| Phased rollout - Announced on May 16, 2023 | Rollout starts | Rollout ends |
| Phase 1: All channels that support public replies, except chat and messaging | May 16, 2023 | May 19, 2023 |
| Phase 2: Chat and messaging channels | May 30, 2023 | June 2, 2023 |
Draft mode in the ticket composer is now available on the Agent Workspace. Instead of composing messages as internal notes then copying them over to public replies, you can write a draft first, then send it when you’re ready to submit the update.
This article includes these sections:
What is changing?
With this release, you’ll be able to compose a message in draft mode. When draft mode is enabled, you can securely compose a message without worrying about sending the message publicly by mistake.
Draft mode is available only when you’re composing a public reply, not when you’re adding internal notes. For information on how draft mode works in the ticket composer, see the article: Writing drafts of public replies in tickets.
Why is Zendesk making this change?
We found that many users have been using the internal notes functionality to draft a response without risking it being sent publicly by accident when pressing the Submit button or Enter key. While this workaround serves the purpose, it creates inefficiencies in agent workflows as they’re forced to compose in internal notes, copy the text, switch channels and then paste in the public composer, wasting precious seconds on every single ticket.
We wanted to make it easier to draft a response with built-in functionality rather than a workaround. Draft mode is our way of providing our customers with an easier and more efficient way to draft messages, without requiring them to copy and paste from an Internal note.
What do I need to do?
Draft mode is available by default for all accounts that have Agent Workspace activated.
12 Comments
Would be great if the draft could be viewed by other agents to allow responses to be easily reviewed before being sent.
Hi Paul,
That is a popular request. Our Product Management team has made a note of it. If you have more comments, you can post them on our Community site.
Oh yes, it would be much easier to collaborate if everyone could see the draft. We currently copy and paste on teams, which is very inefficient.
We normally tag the relevant people and post the message with "DRAFT FOR APPROVAL" as an Internal comment. The approvers then reply.
I will note that the inefficiency mentioned above is more complicated than that.
first, this inefficiency didn't exist before Zendesk updated to no longer carry the content between internal and public channels when switching on the same ticket.
Second, my team and I often use internal notes to draft responses that may need review or where some parts still need investigation, so the above flow is still not solved by this.
Third, as mentioned above, I would have assumed a "Draft mode" would let me /save/ the draft of the message to be edited later or sent directly as is. This clearly isn't the case, all it does is add a warning message, which is not what a "Draft" is. This warning message is also better handled by the Zendesk Created "Cancel Ticket Submit" add-on.
Hi Jay,
Thanks for the comments! We recommend posting these on our Community site. Just to clarify one point... You don't have to send the draft when you get the warning message. You can Go back and continue editing the draft. Or, you can Go back, work on other tickets, etc. then return to the ticket later to finish your draft. Your draft is stored with the ticket until you decide to send it.
Draft mode should be activated by default for all channels that support public replies, except chat and messaging.
Chat and messaging channels will get this feature between the 30th of may and the 2nd of June 2023.
The request to allow agents to see each other drafts have been added as feedback in this thread : Draft mode in composer - We want your feedback
Hi there! When draft mode is being used in chat, will the end users that we are chatting with see the typing bubbles on their end to signal that a response is being worked on by our team members?
Hi Maya Way great question! I have tested this on my end and yes, the end users will see the typing bubbles on their end when draft mode is used.
Hope this helps! :)
i may be missing the point of draft mode - seems pointless given its current functionality.
Too bad you guys broke markdown... the new internal note editor is horrible. We use complex macros to auto-populate internal notes with tons of markdown and now all that is broken. Jira does this too and they suck at it. One rule of thumb over all my years of using markdown, DO NOT RENDER IT ON THE FLY. It makes it extremely buggy and hard to edit while working on crafting a message. Bring back the preview function, PLEASE!!!
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