# Start messages
Start messages - a window above the message entry field in WhatsApp, which is seen by contacts who have not previously started a waba number in WhatsApp (or the chat has been deleted). These are the first message options offered to the contact, with which the customer is invited to start chatting with the company.
If a message has already been sent in the chat by the contact, the start messages will no longer go out in the contact's WhatsApp chat.
In WhatsApp, this is displayed as follows:
To create or edit start messages, you need to:
1. Go to RadistWeb in Settings and then Connections - WhatsApp Business API
2. Select a number, and click on the “Edit” button to the right
3. In the window that opens, select the “Start messages” tab
Next, you need to add the text of the starting messages, if there will be more than one, you can click on the button “Add message” after filling in the first field to appear another field for entering text.
The maximum possible number of starting messages is 4 messages of 40 characters each.
If you want to delete an unnecessary message, click on the trash can symbol to the right of the field:
If you want to completely delete all start messages - delete all additional fields and erase the text in the first field “Start message 1”
When you have finished creating or editing start messages, click on the “Save changes” button
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