Chat and message histories are threaded together — you can think of them as one and the same. When you open a conversation, you’ll see a conversation that includes all your messages along with your entire chat history. If you send a chat message to a friend who has turned chat off, the chat message will be sent directly to their message inbox.

To turn chat on, click in the bottom-right corner of any Facebook page.

Your Other folder is where you'll find messages and emails that have been filtered out of your inbox. You can change your filter preference right from your inbox.

To get to your Other folder, click Messages on the left side of the homepage, then click Other in the top left.

You can move a message to your Inbox by replying to it, or by opening the message and selecting Move to Inbox from the Actions menu.

1. Go to your Other Inbox
2. Click Edit Preferences
3. Select Basic or Strict filtering
4. Click Save

Keep in mind, anyone on Facebook can send you a message. Messages that are filtered out of your inbox will appear in your Other folder.

Learn about the steps we take to help keep minors safe.

You can change your message filtering preferences right from your inbox. Learn how.

Basic Filtering

If you select Basic Filtering, you'll see mostly messages from friends and people you may know (ex: friends of friends) in your inbox. Typically, messages from other people will go to your Other folder, and you won't receive a notification about them.

Strict Filtering

If you select Strict Filtering, you'll see mostly messages from friends in your inbox. Some messages from people you want to hear from may go to your Other folder.

Whichever filter you choose, you may sometimes get messages in your inbox from people you're not connected to. Some examples of when these messages may go to your inbox are:

• A friend of a friend includes you in a message along with some of your mutual friends
• A member of a group you're in messages you or includes you in a message
• A friend who isn't on Facebook uses your contact info to send you a message from the Messenger app

Additionally, someone you're not connected to on Facebook may pay to ensure their message is routed to your inbox instead of your Other folder.