# Personalisation Settings

> Make the Avox dashboard yours: theme, accent colour, text size, time and date, where Avox opens, the sidebar, the Inbox, notifications, keyboard shortcuts, list views, your Avox Avatar and the tours.

Source: https://docs.theavoxai.com/settings/personalisation

**Settings > Personalisation** is how the dashboard looks and behaves for you alone. Nothing here
changes anything for your teammates, your contacts or your Switchboard: each person sets their own.

Open **Settings**, then pick a page under **Personalisation** in the settings menu (on a phone, in the
tab bar across the top). There are nine pages:

| Page | What it changes |
| --- | --- |
| [**Appearance**](#appearance) | Theme, accent colour, density and accessibility. |
| [**Time and date**](#time-and-date) | Your time zone, clock, date order and first day of the week. |
| [**Navigation**](#navigation) | Where Avox opens for you, and how the sidebar looks. |
| [**Inbox**](#inbox) | How the Inbox reads and sends, and your saved quick replies. |
| [**Notifications**](#notifications) | What Avox tells you about, how, and when to stay quiet. |
| [**Keyboard shortcuts**](#keyboard-shortcuts) | The keys that move you around Avox. |
| [**Lists**](#lists) | How Contacts, Tables and Logs open: sort, filters, columns and rows per page. |
| [**Blobatar**](#blobatar) | Your Avox Avatar's shape and colours, and its tips. |
| [**Tour and reset**](#tour-and-reset) | Take the dashboard tour again, or put every choice back to its default. |

You can also find every page from search: type "personalisation", or the name of a setting such as
"theme" or "time zone".

## How your choices are saved

There's no Save button. Every change applies straight away and is saved to your account as you go.
While it saves, the top of the page says **Saving...**, then: "Changes save as you go and follow you
to every device you sign in on."

- **They follow you.** Sign in on another computer, phone or browser and the dashboard already looks
  and works the way you set it, from the very first screen.
- **They're yours alone.** Your teammates can't see or change them. Avox support can see them when
  helping you with your account.
- **They're the same in every Switchboard.** Switching Switchboard doesn't change them.

A few things also depend on the device or browser you're using. Each is explained where it comes
up:

- **The last page I used** (under [Where you land](#where-you-land)) is remembered by each browser.
- **Desktop alerts** (under [Inbox comfort](#inbox-comfort)) need each browser's own permission.
- **Automatic** choices (the theme's **System**, **Follow my device**, the automatic clock, date order
  and week start, and **Use my device's time zone**) follow whichever device you're on.

> **Note**
>
> If Avox can't save to your account for a moment, the page says "Your choices can't be saved to your
> account right now, so they last for this visit." Your changes still apply until you leave. The theme
> is then kept on this device only, and only while your cookie choices allow **Site preferences**: the
> **Theme** card shows a **Cookie settings** link when they don't. See
> [Cookie choices](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance#cookie-choices).

## Appearance

Four cards: **Theme**, **Accent colour**, **Density** and **Accessibility**.

### Theme

"Choose how Avox looks." Three choices, each with a small drawn preview of the dashboard:

| Choice | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **System** (default) | Follows your device, and changes when it does. While it's picked, the card tells you whether your device is light or dark right now. |
| **Light** | Always light, whatever your device uses. |
| **Dark** | Always dark, whatever your device uses. |

The theme changes straight away and follows you to every device you sign in on. You can also switch
it without opening Settings:

- the sun and moon button in the dashboard header (**Switch to dark theme** or **Switch to light
  theme**), or
- search: **Use light theme**, **Use dark theme** or **Match system theme**.

Whichever way you change it, the new theme is saved to your account too.

### Accent colour

"The colour of main buttons, the page you're on in the sidebar and the outline around whatever has
keyboard focus." Pick one of seven:

**Avox** (the default: the dashboard's own black and white), **Blue**, **Violet**, **Rose**, **Amber**,
**Teal** or **Slate**.

Each swatch shows the shade it uses in the theme you're on: accents are a little lighter in dark mode
so they stay easy to read.

