Hello,
​​​​​​​
Justin here with the support engineering team

Within Front Whatsapp channels, you can initiate new outbound messages to contacts who have opted-in to you contacting them via WhatsApp. You are required to use an approved WhatsApp Message Template. For more information, see WhatsApp’s documentation here.

As for auto-suggesting recipients in the Number plugin, you would need to make this feature request with the Number / WhatsApp team. They are the publisher and maintainer of the plugin you are using. 

Thanks, 

Justin

@domkrpan Silvana has a question about the Number / Front integration

so sorry, what I meant was: is there any way that when we start to look up a customer (for example, if we start typing the name: Sil, then suggestions would come up for Silvana, Silver, etc. but with the WhatsApp outbound messages, we must type in the complete contact name (including spaces) to be able to compose a message. 

Thanks for the update!

When composing a message in Front, you should see eligible results auto-suggested for saved contacts. I would recommend checking that the number in question is saved to the contact name that you are expecting to be auto-suggested when composing the message. 

If you continue to experience issues with contact auto-suggestions when composing a message in Front, I would recommend reaching out the the support team directly, where they can take a closer look at details private to your account. 

Thanks, 
Justin