Summary
Add a bulk “Merge into…” action to the Inbox, so agents can select multiple conversations at once and merge them into a single primary conversation — instead of merging one pair at a time.
Problem
We regularly receive multiple open conversations from the same contact about the same issue (duplicate threads, follow-ups sent as new conversations, etc.). Intercom now supports merging conversations, but only one merge at a time via “Merge into” inside a single conversation.
When a contact has 3–10+ duplicate threads, our workflow becomes:
- Open the primary conversation
- Merge conversation B into A
- Repeat for C → A, D → A, E → A, …
Each step requires opening or searching for the next conversation and confirming the merge individually. This is slow, error-prone, and does not scale during incidents or high-volume support periods.
Current behavior
• Inbox multi-select supports bulk actions such as assign, reply/note, snooze, close, and edit attributes
• Merge is not available as a bulk action
• Merge must be done pairwise from within a conversation
• There is no REST API to merge conversation threads programmatically: https://community.intercom.com/api-webhooks-23/conversation-merge-via-api-13753
Proposed solution
Extend Inbox bulk selection with a Merge action:
- Agent selects multiple conversations in the Inbox (checkboxes, same as existing bulk actions)
- Agent chooses “Merge into primary…”
- Agent designates one selected conversation as the primary thread (or Intercom suggests the oldest/most recent open conversation)
- All other selected conversations are merged into the primary in one action
- Show a clear confirmation summary before execution (e.g. “Merge 4 conversations into #12345?”)
Nice-to-have (not required for v1)
• Restrict merge candidates to the same contact (same as today’s merge rules), with a clear error if selection is invalid
• Optional: merge from the “Recent conversations” sidebar without opening each thread in a new tab (related: https://community.intercom.com/ideas/merge-conversations-from-recent-converstions-sidebar-app-14549)
• Audit trail: which teammate performed the bulk merge and which conversations were combined
• REST API endpoint for programmatic merge (for automation / dedup workflows)
Related requests
• Inbox bulk actions discussion: https://community.intercom.com/inbox-9/which-bulk-actions-would-you-like-in-the-inbox-1510
• Faster pairwise merge from Recent Conversations sidebar: https://community.intercom.com/ideas/merge-conversations-from-recent-converstions-sidebar-app-14549
• Merge conversations & tickets beta feedback: https://community.intercom.com/product-updates/merge-conversations-tickets-beta-available-6853
Why this matters
• Faster triage when customers open many duplicate conversations
• Less context switching for agents during busy queues
• Consistent with existing Inbox bulk-action patterns agents already know
• Reduces resolution time and the risk of replying in the wrong duplicate thread
Use case example
A customer opens 6 separate conversations about the same purchase issue. Today we need 5 separate merge operations. With bulk merge, we would select all 6, set one as primary, and complete the consolidation in a single step.
Happy to provide more workflow details or join a beta if helpful.