# Statuses and closing (https://docs.treema.ai/en/docs/inbox/conversation/statuses)

What each status means, when to close a conversation, and what Spam does.

The status is how a conversation reports itself to everyone who isn't in it. It is one dropdown in
the header, and it changes as soon as you pick — there is nothing to save.

![Screenshot: inbox/status](https://docs.treema.ai/screenshots/en/inbox/status.png)

1. The status of this conversation, changed here

## The five [#the-five]

| Status          | Means                                                | Set it when                                           |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **New**         | Nobody has dealt with it.                            | It arrives — this is where every conversation starts. |
| **In progress** | Somebody is on it.                                   | You've taken it and started answering.                |
| **Waiting**     | Answered; something outside the inbox has to happen. | You're waiting on the guest, the kitchen, a supplier. |
| **Closed**      | Nothing outstanding.                                 | The guest has what they needed.                       |
| **Spam**        | Junk.                                                | It isn't a guest.                                     |

**Waiting** is the one teams skip and then miss. It is what separates "I've answered and it's on
them" from "I haven't looked at it" — without it, both look like **New** to the next shift.

## Closing [#closing]

**Closed** moves the conversation out of the working buckets and into **Closed**. Nothing is deleted
and nothing is hidden: the thread is still searchable, and if the guest writes again the conversation
comes back with their message.

That's why closing generously is right. A queue where everything finished stays open is a queue
nobody trusts.

## Spam [#spam]

**Spam** is for what isn't a guest at all — bots, cold sales, a wrong number. It behaves like Closed
but keeps the junk out of the way of anyone reviewing what was actually finished.

<Callout title="Spam is not for guests you'd rather not answer">
  A rude message is still a guest. Mark spam only for what isn't one — the bucket is how a manager
  audits "did we really deal with everything", and putting real people in it quietly breaks that.
</Callout>

## Several at once [#several-at-once]

Selecting rows in the list brings up the bar with **Mark status…** and **Close**. End of shift, a
dozen threads that were answered and never closed: tick, close, done.

Every status change is immediate and visible to the rest of the team — there is no draft state and no
undo, but nothing is destroyed either. Setting a status back is just as quick.