### Density

**Spacing**: **Comfortable** (default) or **Compact**. "Compact fits more on the screen: tighter cards
and table rows."

### Accessibility

| Setting | Choices | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Reduce motion** | **Follow my device** (default), **On**, **Off** | Turns off sliding, fading and moving effects. **Follow my device** uses your system's own setting. With motion reduced, your Avox Avatar and the tours stay still too. |
| **Higher contrast** | On or off (default off) | Stronger borders and darker secondary text. |
| **Larger text** | On or off (default off) | Makes text and everything around it a step bigger, across the whole dashboard. |

> **Tip**
>
> **Larger text** makes the whole dashboard bigger. To change only the size of chat messages, use
> **Message text size** on the [Inbox](#inbox-comfort) page instead.

## Time and date

"How Avox shows times and dates to you. Messages and schedules themselves don't change." Changing
these never moves a scheduled broadcast or an automation's timing: it only changes how times read on
your screen.

| Setting | Choices | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Time zone** | **Use my device's time zone** (default), or any time zone | Times in the Inbox, logs and lists are shown in this zone. The list shows each zone with its current offset from GMT, and you can type to search it (**Search time zones**). |
| **Clock** | **Automatic** (default), **12-hour**, **24-hour** | **Automatic** follows your browser's language. |
| **Date order** | **Automatic** (default), **Day first** (31/12/2026), **Month first** (12/31/2026), **Year first** (2026-12-31) | The order of day, month and year everywhere a date is shown. **Automatic** follows your browser's language, and the menu shows how it looks for you. |
| **Week starts on** | **Automatic (from your browser's language)** (default), **Monday**, **Sunday**, **Saturday** | Used by calendars and date pickers. |

Under the settings, a live line shows the current date and time the way you've set it ("Right now that
reads: ..."), so you can compare choices before you leave the page.

Your time zone is also the one [quiet hours](#quiet-hours) use.

## Navigation

Two cards: **Where you land** and **Sidebar**.

### Where you land

| Setting | Choices | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Open Avox on** | **Overview** (default), **Inbox**, **Contacts**, **AI Automation**, **The last page I used** | Where Avox opens after you sign in. |
| **Open my last Switchboard** | On or off (default off) | When you're in more than one Switchboard, skip choosing at sign-in and open the one you used last. |

How **Open Avox on** works:

- It's used once per sign-in, on the first dashboard page you open. After that, **Overview** in the
  sidebar opens the Overview as usual.
- If you can't open the page you picked in the Switchboard you're in (no number connected yet, no
  access to it, or it isn't part of the plan), you land on the Overview.
- **The last page I used** is remembered by each browser, not by your account. It only works while
  your cookie choices allow **Site preferences**. If they don't, Avox opens the Overview and the card
  says so, with a **Cookie settings** link. See [Cookie choices](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance#cookie-choices).

With **Open my last Switchboard** on, you can still switch any time from the header. Opening the
Switchboard chooser on purpose always shows every Switchboard. See
[Switchboards](https://docs.theavoxai.com/switchboard).

### Sidebar

| Setting | Default | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Start with the sidebar collapsed** | Off | Opens as a narrow row of icons on a computer. You can still open it whenever you like. |
| **Show the sidebar banner** | On | The card under the sidebar's pages, with tips, offers and the dashboard tour. Off, nothing shows there at all. The tour stays in the account menu. |

**Pages in the sidebar** lists every page of the main sidebar. "Pin the pages you use most to the top.
Hide the ones you never open: search still finds them."

- **Pin to the top** (the pin button) moves a page into a **Pinned** group at the top of the sidebar.
  Pinned pages show in the order you pinned them. Click the button again to **Unpin**.
- The switch on each row shows or hides that page in the sidebar. A hidden page is still one search
  away, and its address still works.
- Pinning a hidden page shows it again, and hiding a pinned page unpins it.

Pinning and hiding only change your own sidebar. They never change what you're allowed to open.

## Inbox

Two cards: **Inbox comfort** and **Saved quick replies**.

