What is the Inbox and what does the number on the bell mean?

Question

There is a bell with a number at the top of my dashboard and an Inbox entry in the left navigation. What is in there, and why does the number not match my unread updates?

Answer

The Inbox is one page of everything waiting on you across PlatoForms, and the number on the bell and on the sidebar is the work in it: the items that need your attention plus the alerts about your account. Updates (new submissions, finished workflows) never count, so the number always means something to do. A quiet blue dot on the bell means the only news is unread updates.

What appears there:

• Work waiting on you: an approval to decide, a form to fill in, files to review, a renewal to send or date, a paper import to check, a team invitation, and for team admins a member’s request for access or for an API playground token.
• Alerts about your account: a failed payment, a cloud drive to reconnect, a webhook that was turned off, an email sender that is no longer verified, paused notifications.
• Updates: new submissions per form and day, and finished workflow runs.
• Done recently: what was finished in the last 30 days and by whom.

Items leave by themselves when the work is done anywhere, by you or by a teammate. The Inbox never decides for you: each card’s button opens the place where the work is done.

Open it from Inbox in the left navigation or from the bell. See Use your Inbox.