Question

What is the expected behavior for chat sessions to time out? When do idle conversations time out? Why can't I end a chat in messaging?

Answer

A conversation between an agent and an end user comes to an end differently depending on whether your account is using live chat or messaging. Click each of the links below to understand how to end chat or messaging conversations in different setups:

  • Ending a chat session in live chat
  • Ending a chat session in Agent Workspace
  • Ending a conversation in messaging

Ending a live chat session as an end user

In live chat, the visitor controls the chat session. The session remains active until the visitor ends it in one of the following ways:

  • The visitor closes their browser window and the conversation times out
  • The visitor minimizes their chat with an agent and the conversation times out
  • The visitor remains idle on the site and the conversation times out
  • The visitor ends the chat by clicking the options menu icon and selecting End chat

    Screen_Recording_2022-10-26_at_2.23.41_PM__1_.gif

For the Chat Mobile SDK versions, the chat conversation terminates after any of the below conditions:

  • There was no activity on the chat for an hour
  • The visitor was disconnected for an hour
  • The agent ends the chat, at which point the session disconnect timeout is reset to five minutes
  • The visitor ends the chat at which time the session immediately terminates
  • If push notifications are disabled, the session will timeout 30 minutes after the user backgrounds the app

For more information about idle statuses, see the following notes:

  • If the visitor closes the browser with no windows open that contain the chat widget, the session times out within 20 seconds to two minutes.
  • In the event that the visitor using a browser on a mobile device minimizes, tabs away from, or closes the browser containing the chat, the session times out within a timeframe of 20 seconds to two minutes
  • In the event that the visitor idles on a site with the widget, their session stays open for 20 minutes before the session automatically ends. An idle status is defined as no mouse or keyboard input on the site for 10 minutes. The user does not need to interact with the widget itself, but must be actively working on the page the widget is loaded on. Additionally, there can be a variance of up to five minutes depending on their connection to Chat

Leaving a live chat session as an agent

An agent can leave a live chat, but not end the session. The widget remains open for the end user until the end user ends the session. However, agents can leave a chat without the session ending.

To leave a live chat session:

  1. Click the X button in the chat window

    end_a_chat_x_button.jpg

  2. Click End chat in the confirmation dialog

    end_chat_in_live_chat.png

If an agent leaves a chat session, the chat can be reopened by the end user. In this situation, the agent will experience the following:

  • The chat returns to the agent's queue after an end user sends another chat message
  • The history of their previous chat is present for the agent because it’s still considered the same chat conversation
  • Any subsequent messages are added to the chat script
  • Once the live chat has ended, all additional messages are added to the chat script history as a single entry
Remember: If an agent never joined the chat, that is considered a missed chat, and the conversation is moved into a ticket. A missed chat ticket won't be created until the session is ended by the visitor.

For more information, see these articles:

  • Why can my customers still chat after all agents have gone offline?
  • Why do missed chats have different ticket timestamps?

Ending a chat session in Agent Workspace

When managing live chats in Agent Workspace, end users can still end chats in all the ways described in the live chat section of this article. The only difference in Agent Workspace is that the agent can end a chat in Agent Workspace with an end user by following these steps:

  1. In Agent Workspace, click End chat
  2. In the confirmation dialog, click End chat

    agent_ends_chat_agent_workspaces.gif

  3. The chat will show the visitor that the agent left the chat session

Ending a conversation in messaging

Unlike live chat, in messaging a session is not a customer-facing concept. The visitor doesn't have the ability to end a session. Instead, conversations go through active and inactive states. 

  • A messaging conversation is Active when the end user has sent a message recently
  • A messaging conversation becomes Inactive after a specified amount of time elapses with no activity by the end user or when the ticket status (or status category) changes to On-hold, Pending, or Solved. By default, Zendesk defines a message as inactive after 10 minutes without a response from the end user. Admins can modify the inactivity period

The ticket's activity state, as well as the ticket status, affect routing, business rules, and an agent's capacity. For example, if you use omnichannel routing and haven't turned on messaging activity routing, turning on automatic release capacity and customizing your inactivity period for messaging can help agents manage their messaging capacity more efficiently. 

Messaging conversations can also end when an agent’s capacity is released. This closes the session automatically, preventing it from being reopened by the end user. The terminal ticket status can be set to On-hold, Pending, or left unchanged, providing greater flexibility for workflows.

Note: Omnichannel routing is enabled as the default routing experience for Zendesk Suite accounts created after December 5, 2024.
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