Skip to main content
When a ticket or conversation needs help from engineering, product, or another team, start an internal thread in one of your team’s Slack channels. The thread opens in Slack with the record’s details, and every reply in Slack comes back to the record as an internal message. Customers never see internal threads. Available on plans that include Slack. An admin sets up the channels once; anyone who can reply to customers can start and reply to threads.

​
How it works

  • Escalation channels are internal Slack channels you designate for escalations, such as #eng-escalations. They are separate from the customer channels Sayless brings into the inbox.
  • An internal thread belongs to exactly one ticket or conversation. A record can have threads in several escalation channels at once.
  • Replies sync both ways. Reply from Sayless and it posts to the Slack thread; reply in Slack and it appears on the record.
  • Escalation channels never create conversations or contacts. Messages posted in them outside a linked thread stay in Slack.

​
What syncs

If someone deletes the thread’s first message in Slack, the thread closes: later Slack replies stop syncing, and what was already copied stays on the record.

​
Set up escalation channels (admin)

You need the Slack workspace connection first.
  1. Open Settings > Slack and find Escalation Channels.
  2. Click Add Channel and pick a channel. For a private channel, invite the app first with /invite @Sayless.
Every escalation channel can be used from both tickets and conversations. A workspace can have up to 5 escalation channels. A channel can’t be both a customer channel and an escalation channel. Channels shared with another Slack workspace can’t be used, because people outside your team would see internal threads. To stop using a channel, hover its row and click the trash icon. Threads already in that channel keep their history.

​
Start an internal thread

  1. Open a ticket or conversation.
  2. In the side panel, find Internal threads and click Start internal thread.
  3. Pick a channel and write what the team should know.
The thread opens in Slack with your message, followed by a card showing the record’s title, number, company, status, priority, assignee, and SLA, with Open in Sayless and Change status buttons. The opening message and a “started an internal thread” entry appear on the record straight away. If you’ve connected your own Slack account in Sayless, your messages and reactions come from your account. Otherwise the Sayless app posts them under your name and photo. Files are always uploaded by the Sayless app.

​
Reply in a thread

  • From a ticket: hover a thread message and click Reply in thread, then write your comment. It posts to Slack and appears on the ticket.
  • From a conversation: switch the composer to Internal thread, pick the channel if there’s more than one, and send.
Mention a teammate with @ and they’re mentioned in Slack too, as long as their Slack email matches their Sayless email. Attach files the same way you would on any comment or note. To change a message you posted, hover it and click Edit. The Slack message updates too. To react, hover a thread message and click the emoji button, or click an existing reaction to add or remove yours. Reactions show on the Slack message too. If Slack doesn’t accept a message, it gets a red border on the record with Retry and Remove, and you’ll see an error notice. A conversation that started in Slack can be linked to a record after the fact:
  1. In Slack, open the thread’s More actions menu and choose Sync internal thread.
  2. Under Type, choose Ticket or Conversation, then search by title or number and click Sync.
Sayless copies the existing replies onto the record and posts a confirmation in the thread with an Unlink button. Your Slack email must match a Sayless member who can update records. From the thread’s first message you can also click Change status to update the record’s status from Slack. When the record’s status changes, from Sayless or Slack, the status on the thread’s first message updates within a few seconds. Other details on the card update when that message is edited.

​
Open threads automatically

Triggers on tickets and conversations have an Open internal thread action. Pick an escalation channel, write a message, and optionally mention a teammate. Use {company} and {assignee} in the message to fill in the record’s company and assignee. A trigger opens at most one thread per record in each channel. In the Internal threads card, hover a thread and click Unlink from Sayless, or click Unlink in Slack. Messages already on the record stay, and nothing syncs either way after that: no new replies, edits, deletions or reactions. The buttons on the thread’s first message in Slack stop working until the thread is linked again.

​
When Slack is disconnected or your plan changes

  • Slack disconnected or the app uninstalled: escalation channels are archived and threads stop syncing. Reconnecting the same Slack workspace brings the channels back, except ones archived in Slack.
  • Plan without Slack: threads stay on records and can still be unlinked, but you can’t start, reply, edit or react, and nothing syncs from Slack. Change status in Slack stops working too. Upgrading turns everything back on.

​
Hide thread messages

On a record, click Hide thread messages in the Internal threads card to collapse thread messages in the timeline. This setting is per device.

​
Troubleshooting