---
title: "Manage your channels"
description: "What the patient experiences and what your team sees on each channel, how to assign an agent, how much the AI handles on WhatsApp, its hours and its profile, and how to ask Arbol for a new number."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getarbol.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage your channels

A channel is where patients reach you: a number for calls, a WhatsApp number or your website's chat. Each channel answers with the agent you assign to it. Come here to change that agent, check whether a channel works and, on WhatsApp, decide how much the AI handles, during which hours and what your patients see on your profile.

## Before you start

- Anyone with access to **Channels** can see them. To change them you need a role that can **Connect channels: phone, WhatsApp and web chat**, such as **Administration** or **Owner**.
- Phone and WhatsApp numbers are connected by the Arbol team with you: further down, under **Ask for a new number**, you'll find what to send them. You create your website's chat yourself (see [Chat on your website](/en/raiz/web-chat/)).

## The three channels

### Phone

**What the patient experiences.** They call your clinic's number and the voice agent answers right away with its greeting, at any hour while the agent is active. They talk to it as they would to a person: they can interrupt it, ask it for a moment or type numbers on the keypad. The agent doesn't transfer the call to your team. If your agent records, the call is recorded. The agent can also call them, from one of your clinic's numbers or from the shared outbound line.

**What your team sees.** Every call is kept in **Conversations** with the **Voice** channel: the transcript, the recording, the summary and the number the agent answered or called from. An inbound call appears when it ends. How a call works inside: [Voice and audio](/en/raiz/voice/).

### WhatsApp

**What the patient experiences.** They write to your clinic's WhatsApp and see the **Business profile** you set up. When the AI is handling them, they see their message marked as read and that someone is typing. They get the greeting you chose, can send audio, photos and documents, and sometimes get buttons or lists to reply with. Outside business hours they get a single notice. If the agent hands the conversation to your team, they get the message you chose for that moment and a person replies.

**What your team sees.** Every chat is kept in **Conversations** with the **WhatsApp** channel, as it happens, with its status: **Open**, **AI paused** or **With the team**. Your team replies from the Dashboard's **WhatsApp inbox** or from the WhatsApp Business app (see [Handle a WhatsApp conversation](/en/raiz/take-over-a-conversation/)).

### Web chat

**What the patient experiences.** On your website they see a button that opens the chat, or they come in through a public link. They see a welcome screen, accept the consent, sometimes fill in a short form and talk with the agent. If they close or reload the page, the conversation carries on while the session lasts.

**What your team sees.** Every conversation is kept in **Conversations** with the **Chat** channel. The chat is created and adjusted in **Sites and forms** (see [Chat on your website](/en/raiz/web-chat/)).

## See your channels

In the menu, click **Settings** and then **Channels**.

Each row shows:

- The channel's name or number and its type: **Calls**, **WhatsApp** or **Web widget**.
- Its status: **Active** (or **Connected** on WhatsApp), **Needs attention** or **Setup pending**.
- The agent that answers on it, or **No agent**.
- On WhatsApp, how much the AI handles (for example, "100% AI · 0% human attendance", or "AI disabled") and whether it's open or closed according to its hours.

If your organization has the shared outbound line, you'll also see the **Global outbound** row, "Available to every voice agent": with it, your voice agents can call even without a number of their own (see [Voice and audio](/en/raiz/voice/)). Someone who can **Set up the organization** removes it with the trash icon.

## Assign or change a channel's agent

1. On the channel's row, open the three-dot menu.

2. If the channel already has an agent, choose **Release the agent**. You'll see the notice "Agent released".

3. Open the menu again and choose **Assign an agent**.

4. Select the agent and click **Assign an agent**. You'll see the notice "Agent assigned".

The agent must match the channel: a voice agent for **Calls**, a messaging agent for **WhatsApp** and **Web widget**. If none appears, create one of the right kind (see [Create an agent](/en/raiz/create-an-agent/)). An agent can handle several channels of its kind, but each channel has a single agent.

While a channel has **No agent**:

| Channel | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Calls** | No agent answers or calls from that number. |
| **WhatsApp** | The AI doesn't reply, and incoming messages aren't kept in **Conversations**. Your team sees them in the **WhatsApp inbox** or the WhatsApp Business app. |
| **Web widget** | It can't be published. |

## Decide how much the AI handles on WhatsApp

You can split a WhatsApp number's new conversations between the AI and your team, for example to start gradually.

1. On the WhatsApp number's row, click **Configure AI**, which shows the current percentage. If the AI is off, the button says **Enable AI**.

2. In **Manage AI attendance**, enter a percentage from 0 to 100 under **New conversations handled by AI**, or pick one of the quick values.

3. Click **Save**.

Conversations already open keep their assignment, and each new conversation stays with the AI or with your team until it closes. At 0%, messages are kept for your team to handle; you can still turn the AI on in a single conversation (see [Handle a WhatsApp conversation](/en/raiz/take-over-a-conversation/)).

## Set WhatsApp business hours

Outside business hours the AI doesn't reply, even when it's on, and whoever writes gets a single notice. The hours belong to the number: they stay if you change the agent. Calls have no hours: an active voice agent answers at any time.

1. On the WhatsApp number's row, click **Hours**.

2. Turn on **Attend only during business hours**.

3. Under **Days and hours**, turn on the days you're open and enter the opening and closing times. Use **Add window** if you close at midday, and **Copy to the other open days** to repeat a schedule.

