Sending SMS from the Ticket Sidebar

The Twilio 2-Way SMS app adds a sidebar panel to every Freshdesk and Freshservice ticket. From this panel, agents can:

Compose and send a one-off SMS to the ticket requester
Attach an image or file (MMS)
Pick from a library of pre-written SMS templates
Schedule an SMS to send at a future date and time

Sending an SMS

Open any ticket and locate the Twilio 2-Way SMS panel in the sidebar.
The To number is pre-filled with the requester’s phone number.
The From number defaults to the Twilio number that received the original incoming SMS for this ticket, or falls back to the default outbound number configured in iparams.
Type your message in the text field.
Click Send.

A confirmation note is added to the ticket with the message body, the Twilio Message SID, and delivery details.

From-Number Selection

The app selects the sender number using this priority order:

Incoming SMS Twilio number — if the ticket was created from an inbound SMS, the app uses the Twilio number that originally received it. This keeps the customer’s SMS thread consistent.
Default outbound number — the fallback number configured in iparams, used when no incoming number is on record.

This priority applies both to sidebar sends and to the auto-reply flow.

Sending MMS (Images and Files)

To attach media:

Click the attachment icon in the sidebar composer.
Select a file from your computer. The file is uploaded to Azure Blob Storage and a URL is generated.
The URL is embedded in the Twilio send request as a media attachment.

Twilio delivers the media to the customer’s phone as an MMS. The file type must be supported by Twilio’s MMS media list (common image formats — JPEG, PNG, GIF — are always supported).

SMS Templates

If SMS templates have been configured in iparams, they appear in a dropdown in the sidebar composer. Selecting a template inserts the pre-written text into the message field. Agents can edit the text before sending.

Templates support placeholders for ticket and contact fields (e.g. the contact’s name or the ticket ID), which are resolved at send time.

To create templates: go to App Settings → SMS Templates and add entries with a name and body. Templates are shared across all agents on the account.

Limitations

The sidebar composer is available on Freshdesk and Freshservice only.
The requester must have a valid phone number in their contact record for the To field to be pre-filled.
The maximum total size of all template and alert configuration cannot exceed 256 KB.

Need Help?

Email support@taroo.in and we’ll respond within one business day.