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Using CCs, followers, and @mentions

Amy Malka
  • Edited
Zendesk Documentation Team

all plans

Note: This article describes the new CCs and followers experience. This experience is available to all accounts, but some accounts have the experience enabled by default and others don't.

If enabled by your administrator, you can add CCs, @mentions, and followers to tickets. You might do this if you want someone else to be aware of a ticket or provide some feedback about it. You can only copy (CC) users that have a user profile in your Support account.

This article includes these sections:

For more information about using CCs and followers, see these articles:

For a complete list of documentation about CCs and followers, see CC and followers resources.

About CCs, @mentions, and followers

You can use CCs and followers to bring internal users (agents and admins) and external users (your customers or end users) into a conversation about a ticket, and have control over who receives ticket notifications by email.

  • CCs allow you to include end users and agents on ticket notifications. Internal and external users can add CCs (copied users) to tickets. CCs can respond to ticket notifications publicly, or they can remove the requester from the notification to submit a private response. A ticket can have up to 48 email CCs.
  • Followers allow you to include additional internal users (agents or administrators) on ticket notifications. Internal users can add followers to tickets. There's no limit to the number of followers you can include on a ticket.

Copying internal and external users on tickets

Agents and end users with the proper permissions can use the CC line to add external end users to a ticket’s email thread. If the ticket is restricted to certain groups or organizations, agents can use the CC line to add internal agents who are not part of the allowed groups or organizations.

Both internal and external users can add CCs to tickets. Internal users are your company's agents and admins that are allowed to view the ticket. They can add CCs from the ticket interface or when replying to ticket notifications by email. External users are your customers or end users and can add CCs when replying to ticket notifications by email.

Copied users (CCs) can:

  • Send and receive public comments to the ticket conversation.
  • Send private comments to a ticket conversation, by removing the requester from the notification.
  • Receive and respond to private comments in a ticket conversation, if they are explicitly included on that comment.
  • Add other external users to the conversation via the CC line.
  • Remove themselves or other CCs from the ticket conversation.
  • Be seen by other CCs and followers on the ticket, as their email address is visible in the ticket header.

Adding followers to tickets

Agents and administrators can use the Followers field in the properties panel of the ticket interface to add internal users to a ticket. Additionally, depending on your collaboration settings, agents and administrators can be added to the CC line in the ticket interface, and automatically added as followers on the ticket.

Internal users who can view the ticket can add followers to the ticket.

Followers can:

  • Receive public comments and private comments added to the ticket conversation.
  • Ability to make a private comments and public comment.
  • Replying to a private comment creates a private comment and likewise for public comments.
  • Remove themselves from the ticket conversation.
  • Remain hidden from end users copied on the ticket.
  • Remain hidden from other followers.

Adding CCs from the ticket interface and ticket notifications

Agents can copy users by adding them to the ticket from the ticket interface or from the ticket notification.

To copy a user from the ticket interface

  1. From Support, open the ticket in the agent interface.
  2. In the comment stream, click Public reply.
  3. Click CC on the right side of the comment header.

    If there are already other users copied on the ticket, you can click on the CC line to add additional CCs.

  4. Begin entering the name or email address of the user you want to copy. Registered users’ names will appear as suggestions.
  5. If you see the user you want to include, click their name; otherwise, click Add user and enter the user’s email address.
  6. Repeat as necessary.
  7. Enter and submit your public comment (public reply). Copied users will receive a notification, and will be included in subsequent replies, until they are removed from the CC line.

To CC a user from ticket notifications

  1. From your email client, open the ticket notification.
  2. Open the CC line, per your email provider’s instructions.
  3. Add the name of the user you want to copy. Repeat as necessary.
  4. Add your comment and send the email. Copied users will receive an email notification, and will be included in subsequent replies, until they are removed from the CC line.