### Inbox comfort

"How conversations look and behave for you. Saved to your account, so they follow you to any
device."

| Setting | Choices | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Message text size** | **Small**, **Normal** (default), **Large** | The size of the text in chat bubbles and the reply box. |
| **Send with** | **Enter** (default), **Ctrl or Cmd + Enter** | With **Enter**: `Enter` sends and `Shift` + `Enter` starts a new line. With **Ctrl or Cmd + Enter**: `Ctrl` + `Enter` (`Cmd` + `Enter` on a Mac) sends and `Enter` starts a new line. |
| **Sound for new messages** | On (default) or off | A soft chime when a new message arrives while the Inbox is open. **Play it** lets you hear it first. |
| **Desktop alerts** | On or off (default off) | An alert saying "New WhatsApp message" while the Inbox is open in a tab you aren't looking at. It never shows who wrote or what they said. |
| **Contact pictures** | On (default) or off | Show each contact's picture in the conversation list and beside their messages. |

**Desktop alerts** need your browser's permission. Your browser asks only when you turn the switch on,
never when a page opens, and each browser asks once for itself. So on a new computer or browser the
switch shows as off until you turn it on there and allow alerts.

- If you block alerts, the card says "Your browser is blocking alerts from Avox. Allow them in the
  browser's site settings, then turn this on."
- If the browser can't show alerts at all, it says "This browser can't show desktop alerts."

The new-message sound and desktop alerts stay quiet during your [quiet hours](#quiet-hours).

### Saved quick replies

"Replies you send often." Each one has:

| Field | Rules |
| --- | --- |
| **Shortcut** | What you type after **/** in the Inbox, like `thanks`. Small letters, digits, hyphens and underscores, up to 24 characters. Each of your replies needs its own shortcut. |
| **Name** | A short title, up to 60 characters, like "Thank you for your order". |
| **Reply** | The text that goes into the reply box, up to 1,000 characters. It can't be empty. |

**1. Click Add a quick reply**

A small form opens under your list.

**2. Fill in Shortcut, Name and Reply**

If the shortcut is already used by another of your replies, the form says "You already use
/thanks for another reply. Pick a different shortcut."

**3. Click Save reply**

You see "Quick reply saved".

Use the pencil button to edit a reply and the bin button to delete one. Deleting asks first
("Delete this quick reply?"): **Delete** removes it from your Inbox, **Keep it** cancels. Messages you
already sent with it aren't changed.

You can save up to 100 quick replies, and the card shows how many you have (for example "12 of
100"). When you reach 100, delete one you no longer use to add another.

**Using them in the Inbox:** type `/` and the shortcut in the reply box, or click the
**Saved quick replies** button beside it and search. In the list, the arrow keys move, `Enter`
adds the reply and `Esc` closes the list. The reply goes into the box as plain text for you to
check and send. See [Inbox](https://docs.theavoxai.com/inbox).

Your quick replies are yours alone: teammates don't see them. They work in every Switchboard you
reply from, and resetting your preferences keeps them.

## Notifications

"What shows in the bell at the top of the page, just for you. Your teammates choose their own."

Each kind of notice has two choices: **Show** (the default) or **Hide**.

| Kind | What it covers |
| --- | --- |
| **Support replies** | When the Avox team answers one of your support requests. |
| **Billing and payments** | A payment that failed, a plan about to end, and other billing problems. |
| **WhatsApp number problems** | A number that's disconnected, paused or needs attention. |
| **Connected apps** | An app that stopped working or needs to be connected again. |
| **Chat signals** | A chat signal that tells you, like "Asked for a human". Who each signal tells is set in **Settings > Chat signals**: see [Chat signals](https://docs.theavoxai.com/chat-signals). |
| **Notices from Avox** | News and notes from the Avox team, and notes about changes to your account. Urgent notices always show. |

**Hide** only keeps that kind out of your bell. It doesn't change anything for your teammates, and
anything that isn't one of these kinds always shows.

**Emails** about these are set for the whole Switchboard, not per person. Members who can manage
settings see a link to **Compliance, Email preferences**; everyone else is asked to check with an
Admin. Sign-in, security and billing emails always arrive. See [Emails](https://docs.theavoxai.com/emails).

### Quiet hours

**Quiet hours** (off by default): "No new-message sounds or desktop alerts during these hours. The
bell still keeps everything for later."

