Saved replies are short answers your team writes once and uses in any conversation. WhatsApp templates are messages approved by Meta in advance: they are the only way to write to a WhatsApp customer more than 24 hours after their last message. This page explains both.
Saved replies
Before you start
- Owners and administrators add and remove saved replies. Everyone who can reply (owners, administrators and members) can use them.
- A company can keep up to 100 saved replies.
Add a saved reply
- Open Conversations, then select Saved replies.
- Write a Title, up to 80 characters. Your team picks replies by this title.
- Write the Text, up to 2,000 characters. Write
{name}where the customer's name should go. - Select Add reply.
Replies are listed in order of title. To retire one, select Remove. A saved reply cannot be edited: remove it and add a new one.
Use a saved reply
- Open a conversation.
- Choose the reply under Saved reply and select Use.
- The text fills Your reply, with
{name}replaced by the contact's name. Change anything you need. - Select Send.
Nothing is sent until you select Send. The Saved reply list appears only when you are able to reply in that conversation.
WhatsApp templates
Before you start
- You need a connected WhatsApp Business channel with its WhatsApp Business Account ID (for templates) filled in. Without it the channel card says Add the WhatsApp Business Account ID to use templates. See WhatsApp.
- Templates are written and approved in your Meta account, not here. Meta charges for each template message.
Sync your templates
- Open Conversations, then Channels.
- On the WhatsApp channel's card, select Sync templates. The channel must be on.
- The page confirms how many templates were synced.
Only templates you can fill from a simple form are kept: blanks numbered in the body, such as {{1}} and {{2}}, and a text header without blanks, or no header. Templates with an image, video or document header, or with blanks in buttons, are left out. A template that has disappeared from your Meta account can no longer be sent after the next sync. Sync again whenever you add or change templates at Meta.
Only owners and administrators can sync templates.
Send a template in a conversation
When the 24 hours have passed, the conversation shows Send an approved template in place of the reply box.
- Find the template you want. Its name, language and text are shown.
- Fill in every Value 1, Value 2 and so on. Each value is one line of up to 200 characters, and none may be empty.
- Select Send template.
The template, with your values in place, appears in the conversation like any reply, with its delivery state. Up to 50 approved templates of that channel are offered. When the customer answers, the 24-hour window opens again and you can reply freely.
Where else templates are used
- WhatsApp broadcasts send one template to a whole segment.
- The reminders for unfinished checkouts and reorders, set up by owners and administrators under Home, Alerts and automations, use templates too.
Good to know
- Saved replies are plain text. They do not attach files.
{name}is the only placeholder in saved replies.- Template messages are recorded as sent by you.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to do |
|---|---|
| You have reached the limit of 100 saved replies. | Remove replies your team no longer uses. |
| No approved templates yet. Sync them from the channels page. | Sync the channel. If it stays empty, check that Meta has approved the templates and that they fit the rules above. |
| The templates could not be fetched from Meta. | Check the channel's access token and account ID, then try again. |
| Fill in every value, on one line, up to 200 characters. | A value is empty, too long or contains a line break. |
Last updated 2026-11-08