Connect Instagram direct messages

Before you start

• Your Instagram account is a professional account (business or creator) and linked to a Facebook Page.
• You manage that Page with full control or with access to messages.
• In the Instagram app, Allow access to messages is switched on under the settings for connected tools.
• You are an administrator of your Deskwoot workspace, and your plan has room for another inbox.

Connect an Instagram account

1. Open Settings > Inboxes and click Add Inbox.
2. Choose Instagram.
3. Click Continue with Facebook, sign in and grant Deskwoot the Page your Instagram account is linked to.
4. Back in Deskwoot, tick your Instagram account. The list shows each linked account's username with its Facebook Page under it.
5. Click Connect selected. Deskwoot creates an inbox named after the account.

Allow access to messages

Instagram needs this step. In the Instagram app, open Settings > Messages and story replies > Message controls > Connected tools and turn on Allow access to messages. The account owner does this, and the setting exists only in the Instagram app on the phone, not on instagram.com. Instagram sends messages to Deskwoot only while it is on. If it is off, new messages do not arrive in Deskwoot and Meta shows no error. Deskwoot shows this requirement in the Instagram step before you connect, and on the inbox's Facebook Page tab.

Messages from people who do not follow your account land in the Requests folder in Instagram. Deskwoot still receives them, and once you reply from Deskwoot, the chat moves to General. Replies your team writes in the Instagram app or in Meta Business Suite also appear in the Deskwoot conversation, as your team's replies.

Reply within 24 hours

Instagram delivers a business's reply only within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, the reply box shows The reply window is closed, and you wait until the customer writes again. Private notes for your team work at any time.

What arrives and what you can send

• Text, photos, videos, voice messages and stickers from the customer.
• A reply to your story arrives with a link to the story. When someone mentions your account in their story, a message says so.
• Posts and reels a customer shares with you arrive as links.
• When the customer reacts to one of your messages, the reaction shows on it. A message the customer unsends is marked as deleted.
• You send text, images, videos and audio up to 25 MB. Other files go out as a download link in the text. A longer text goes out in parts of up to 1,000 characters.

Disconnect an account

Delete the inbox under Settings > Inboxes. If you remove Deskwoot in Meta Business Tools instead, the inbox stays with its conversations, the settings show it as disconnected and the administrators of the workspace get an email.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my Instagram account not show up after I signed in?

Deskwoot finds an Instagram account through its Facebook Page. Make sure the account is a professional account, linked to the Page, and that you granted that Page during the sign in.

Why do no messages arrive, or why do my replies fail?

First check that Allow access to messages is on in the Instagram app under Settings > Messages and story replies > Message controls > Connected tools. Without it, Meta sends no messages to Deskwoot and shows no error. If messages arrive but a reply fails, the customer's last message is most likely more than 24 hours old. Answer within the 24 hours.

Can I start a new Instagram conversation?

Only with someone who wrote to your account in the last 24 hours. Instagram does not let a business write first.

Do comments on my posts arrive in Deskwoot?

No. Deskwoot receives direct messages, story replies and story mentions, not comments.