If you never used live chat, see Creating a messaging Web Widget or Creating a messaging Web Widget in accounts prior to November 2021, depending on when your account was created.
If you currently use live chat and Web Widget (Classic) in your account, and want to move to messaging, you need to activate messaging and convert your Web Widget (Classic) to a messaging Web Widget. You also need to make some updates to your live chat settings. You must be an admin to perform these tasks.
This article includes the following sections:
Activating messaging and the messaging Web Widget
After you confirm that you meet the requirements for using messaging, you can activate it in your account.
To activate messaging in your account
- In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social > Messaging. - Click Manage settings.
- On the Manage settings page, click Turn on messaging for your account.
If you see an onboarding page, you need to click Get started before you can activate messaging.
- Select Turn on messaging for Web Widget (Classic) to convert your Web Widget (Classic) to a messaging Web Widget. If you support multiple brands, use the drop-down menu to select the brands where you want to activate messaging.
Any brand that was previously using Web Widget (Classic) will continue to use that widget until you convert it, so you can do this later if you need to. When converting the Web Widget (Classic) to Web Widget, most settings are automatically migrated to the new widget settings. See Understanding how Web Widget (Classic) settings convert to the Web Widget.
- Click Save.
After you activate messaging, it appears in your Channels list with Web Widget listed as an active channel. Activating messaging updates your account in a number of significant ways. See How activating messaging changes your account.
Understanding how activating messaging changes your account
When messaging is activated in your account, a number of changes occur that impact functionality in the following areas::
Web Widget (Classic)
Web Widget (Classic) is the original iteration of the Web Widget, configured through Zendesk Support, that allows you to offer live chat and other Zendesk features to your customers. If you have previously configured Web Widget (Classic) on your account, turning on messaging gives you the option to convert it to the messaging Web Widget on a per-brand basis, or create a messaging Web Widget for a brand that did not previously use one.
Android, iOS, and Unity SDKs
Activating messaging does not change any previously-configured or deployed SDKs you might be using for Android, iOS, or Unity. After messaging is activated, you can create new Android and iOS SDKs with messaging. These are separate SDKs from the Classic Zendesk SDKs you've been using so far, and need to be configured and deployed separately.
Zendesk bots
When messaging is activated, more automation tools and options are available to you. You can access bot builder, a tool that lets you click-to-configure a conversation bot. With bot builder, this conversation bot is the first responder to customer requests, and gains a lot of new abilities as well.
Importantly, bot builder includes a default conversation bot, which is published and visible in the bot builder page. As soon as it's activated, the default bot begins functioning through the Web Widget.
If you have multiple brands in your account, bot builder is activated on every one of those brands. Each brand has its own default conversation bot that can be configured independently.
See Adding a bot to your messaging channels for more information.
Agent Workspace
Agent Workspace gains some additional functionality as well, including enhanced conversation history and responding to messaging conversations at any time. See Agent Workspace for messaging.
Live chat
When you activate messaging, there are a number live chat-related changes that apply to both agents and administrators.
Understanding how Web Widget (Classic) settings convert to the Web Widget
When you convert Web Widget (Classic), you're essentially switching off the Web Widget (Classic) and migrating to the messaging Web Widget. Many of your Web Widget (Classic) configuration settings are automatically migrated to the new widget settings, including:
- Widget position: The widget and launcher will appear wherever you've placed it on your help center or web page.
- Theme color: The color setting for the launcher, contact button, and header are applied to the Web Widget frame.
- Web Widget button text: During migration, this becomes the launcher text. As in Web Widget (Classic), it is the text that appears in the launcher button.
- Web Widget snippet: The new messaging Web Widget and Web Widget (Classic) use the same snippet, so there’s no need to update it in order for messaging to work.
- Help center activation: If you've activated the Web Widget (Classic) in a help center, the Web Widget replaces it. The widget and launcher will appear wherever you've placed it on your Help Center or web page.
Some Web Widget (Classic) functionality is not available in the messaging Web Widget:
- Talk is not activated. You can still receive calls through the Agent Workspace.
- Existing Javascript API code may not be supported. We do recommend that you test any API code not documented as supported by the messaging Web Widget and let us know of any issues.
Updating live chat settings after activating messaging
After activating messaging, a Chat admin needs to perform the following tasks:
- Organize your agents into groups.
For example, you can create a group of agents who handle specific channels, such as messaging. See Adding agents to groups.
- Set up Support triggers to route messaging conversations to these groups.
- Configure Chat limits on the Chat dashboard to control how many active messaging conversations your agents receive.
- Educate agents on the agent experience.