Troubleshooting your Chat connection

This troubleshooting guide includes the steps you can take to troubleshoot and resolve common chat connection issues.

I experience one or more of the following issues with my connection: 

• A gray 'x' appear in my chat window with multiple different visitors
• A disconnect error message
  ("Disconnected, attempting to reconnect" or "Disconnected. Please refresh dashboard") 
• Bad ratings because my visitors cannot receive my messages
• Delays in the Chat dashboard functionality or the dashboard is unresponsive
• Chats are regularly disconnected and messages are duplicated
• Chats are regularly unassigned even though I have chat routing configured

Note: Zendesk Chat is designed to automatically reconnect after a disconnection. Reconnections typically take a few seconds.

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• Step Two
• Step Three
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• Step Five

1. Test your web browser 
Determine if there is an issue with your web browser

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Complete the following browser troubleshooting steps to determine if your chat issue can be resolved:

1. Clear your cache and cookies. Your browser will store information about the sites you visit over time. Clearing your browsing data can resolve formatting or loading issues. 
2. Log into your account in a private browsing window, incognito window, and different web browser. If you have success in a different web browser or private browsing window, your issue is most likely due to a browser extension or setting.
3. Remove extensions or restore default browser settings that may block your ability to chat with customers.
4. Restart your web browser or computer. Zendesk Chat requires a lot of memory and it is important to restart your browser and computer regularly. Issues with Chat can be caused by a local-storage issue, low browser memory, or an outdated browser.

  For more information, see the articles: Why is Zendesk slow and Zendesk Support system requirements.

2. Connection blockers
Investigate potential restrictions interfering with your connection 

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Security restrictions or network settings can sometimes cause trouble with your connection. Reach out to an admin or IT person to determine if any of the following restrictions apply to your account:

1. Switch to a different network to see if you experience the same issue. Testing from a different network is the simplest way to identify if there is an issue with your local network.  
2. Ask your team if a VPN is being used. If so, do you experience your issue off of the VPN?
3. Lastly, do you have a firewall or any anti-virus software blocking traffic to your site or ability to chat? If so, does the issue still occur when you temporarily disable these features? Read our recommendations for configuring your firewall for use with Zendesk and public IP addresses. 

  For more information, see the article: How to configure your network for Zendesk Chat.

3. Visitor issues
If you are having trouble with specific visitors disconnecting with your agents

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The web browser of visitors: 

An issue with the browser of a visitor can result in a visitor disappearing from the visitor list. Determine if the agent is experiencing chat issues with multiple visitors, or with a specific visitor, IP address, or company. Often this issue can be resolved by the end-user. Ask the visitor to perform similar troubleshooting steps detailed in step one as their web browser (or mobile device) is most likely the source of the issue.  For more information, see the article: Visitor requirements for Chat.

A high volume of visitors:

High traffic of visitors can be the cause of disconnects between visitors and agents.  The high-load dashboard should be enabled to see if this feature alleviates the performance issues. For more information, see the article: Using the High Load Dashboard. 

4. Chat Connection settings
Review your Chat Connection settings to determine the issue

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View the following metrics in your Chat Connection settings:

• Server: The Chat dashboard should connect to a server that is geographically closest to you.
• Connection Type: If this metric displays another value other than "Ws" (Websocket) you could have a firewall blocking your connection.
• Status: You should see the option “connected.”
• Connection Quality: An indicator of the connection quality between your network and Zendesk Chat servers. The more filled in with black the line is, the better your connection. If the filled-in portion of the line is less than 50%, we recommend testing your connection. 
• Connection Progress: The number "100" indicates that you are successfully connected and any value less than "100" indicates a connection issue.
• Uptime: The amount of time (seconds/milliseconds) detected from your browser that Chat is connected over the total time of the session. If you were recently disconnected or have had breaks in the connection, the first number (time connected) will be lower than the second number (total session length).
• D/C Count: If the disconnection count (D/C Count) is higher than the Connected Count then you are most likely experiencing an issue with your Chat dashboard connection.
• Server Timeouts: Indicates the number of disconnections on the server end.

The settings previously mentioned will help determine the possible source of your chat connection issues. Report these issues to an account admin or an internal IT Team to further troubleshoot now that you may have narrowed down the source of the issue. 

Note: If necessary, you can reset your connection by clicking on the Force reconnect button. Force reconnecting can cause any active chats to be disconnected.

5. Contact Zendesk Customer Support
Include your answers to the following questions

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If you are still experiencing issues after completing the steps in this guide, we would be happy to help! Contact Zendesk Customer Support with answers to the following questions: 

1. When did this issue first occur? And how many times has it happened?
2. How many agents are impacted? Which agents and visitors are involved?
3. Are all of the agents on the same network (wifi) or the same location (IP addresses)?
4. Do you have any relevant screenshots of the issue?
5. Can you send a screenshot of your Chat Connection settings, Chat Dashboard diagnostics, and support details immediately after the issue occurred? 

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