Quick Answer

The Auto-Reply Settings modal lets Owners and Admins configure business-hour–based greeting and away messages for every WhatsApp number, automatically sending the right canned message (or none) according to time, cool-downs and throttling rules.

1. Glossary

• Auto-Reply — automated message sent without agent action
• Canned Message — a pre-written template stored in your message library
• Cool-Down — time during which the same contact will not receive a repeat greeting
• Business Hours — days and times a WhatsApp number is considered “open”
• Away Message — message to contacts who write outside Business Hours
• Greeting Message — message to new contacts who write during Business Hours
• Copy to All Numbers — one-time push that overwrites every other WhatsApp number’s schedule with the current one

2. Who can view, edit and save?

Managers see the settings but cannot change them; Agents do not see the menu at all.

3. When to use this feature

• Your business keeps defined working hours and still gets WhatsApp messages after closing time.
• You manage several WhatsApp numbers across different regions or time zones.
• You want every new contact to receive a consistent first-touch message without agents sending it manually.

4. When it is not a fit (and what to use instead)

5. Decision logic at a glance

When a message arrives, the system evaluates in the following order:

1. Chatbot check: If a chatbot is enabled on the number, no auto-reply is sent.
2. Business Hours enabled? If OFF, no away message; greeting may still fire if enabled.
3. If within hours
   • If Greeting is ON and the cool-down has elapsed, send Greeting.
4. If outside hours
   • If “Do not send welcome message during non-business hours” is checked, skip Greeting and evaluate Away.
   • Otherwise, send Greeting first, then evaluate Away.
   • If Away is ON and the contact has not received an Away message in the last 30 minutes, send Away; otherwise suppress it.

6. Configuring Business Hours (Tab 1)

Step-by-step

1. Go to WhatsApp › Accounts › Configurations › Auto-Reply Settings and open Business Hours.
2. Turn ON Enable Business Hours.
3. Select the correct Time Zone (required).
4. For every open day, toggle to Open.
5. Click the time range, then choose Opens at and Closes at (15-minute steps). For overnight shifts, set Closes at to the next day (e.g., 22:00 → 06:00).
6. (Optional) Turn ON Copy to All Numbers.
7. Click Save and, if copying, confirm the overwrite prompt.

Common mistake: If Opens at and Closes at are identical the Save button is disabled.

Copy to All Numbers warning: This overwrites every existing schedule and cannot be undone; it also does not affect numbers added later.

7. Configuring the Greeting Message (Tab 2)

Steps

1. Open the modal › Greeting tab.
2. Enable the toggle.
3. Select a canned message; preview appears below.
4. Set Cool-Down to 1, 7, 15, 30, or 90 days.
5. (Optional) To stop greetings after hours, go back to Business Hours and tick “Do not send welcome message during non-business hours”.
6. Click Save. A toast “Greeting updated.” confirms success.

Tip: Use {{contact.name}} in the template for automatic personalisation; if the contact’s name is missing, a default fallback is used.

8. Configuring the Away Message (Tab 3)

Steps

1. Ensure Enable Business Hours is ON.
2. Open Away tab and enable the toggle.
3. Select a canned message; preview appears.
4. Click Save. Toast “Away message updated.” confirms success.

9. Example scenarios

Example A — Multi-location retail

A manager wants an after-6 PM auto-response on three numbers in different time zones. They configure Business Hours (close 18:00) and an Away message on the first number, turn ON Copy to All Numbers, save and confirm. All three numbers now share the schedule and send the away message. Watch out: the copy action does not copy the time-zone setting; set each number’s zone first.

Example B — E-commerce greeting

The support lead enables Greeting, chooses the template containing {{contact.name}}, sets a 15-day cool-down and saves. New contacts during Business Hours receive a personalised greeting and will not see it again for 15 days.

Example C — Contact messages after hours with both toggles ON

With “Do not send welcome message during non-business hours” unchecked, a new after-hours contact receives the greeting first, then the away message. To send only the away message, tick that checkbox.

Example D — Agent tries to edit

An Agent cannot even see Auto-Reply Settings. They must ask an Owner or Admin to make changes.

10. Troubleshooting

11. Limitations

• No holiday or temporary business-hour overrides.
• No keyword-based or conditional auto-replies.
• If a chatbot is enabled, neither greeting nor away messages are sent.
• Canned messages cannot be created or edited in this modal; they must exist beforehand.
• Copy to All Numbers overwrites schedules, cannot be undone, and ignores numbers added later.
• Concurrent edits are allowed; last save wins.
• The system checks settings when the incoming message triggers logic, not when the reply actually sends.

12. Rate limits & throttling

13. Quick reference card

First-time setup order

1. Configure & save Business Hours (include time zone)
2. Configure & save Greeting
3. Configure & save Away
4. Use Copy to All Numbers if you manage multiple numbers

Key dependencies

• Away requires Business Hours ON.
• Canned messages must exist before they can be selected.
• Chatbot ON → auto-reply OFF for that number.

Keywords

WhatsApp auto reply, greeting message, away message, business hours, canned message, cool-down, copy to all numbers, MyOperator WhatsApp, auto responder setup, rate limits