The Speak-up inbox and case status

The Speak-up inbox is a tab on a poll that lists every anonymous report whose reporter took a return code, with a status you set and the conversation so far. It exists so a compliance or HR lead can see at a glance which reports are still waiting to be acknowledged, and can move each one through received, acknowledged, under review and closed without ever learning who wrote it; use it on an always-on speak-up channel, or on any poll with a written question where replies are turned on.

#When to use it

• You run an internal reporting channel and need to track acknowledgement and feedback per report.
• An obligation, contractual or regulatory, asks you to show that reports were handled within a time.
• Several people share the job of reading reports and need one place that shows status.

For how a reply actually works, from the return code to the encrypted thread, read Replying to an anonymous report. This page covers the inbox and the status values.

#Where it is

Open a published poll that has a written question. The Speak-up inbox tab sits beside Results.

Until results are open, the tab shows only the locked message. On a speak-up channel, results open once its minimum group size has reported (three for the template, never fewer), and on a quiet channel that can take a while (see the next section). After that, the top of the tab has the Anonymous replies switch, which offers each respondent a return code from that point on; answers already collected have no code and can't gain one. Below it are the acknowledgement chip and one row per report.

#When a report shows up

The inbox reads the same released answers the Results tab does, so it follows the same timing.

On a channel made from the Always-on speak-up template with replies on, that means:

• Nothing is readable until the channel's minimum group size has reported. The template sets it to 3, so a lone first report waits for two more.
• After that first release, each new report reaches you on its own as soon as it arrives, because each one's answered on its own. The respond page tells reporters so before they submit.

Only that first release can delay you. If you need the EU seven-day acknowledgement clock, keep the channel's minimum group size at 3, and keep another route open for urgent reports while the first three come in.

On any other poll with replies on, reports follow the normal rules: first results once the minimum group size plus three have answered, then random groups of three to five with three always in reserve, and everything at close. Switching replies on doesn't make a poll release one report at a time. How batched release works.

#What a row shows

One row per report that carries a return code. A response that answered two written questions is still one row, because it's one reporter and one conversation.

There's no date anywhere, only a week, and it's the reporter's own, sealed inside their response. We hold no submission time for a report, so a week is the most precise thing anyone can honestly say.

Your own earlier replies appear as "You replied" with a note that the text is encrypted to the reporter's return code and can't be shown back to you. That's a property, not a gap: nobody else can read what you wrote either.

#Case status

Status is one of four coarse values. It's the one thing about a report the server can see in plain text, because it holds no content and lets the reporter glance at whether there's news.

Who changes it. Anyone in the workspace who can open the poll's results can set status from the inbox or from the report's written answer on the Results tab. Reporters can read status on the reply page and can't change it. Sending a reply marks a report acknowledged on its own, so there's no state where you've answered someone and the record says you haven't.

The acknowledgement count. A chip above the rows says "N reports awaiting acknowledgement, oldest from week 2026-W36", counting reports nobody has opened plus those still at Received. When there are none it reads "Every report here has been acknowledged." It only counts reports that have been released to you.

#Return codes

A return code is 26 characters in five groups, drawn in the reporter's browser before they submit. It's the key to their side of the conversation, not a lookup token, which is why we can't recover a lost one. The reporter enters it on the reply page, on a form, and it's never carried in a link: URLs end up in browser history, proxy logs and chat previews, and a code that leaked that way would let someone else read the reply.

Until you've opened a report, the reply page tells the reporter "Not read yet. Check back later." There's no notification, because a notification needs an address and collecting one would undo the anonymity the channel exists for. Tell people when to check back.

#What respondents see

A checkbox before submit, ticked by default on a poll with replies on: Get a return code so we can reply. The code is shown once after submitting, with copy, download and print. Later, the reply page shows the status you set and anything you've written, and lets them send a follow-up once you've opened the report. Nothing on their side shows other reports or anything about the poll's results.

#Why the statuses exist

Directive (EU) 2019/1937 asks organisations above a size threshold to acknowledge a report within seven days and give the reporter feedback within a reasonable period not exceeding three months. Acknowledgement and feedback to an anonymous reporter are impossible without a route back, and a coarse status per report is the smallest record of handling that fits inside the anonymity model.

Three things are yours to handle. The clocks: we hold no submission time, so the seven days and three months are counted from the week the reporter declared, by you. The first release above: a report you can't read yet is a report you can't acknowledge, so set the minimum group size to 3. And the reporter's side: acknowledgement only reaches someone who kept their code and comes back.

#Limits and gates

• The inbox is on Business and Enterprise, and on any trial workspace with the Business features preview on. On other plans the tab shows a card saying "The Speak-up inbox is on Business and Enterprise", with a link to plans. The gate is your entitlement, not your plan name.
• Turning replies on at all, and replying from a written answer, needs an active paid plan or trial.
• No case management: no assignment, no due dates, no evidence uploads, no export for counsel.
• A conversation caps at forty messages, each at 4,000 characters.
• Conversations are deleted with the poll's responses under the poll's retention setting. Set retention long enough to cover any feedback period you've promised.
• Follow-ups aren't authenticated. Anyone who can decrypt the poll's responses, which means people in your workspace with access to its results, can read a reporter's follow-ups and post into an open thread. Keep access to a speak-up poll's results to the people who handle reports.
• A public results link only shows a summary document you publish by hand. It can't open reports, follow-ups or replies. A speak-up channel rarely needs one, and it never shows breakdowns by group, because it never closes.

See also Billing, trial, and tier limits, Compliance alignment (informational). Each page covers the adjacent settings and workflow steps.

#Related

• Replying to an anonymous report
• Batched release and the exit pool
• Open text questions
• Public results link