Adding agents to tickets using @mentions

Agents and admins can add other agents to the tickets using @mentions. To use @mentions, the rich content formatting option must be enabled. You can’t use @mentions if you've selected markdown as your formatting option (see Enabling formatting options for agents). If you aren’t using the rich text editor, have your admin enable it for you.

Some things to note:

  • @mentions can’t be used in tickets created from the Facebook or Twitter channels, because these types of tickets, and their comments, are plain text only.

  • Light agents can't use the @mention feature because it adds a CC to the ticket, which they don't have permission to do (see Understanding and setting light agent permissions).

  • Only admins and agents can be @mentioned. End users cannot be @mentioned.

Here’s some more detailed information about how @mentions work, and what to expect with you @mention another agent. Results vary depending on what settings are enabled in your Support account, and whether you @mention someone in a public or private comment.

  In public comments

(public reply)

 In private comments

(internal note)

If CCs and followers are enabled, and Automatically make an agent CC a follower is enabled.

@mentioned agents are added as CCs and followers.

@mentioned agents are added as followers.

If CCs and followers are enabled, and Automatically make an agent CC a follower is disabled.

@mentions are added as CCs.

@mentioned agents are added as followers.

If CCs are enabled, and followers are disabled.

@mentions are added as CCs.

There’s no Followers field, so @mentions are not added as followers.

@mentions are not added as CCs or followers.

To add an agent with the @mention feature

  1. Begin writing a comment (either Public reply or Internal note).
  2. In the body of the comment, type "@" followed by the beginning of the agent's name.

    For instance, if you want to include agent Jane Doe, type "@Jan".

  3. Select the agent you want to add from the autocomplete menu.

  4. Finish composing your message, and click Submit.

The agent mentioned is automatically CC'd on the ticket, and will receive all normal CC email notifications for that ticket. If they are logged in, the added agent sees a notification in the upper-right corner of the Zendesk Support interface informing them that they were mentioned on the ticket. This notification disappears after one minute.

Adding agents as followers from the ticket interface

If followers have been enabled by the administrator, internal users (your company's agents and administrators) can add followers from the Followers field from the properties panel in the ticket interface. Followers are internal users such as agents, light agents, and administrators that receive email notifications when a ticket is updated.

Note these things about using followers:

  • Followers can add and receive public comments and private comments.
  • Followers can reply to a public comment with a public comment, and reply to a private comment with a private comment.
  • Followers can remove themselves from the ticket.
  • Followers are hidden from copied (CC'd) end users and other followers on email notifications. Their name and email address don't appear in email notifications sent to other users. For more information about the email notifications that followers receive, see Best practices for using email clients with CCs and followers.
  • If your administrator has enabled Automatically make an agent a follower, you can added internal users, such as agents and admins, to tickets as followers from ticket notifications by adding them to the reply as a CC. In this case, the agent becomes both a CC and a follower.
To add agents as followers from the ticket interface
  1. Select a ticket from one of your views.

    The Followers field appears in the ticket properties panel on the left side.

  2. In the Followers field, enter a user's name, email domain, or organization name and the relevant results appear.

    Internal users such as agents, light agents, and administrators can be followers.

    To quickly add yourself as a follower, click follow.

To remove a follower from the ticket interface
  • Click the delete button (X) in the person's name box in the Followers list

    To quickly remove yourself as a follower, click unfollow.

To add agents as followers from ticket notifications

  1. From your email client, open the ticket notification.
  2. Open the CC line, per your email provider’s instructions.
  3. Add the name of the user you want to add as a follower. Repeat as necessary.
  4. Add your comment and send the email.

Replying with public or private comments

Agents can send private comments from the ticket interface and from email. Adding a private comment from the ticket interface is very straightforward.

Keep in mind that a private comment appears in the ticket interface as an internal note. Private comments and internal notes are the same thing. This article uses the term private comment to describe these types of comments.

Sending private comments from email is more complicated, but you can find complete information about how that works in Understanding when email replies become public or private comments. It's important that you understand what happens when different users (your end users, agents, CCs, and followers) reply from email. It's also a good idea to check out Best practices for using email clients with CCs and followers and Understanding suppression of CCs email notifications.

