Using ticket tabs to manage conversations

This article describes how to use tabs to help manage conversations in Zendesk agent interfaces. Some channel types shown in this article may not be available in your account, depending on which channels your administrator has configured.

As a busy agent using the Zendesk Agent Workspace, you may have to manage multiple conversations at the same time. You can use tabs at the top of the interface to help you move easily between many types of conversations (chats, phone, email, and messages). Tabs provide important information and help you see which conversations are still active and which conversations are waiting for your reply.

If your administrator has not enabled the Zendesk Agent Workspace, you can also use tabs to help manage your tickets in the Support agent interface.

To help you manage your conversations, the tabs provide you with useful information to keep you on-track with your customers.

Tabs can include:

• Icons to show the conversation type. For example, email, chat, phone, or message application.
• Requester name
• First line of the last successful reply between the agent assigned to the ticket and the requester (for chat and messaging).
• Ticket ID number (except for chats, messaging, and phone calls).

Here are a few examples:

Tab	Description	Channel
	New message (red dot)	Any channel type, except phone
	Conversation is active (green dot)	Any channel type, except email
	Conversation is inactive or the agent is away (yellow icon)	Any channel type, except email
	Conversation (or call) has ended (no color)	Any channel type
	User is typing	Any channel type, except phone, email
	Unsaved changes in the ticket (blue dot)	Any channel type

Other benefits of tabs include:

• Because phone conversations and live chats typically require the most immediate responses, tabs for these types of conversations automatically move to the left side of the interface, so they don’t get overlooked when you’re working on multiple conversations.
• Channels that have “live” conversations, such as chats, phone calls, or messages, show when a conversation is active, inactive, or ended. A conversation is inactive if no messages have been sent or received after a certain period of time. For example, ten minutes for social messages.
• To see conversation details, hold your mouse pointer over a tab.