Messaging numbers: official numbers and linked WhatsApp lines

Two different things

Oris Work can talk to clients on WhatsApp in two ways, and they live on two different admin pages. An official number is a business number registered with a messaging provider (Meta for WhatsApp, or an SMS provider). A linked line is an ordinary WhatsApp number that you pair with Oris Work by scanning a QR code, the same way you would link WhatsApp Web.

Official numbers: Admin, Messaging numbers

• What it is for: telling Oris Work which provider numbers belong to your workspace, so messages that arrive on them are routed to you and not to anyone else. You register the provider phone-number ID, plus an optional display number and label.
• Channels: WhatsApp (provider Meta) and SMS (Twilio, Plivo or MSG91). A phone-number ID can belong to only one workspace across the whole platform; you are told if it is already taken.
• Managing: an admin adds a number with "+ Add number", pauses or resumes routing with the Routing / Paused badge, renames it with Edit, and removes it with Remove. Removing a number stops its inbound messages reaching your workspace.
• The official WhatsApp channel is the compliant one: Meta requires business verification and approved message templates for messages you start. Use it for automated and bulk messages.

Linked lines: Admin, WhatsApp

• What it is for: day-to-day conversations in the shared WhatsApp inbox, with free-form messages and no template approval.
• Managing: an admin adds a line with "+ Add number", scans the QR code with the phone that owns the number, and sees the line as Connected. Disconnect logs the number out; reconnect by scanning again. Per-line settings, such as who is allowed to see a line, are on the same page.
• Caveat: linking your own number uses the unofficial WhatsApp web protocol, which is outside the WhatsApp Terms of Service and carries a risk of the number being restricted. Do not use a linked line for bulk or unsolicited messaging.
• You can link more than one line. In the inbox, the "Send from" selector chooses which line a new message goes out on.

Which should I use

• Talking to existing clients, quick replies, documents and chasing a missing file: a linked line in the WhatsApp inbox.
• Messages you send automatically or to many people, and anything that must stay inside the WhatsApp rules: an official number.
• Receiving SMS: register the SMS number under Messaging numbers; there is no linked-line equivalent for SMS.
• You can have both. They do not conflict: an official number is registered on one page, a linked line on the other.

Where each is managed

• Admin, Messaging numbers: official WhatsApp and SMS numbers (registration and inbound routing).
• Admin, WhatsApp: linked lines (QR pairing, connection status, who can see each line).
• WhatsApp in the sidebar: the shared inbox where conversations from linked lines are read and answered.

Common problems

• Messages to an official number do not arrive: check the number is registered, spelled exactly as the provider phone-number ID, and shows Routing, not Paused.
• A linked line shows Not connected or Logged out: link it again by QR code. See "WhatsApp logged out or disconnected".
• "That phone-number ID is already registered": another workspace holds it. Ask your provider contact or support to resolve it.