If you only want to send a private comment from the ticket interface for now, follow this procedure.

To send a private comment from the ticket interface

  1. From Support, open the ticket from the agent interface.
  2. In the comment stream, click Internal note.
  3. In the Followers field, add (or remove) any user you want to include (or exclude) from the private comment.
  4. Add your comment, and submit your reply.

    When you @mention agents in a private comment from the ticket interface, they will be added as followers.

    When you @mention end users in a private comment from the ticket interface, they will not be added as CCs or followers.

Adding light agents as CCs and followers

If Enable light agents to become CCs on tickets is enabled by your administrator, light agents can be copied (CC'd) on a ticket from both the ticket interface and from ticket notifications. However, they can't add or remove themselves as a CC—this must be done by another agent who has permission to do so (someone who isn't a light agent). They also can't @mention other users or add CCs to tickets.

Light agents can add and remove followers from tickets.

For more information about light agent permissions, see Understanding and setting light agent permissions (Collaboration Add-on).

Note: If your company uses CCs and light agents, we recommend that you also review Viewing, recovering, and deleting suspended tickets.

Changing the requester

If allowed by your administrator, agents can change the requester on the ticket (see Configuring CCs and followers permissions and notifications). For instructions about how to change the requester, see Changing the ticket requester.

Viewing tickets that you are copied on or following

You can view all of the tickets that you are copied on or following from your user profile. For more information about your user profile, see Viewing your user profile in Zendesk Support.

You cannot use views to find out what tickets have CCs and followers. Admins cannot get a report of tickets that a group of agents are copied on or following.

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43 Comments

  • Conza

    Just ultra checking in terms of:

    • Send private notes to a ticket conversation, by removing the requester from the notification.
    • Receive and respond to private notes in a ticket conversation, if they are explicitly included on that note.


    We have 700 or so light agents (80 or so stores). Our Online CS team engages with stores to sort out online orders. We CC stores in, who as light agents, advise internally on the ticket - updates. Sometimes we use side-conversations. 

    We've kept it as simple as possible - they just continue to use email, and don't login etc. to Zendesk. All their responses are to be private, internal comments - given they are light agents.

    The biggest risk is - them replying publicly to a customer, when they think they're replying privately. 

    New Risks?

    1. What are the new risks with this change over? What should I be recommending my team do? 

    2. Any time the online CS team CC the store in (light agent), the customer can see that they've been CC'd? And then email them directly afterwards? The customer won't see their responses, yes? 

    3. What happens when you CC someone onto a ticket, without any updated - message? It triggers emailing them? Or not?

    Cheers

    1
  • Todd Meyer

    I'm unclear - if an Agent is both a CC and a Follower on a ticket, is their email address exposed? We do not want agents added as CC's if they are mentioned in a private note, but it doesn't appear there is any way to prevent this. They should be added as a follower if mentioned in a private note so their email isn't exposed.

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    @Conza,

    1. If a light-agent is replying to the email then their response would still be applied as an internal note. This is set up through their role permissions.

    2. CC's users can be seen by other users who are following or CC'd to the ticket. If they email separately afterwards outside of Zendesk then that should not get appended to the ticket. If the light-agent is replying to the email sent from Zendesk that would be applied as an internal note. The customer will not see the response.

    3. That would depend on the trigger conditions. If the trigger is set up to look for a public or private comment then the notification would not be sent.

     

    @Todd the only way the agents email would not be exposed is if they are a follower of the ticket. CC'd users will be exposed in the ticket header, Followers will remain invisible from everyone.

    Let me know if you have any other questions!

    0
  • Todd Meyer

    @Brett thanks for confirming.  For what it's worth, it seems unintuitive that @mentioning an agent in a private comment would add an agent as a CC instead of a follower.  Can you or someone from the product team help us understand the logic here?

    5
  • Conza

    Question - if a light agent is the requester, and an agent makes an internal note - will this be sent to the requester (light agent)? 

