---
title: How the online admin leads a conversation by the script
summary: At each reply the online admin reads the script of the place the conversation belongs to, asks the steps in order, offers the options as buttons, writes answers into fields and keeps the rules, including handing over to a person.
tools: [talemo_list_conversation_fields, talemo_set_conversation_fields, talemo_hand_over_conversation]
related: [conversation-script, branch-script, conversation-fields, field-values, script-languages]
search: [AI receptionist, how the bot replies, chatbot behaviour]
---

# How the online admin leads a conversation by the script

The online admin answers clients in the business's chats by itself. The
[script](conversation-script.md) tells it what to ask and what to write down.

## Which script it reads

The script of the place of the conversation: the branch of the channel the client
wrote to, or the business when the channel belongs to the whole business (see
[Script of a branch](branch-script.md)). The script is read again at every
reply, so a change works from the next reply, in chats that are already going too.
The conversation records the version of the steps the online admin saw, and
**About the conversation** shows it.

## What it does with the script

1. **Asks the steps in order.** It asks each question in the client's language and
   in its own words, and uses a current translation word for word when there is one
   (see [Languages and translations of script texts](script-languages.md)). It
   asks the question of a step together with its answer to the client's question,
   not instead of it: if the client asked for a time or a price, the same message
   has both of them and the question of the step.
2. **Offers options as buttons** when the field of the step has options. A step with
   a number, short text or no field has no buttons, and the client answers in words.
   The client may answer with a button, with the number of an option or in their own
   words.
3. **Writes the answer into the field of the step.** It does this with the tool
   for conversation fields. A value that a person has set or cleared is left alone
   (see [Value of a field in a conversation](field-values.md)).
4. **Keeps the rules.** A rule that ends with "Then hand the chat to a person and
   stop answering" makes it hand the conversation to the team with the reason "the
   script says so", and it stops answering until a person gives the conversation
   back (see [Handoff to people](../conversations/handoff-to-people.md)). A rule
   that offers something that is not in the price list (a consultation, for example)
   is offered, but the online admin does not book it and does not promise a booking:
   it tells the client that it passes the request to an administrator, who will
   answer in this conversation, and hands the conversation to the team with the same
   reason. It says that the business does not do something only when the Knowledge
   or the script says so.

It also answers questions about prices, addresses and notes from the business's
Knowledge and does not make answers up.

## When there is no script

With no steps, the online admin answers without asking anything in a fixed order
("No steps yet: the online admin answers without asking anything in order").

## What it does not see

The online admin does not see the note of the client's card and does not read its
category, and it does not see the ad the conversation started from. With categories
it does one thing: it moves its own client from Not sorted into a category of the
business.

## When it does not answer

- In a conversation whose mode is paused, off or only drafts, it does not send
  replies by itself (see [Who answers a conversation](../conversations/who-answers.md)).
- It does not answer a message that needs no answer, such as a message that has
  only emoji or a sticker, and it does not answer the history from before the
  channel was connected.
- It does not answer a client's "stop" (see
  [Ignore, Spam and the client's "stop"](../conversations/ignore-spam-and-stop.md)).

## Rights

The online admin is a member of the business with its own rights, which the owner
or an administrator gives. Until they are given, it answers no one. Reading the
script needs the right to see the online admin.

## Tools and refusals

- The online admin gets the script of the place of the conversation by itself, ready, at every reply: with the branch of the channel or without it for a channel of the whole business. It has no tool to read the script; an agent from outside reads it with `talemo_get_conversation_script`. The online admin asks the steps in order, offers the options as buttons, writes the answer into the field of the step with `talemo_set_conversation_fields` and keeps the rules.
- The client answers by a button, by the number of a line or in words. `talemo_get_conversation` shows under the message which options went and which one was picked; a button does not set the value by itself, the online admin reads the answer and writes it.
- A rule that ends with handing the chat to a person makes the online admin call `talemo_hand_over_conversation` with the reason `script_rule`, and it stops answering until a person gives the conversation back (see [Handoff to people](../conversations/handoff-to-people.md)).
- A value a person set or cleared is left alone: the online admin's whole call is refused with `conversation.field_by_person` (see [Value of a field in a conversation](field-values.md)).
- The online admin does not see the note of the card and does not read its category, or the ad the conversation began with; with categories it does one thing: it moves its own client from Not sorted into a category of the business. It answers only with the rights a person granted it; `talemo_get_agent_grant` shows them.