Tern Bridge does two things on WhatsApp Web. It logs the conversations an agent opens to the right lead in Tern. It also places a reply drafted in Tern into the message box. It never clicks send: the agent reads every draft and presses WhatsApp's own send button.
You need the extension installed and paired first. See Install Tern Bridge.
Start capturing
- Open WhatsApp Web in the browser where Tern Bridge is installed and sign in with the phone as usual.
- Look for the pill above the message box. When it reads Tern · Capturing, conversations you open are logged to Tern.
- Open a chat with a lead. Messages in both directions, including ones sent from the phone, land on the lead's timeline and in the Inbox in Tern.
- To log a chat straight away, open the panel from the pill and press Log this thread. The panel answers Thread logged.
Your own chat with yourself is never captured: the panel says Your own chat. Nothing here is captured. Group chats are not sent to Tern either.
Choose which sites are captured
An admin decides which sites the organisation allows. Each agent can then untick a site on their own device.
- In Tern open Settings, then Bridge. Find the Sites card.
- Use the switch on a row to allow or block a site for every device. The sites are WhatsApp Web, Messenger, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Gmail and Outlook.
- Press Pause on a row to stop capture on every device in the org without removing anything. Resume starts it again.
- Save. Site changes reach devices within one pack refresh or one realtime push.
- On a single device, open the side panel, go to the Sites tab and untick a site to switch it off there only.
Each row shows one of four states: Off, Waiting, Capturing or Paused.
Send a reply drafted in Tern
- In Tern open Inbox and pick the conversation.
- Write the reply in the box that says Reply on WhatsApp and press Send. Tern answers Message queued.
- Switch to the WhatsApp Web tab. Within a few seconds the draft arrives: the toolbar icon shows a number and the side panel's Drafts tab shows the count, for example Drafts (2).
- Open the lead's chat, then press Insert into composer on the draft, either in the panel on the page or in the side panel.
- The panel says Inserted. Read it, then press the site's send button. Read the text in WhatsApp's message box and change it if you like.
- Press WhatsApp's own send button. The panel confirms Sent. Logged to the timeline.
To throw a draft away, press Dismiss. If the panel says No composer on this page. Open the thread first., open the lead's chat and press Insert into composer again.
A lead who has opted out never receives a draft: Tern withdraws open drafts when a lead opts out and the extension drops them.
When a lead replies
The extension also watches the chat list, so Tern knows a lead replied before the chat is opened. The Inbox shows Replied, not yet synced on the conversation until the full message is captured. Open the chat in WhatsApp Web, or press Sync replies in the extension. Sync replies marks those chats as read in WhatsApp: the details are in Install Tern Bridge.
Treat a WhatsApp account as support
If one WhatsApp number is your support line, messages on it should open tickets, not sales conversations.
- Open Settings, then Bridge. Find the Support card.
- Switch on the account in the list. Accounts appear there after the first message the bridge captures on WhatsApp Web.
- For an account the bridge has not captured on yet, type its number under Add an account and press Mark as support.
- For a single conversation, open it in the Inbox, open its menu and choose Mark as support.
From then on, inbound messages on that account or conversation open a ticket, or attach to the person's open one. See Support tickets.
What Tern Bridge never does
- It never clicks send and never submits a form.
- It never acts while you are away, unless an admin has switched on automatic reply sync, which only opens lead chats.
- It never stores chats that belong to nobody in Tern.