    Or does it need to be public comment now? 

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    @Conza the light agent should receive an email notification assuming your trigger is using the Comment > is > Present, and requester can see comment

    @Todd I'm not sure how this decision was made but we have reached out to see if we can get some additional information.

    0
  • Conza

    It has been, yes. I can't see any trigger notifications in the events though - firing :\ 

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    @Conza I'm going to generate a ticket on your behalf so I can look into this with you. You'll receive a follow-up email shortly from me.

    1
  • Dan Derks
    • Edited

    Hi all,

    Since enabling the new CC features, my team's @ mentions have stopped working. We're still on Rich Content. Anticipated? Anything I can do?

    update: FIXED as of EOD 6/13

    1
  • Robin de Hen

    We're having the same issue as Dan Derk, but without enabling the new CC features. Also with enabling it, it doesn't work anymore. This @mention feature is a very critical functionality in our company. Could you please check this as soon as possible?!

    1
  • Darren Taylor
    • Edited

    "You can only copy (CC) users that have a user profile in your Support account."

    Why though? This just adds additional work for our agents. They have to create a user profile each time just to CC someone in. Also upon creating an account, the user will receive an email to create an account/password on Zendesk.

    Can't we just simply add an email address without all these extra requirements!? Or at the very least stop the automated email that's sent out upon profile creation for CC's only?

    3
  • Nicole S.
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hi Dan and Robin,

    There was an issue with this functionality that affected several accounts this week. A fix has now been rolled out, can you confirm for us whether this is now working or if you're still having issues?

    1
  • Dan Derks

    Hi Nicole,

    Fixed as of EOD yesterday, thank you so much for the follow-up!

    0
  • Nicole S.
    Zendesk Community Team

    You're welcome. Glad to hear it's working!

    0
  • Amber Bowden

    In the documentation, it says that for an @mention "The agent mentioned is automatically CC'd on the ticket". I'm testing the new CCs feature our Sandbox right now and the @mention is adding the agent as a Follower. Adding as a Follower is definitely preferred, but would you be able to confirm which behavior is correct?

    0
  • Conza
    • Edited


    Ok, so this makes sense to a degree. *Even though the ticket was created by a light agent.

    The problem is: when the stores (light agents) email in (Requester) their ticket is automatically private/internal. [Which is fine, we prefer this and this is how it previously worked]

    BUT when our agents respond PUBLICLY, so that the store can see the response/notes to their enquiry... the ORIGINAL COMMENT the store sent in—which started the ticket ISN'T VISIBLE in the email/communication that get sent to them!

    The store (light agent) has no idea what we're referring to. How can we fix/resolve this?!

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hey Conza,

    Just to confirm, the original private comment is not being sent back to the (light-agent)? I assume the trigger is firing correctly and sending out the notification at least correct?

    I'd double check your placeholders within the trigger and make sure you're using the ticket.comments_formatted placeholder and not the ticket.latest_comment placeholder.

    Let me know if I'm misunderstanding the issue here as I'd be happy to assist further.

    Thanks!

    0
  • Conza

    Hi Brett,

    Confirming that the original private comment is not being sent back to the light-agent. 

    The trigger is not firing correctly.. because they apparently can't see it? 

    The place holders are correct regarding ticket.comments_formatted. 

    See ticket #4588056 you started earlier on for further. 


    The issue re-stated:

    Light agents as requester (the stores emailing in). Their comments are private/internal by default. We used to be able to respond to these, internally/privately, and they would see ALL of the prior exchange/notes, and get an email notification.

    The issue AFTER the CC FOLLOWERS CHANGE is that the stores email in to online support, as requester - AND if we respond internally/PRIVATELY it does NOT send / email notification to the STORE (light agent), even though they should be able to see it.

    Ok... fine... but even if we respond PUBLICLY to the light agent / store as (REQUESTER), they CANNOT see their first email that started the ticket (which was private), they only see our public response - but it is completely devoid of context... and they have no idea of what we're talking about.

