An AI agent can handle voice calls, SMS, and email from one profile when those channels are enabled for your account. Use this guide to connect the right numbers and inboxes, choose each channel’s behavior, and decide when your team should take over.
Open AI Agents → Agents, select the agent, and open Configuration. Review its identity and role, then use Triggers to configure the channels it should handle. You do not need to enable all three. Contact your account representative if expanded channels are not available.
A shared profile does not mean shared Knowledge settings. The agent-page Knowledge section is for voice only. SMS and email use Knowledge - Search (SMS & Email) under Capabilities.
Compare the channels
Setting | Voice | SMS | Email |
Trigger | Inbound Call | Inbound SMS | Inbound Email |
Connect | Phone number or numbers | Phone number or numbers | Connected, authenticated inbox or inboxes |
Knowledge | Agent-page Knowledge and Relevant Locations | Knowledge - Search (SMS & Email) capability | Knowledge - Search (SMS & Email) capability |
Channel controls | Caller-number visibility, caller information, failover | Prompt Override, Max Turns per Conversation, Idle Timeout | Prompt Override, Max Turns per Conversation, Idle Timeout (Hours) |
Replies | Spoken conversation | Automatic text replies | Auto-Send Replies on, or drafts for human review and sending when off |
Human takeover | Configured Transfer Call rules | Pause AI or a teammate’s manual reply | Pause AI or a teammate’s manual reply |
The email reply controls below apply to every inbox connected to that agent’s email channel. Do not treat them as separate settings for each inbox.
Set up voice calls
- In Triggers → Inbound Call, select the number or use Add Number. Confirm the line routes to the intended AI agent and review its ring schedule if the agent should answer only at certain times.
- Review Hide Caller Number and Provide Caller Information to Agent for that line. These are separate controls; choose the caller information available to the agent intentionally.
- Set the Fail Over Number for calls the AI cannot answer. This is different from transferring a call after the agent answers.
- Review the agent’s Call Voice, greeting, and role instructions. Configure Transfer Call separately if callers should reach a person. Follow How to Set Up Transfer Capability with an AI Agent for destinations, transfer types, and unanswered-call testing.
Under Knowledge → Relevant Locations, select properties or units, add a filter, or leave the scope open to locations published in your listing settings. Keep those listings and the agent’s business information current.
Use How to Set Up AI Agent Knowledge for voice reference content. For complete role-specific setup, see How to Add a Leasing AI Agent or Setting Up a Maintenance AI Agent.
Set up SMS
- Open Triggers → Inbound SMS and connect the number or numbers that should use this agent.
- Review the SMS Prompt Override for text-specific instructions, such as keeping answers concise. The Customize for SMS override lets you make SMS-wide adjustments instead of changing the agent’s main role for every channel.
- Review Max Turns per Conversation and Idle Timeout. Choose limits appropriate for the work and test how conversations reach your team when the agent cannot finish.
- Connect SMS reference material through Knowledge - Search (SMS & Email), as described below. Review the capabilities the agent needs for the SMS workflow rather than assuming its voice setup carries over.
The email Auto-Send Replies setting is an email control. Do not use it as a way to put SMS replies into human review.
Set up email
- Connect and authenticate the inbox in Aptly, then open Triggers → Inbound Email and use Add Inbox to select it. Repeat for any other inboxes this agent should handle.
- Open Email agent settings. These settings control routing and replies for every inbox listed below them.
- Review Prompt Override for email-specific instructions, Max Turns per Conversation, and Idle Timeout (Hours). The Customize for Email override provides email-wide adjustments without changing the agent’s main role for every channel.
- Choose the reply and completion settings:
- Auto-Send Replies on: the agent sends its replies automatically.
- Auto-Send Replies off: the agent leaves a draft for a person to review and send. Start here while checking a new agent or a sensitive workflow.
- Close Conversation When Agent Completes on: the conversation closes automatically when the agent finishes.
- Close Conversation When Agent Completes off: leave the conversation open for your team to close.
Draft review and automatic closing are separate choices. Review both before putting the agent into use. If new email stops reaching Aptly, check the inbox’s connection and authentication before changing the agent’s instructions.
Connect knowledge and actions for SMS and email
Under Capabilities, add Knowledge - Search (SMS & Email). Use Add Article or Add Folder to connect the reference material these channels should use. Those links do not feed the agent’s voice calls.
To reuse information from a conversation, use Extract to Knowledge Base, review the extracted content, and then link the appropriate knowledge article. Reference material provides information; it does not enable card creation, field updates, or transfers.
If the agent should collect details and save them to a card, configure Data Collection Settings and Card - Create/Update, including the destination board and stage. SMS and email can map collected text to an Address field, which is geocoded before being written to the card. Review the resulting address rather than assuming the match is correct. See Create or update cards with an AI agent for the card setup.
When generating an agent, review the shared core instructions, the separate channel instructions, and which channels its capabilities are configured for. Adding a resource or action to one workflow is not a substitute for checking the others.
Test and supervise each channel
Use Live Test in the agent editor to review sample exchanges and Test History to revisit saved tests. For voice, also arrange planned test calls through the connected line and verify the full call and transfer path.
Check an in-scope question, an out-of-scope request, the linked knowledge, the collected fields and resulting action, and a request for a person. For email, check that replies follow your chosen draft or auto-send mode and that completion follows your closing setting.
For SMS and email, use Inbox → AGENT ACTIVITIES:
- Needs Action: a person needs to pick up the conversation.
- Agent Working: the agent is handling it.
- Agent Handled: review what the agent resolved.
Pause AI stops the agent on that conversation so a teammate can take over. Sending a manual text or email also turns AI off for that conversation. To return control, use the conversation’s robot-head control to have the agent respond on the next reply. For a new message, use the arrow next to Send and the option to send and have AI take over.
Per-conversation steering applies to one thread. Adjust agent based on this conversation is for a proposed change to the agent’s broader instructions. See AI Agent Handoff and Activities for supervision and Test and Improve Your Voice AI Agent for ongoing review.
SMS and email support emergency detection and notifications. Review your approved escalation instructions and who will respond, and test the intended handoff rather than relying on automated detection alone.
SMS and email agents are instructed to base completed-action claims on tool results and not resend an unconfirmed submission. If an outcome is unclear, check the conversation and destination record before taking another action. Do not treat this as a guarantee that duplicates cannot occur.