Unified agent status is part of omnichannel routing and provides a way for agents to control availability for Support, Talk, and Messaging from a single menu. When idle timeout is disabled, an agent's status isn't inferred based on Zendesk session activity and must be set manually. Enabling an idle timeout helps ensure agents are available and active when work is routed to them.
Enabling idle timeout
Idle timeout is turned off by default and must be enabled if you want Zendesk to infer agent status based on session activity. When enabled, the default idle timeout configuration sets an agent's status to away on all channels after 10 minutes of inactivity, where inactivity is defined as no mouse or keyboard interactions within the browser.
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, select Omnichannel routing > Idle
timeout. - Select Turn on idle timeout.
- Click Save.
Configuring the idle timeout settings
After enabling the idle timeout feature, admins can adjust the duration agents can be idle before an idle status is automatically assigned and choose between Away and Offline as the idle status to use on all channels.
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, select Omnichannel routing > Idle
timeout.
- Update the Idle time in minutes to a whole number between 5 and 60.
- Select the preferred fallback status for all channels: Away or Offline.
- Click Save.
Disabling idle timeout
- An agent closes the Agent Workspace without signing out (by closing down their computer or browser window or putting their computer to sleep)
- An agent’s connection is lost due to a network outage
Make sure you inform agents if you disable the fallback status for idle agents. They will need to manually set themselves to away or offline when they are unavailable to receive work.
- In Admin Center, click
Objects and rules in the sidebar, select Omnichannel routing > Idle
timeout.
- Uncheck Turn on idle status and click Save.
- Click Deactivate idle timeout in the confirmation dialog.
10 Comments
Amen.
I don't see this option yet under Omnichannel Routing, is this something that hasn't been rolled out for everyone?
All admins who have enabled Omnichannel Routing should be able to access the Idle Timeout settings.
I'm going to create a ticket for you with our Support so we can check that for you, if you're still unable to see this option in your account.
You can expect an email shortly!
Hi!
Great feature. I'm wondering whether it works when a user is still using the browser but not on Zendesk tabs?
E.g. Idle timeout = 10 minutes, I'm working inside the company tool in the browser for 20 minutes (Zendesk tab not visible), will I be set as Away?
currently, the user must remain on the tab Zendesk tab.
I am using custom agent statuses and I have noticed when my agents use "lunch" for example, the idle timeout will change it from lunch to offline. Is there a way to apply idle timeout to JUST "available" statuses?
I second Brighton's request. We are seeing the same behavior and its really confusing for our agents to see someone at lunch and then suddenly they're now offline.
+1 on Brighton's request.
Hi Anne Ronalter,
With regards to your response to Matt - what would happen if you had a scenario with an enterprising user who either has Zendesk open in a tab on a browser on a second screen, while using a different application on their primary monitor?
If I understand correctly, the idle timeout will only occur if Zendesk is not interacted with for the configured period (i.e. Zendesk is open in a tab and mouse or keyboard interactions are utilised).
Regarding your concern Zendesk can only detect activity on its own tab and not the entire browser, so if you have Zendesk open in on tab and monitor but you're working on a different application on another tab in a different monitor Zendesk won't be able to detect the activity unless you're working on the actual Zendesk tab.
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