Interactive tutorial · ~5 min · 10 steps
Scheduling: write now, send later
InboxCRM schedules messages and status posts from your own WhatsApp; they go out only while Chrome is running with WhatsApp Web open.
Runs on a fictional copy of the screen with a voice guide. Nothing you click reaches WhatsApp.
What the tour covers, step by step
Put messages and status posts on a calendar and let InboxCRM send them from your own WhatsApp at the right time.
- 01
The Scheduling Center
A calendar of everything you've scheduled. Green dots mark days with messages; the rail on the left jumps between months and shows a count per month.
Read the narration
This is the Scheduling Center — your calendar of messages that haven't gone out yet. Each green dot is a scheduled message on that day; the rail on the left switches months and shows how many are waiting in each one. You reach this page from the calendar icon on the InboxCRM rail in WhatsApp Web, or from the Scheduling row in the toolbar popup. It's a practice copy, so nothing here is real.
- 02
Click a day to see its items
The right pane lists that day's schedules: time, recipient, a status pill (Upcoming, Due, Missed) and three actions — Send now, Edit, Delete.
Read the narration
Click any day and the panel on the right lists what's scheduled: the time, who it goes to, and a status pill — Upcoming, Due, or Missed. I've selected a day with two items: a weekly payment reminder to Ravi and a photo for the Studio group. Each row has three small actions: Send now, if you can't wait; Edit; and Delete. The plus button at the top creates a new schedule already set to this date.
- 03
New schedule
Opens the editor. From inside WhatsApp you can also use ⚡ → Schedule message, which pre-fills the open chat and whatever you had typed.
Read the narration
To create one, press New schedule. A tip for later: inside WhatsApp Web the lightning menu has a Schedule message shortcut — it locks the recipient to the chat you have open and pre-fills whatever you had already typed in the message box, which is the fastest way to say 'send this tomorrow morning instead'.
- 04
Who gets it
Search your contacts by name, or type a phone number with country code. The list comes from your WhatsApp chats and address book — WhatsApp Web must be open once for it to load.
Read the narration
The editor opens. First, the recipient. Start typing a name and matching contacts drop down — I'm typing 'Mar' and Maria, Marcus and Marta appear. Pick one, and the line under the box confirms 'Will send to Maria Silva'. You can also type a full phone number with the country code for someone who isn't in your contacts. The suggestions come from a snapshot of your WhatsApp chats and address book, so if the list is empty, open WhatsApp Web once and press Refresh from WhatsApp.
- 05
What to send
Type is Text, Image, Video, Audio or Document — media types add a file picker and a caption. Or tick 'Use a quick reply instead' to send a saved reply, photos and all.
Read the narration
Next, the message. Type is Text by default; choose Image, Video, Audio or Document and a file picker plus a caption field appear. Here it's a plain text reminder about an invoice. If you already have a quick reply that says it better — with a photo or a PDF — tick 'Use a quick reply instead of typing a message' and pick it from the list.
- 06
When — once or on repeat
Pick the date and time. Recurrence turns it into a repeating message: Daily, Weekly, Every 2 weeks, Monthly, Yearly, or Every N days. Each send re-schedules the next one.
Read the narration
Then, when. Pick a date and a time — the time is in your computer's local time. Recurrence is where it gets useful: One-off sends once, or choose Daily, Weekly, Every two weeks, Monthly, Yearly, or Every N days. I've set this reminder to Weekly, so after each send InboxCRM books the next one automatically. Press Save and the message appears on the calendar.
- 07
WhatsApp Web must be open at send time
Messages are sent by the extension from your own WhatsApp Web tab. If the tab is closed at that moment: with this box unticked it goes out the next time you open WhatsApp; ticked, it still sends within a 5-minute grace window, otherwise it's logged as Missed.
Read the narration
Saved — a new dot appears on the calendar. Now the most important thing to understand about scheduling. InboxCRM sends from your own WhatsApp Web tab, checking every minute. So if WhatsApp Web is closed when the time comes, nothing can go out. What happens next depends on this checkbox. Unticked, the message simply waits and is sent the moment you next open WhatsApp Web — even hours late. Ticked, 'Send only when WhatsApp is open', it will still go out if you open WhatsApp within five minutes; after that it's marked Missed instead of arriving embarrassingly late. For time-sensitive messages like 'we open in ten minutes', tick it. For a payment reminder, leave it off.
- 08
List view and history
Switch to 'list' for three tabs: upcoming, past and history. History records every dispatch as Sent, Recurring or Missed, so you can check what actually went out.
Read the narration
Prefer a list to a calendar? The toggle at the top switches to list view with three tabs. Upcoming is what's still to come, Past is anything whose time has passed but is still active, and History is the log: every dispatch marked Sent, Recurring — when a repeating message sent and re-booked itself — or Missed. If a customer says 'I never got your message', History is where you check.
- 09
Scheduled statuses
A separate page (popup → More tools → Scheduled statuses) posts a WhatsApp status — text, image, video or audio — at a chosen time, optionally repeating daily. Same rule: WhatsApp Web must be open.
Read the narration
Scheduling also works for WhatsApp statuses — the stories your contacts see at the top of their app. The Scheduled statuses page lives under More tools in the popup. New status lets you write a text or attach an image, video or audio, set a date and time, and tick Repeat daily for something like 'open today until six'. The dispatcher checks every minute while WhatsApp Web is open, and Run dispatcher forces a check right now. Same rule as messages: the tab has to be open at post time.
- 10
Schedule your first message
Open the real Scheduling Center and schedule a message to your own number five minutes from now. Keep WhatsApp Web open and watch it arrive.
Read the narration
That's scheduling. Try it for real: open the Scheduling Center, schedule a message to your own number five minutes from now, and keep WhatsApp Web open — you'll see it arrive and appear in History. When you're ready, continue with the Notifications tour.