Channels
A channel is where customers message you, such as your LINE Official Account or your website. Once a channel is connected, the bot answers wherever customers message you.
Channels you can connect
Section titled “Channels you can connect”| Channel | What it’s for | How many |
|---|---|---|
| LINE Official Account | Where most customers in Taiwan are. About 5 minutes, and each step checks itself. | Several; more than one needs a paid plan |
| Facebook Messenger | Answer messages sent to Facebook Pages you manage. | Several Pages |
| Answer direct messages sent to an Instagram professional account. | One channel per professional account | |
| Website chat | Put a chat button on your website. | One setup per project |
All channels in a project share its flows, knowledge and chats: the same bot answers on LINE, Messenger, Instagram and your website, and every conversation lands in the same Chats. A few steps only show on one channel; for example, “LINE Flex message (JSON)” only shows on LINE.
A Facebook Page, Instagram account or LINE Official Account can be connected to only one project at a time. Several LINE Official Accounts in one project share its bot; see Connect more than one account. To give different LINE Official Accounts different bots, create a project for each.
The Channels page
Section titled “The Channels page”Select “Channels” on the left of your project. Each connected channel has a card with:
- The account name, picture and channel type
- Its current status and a sentence explaining it (see Statuses)
- When it was last checked (“Last checked”) and when it first answered a customer (“First answered a customer”)
- When something needs fixing, a button that takes you there, such as “Update token” or “Reauthorize”
- The “⋯” menu at the top right: “Check again”, “View setup steps” and “Disconnect”
The website chat card also lists the sites where the chat button was found. If nobody confirmed in the setup steps that LINE’s auto-reply is off, the LINE card reminds you: “Reminder: if LINE’s auto-reply is still on, customers get two replies.”
When a channel needs attention, “Overview” lists it under “Needs you” too, with “Go to channels”.
What “Connected” means
Section titled “What “Connected” means”“Connected” doesn’t mean the settings are filled in. It means a real round trip happened: after you connected, a customer message reached Chatbotta and the bot replied.
That’s why every channel’s setup ends with “Send a test message”: send this account a message from your phone, and once Chatbotta receives it and the bot replies, the step ticks itself and the channel shows “Connected”.
For website chat, it means the chat button has loaded on your website and a visitor got an answer from the bot.
Statuses
Section titled “Statuses”| Status | What it means | Button on the card |
|---|---|---|
| Connected | The bot has answered a customer’s message. | — |
| Checking | Checking the status. | — |
| Waiting for a test message | No customer message yet. For website chat: the chat button is on your site, but no visitor has had an answer yet. | “Send a test message” |
| Not installed | Website chat: the chat button hasn’t been seen on any website yet. | “Install on your site” |
| Needs a new token | LINE no longer accepts the access token, so the bot can’t reply. | “Update token” |
| Paused | More than one LINE Official Account needs a paid plan. Customer messages still arrive in Chats, but the bot doesn’t reply and you can’t send from this account. | “Choose a plan” |
| Channel secret doesn’t match | LINE’s messages don’t match the saved channel secret, so Chatbotta rejects them. | “Update channel secret” |
| Webhook is off | LINE isn’t sending messages to Chatbotta yet. | “Go to setup” |
| Wrong webhook URL | LINE’s webhook URL points somewhere else, so customer messages don’t reach Chatbotta. | “Fix the URL” |
| Needs reauthorization | Meta no longer accepts this account’s authorization, so the bot can’t reply. | “Reauthorize” |
| Can’t confirm | We can’t confirm the status with the platform right now. Your settings haven’t changed. | “Check again” |
“Waiting for a test message” is only a reminder and doesn’t stop the bot from replying. “Needs a new token”, “Paused”, “Channel secret doesn’t match”, the two webhook statuses and “Needs reauthorization” mean the channel gets no replies, so fix them soon. While a card shows one of the webhook statuses, Chatbotta keeps checking with LINE, and the card updates by itself once it’s fixed on LINE’s side.
“Check again” only reads the status and never changes settings, so any member can use it.
Connect a new channel
Section titled “Connect a new channel”-
In “Channels”, select “Add channel”. If you have no channels yet, select “Connect a LINE Official Account” or “Other channels”.
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Choose “LINE Official Account”, “Facebook Messenger”, “Instagram” or “Website chat”.
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Follow the steps on screen. Each step checks itself when you finish it. You can stop halfway with “Do this later”: progress is saved in the project, so you (on another device) or another admin can pick up at the first unfinished step.
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Send a test message from your phone. Once the bot replies, the channel shows “Connected”.
Step-by-step guides for each channel:
Reauthorize and update tokens
Section titled “Reauthorize and update tokens”Facebook and Instagram: Meta sometimes expires access, and the card shows “Needs reauthorization”. Select “Reauthorize” on the card to open that channel’s setup steps, log in and authorize again, then send a test message; once the bot replies, the channel is “Connected” again. For a Page, tick the same Page in Facebook’s window and allow all permissions. See Reauthorize Facebook and Instagram.
LINE: When the access token stops working, the card shows “Needs a new token”. Select “Update token”, issue a new access token in LINE Developers and paste it. See Connect a LINE Official Account. If the Channel secret was reissued in LINE Developers, the card shows “Channel secret doesn’t match”: select “Update channel secret” and paste the new one. See Verify that messages come from LINE.
Disconnect
Section titled “Disconnect”In the card’s “⋯” menu, choose “Disconnect”, then “Disconnect” again to confirm, or “Keep connected” to cancel. Only owners and admins can disconnect.
- LINE Official Account: The bot stops answering this LINE Official Account, and the rich menu Chatbotta set up is removed. Your other LINE Official Accounts aren’t affected.
- Facebook Page: Chatbotta stops receiving new messages from this Page and the Instagram account linked to it.
- Instagram connected with Log in with Instagram: Chatbotta stops receiving new messages from this Instagram account.
You can reconnect any of them later. The website chat card has no “Disconnect”; to stop showing the chat button, remove the install code from your website.
Connected, but the bot doesn’t reply?
Section titled “Connected, but the bot doesn’t reply?”Check the card’s status first, then run “Bot not replying?”: it checks the plan, channels, publishing and AI settings in order and tells you how to fix each. See Bot not replying?.