Using messaging in your sandbox

Tip: Zendesk has renamed our bot capabilities. Answer Bot is now Zendesk bots, Flow Builder is bot builder, and Article Recommendations are autoreplies. Some older features still use the old terminology, which is reflected in the documentation. For more information on this change, see this announcement.

You can use your sandbox testing environment preview how messaging functions in a Web Widget, mobile app, or social messaging channel.

For information on creating and using a sandbox instance, see Testing changes in your standard sandbox.

This article includes the following sections:

• Adding web and mobile messaging to your sandbox
• Adding social messaging to your sandbox

Adding web and mobile messaging to your sandbox

If you’ve enabled messaging before creating your sandbox, it is automatically enabled in that sandbox. Note that any configurations – such as flows, Agent Workspace settings, triggers, and SDK appearance selections – are not carried over into the sandbox instance.

If, however, you want to try messaging in your sandbox before adding it to your production instance, or if you're adding messaging to an account with an existing sandbox, you'll need to add it to the sandbox manually. In this section, we'll walk you through the high-level steps for adding web or mobile messaging to your existing sandbox.

To test messaging in your sandbox

1. Create a sandbox testing environment, if you haven't already done so.
2. Open the sandbox.
3. Enable messaging in the sandbox instance, if messaging wasn't enabled on your account before creating the sandbox.
4. Activate and configure messaging for your Web Widget or mobile app.
5. Test the out-of-the-box messaging functionality to see the default messaging experience and familiarize yourself with how messaging works.
6. Customize your automated conversations with bot builder.

Adding social messaging to your sandbox

If you are a Zendesk Suite customer who enabled social messaging before creating your sandbox, it is automatically enabled in that sandbox. However, as with web and mobile messaging, social channel configurations are not carried over, and will need to be created separately in the sandbox.

If you want to try social messaging in your sandbox before making it available to your customers, you'll have to add it to your sandbox manually.

To test social messaging in your sandbox

1. Create a sandbox testing environment, if you haven't already done so.
2. Open the sandbox.
3. If you have the social messaging add-on in your production instance, it will not be carried over to the sandbox instance. You can reach out to your Success Manager or Account Executive to get the social messaging add-on enabled for your Sandbox account. If you have a Suite account, you can skip this step.
4. Set up test pages and profiles in your social messaging accounts, and add them to the Agent Workspace in your sandbox instance. Use the links below for information on setting up social messaging channels to an Agent Workspace:
   • WhatsApp
   • WeChat
   • LINE
   • Facebook Messenger
   • X (formerly Twitter) DM