The Zendesk Agent Workspace includes a flexible message composer that enables agents to work seamlessly across a variety of channels. Agents can work equally well with all types of messages in all types of languages, including social messages, Zendesk messages, live chats, emails, and internal notes. This article describes how to use the composer to manage conversations in the agent workspace.
This article contains the following topics:
Switching channels in the composer
When you receive a new message in a ticket, the composer defaults to the channel where the last message came from. You can choose to reply on the same channel or pick another channel.
To switch channels
- In a ticket, locate the conversation that needs a reply.
- Locate the current channel indicator at the top of the composer window.
- Click the down arrow (v) to open the channel menu.
- Select the channel you want to use for the reply.
Your channel choices vary depending on which channels your administrator has set up for your workspace. They also vary based on the current state of your conversation. For example, during a live chat, you can reply by email (if there's an email on file for the customer), or add an internal note, then reply by chat. However, once the chat is ended, you can't reply by chat.
In the composer, each channel is a different way to communicate. You may compose different messages for each channel, so the drafts will not be saved across channels. For example, when you write something in an internal note and switch to public reply, that message will not be displayed in public reply. However, when you switch back to internal note, you will still be able to find the messages you left there. This goes for all channels.
If a channel is not available, for example, if a chat has ended, the default is an internal note. The exception is social messages. When a social message times out, the channel stays the same until you change it.
Using Send vs. Submit
During a live chat or messaging conversation, click Send (or press Return) to send your reply.
To send an email or save other changes to a ticket, click Submit.
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Resizing the composer window
The Zendesk Agent Workspace includes a flexible composer window. You can resize the window as needed to meet your requirements. For example, you can use a smaller window for chats and messages, but you might want to use a larger window for long email messages.
To resize the composer window
- In a ticket, click the border at the top of the composer window.
- Drag the border up or down to change the window size.
Using formatting options and controls
The composer comes with a full range of built-in formatting options and controls, including rich text, tables, hyperlinks, emojis, and attachments.
When you pick a channel, the composer controls change to match the channel you're using. For example, a social messaging channel may not support tables or rich text formatting, but the email channel does.
The composer also supports shortcuts, macros, dynamic content, and @mentions.
Scrolling through a conversation
You can also use the scroll bar on the right side of the ticket to scroll up or down through previous responses without losing sight of the reply you're composing. Separated scrolling is useful if you're working on a long ticket with a lot of details.
You can also click Jump to the latest message to find the most-recent replies.
To prevent unexpected results, when you are actively working in a live chat or messaging conversation, Zendesk doesn't recommend changing the ticket requester.
Asian language support
If your agents work with a lot of Asian language messages, consider enabling an Asian language fix when you enable the agent workspace. For more information, see Enabling Asian language support.
35 Comments
Hi Seth Ganz
Do you have a ticket created for the reported issues?
Agent reported issues:
Can't copy paste to internal notes
Can we please get more information on where was the content pasted from?
Private comment macro: The emoji drop down appears automatically and we have to click on internal notes to make it disappear
We have introduced a shortcut ":" which allows agents to add emojis using emoji popup. Does the emoji pop up occurs without adding ':' ?
Hitting enter on internal notes the cursor automatically goes to "Agent Next step
Can you please open ticket for this as we need more information around this one? Do you have a video showing this, that you can share?
Pasting on chat pastes the new text below the previous one instead of the after the previous text.Can you Please open ticket for this as well. Do you have a video showing this, that you can share?
Unable to reply back to 1st chat whenever they accept another chat, they have to duplicate tab to fix the issue.
Please open ticket for this as well. Do you have a video showing this, that you can share?
If an agent accepts a 2nd chat and returns to their 1st chat, the reply they've been writing to my 1st chat disappears; they have to duplicate the tab to have it appear again.
Please open ticket for this as well. Do you have a video showing this, that you can share?
Hello,
My users are also complaining about the text not following when switching from internal note to public comment.. I understand that there might be an idea to have it like that for instance when changing the channel... however, just changing the reply type within the same channel and not having the text following too does not make any sense to the Agents in my case...
Is there an Explore recipe or means of tracking channels switched by agents in the new composer?
On Zendesk Support. Doesn't preserve content when switching between Public reply and Internal note. Be better if it did preserve content.
Hello Pete,
We appreciate you sharing your use case with us. I would recommend posting in our product feedback forum so our developers can consider these changes in a future update.
Best regards.
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