4. Under **Closed days**, click **Add a date** for each holiday or day without service.

5. Under **Time zone**, keep **Use the organization's time zone** or choose another.

6. Under **Outside-hours notice**, choose how to send it:
   - **WhatsApp template** (recommended): a message WhatsApp has already approved, the safest choice to keep WhatsApp from restricting your number. If you don't have one yet, click **Create template**; WhatsApp usually approves it within minutes, and then you use **Refresh** to see it in the list.
   - **Text message**: you write your own notice, exactly as the person will read it.

7. If you like, under **At closing** turn on **Finish conversations in progress** and choose the **Margin after closing**, so the AI finishes what it was handling, such as confirming an appointment, without sending the notice.

8. Click **Save**.

The channel's row then shows its status, for example "Open now · until 18:00" or "Closed · opens Monday, 8:00". Each number gets the notice only once per closed period. When the AI is turned on or resumed during business hours, it answers what was left pending. Audio that arrives outside business hours is still transcribed, so your team can read it.

## The WhatsApp business profile

It's what your patients see when they tap your clinic's name in WhatsApp. It's read from and saved to WhatsApp directly.

1. On the WhatsApp number's row, open the three-dot menu and choose **Configure WhatsApp**.

2. Under **Business profile**, fill in what you want to show:

   | Field | What it is | Limit |
   | - | - | - |
   | **Short line** | The line that appears under the name. Example: "Appointments and results, Monday to Saturday". | 139 characters |
   | **Description** | What your clinic does, in a few lines. | 512 characters |
   | **Email** | A contact email. | 128 characters |
   | **Website 1** and **Website 2** | Addresses starting with `https://` or `http://`. | 256 characters each |
   | **Address** | Your main location's address. | 256 characters |

3. Click **Save profile**. You'll see the notice "Profile updated".

The profile photo shows in that window, but it can't be changed from Raíz. If you leave **Short line** or **Email** empty, the value they already had is kept. The number's **Templates** are in the same window (see [Bulletins, templates and campaigns](/en/raiz/campaigns/)).

## Other menu actions

- **Rename**: the name your team sees for the channel in the Dashboard. Your patients don't see it.
- **Check connection**: checks whether the channel is connected and tells you the result: "The channel is connected." or "The channel failed the check". It doesn't appear for the web chat.
- **Remove Number**: removes the channel from Raíz. Type its name to confirm. The number stops receiving and making calls in Raíz, or a WhatsApp number stops reaching Raíz; its conversations are kept. If you removed it by mistake, ask the Arbol team to connect it again.
- On a **Web widget**, the **Configure** button opens its editor in **Sites and forms**.

## Ask for a new number

The Arbol team gets and connects phone and WhatsApp numbers with you. Ask them through **Support**, in the Dashboard menu, with this information:

### Number for calls

- **What it's for**: receiving calls, making calls or both.
- **Which voice agent will answer it.** Create it first if it doesn't exist yet (see [Create an agent](/en/raiz/create-an-agent/)).
- **The country and city** where you want the number, so your patients recognize it.
- **A name for the line**, such as "Appointments line".
- **Whether you want to use a number you already have** with your phone carrier: say so, and the Arbol team checks with you whether it can be connected.

Depending on the country, the Arbol team may ask for details about your institution to register the number.

### WhatsApp number

- **The number** your patients will use, and whether they use it today in the WhatsApp Business app.
- **Which messaging agent will answer it.** Create it first if it doesn't exist yet.
- **Who manages your clinic's WhatsApp**: that person will have to complete a few steps to connect it.
- **Your business hours** and the **Business profile** details, if you want the Arbol team to help you get them ready.

Don't send passwords or verification codes through **Support**.

When the number is ready, it appears in **Channels**. A WhatsApp number may first appear as **Setup pending**, with the **Continue setup** button. If the Arbol team tells you to:

1. Click **Continue setup** and then **Generate link**.

2. Click **Open link** if you manage your clinic's WhatsApp, or **Copy link** to send it to whoever manages it. Share it only with that person: the link can connect a number to your organization.

3. That person opens the link and follows the steps. When they're done, the row changes to **Connected**. If it doesn't, use **Check connection**.

The link expires on the date shown, and each new link replaces the previous one: if you generate another, the one you sent stops working.

Then assign it an agent if it doesn't have one, set its hours and its profile, and run a test before you announce the number to your patients (see [Test an agent](/en/raiz/test-an-agent/)).

Under **Add channel**, at the top of this page, **Website widget** creates your website's chat. Use the other options in that menu only when the Arbol team tells you to.

## Troubleshooting

It didn't pass its last check.

**What to do:** use **Check connection**. If it stays the same, tell the Arbol team through **Support**.

The number hasn't finished connecting.

**What to do:** if the Arbol team already asked you to, use **Continue setup** as explained under **Ask for a new number**, on this page. If not, write to them through **Support**.

The agent's kind doesn't match the channel's.

**What to do:** assign a voice agent to voice channels, and a messaging agent to WhatsApp and the web chat.

The channel has no agent.

**What to do:** assign an agent and try again.

The number has no agent assigned.

**What to do:** use **Assign an agent** in its menu.

If the number has no agent, or the AI is disabled on the number, Raíz doesn't keep the messages that arrive.

**What to do:** assign it an agent and use **Enable AI**, with the percentage you want. Meanwhile, your team sees them in the **WhatsApp inbox** or the WhatsApp Business app.

WhatsApp stopped approving the outside-hours notice's template. Meanwhile, if you have a text message written, that one is sent instead.

**What to do:** choose another template for the notice or switch to **Text message**.

The number hasn't finished connecting.

**What to do:** use **Continue setup** to open or share the link. If the link expired, generate a new one.

Source: https://docs.getarbol.com/en/raiz/channels/index.mdx