Using macros to start side conversations (Collaboration add-on)

Fastpath: Settings > Tickets > Collaboration > Enable ticket Side Conversations

This feature is only available if it has been enabled by the administrator.

Side conversations are perfect for reaching out to other departments or external partners, but for many teams, they can become repetitive, especially if there’s a specific structure to the initial messages. You may want to use macros to start side conversations and ensure that key information is included automatically when the conversation is started.

For example, let’s say that you want to start a side conversation with a few things like:

• The requester’s initial message
• Some additional questions from the agent
• Some custom field values
• The originating ticket’s ID and URL

This article includes these topics:

• About macros for side conversations
• Creating macros for side conversations
• Applying macros to side conversations

Related articles:

• Creating macros for tickets
• Using macros to update tickets

About macros for side conversations

You can add a Side conversation action to any macro and when it runs, a new side conversation is started and immediately pops open. Ticket information and some extra boilerplate are added automatically to the body by means of placeholders, leaving you to add only the recipient and any additional information you want to include.

There are a few important things to note about how this feature behaves:

• When you use a macro to start a side conversation, the macro won’t be applied to any side conversations that are already on the ticket - only to the new side conversation you're starting now.
• Keep in mind that your macro may include other actions that change ticket fields. If you don't submit the ticket, those changes will be lost.

If you are looking for more information about side conversations, see Using side conversations in tickets (add-on).

Creating macros for side conversations

Anyone (agents or administrators) can create a personal macro for side conversations. Administrators can also create shared macros for side conversations.

To create personal macros for side conversations

1. Click the Admin icon () in the sidebar, then select Macros.
2. Click the All shared macros drop-down menu and select Personal macros.
3. Click the Add macro button.
4. Enter the macro name, and add actions for your macro as described in Building macro action statements.
5. In the Actions section, choose Side conversation, enter a subject, and your message.

   For the message, add placeholders for information you regularly need or use.

   For example, this macro starts a side conversation and includes the first message from the requester, plus some information from the original ticket:

   

   Note: Only plain text is supported at this time. You cannot add rich text formatting or images.
6. Click Create.

Applying macros to side conversations

Macros for side conversations create a new side conversation and automatically add ticket information and some extra boilerplate to the body of the message.

To apply macros to side conversations

1. From the ticket, click the Apply macro button in the bottom toolbar.

   

2. Typically, your five most commonly used macros from the past week appear at the top of the macros list.

   

   You can select one of these, begin typing the name of the macro, or scroll through the list to find the one you want to use.

   The most-used macros display can be disabled, in which case, you'll only see the all macros list. For information, see Disabling the most-used macros option.

   Note: Macros cannot be set up for specific channels.

   The actions defined in the macro will be applied. If the macro updated the ticket comment, you can edit the text before submitting the ticket.

3. When the macro with a Side conversation action runs, it immediately starts a single new side conversation with the ticket information and boilerplate text specified by the macro. The side conversation is not saved though until you add a recipient and click Send.

   

4. Add a recipient to the side conversation.
5. If needed, change the subject of the side conversation and add, remove, or change information in the message.
6. Click Send.
7. If the macro updated any ticket fields, make sure that you also submit the ticket.