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Who can use this?
  • All Gallabox users.
  • Roles: Owners and Admins (and roles with the relevant permission) can create and manage shared responses. Agent role can use all responses and create personal responses.
  • Plans: Available on all Gallabox plans.

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Plan Availability

Available on all Gallabox plans.

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What are Canned Responses?

Canned Responses are pre-written message templates that you and your team can access instantly while replying in WhatsApp or Web Chat — without typing from scratch each time. Instead of typing “Our shipping time is 3-5 business days and we offer free shipping on orders above $50” every time a customer asks, save it as a canned response and insert it with two clicks. Canned responses support:
  • Variables — personalize with {{contact.name}}, {{contact.email}}, {{contact.phone}}, {{user.name}}, {{user.email}}
  • Attachments — include images, PDFs, or documents
  • Buttons — add quick-reply CTA buttons
  • WhatsApp Forms — embed a Flow for structured data collection
  • Shared library — team-wide responses that everyone can use
  • Personal responses — individual responses private to one agent

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Why Use Canned Responses?

Canned responses solve three problems:
  1. Speed — Insert a full response in seconds instead of typing it out every time
  2. Consistency — Your whole team sends the same accurate information, not slightly different versions
  3. Personalization — Variables make templated messages feel personal
They’re especially valuable for:
  • Support teams handling 50+ conversations a day
  • Sales teams sending the same pitch to multiple leads
  • Any team with frequently asked questions (shipping, pricing, hours, refund policy)

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Accessing Canned Responses

There are two ways to use canned responses while in a conversation:
  1. In the compose box, type / followed by the first few letters of the response name.
  2. A dropdown appears showing matching responses.
  3. Press Enter or click to insert.
Example: Type /ship → shows “Shipping Times”, “Free Shipping Policy”, etc.

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Creating a Canned Response

1

Open the canned response editor

Go to Settings → Canned Responses → Create Response.
2

Write the response

  1. Name — a short, searchable name your team will recognize. E.g., “Shipping Times” not “Information about our shipping policy and timelines.”
  2. Message body — write the message. Use variables for personalization.
Example with variables:
Example with attachment: Attach a PDF guide (e.g., a product catalog or return policy document) to the response.
3

Save

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Advanced Features

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Buttons in Canned Responses

Add clickable CTA buttons to a canned response — useful for sending links without cluttering the message text:
When sent, these appear as tappable buttons in WhatsApp.

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WhatsApp Forms in Canned Responses

Embed a WhatsApp Flow directly inside a canned response. Use this when you need to collect structured information (address, preferred date, etc.) without asking multiple questions in the chat.
  1. Create the WhatsApp Flow first (see WhatsApp Flows Overview).
  2. In the canned response, click Add WhatsApp Form.
  3. Select the Flow.
  4. The response will send the Flow card to the customer.

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Variable Reference

Canned responses support user-specific variables in addition to the standard contact variables:
contact variables containing personal data (email, phone) are hidden if your role doesn’t have PII read permission.
For a full variable reference, see Variables.

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Managing the Shared Library

As your team grows, a shared library of canned responses needs management:

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Organization tips

  • Set a naming convention — e.g., [Support] Shipping: 3-5 days or [Sales] Pricing: Enterprise so responses are grouped and searchable.
  • Delete with care — deleting a canned response is permanent. Remove responses that are no longer accurate or needed.

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Governance

  • Owners and Admins (and roles with the relevant permission) can create, edit, and delete shared responses for the whole team.
  • Agent role can create personal responses and use shared responses, but cannot edit shared responses.
  • Regular audits — review your canned response library every quarter. Remove outdated information, update prices or policies, and archive responses that are no longer relevant.
Pro tip: When a support ticket reveals a question you don’t have a canned response for — create one immediately after resolving the ticket. Your library grows organically this way, covering exactly the questions your team actually gets.

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Example

Scenario: Your support team gets 30 messages a day asking about shipping times. Each agent types out the same response manually — taking 30 seconds each time. With a canned response, it takes 3 seconds.
1

Create a canned response

  • Name: Support: Shipping Times
  • Message:
2

Agents type the slash command

Agents type /ship in the compose box and hit Enter.
3

The response inserts automatically

The response inserts with the contact’s name and agent’s name filled in automatically.
4

Total time

3 seconds instead of 30.

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FAQs

No — once a canned response is sent, it becomes a regular message and cannot be edited. If you sent incorrect information, send a follow-up message with the correction. To prevent errors, always preview the response (with variables filled in) before sending.
Canned responses are available in WhatsApp and Web Chat conversations. They are not available in Instagram conversations.
No — canned responses are designed for human agents in the compose box. For automated messages in bot flows, use the message nodes in the Bot Flow Builder or pre-approved WhatsApp templates.