If you set up only one custom inbox, make it this one. The optimized workflow inbox turns your unread badge into a single, honest number: how many customers are right now waiting for a human reply — across every project you work on. It filters your list down to the conversations that actually need a person, and counts only what's genuinely outstanding.
This is a worked example built on the ideas in Custom inboxes and the unread counter — read that for the full reference on every option.
The recipe at a glance
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Scope | Cross-project (all your projects), personal |
| Status filter | Escalating + Processing only |
| Unread counting — Escalating | Since last operator reply (Badge on) |
| Unread counting — Processing | Since last operator reply (Badge on) |
| Default inbox | Yes — set as your default |
Step by step
- Open the inbox switcher at the top of the conversation list and choose Create custom inbox.
- Give it a name and icon (for example, ⚡ Workflow). Make it cross-project — don't restrict it to a single project — so it spans everything you work on. Keep it personal for now (you can share it with the team later).
- Under Status, select Escalating and Processing only. Leave the other filters at their defaults (Assignment: All, Read state: All, no priority/channel/tag filters).
- In the Unread counting section, set both Escalating and Processing to Since last operator reply, and leave their Badge boxes checked. (New and Waiting can stay on Default — they're filtered out of this view anyway.)
- Tick Use as my default inbox.
- Save.
Why it works
- The list shows only live work. Escalating = the AI has handed off to a human; Processing = a human has it in hand. New conversations (still handled by the AI), Waiting (you're waiting on the customer) and Resolved/Closed are all kept out of the view, so you're looking at exactly what's in front of you.
- The number means “customers waiting on a person”. Since last operator reply counts customer messages that haven't yet had a human response — an AI auto-reply doesn't mask it, and the moment you reply, the count drops to 0.
- One honest badge across everything. Because it's cross-project and set as your default, this inbox drives your sidebar badge and browser-tab count using these rules across all your projects — and it follows you on every device.
- It clears as you work. Reading or replying clears it for you (unread is per-operator), so the number always reflects your real outstanding workload. A teammate who hasn't picked it up still sees it.
Make it your own
- Track your follow-ups too: add Waiting to the status filter and set it to Since my last message if you want visibility on replies you're awaiting.
- Roll it out to the team: turn on Share with all team members (admins and managers) so everyone works from the same view.
- Focus a single queue: add a project, channel or tag filter to scope the list — the badge still counts by your rules across all projects.
For the meaning of every status, counting option and the mark-as-read / mark-as-unread behaviour, see Custom inboxes and the unread counter.