Turn the switch on, then pick **From** and **to** times in half-hour steps (the defaults are 22:00 to
07:00). Quiet hours can run past midnight. They follow the time zone you chose on
[Time and date](#time-and-date), or your device's time if you use your device's time zone.

## Keyboard shortcuts

**Use keyboard shortcuts** is on by default. Press `?` anywhere in the dashboard to see
every shortcut, with a **Change them** link back to this page.

These are the shortcuts and their standard keys. On a Mac, `Ctrl` is `Cmd`.

| Group | Action | Keys |
| --- | --- | --- |
| General | **Open or close search** | `Ctrl` + `K` |
| General | **Open search (quick key)** | `/` |
| General | **Show keyboard shortcuts** | `?` |
| Go to | **Go to Overview** | `G` then `O` |
| Go to | **Go to Inbox** | `G` then `I` |
| Go to | **Go to Contacts** | `G` then `C` |
| Go to | **Go to Templates** | `G` then `M` |
| Go to | **Go to Flows** | `G` then `F` |
| Go to | **Go to Tables** | `G` then `T` |
| Go to | **Go to AI Automation** | `G` then `A` |
| Go to | **Go to Logs** | `G` then `L` |
| Go to | **Go to Settings** | `G` then `S` |
| Inbox | **Jump to the reply box** | `R` |

For a two-key shortcut, press the first key, then the second within about a second. Single keys don't fire
while you're typing in a box; `Ctrl` and `Cmd` shortcuts still do.

### Changing a shortcut

**1. Click Change next to the action**

The row says **Press the new keys**.

**2. Press the keys you want**

One key (with `Ctrl`, `Cmd`, `Alt` or `Shift` if you like), or
two plain keys one after the other. `Esc` or **Cancel** stops without changing anything.

**3. Done**

The new keys work straight away, everywhere in the dashboard, on every device you sign in on.

Some keys can't be used. The row tells you why:

| Message | Why |
| --- | --- |
| "Use one key, or two keys one after the other." | A shortcut is one or two steps. |
| "A two-key shortcut can't use Ctrl, Cmd or Alt." | Two-key shortcuts use plain keys only. |
| "Your browser uses that one. Pick another." | `Ctrl` with A, C, V, X, Z, Y, W, T, N, Q, R, L, F, P or S stays with your browser. |
| "Already used for ..." | Another action has those keys. |
| "Clashes with ..." | One key that starts another action's two-key shortcut (or the other way round), like `G` on its own. |

A changed shortcut gets a **Reset** button that puts back its standard keys. **Reset every shortcut**
puts them all back at once.

### Turning shortcuts off

Turn off **Use keyboard shortcuts** and none of them fire, including the search keys. Search stays one
click away at the top of the page.

## Lists

The **List defaults** card covers three lists: **Contacts**, **Tables** and **Logs**. Each can open
with your own saved view: its sort, filters, columns and rows per page.

**1. Open the list and set it up**

Sort it, filter it and choose its columns and rows per page the way you like.

**2. Open the Default view menu**

It's the bookmark button in the list's filter bar.

**3. Choose Save as my default**

You see "Saved as your default view", and the button now reads **My default** while the list
shows that view.

From then on the list opens that way for you, on every device. A link with its own filters still
opens as sent. **Reset to the standard view** in the same menu goes back to the list's own view.

On **Settings > Personalisation > Lists**, each list shows either "The standard view" or a short
summary of what you saved (for example a segment, a status, how it's sorted, rows per page or how many
columns). Click a list's name to open it, or **Reset** to go back to the standard view.

Saved views are yours alone: your teammates' lists open their own way.

## Blobatar

This page is about your **Avox Avatar**, the little face that stands for you around Avox: in the
header, on every page and in the tours. It has two cards: **Your Blobatar** and **Tips and hints**.
For the Avox Avatar itself and all its moods, see [Avox Avatar](https://docs.theavoxai.com/avox-avatar).

### Your Blobatar

"Pick its shape and colours. Contacts and team members keep their own." A live preview shows your
Avox Avatar in four moods (**Resting**, **Happy**, **Thinking** and **Delighted**) and changes as you
pick.