    How to solve?

    * Re-adding the Requester (light agent) as a FOLLOWER when they are also the REQUESTER allows for the entire previous internal ticket info (e.g. their first ticket in) to be seen... but the waste of time for us having to manually add in the REQUESTER as a FOLLOWER is huge.

    When agents forget to do this, the stores get emails without any context. Absolute disaster.

    I am unsure if there is a TRIGGER which is firing, or isn't firing - which could solve this. OR if the CC FOLLOWER CHANGE has basically made it impossible to do what we want.

    Cheers, and apologies for the caps emphasis in places.

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hey Conza,

    It looks like you have a ticket open with one of our Customer Advocates regarding this issue. Appreciate you bringing this concern to our attention and we will continue working with you on the ticket :) 

    Cheers!

    0
  • Ian Field

    We have the exact same issue-  Light agents are not receiving email notifications from private notes if they are the requester/CC on a ticket  We've had to roll this back to restore this functionality.

    1
  • Conza

    Yep. Disastrous. If everyone else with the same issue could pipe up, may help matters. 

    We didn't roll back; probably should have! 

    0
  • Patrizia Eberhart

    Hi,

    one huge downside of the light agents becoming followers is that, they can no longer find these tickets in Guide under "my activities" in the section "tickets I am on cc". Is it planned to have a new view like "tickets I am following"?

     

    1
  • Kevin

    Is it possible to add end-users as followers so they can see internal notes? I ask because our company only has 32 agents and some employees outside of that number are cc'ed but cannot see internal notes

    Also, from reading parts of this page it seems that followers are sort of akin to the "bcc" feature of emails. Would you agree with that?

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    @Patrizia nothing on the roadmap currently but I've passed your feedback along to the appropriate team for review :) In the meantime, your agents can tag tickets they are following and create a view that displays those tickets based on tags. I realize this is not an ideal solution but I just wanted to provide you with a possible alternative solution for now.

    @Kevin, only light-agents and regular agents will be able to see internal notes on a ticket. If you want to have a separate conversation with other end-users within a ticket, you may want to look into the Side-Conversations feature which I've linked for you. You're also correct and the Followers feature is fairly similar to BCC. These users will not show up for CC'd end-users within a ticket.

    Let me know if you have any questions :) 

    0
  • Lennart Hedegaard Thomsen

    We are testing the “new” CC and follow feature in our sandbox, and got I some question about the setup.

    1. Is it possible to automatically remove light agent as follower on a ticket when the ticket is updated?

    We would like to remove the light agent after a ticket is updated.

    1. We want our followers to get all public comments, and ONLY the private comment made while they are as followers.

    Add the moment our Follower email template is

    You are added as a follower on this ticket ({{ticket.id}}).

    {{ticket.follower_reply_type_message}}

    {{ticket.latest_comment_formatted}}

    {{agent.signature}}

    _______________________________________________________________

    {{ticket.public_comments_formatted}}

    But add this results in our followers getting any public comments twice, and that was not the point.

    Is there a Place holder I’m missing, or do I need to make liquid markup?

    0
  • Amy Malka
    Zendesk Documentation Team

    Hi everyone! The section about “Adding agents to tickets using @mentions” has been corrected and updated so that it’s clear what happens when you @mention an agent in an private comment (internal note).

    0
  • Nicole S.
    Zendesk Community Team

    Thanks, Amy!

    0
  • Bill Cicchetti

    Just started testing this in our Sandbox and had a quick question:

     

    Now that the CC field is gone off the ticket form how can you see everyone who is CC'd on the ticket?

    0
  • Brett Bowser
    Zendesk Community Team

    Hey Bill,

    When viewing the ticket you should see the To: and CC: fields within the comment box. Screenshot below:

    Let me know if you run into any issues locating this option.

    Cheers!

    0
  • Bill Cicchetti

    Thanks Brett !

    0

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