Note: This feature is currently in Alpha Testing and will not be available to all practices.
Automation and Closure Rules allow your practice to automatically close inactive message threads based on defined conditions. This keeps your inbox focused on active conversations and reduces the manual effort required to clean up resolved or stale threads.
Why This Matters
Without automatic closure, your inbox can fill up with old, inactive conversations, making it harder to identify what actually needs attention. Closure rules help your team:
Maintain a clean, actionable inbox
Reduce noise from conversations that are no longer active
Ensure message threads are resolved appropriately based on patient behavior or practice activity
Accessing Automation & Closure Rules
Navigate to Settings → Communication → Automation and Closure Rules. This can also be accessed from the Communication Center by selecting the gear icon next to New Message
Enable Auto-Closure
At the top of the page, toggle Enable auto-closure on to activate the feature. When enabled, the system will automatically close message threads based on the rules configured below.
Auto-closure helps keep your inbox focused on active conversations without requiring manual cleanup.
Closure Rule Types
There are three rule types, each targeting a different inactivity scenario. All three can be active simultaneously.
Unresponded
Trigger: No practice user response
This rule closes conversations where the practice has not responded within the specified delay period. Use this to automatically resolve threads where a patient message was received, but no reply was ever sent — typically indicating the conversation is stale or no longer relevant.
Opt-Out
Trigger: Opt-out patients detected
This rule automatically closes conversations when a patient opts out of messaging. Since opted-out patients cannot receive further messages, keeping these threads open serves no purpose.
Inactive
Trigger: No activity
This rule closes conversations where there has been no activity — from either the patient or the practice — within the delay period. This is the broadest rule and handles threads that have simply gone quiet.
Configuring Each Rule
For each rule, you can set:
Delay — The number of days of inactivity before the rule triggers (default: 5 days)
Status — Toggle the rule Active or Inactive individually
Each rule can be enabled or disabled independently, so you can run only the rules that fit your workflow.
Saving Changes
After adjusting rule settings, click Save Changes to apply your configuration.
AI Agent Settings
From the Communications Center header, click the gear icon next to the AI Agent badge to open AI Agent Settings.
Reply Mode
Determines when the AI Agent responds to incoming messages. The default setting is Business Off Hours, meaning the AI Agent handles incoming messages only outside of your configured office hours.
Default Snooze Time
Sets how long a conversation is snoozed when a patient requests to be contacted later. The default is 24 Hours.
Snooze List
Displays any phone numbers currently snoozed by the agent. Numbers can be added manually using + Add Number if you need to pause AI Agent responses for specific contacts.
Recommended Configuration
For most practices, the following starting point works well:
Unresponded rule: Active, 5-day delay — catches threads that were never replied to
Opt-out rule: Active, 5-day delay — cleans up opted-out contacts automatically
Inactive rule: Active, 5-day delay — closes fully quiet conversations
AI Agent Reply Mode: Business Off Hours — ensures after-hours inquiries are handled automatically without interrupting your team