- **Shape**: **Automatic, from your account type** (the default), or one of ten shapes: **Round**,
  **Organic**, **Boxy**, **Capsule**, **Nub**, **Cloud**, **Droplet**, **Hexagon**, **Sun** or
  **Triangle**. Automatic uses the shape that goes with the **Avatar shape** you chose in
  [Your details](https://docs.theavoxai.com/settings/profile#your-details).
- **Colours**: **Automatic, from your account** (the colours your account has always had, the
  default), one of ten ready-made pairs (**Mint**, **Teal**, **Sky**, **Violet**, **Pink**, **Rose**,
  **Coral**, **Amber**, **Lime** or **Slate**), or **Pick any colour** for the body. With your own
  colour, the eyes switch between black and white so the face always shows.

The card says "This is your default look." or "Changed from your default look." **Reset to my
default** puts back the automatic shape and colours.

Your choice shows everywhere your own Avox Avatar appears, on every device, and nowhere else: it
doesn't change how your contacts or teammates look.

### Tips and hints

**Tips and hints** (on by default): your Avox Avatar's little tips about new features, and its speech
bubble in the sidebar card.

Turning it off also stops what your Avox Avatar offers by itself:

- the tour's offer in the sidebar banner,
- the page tours that start by themselves the first time you open a page, and the small dot on a
  page's **Show me around** button.

You can still start any tour yourself. See [Tours](https://docs.theavoxai.com/settings/tours).

## Tour and reset

| Setting | Button | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Dashboard tour** | **Restart the tour** | "A short walk through the main parts of Avox. Takes about a minute." Takes you to the Overview and starts the tour from the beginning. It also brings back every page tour. |
| **Page tours** | **Reset page tours** | "Each page shows you around once, the first time you open it. Bring those back to see them again." Only the page tours come back. The button is greyed out until you've seen at least one. |
| **Reset all preferences** | **Reset all** | Every Personalisation choice goes back to how Avox starts, your Avox Avatar and the sidebar banner included. Saved quick replies are kept. |

How the tours work, and every other way to start them: [Tours](https://docs.theavoxai.com/settings/tours).

### Resetting everything

**Reset all** asks first: "Reset all preferences?" It lists what goes back to its default: theme,
accent colour, density, time and date, where you land, the sidebar and its banner, accessibility,
Inbox comfort, notifications, shortcuts, list settings and your Avox Avatar's look, on every device.
The tours start fresh too.

- **Reset preferences** resets them. You see "Your preferences are back to their defaults."
- **Keep my choices** cancels.

Your saved quick replies stay. Nothing about your account, your Switchboard or your teammates
changes.

## Questions

**I changed something on my laptop. Why does my phone look the same as before?**

Reload the dashboard on your phone: your saved choices are read when a page loads. If the top of the
Personalisation page says your choices can't be saved right now, they lasted only for that visit on
the laptop. Try again in a moment.

**Avox opens on the Overview instead of the page I chose**

The page you picked has to be one you can open in that Switchboard. Without a connected number, or
without access to the page, you land on the Overview. With **The last page I used**, also check that
your cookie choices allow **Site preferences** on this browser.

**I turned on Desktop alerts but nothing shows**

Alerts show only while the Inbox is open in a tab you aren't looking at, and never during your quiet
hours. If the card says your browser is blocking alerts, allow them in the browser's site settings
for Avox, then turn the switch on again.

**A keyboard shortcut does nothing**

Check that **Use keyboard shortcuts** is on. Single-key shortcuts don't fire while you're typing in a
box: click outside it first. Press `?` to see the keys you've set.

**Does any of this change things for my team?**

No. Every choice here is yours alone, including your sidebar, your notifications, your list views and
your quick replies. Settings that apply to the whole Switchboard, such as its emails, are in
[Compliance](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance) and [Switchboards](https://docs.theavoxai.com/switchboard).

## Related

- [Tours](https://docs.theavoxai.com/settings/tours): The dashboard tour and each page's own tour

- [Settings](https://docs.theavoxai.com/settings): Every page of Settings at a glance