Announced on | Rollout starts | Rollout ends |
March 21, 2022 | March 21, 2022 | April 18, 2022 |
We are pleased to announce a series of enhancements to the Zendesk composer that we introduced over the last few weeks. Some of these changes will impact agents and other changes will impact admins. See below for details.
This article includes the following sections:
- What’s changing for agents?
- What's changing for admins?
- Why is Zendesk making these changes?
- What do I need to do?
What’s changing for agents?
Changes for agents include:
Macro insertion
For macros that include updated to ticket comments, you can insert macros exactly where your text cursor is positioned in a ticket comment. This change enables you to decide where the macro should be inserted. Simply place your cursor where you want and apply your desired macro. See Applying macros to tickets.
The previous behavior would apply the macro at the bottom of already existing content in the composer. This new behavior lets you control where the applied macro should be populated in the composer. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Simplified hyperlinks
We introduced an easier way to create hyperlinks in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. Pasting a url on highlighted text will automatically convert the highlighted text into a hyperlink. See the gif below for details. This change enables you to quickly create hyperlinks and makes your composing experience better. See Using formatting options and controls.
Email truncation alert
You will receive a warning message if you are composing a very large email reply that is too long and exceeds the allowed size limit (64KB). This enables you to shorten the email reply before sending. Previously, email replies that exceeded the limit were truncated without warning. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
What's changing for admins?
Changes for admins include:
- Removed outdated formatting options
- Color text on or off
- Label updates for Public by default settings
Removed outdated formatting options
The Ticket settings page in Admin Center included a choice between Markdown and Rich content for agent formatting options. But, these settings no longer apply. Both markdown and rich content are supported within the same editor. We have removed these options from the settings page. See Formatting options for agents.
This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Color text on or off
Admins can now turn color text on or off in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. This account-wide setting enables admins to control whether agents can add color text to ticket comments or not. See Changing text color and Formatting options for agents. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Color text is on by default in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. When color text is turned off, agents will not see a color picker in the text toolbar.
Label updates for Public by default settings
The Agent Workspace interface has been updated to help clarify Public by default settings. This is a label change only. The settings work as before. See Changing the default privacy of ticket comments. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Why is Zendesk making these changes?
We made these changes for several reasons:
- The macro insertion, hyperlink pasting, and email truncation alert features were added to Improve agent efficiency and reduce the steps agents needed to complete a task.
- The settings page changes will make the interface easier for admins to understand, configure, and customize.
What do I need to do?
If you have the Zendesk Agent Workspace enabled on your account, you don’t need to do anything else. Your account is updated automatically to include these changes.
14 Comments
The article says " other changes will impact admins.", but that's the only time admins are mentioned. What are the impacts to admins this is introducing?
It would be great if these announcements happened *before* the rollout started. There's no way for us to prepare agents for these changes otherwise.
Edit: It would also be great if a portion of an article relies on the reader to view a gif or image, if that image has alt-text.
Nice - well done! I like the Simplified hyperlinks!
We've added a new setting to configure color text in the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Color text on or off
Admins can now turn color text on or off in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. This account-wide setting enables admins to control whether agents can add color text to ticket comments or not. See Changing text color and Formatting options for agents. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Color text is on by default in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. When color text is turned off, agents will not see a color picker in the text toolbar.
Hi Team!
Thanks for adding this feature!
We applaud you and your team for your decision!
We've added an email truncation alert to composer enhancements. This feature will be rolling out to accounts over the next 24 hours.
Email truncation alert
You will receive a warning message if you are composing a very large email reply that is too long and exceeds the allowed size limit (64KB). This enables you to shorten the email reply before sending. Previously, email replies that exceeded the limit were truncated without warning. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Hi CW,
Both are for the Agent Workspace, as the article says in each of the feature sections.
Are either of these changes applicable to the Standard Editor, or just to the new (truly horrifying) Agent Workspace?
We've made some label changes to the Public by default settings for ticket comments.
Label updates for Public by default settings
The Agent Workspace interface has been updated to help clarify Public by default settings. This is a label change only. The settings work as before. See Changing the default privacy of ticket comments. This change applies to the Zendesk Agent Workspace.
Hi CJ, We haven't made any Admin changes, yet. But, if you Follow this article, you'll be notified when the changes are made.
We've removed outdated formatting option settings in the Zendesk Agent Workspace. This update will be rolling out to accounts over the next 24 hours.
Removed outdated formatting options
The Ticket settings page in Admin Center included a choice between Markdown and Rich content for agent formatting options. But, these settings no longer apply. Both markdown and rich content are supported within the same editor. We have removed these options from the settings page. See Formatting options for agents.
Zendesk Agent Workspace is the interface of choice for Zendesk going forward. To take advantage of the latest features and improvements, you would need to migrate from the standard agent interface.
The new Agent Workspace: It's Bloody Awful.
We moved to it, and my agents revolted. It's really, really, really bad.
It treats every interaction as though EVERYTHING is a real-time chat, and makes it hard to have coherent discussions with our clients.
(If you need examples of this, just check out any conversations your agents are having with your clients, AKA, me.)
...not to mention the daily run-ins with bugs.
Lisa Kelly, so once again, the Standard Workspace get zilch?
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