# Replying from another WhatsApp number

Sometimes the right number to reach a customer is not the one they first wrote to — a dedicated support line, or a second number for a busy account. In a WhatsApp conversation you can pick which of your WhatsApp numbers a reply goes out from, and the conversation stays in one place.

## Picking the number

At the top of the reply box, **From** shows the number the reply will leave from. It starts on the conversation's own number. Click it to see the other WhatsApp numbers you belong to and pick one.

![The From picker listing the account's WhatsApp numbers](../../.gitbook/assets/guides/reply-from-another-number-picker.jpg)

**From** only appears when you have more than one WhatsApp number to choose from.

Numbers shown greyed out cannot be used right now: a WhatsApp API number can only send a normal reply while the customer has messaged that number in the last 24 hours. The note under the list says so. Numbers connected as Normal WhatsApp have no such limit.

## What the customer sees

Your reply arrives from the number you picked. On the customer's phone it appears as a chat with that number, so they see it as a message from your second line rather than a continuation of the first.

## What your team sees

Every message that went out from, or came in on, another number carries a **via** tag with that number's name, so anyone reading the conversation knows which line spoke.

![Messages tagged with the number they went through](../../.gitbook/assets/guides/reply-from-another-number-via.jpg)

When the customer answers that number, their message lands in the same conversation, also tagged — no second conversation opens. Assignment, labels, reports and access stay with the conversation's original inbox.

## Good to know

* **Private Note** never uses the picker; notes stay internal.
* Only numbers you are a member of are offered. Administrators see every WhatsApp number of the account.
* Your pick stays for as long as you are in the conversation. When you come back to it later, **From** is on the conversation's own number again.

## Related

* [Replying and adding private notes](/conversations/replying-and-private-notes)
* [The 24-hour reply window](/channels/whatsapp-reply-window)
* [Normal WhatsApp vs WhatsApp Cloud](/platform/connect-to-social-media-channels/normal-whatsapp-vs-whatsapp-cloud)

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Source: https://help.mampuai.com/conversations/replying-from-another-whatsapp-number
