Guide: The contact panel
This page: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/messages/the-contact-panel
Topic: Messages
Time: about 3 minutes
Who can do it: Anyone on your team
Author: https://anantgupta.xyz (Anant Gupta, founder of CommentWatchDog)
Start in the app: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox/messages
Result when done: Everything about the person beside the chat: their profile, what they gave you, their tags and fields, where they came from and every run.
Context: The contact panel sits beside the chat on a wide screen and opens as a drawer on a smaller one. On Instagram it reads the person's profile live from Meta when you open it: whether they follow you, their followers, a verified badge, their picture. Messenger shares only the name, and anything more appears once an automation collects it. Below: whether automations are on in this chat and until when you can reply, where they came from, the email and phone they gave with the question they answered, your fields, their tags, and the automations that ran for them.

Before you start:
1. The Instagram profile is read when you open the panel, never stored.
2. Fields shown in Details are arranged for the whole team.
3. Tags and fields are the same ones the People page and your flows use.

Steps:
Step 1 of 5: Open the panel.
Where: In a chat, the panel button at the right end of the chat's header, or click the person's name there. On a wide screen the panel stays open beside the chat until you hide it with the same button; on a phone it opens as a drawer titled Contact.
Link: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox/messages (Open Messages)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox.en.webp (The panel button, at the right end of the chat's header; here the panel is open beside the chat.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-thread-phone.en.webp (The panel button, at the right end of the chat's header.)
You should see: Their name, username and picture, their followers, Follows you, and View on Instagram.

Step 2 of 5: See where they came from, and whether you can still reply.
Where: Started from: Came from names the automation that first reached them, and the card under it says how: Started from a comment (or an ad, or a link), with the automation's name. Just above that section, the last line of the first card is the reply window: You can reply until, and the time.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox.en.webp (Started from a comment, and the automation that answered it.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-contact-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: How this person reached you, and until when Meta lets you answer.

Step 3 of 5: Read what they gave you, and set a field.
Where: Details: Email and Phone come first; an address they typed carries the question they answered (Typed in reply to …), and one they have not given reads Not given. Then your custom fields with their values, Empty when there is none. Add gives a value or creates a field; Arrange chooses which fields show here for your whole team, and their order.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-activity.en.webp (Details: what they gave you, then your fields.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-contact-more-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: A value saved at once, and the same on the People page.

Step 4 of 5: Add or remove a tag.
Where: Contact tags, under Details: type in Add a tag to add one; the × on a tag takes it off.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-activity.en.webp (Contact tags, and Add a tag.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-contact-more-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: The tag on the contact at once: the same tag People, your flows and the inbox labels use.

Step 5 of 5: See every run for this person.
Where: Activity lists the automations that ran for them, newest first, each with its outcome (Sent). All runs, at the section's top right, opens the runs themselves. The last link in the panel opens their contact on the People page.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-activity.en.webp (Activity: the automations that ran for them.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/dm-inbox-contact-more-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: One row per automation, or a line saying none has run for them yet.

If something is off:
Problem: A Messenger contact shows only a name
Fix: Messenger shares only the name. An email, phone or answer appears once an automation asks for it.
Problem: Your private reply sits in their message requests
Fix: On Instagram, a private reply to someone who does not follow you lands in their Requests folder; Instagram does not report whether it was seen.
Problem: The profile does not load
Fix: It is read from Instagram when you open the panel. If Instagram does not share it, the panel says so; try again later.

Common questions:
Question: Can I see if a person follows my Instagram account from the inbox?
Answer: Yes. The contact panel reads their Instagram profile live when you open it: whether they follow you, their followers, a verified badge and their picture.
Question: Why does a Messenger contact show so little?
Answer: Messenger shares only the person's name. Anything more appears once an automation collects it, like an email or a phone number.
Question: Can I add custom fields from the inbox?
Answer: Yes. Details, then Add, finds a field or creates a new one and sets this contact's value. Arrange chooses which fields show for your whole team.

Related guides:
- See who sent each message: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/messages/see-who-sent-each-message
- Open a contact: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/people/open-a-contact
- Pause the automation in one chat: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/messages/pause-the-automation-in-one-chat

Plain text of this guide: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/messages/the-contact-panel.md
All guides for assistants: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/llms.txt