When you have hundreds or thousands of conversations, doing things one at a time stops working. Search gets you to the right conversation fast. Batch actions let you message, move, or organise large groups in one go.
Searching the inbox
The search bar sits at the top of the conversation list. As you type, it matches across a contact's details (name, username, email, phone, and bio) and your folder names, and returns up to 25 of the most relevant conversations in real time.
If you remember what someone said rather than who they are, switch to searching message content to find the conversation where those words appeared. Typing a few more characters usually narrows things down faster.
Filtering the inbox
For a group of conversations rather than one, use the quick filters behind the filter icon (Unreplied, Unread, Not in a folder, Scenario running, Campaign running). One quick filter applies at a time. The full list and how each works live in The Unified Inbox: Overview & Navigation.
Batch actions in the inbox
Click Select at the top right of the conversation list to enter batch selection. Checkboxes appear next to every conversation. Tap conversations to select them, or use the header to select all visible ones. A counter shows how many you've selected.
⚠️ Inbox multi-select is capped by your account's batch limit (commonly 20 conversations at once), not by a fixed thousand. If you try to select more, Inrō tells you the maximum. To reach a larger audience in one send, use a campaign instead (see "Bulk actions in the Contacts table" below).
Once you've made a selection, three action groups appear at the bottom:
Actions:
Send message: compose once and send a DM to every selected conversation.
Like last message: react with a heart to the most recent message in each.
Run scenario: trigger a scenario of your choice for all selected contacts.
Mark as:
Mark as read: clears unread indicators on all selected.
Mark as replied: marks all selected as replied, useful for housekeeping.
Mark as unread: flips them back to unread.
Move to spam: moves all selected contacts to your spam list.
Move to folder:
Opens the folder picker. Check a folder to add all selected contacts to it, or uncheck one they're in to remove them. A number badge next to each folder shows how many of your selected contacts are already in it. See Folders: Create, Organise & Automate.
Bulk actions in the Contacts table
The Contacts table has its own bulk actions, separate from the inbox.
Go to Contacts and check the box in the header row to select every contact on the current page (the table shows 100 per page), or check individual rows. A toolbar appears at the bottom with:
Clear selection
Send campaign: start a campaign send to the selected contacts (the button shows the count).
Add to folder: add all selected to a folder.
Remove from folder: remove all selected from a folder.
Bulk folder actions can also act on your current filtered view, so you can fold an entire segment or filtered list into a folder at once. The Send campaign button here is a quick way to target a hand-picked list rather than a saved segment. For building a full broadcast, see Creating Your First Campaign: Step-by-Step.
Exporting and programmatic bulk updates
To export a filtered list to a spreadsheet, use Export all contacts (or Export N contacts on a filtered view) on the Contacts page. For the format, size threshold, and what's included, see Contact Profiles & Custom Properties.
To update many contacts at once programmatically (status, email, phone, language, folders, or custom properties, up to 1,000 per call), use the API or MCP. See Update Contacts in Bulk via API or MCP.
🐾 Netsuke's Tips
Use Mark as read across a busy inbox to get back to a clean baseline, then use the Unreplied messages filter to find the conversations that still need a real response.
When adding to a folder in bulk, check the number badges first. They show how many of your selection are already in the folder, so you don't double-handle people.
If conversations aren't showing up, go to Inbox settings → Sync inbox to pull in any messages Instagram hasn't pushed through yet. Try this before assuming something is broken.
What's next?
To put batch actions to work, see Folders: Create, Organise & Automate for setting up and using folders. To send a campaign to a saved segment instead of a manual selection, see Creating Your First Campaign: Step-by-Step.