# Canned responses

Save answers you send often, like opening hours or shipping fees, keep your own, and insert them with / or the lightning button on the web, phone and Mac.

Canned responses are replies you write once and reuse: opening hours, shipping fees, how to pay by bank transfer. Agents insert them by typing `/` and a short code, or pick them from a list, and can edit the text before sending. They can greet the customer by name.

There are two kinds:

- **Your own**: every agent keeps their own replies, and only they see them. Anyone with **Work** access to Customer Support can add, edit and delete their own.
- **The team's**: shared with everyone in the business. Only people with **Manage** access add and change them.

## Create a canned response

You need **Work** access to Customer Support for your own responses, and **Manage** access for the team's.

1. Go to **Customer Support → Canned responses**.
2. Fill in the form at the top:
   - **Shortcut** (optional): what you type after `/`, for example `gio`: lower-case letters, digits and hyphens. Leave it empty and Ha Tang makes one from the title, "Giờ mở cửa" becoming `gio-mo-cua`;
   - **Title**: what agents see in the list, for example "Giờ mở cửa";
   - **Email subject** (optional): used when the response goes into an email reply that has no subject yet;
   - **Content**: the message itself.
3. Managers tick **Only for me** to keep it private; everyone else's responses are always their own.
4. Click **Add response**.

![Canned responses with their shortcuts](https://hatang.dev/help/img/en/inbox/canned.webp)

## Edit or delete a canned response

1. In the list, click **Edit** next to the response.
2. Change any field, including the shortcut and **Only for me**, and click **Save**.

The new text is used the next time someone types `/`; messages already sent keep their old text. A shortcut another response already uses is refused with "Shortcut /… already exists". **Delete** removes the response for everyone. Private responses of other employees do not appear in the list, so only their author can edit them. Without **Manage** access you can edit and delete only your own.

### Greet the customer by name

Write `{{visitor.name|bạn}}` where the customer's name should go. When an agent inserts the response, it becomes the customer's name, or the word after `|` if Ha Tang does not know it. `{{visitor.email}}` inserts their email address the same way.

> Xin chào {{visitor.name|bạn}}, Mộc Hương Tea mở cửa 8:30–21:30 mỗi ngày.

becomes "Xin chào Thu Hà, Mộc Hương Tea mở cửa 8:30–21:30 mỗi ngày."

## Use a canned response

You need **Work** access to Customer Support.

1. In the reply box, type `/` at the start of a line. Up to six matching responses appear; keep typing the shortcut to narrow them down.
2. Pick one with the arrow keys and `Enter` or `Tab`, or click it.
3. The text replaces what you typed. Edit it if you need to, then send.

![Typing / in the reply box](https://hatang.dev/help/img/en/inbox/canned-picker.webp)

Canned responses work in internal notes and email replies too.

## On the phone and Mac apps

You create and pick canned responses right in the conversation, without going to the web.

1. In the reply box, tap the lightning button (on the Mac, click it or press `⌘/`). The list shows **Mine** first, then **Team**. Search by name, shortcut or text, accents optional.
2. Tap a response to put it in the reply box. Edit it if you need to, then send.
3. To add one, tap **New**. Give it a **Name** and a **Message**; **Customer name** and **Customer email** insert the customer's details, and the preview shows what the customer reads. The shortcut is made from the name; change it under **Advanced**.
4. Wrote a reply worth keeping? With the text still in the reply box, open the list and tap **Save this message as a canned response**.
5. To edit or delete one of yours, press and hold it (on the Mac, right-click). On the phone, **More → Canned responses** lists them all: tap to edit, swipe left to delete.

Managers also see **Share with the team** in the editor.

## Tips

- Keep shortcuts short and memorable: `gio`, `ship`, `ck` (chuyển khoản), `baogiasi`.
- Write the response the way your team actually talks to customers, so it does not stand out from the rest of the conversation.
- For answers the AI assistant should give on its own, add them to the assistant's knowledge instead (see [AI assistant overview](https://hatang.dev/help/ai/ai-overview)).