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 is in control of the chat session. The chat session is considered active until it's ended by the visitor 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.

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

  • There was no activity on the chat for 1 hour.
  • The visitor was disconnected for an hour.
  • The agent ends the chat, at which point the session disconnect timeout is reset to 5 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:

  • In the event that the visitor closes the browser (no windows with the chat widget are open) the session times out within a timeframe of 20 seconds to 2 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 2 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 5 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. 

For more information, see the articles below:

  • Automatically releasing agent capacity for messaging conversations
  • Using ticket tabs to manage conversations with active and inactive statuses
  • Why does my update timestamp change when there are no system or comment updates in the event log?
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