Skip to main content
You can temporarily stop a channel from receiving messages by deactivating it, then resume it whenever you are ready. This is useful for planned maintenance, team absences, or any situation where you want to pause incoming traffic without losing the channel’s configuration.

​
Activate a channel

1

Open the channel

  • In the left sidebar, click Channels.
  • Click the channel you want to activate.
2

Find the status toggle

On the channel detail page, locate the toggle switch showing the current status. If the channel is inactive, the toggle is in the off position.
3

Turn the channel on

Click the toggle to activate the channel. The status changes to Active and the channel immediately begins receiving messages again.
When a channel is activated, it starts receiving messages right away. Make sure the default team is ready to handle incoming conversations.

​
Deactivate a channel

1

Open the channel

  • In the left sidebar, click Channels.
  • Click the channel you want to deactivate.
2

Turn the channel off

On the channel detail page, click the status toggle to deactivate the channel. The status changes to Inactive and the channel stops accepting new messages.
When you deactivate a channel:
  • New inbound messages are not received.
  • Existing conversations remain accessible, but customers cannot send new messages through this channel.
  • Customers may receive an error or no response when they attempt to contact you.

​
Reading status in the channels list

The channels list gives you a quick overview of every channel’s state:
Use deactivation to pause channels during maintenance or when a team is unavailable, rather than deleting the channel. This preserves all configuration so you can reactivate it later without any additional setup.