Rookery

Hand to a teammate, and who has what

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Hand to… gives a conversation to someone else with a line for them: "Can you check the VAT on this one?" It's theirs from then on, and they're told. Who has what shows what each person has open, so you can see who needs a hand.

Hand a conversation to someone

  1. Open the conversation, then press ⇧H. Or open ⋯ at the top and pick Hand to…, or press ⌘K and type "Hand to".
  2. Pick a teammate, a group, or Rookery.
  3. Add a note for them if you like. It's optional.
  4. Click Hand to Maya.

Here's what happens:

  • The conversation is assigned to Maya.
  • Rookery's drafts here now wait for Maya's yes. That stays true even if she unassigns it later.
  • Maya gets a notification, with your note in it. If she isn't in Rookery within a few minutes, she gets an email too (see Notification emails).
  • The conversation's history says Leo handed this to Maya: "Can you check the VAT on this one?". Everyone who can see the conversation can see the note.

Changed your mind? Click Undo in the message that appears at the bottom of the screen. The conversation goes back exactly as it was: whoever had it has it again, Rookery's drafts wait for the same person, and the history says you undid it. If Maya's email hasn't gone yet, it never goes. If someone has moved the conversation since, Undo leaves it as it is.

Hand several at once

  1. In the inbox, select conversations with their circles, or press x on each.
  2. On the bar at the top, click Hand to…. If the bar is narrow, it's under More. ⇧H works either way.
  3. Pick someone, add a note, and click Hand to.

If they can't see some of the conversations you picked, those stay where they are. The message at the bottom says how many.

Hand a draft to someone to approve

When Rookery's draft is waiting and someone else should say yes:

  1. On the draft, click Hand to….
  2. Pick who should approve it. Only people who can reply in that inbox can approve a draft. Anyone else is greyed out.
  3. Click Hand to Maya to approve.

The draft waits in Maya's Needs your yes.

Hand it to Rookery

Pick Rookery in the list. Your note tells Rookery what to do, like "Draft the refund using the Refunds playbook". What Rookery writes comes back to you for a yes. See Assign a conversation.

Hand it to a group

Pick a group, like Billing, under the teammates. It's Up for grabs in Billing: nobody has it yet, and everyone in Billing who can see the conversation gets a notification with your note. The first of them to take it has it. The history says Leo handed this to Billing: "…", and Undo works the same way.

A group can't approve a draft, so it isn't offered when you hand a draft to someone to approve. A group is greyed out when nobody in it can see the inbox, when it has nobody in it yet, and always for a private inbox.

When someone is greyed out

You can only hand a conversation to someone who can see its inbox. The list shows everyone on the team. People who can't take it are greyed out, with the reason:

  • A private inbox: only its owner can have it. A private inbox's mail is only ever its owner's.
  • Not on this inbox's list. The inbox is open only to the people chosen for it. Someone who manages it can add them in Settings → Inboxes.
  • Can see 2 of 3. You picked several, and they can see only some. Only those go to them.
  • Has it now. It's already theirs.

Someone who's set themselves Away shows Away until Thu 23 Oct (or just Away). They're greyed out as a reminder, but you can still pick them.

Who has what

Open Who has what in the sidebar, or press g then v. There's one card for each person, with yours first:

  • Open: the conversations they have, plus the ones where Rookery's drafts wait for them.
  • Waiting on them: the customer wrote last, so it's their move. Longest wait says how long the oldest one has waited.
  • Waiting on the customer: you wrote last.
  • Drafts waiting for their yes: Rookery's drafts that wait for them.
  • Handed to Rookery: conversations Rookery is working on for them.

The Rookery card shows what Rookery is working on, the drafts it's holding for someone's yes, and mail it held for a person to check. If some conversations have nobody yet, a link above the cards says how many are up for grabs.

These are counts, not a race. Everyone on the team can open the page.

If your team has groups, pick one at the top, like Billing, to see only the people in it. The up-for-grabs link then counts what's waiting in that group.

One person's list

Click someone's card to see their conversations as a list. Waiting on them comes first, with the longest wait at the top. Then come the ones handed to Rookery, then the ones waiting on the customer.

  • Press j and k to move through the list, and Enter to open one. An opened conversation shows where it is, like "3 of 18", with j and k for the next and previous ones.
  • Turn on Replied in the last 90 days to add the conversations they replied in lately, even if someone else has them now. Those are marked Maya replied.
  • Search all, Done included opens the Search page with the same person filled in.

Privacy

Who has what only counts what you can see yourself. A teammate's private inbox never shows, not even as a number. An inbox open only to some people counts only for them.