Primary tech and any Collaborators on the Colab (owners, managers, and dispatchers only).

The Timeline

Below the header is the timeline, the running history of everything that happened, newest at the top. Each entry has an icon for the channel it came from:

• A phone icon for a call. On KeyBolt Pro the recording, the transcript, and an AI summary show right in the entry.
• A chat bubble for a text message.
• A Google logo for an LSA lead.
• An envelope for an email, with the body inline and attachments shown as thumbnails or download links.
• A note icon for an internal note your team added.
• Picture and paperclip icons for photos and documents your team attached.
• A clock icon for events, like 'Converted to Job' or 'Invoice paid, Colab auto-closed'.

If a thread is long, tap Load older at the bottom to pull in earlier entries.

Status Pills

Every Colab shows a colored status pill so you can tell its state at a glance:

• Needs customer (amber). A lead not yet tied to anyone in your customer list.
• Open (blue). Tied to a customer and still active.
• Job Created (green). Turned into a job. In the Inbox list this pill then follows the work: Job Scheduled, Tech Dispatched, Tech En Route, On Site, Job Completed, then Invoice Sent, Partial Payment, Invoice Paid, or Invoice Overdue. So the pill tells you where the money is, not just that a job exists.
• Estimate Created (teal). Converted into an estimate.
• Closed / Cancelled (gray). Finished.

A converted Colab stays active so you can keep talking to the customer about the work. See Colab Statuses, Closing, and Reopening for the full lifecycle.

Calling, Navigating, and the Action Buttons

Call sits right on the phone number and dials through KeyBolt's softphone on Pro, not your personal phone. Navigate sits on the address and opens Google Maps. Each one only shows when there's a phone number or address on file.

Below those is a row of buttons for the things you do to a Colab: Create Job, Attach to Job, Create Estimate, Merge, Close, Cancel, and Archive.

Linking a Lead to a Customer

If a Colab isn't tied to a customer yet, owners, managers, and dispatchers see a Link to customer button under the Customer line. Tap it to search your existing customers or add a new one in one step. See Linking a Colab to a Customer.

Assigning a Tech

Open the Colab and use the Primary tech dropdown to set who owns it. To bring in extra people, use Add collaborator. This is covered in Multi-Tech Handoff in a Colab.

Turning a Colab Into Work

When a Colab becomes real work, use the buttons at the top: Create Job if they're ready to book, or Create Estimate if you need to quote first. See Convert and Merge Colabs.

Customers vs Colabs

A customer is the permanent record: name, phone, address, key codes, and every job they've ever had. A Colab is one specific conversation, usually tied to one job or estimate. When a Colab is done, it closes. The customer record stays forever. You can see all of a customer's Colabs from their customer page.

Next Steps

• Learn to reply to customers and add notes and photos
• See how to convert and merge Colabs
• Understand statuses, closing, and reopening
• Read about multi-tech handoffs