Simple how-to guides for FormAlert
Plain steps for the things you'll actually do — no jargon. Read the whole thing before you sign up, if you like.
Setup · Step 4 of 5
The problem
Someone has to remember to message every patient — the confirmation, the reminder the day before, the nudge for a review afterwards. In a busy week, nobody does.
The fix
FormAlert sends those messages itself, triggered by what happens to the appointment. Your job here is to decide which ones go out, and whose number they come from. The inbox is where you handle the replies.
Connecting your own number is self-serve under Settings → WhatsApp Setup. It's worth doing: patients save the number, recognise it next time, and reply to it.
Click Set up with Facebook under Settings → WhatsApp Setup and you're asked one question first: do you already use the WhatsApp Business app? The answer decides everything that follows, so pick carefully.
Go to Settings → WhatsApp Setup.
Click Set up with Facebook and pick one of the two paths above.
Sign in to Facebook in the popup and follow Meta's steps — scanning the QR code from your WhatsApp Business app on the first path, or choosing your number on the second.
When it finishes, your number shows as connected and FormAlert submits your message templates to Meta for approval.
Under Settings → WhatsApp Setup, each message has its own switch. Turn on what fits how you work and leave the rest off.
Every automatic message is a template Meta has to approve before it can send. On your own number, Settings → WhatsApp Setup shows the status of each one.
This is WhatsApp's rule, not FormAlert's, and it explains almost every "why won't this send?" moment.
The window opens for 24 hours from the patient's last message to you and resets every time they write again. The conversation header shows the state, and the inbox counts open and closed windows at the top.
Click WhatsApp in the sidebar. Conversations are listed newest first, with unread markers and a dot showing whether each window is open.
Open a conversation.
Type your reply. Enter sends, Shift + Enter starts a new line.
Attach an image or document with the attachment button. Add a caption below it if you want one.
Open the menu at the top right of any conversation.
If more than one person works the inbox, assign conversations instead of everyone answering the same patient.
In the conversation list, tap the Assign chip on a conversation.
Pick the team member it belongs to.
Filter the list by assignee, or by Unassigned, to see what nobody has picked up.
1 credit = ₹1. Every template message costs one credit, whatever the type. Your own free-form replies inside an open 24-hour window are free.
No WhatsApp messages are going out at all.
Check your credit balance on the Dashboard first — at zero, everything stops. Then check the switch for that specific message under Settings → WhatsApp Setup, and that the message is included in your plan (reminders are Business-only).
I can't send a typed reply — only templates work.
The 24-hour window is closed. Send Start Booking Flow to reach them with a template; once they reply, the window reopens and you can type freely.
A message shows a red X.
Two usual causes: you're out of credits, or that phone number doesn't have WhatsApp on it. Check the balance, then check the number.
One message type is marked Rejected.
Meta declined that template and shows their reason next to it. Fix the wording in WhatsApp Manager and resubmit — the rest of your messages keep sending normally in the meantime.
I'm not getting booking alerts on my phone.
The number in Settings → Business profile is usually a landline pulled from your Google listing. Replace it with a WhatsApp-active number, and check the New booking alert switch is on.
Patients reply but I never see it.
Storing inbound messages needs the Business plan with your own number connected. On Starter, replies go to the shared number and the two-way inbox isn't available.
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