Making sure your Facebook profile stays private is relatively straightforward, but there’s no way to stop other people from sending you messages using the service. That’s no bad thing for most people — social media is about keeping in touch, after all — but the way Facebook is organised may mean you’re not seeing every message you get sent.
The problem stems from the fact that Facebook has two inboxes for messages — one for people within your immediate social circle and one for everyone else. And it only notifies you about messages from the former. Here’s what you can do to fix it.
Step 1: Find the Other inbox
The second Facebook message inbox is called ‘Other’, so the first thing to do is check it for any missed messages. Open your Facebook home page in your browser so that you can see the newsfeed and then click Messages in the list on the left of the page, just below your name and profile image.
Step 2: Check for new messages
This opens your main Facebook inbox, but if you look at the top-left of the page, you’ll see a greyed-out Other next to the currently selected Inbox. Click this to see any messages you’ve received from people who aren’t immediate Facebook friends. Alternatively, you can just open https://www.facebook.com/messages/other.
Step 3: Move a message to the main inbox
You can move any message from your Other inbox to the main Inbox by opening it and then selecting Move to Inbox from the Actions menu for that message.
Step 4: Change the Other inbox settings
By default, Facebook puts messages from ‘people you know’ in your Inbox — those from Facebook friends and friends of friends — and messages from everyone else go in the Other inbox.
If you find your Inbox is too cluttered as a result, you can change this setting. ClickEdit Preferences at the top-left of the Messages page and select Strict Filteringin the dialog box that opens. Click the Done button to save the change.
Step 5: See the Other inbox on a smartphone
You need the dedicated Facebook Messenger app to access your Facebook messages on a smartphone, but unfortunately, neither the Android or iOS apps provide a way to access the Other inbox. So a simpler option is to use the Facebook web site on your smartphone or tablet — you’ll see the Other inbox option at the bottom of your main Inbox.
Did you know about Facebook's second Inbox? Let us know in the Comments below.
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