Suspending messaging users

Note: This article applies to accounts on the improved messaging backend. Most Zendesk accounts have already been migrated. Customers not on the improved messaging backend may not experience the feature as described in this article.

Suspending end users who hassle agents or spam your organization, post repetitive content, send unsolicited or abusive messages, or otherwise take agents’ time and focus can delay assistance for other customers.

For information about suspending users in other channels, see Suspending a user.

This article describes how agents can suspend an end user, identify suspended end users, and how conversations are managed when an end user is suspended.

This article includes the following sections:

• Managing who can suspend users
• Suspending messaging users
• Unsuspending messaging users
• Viewing suspended messaging users
• Managing suspended messaging users

Managing who can suspend users

End-user suspension permissions are determined by the role assigned to an agent. If an agent’s role allows them to edit end-user profiles, they can also suspend messaging users.

Note: By default, only the Admin system role can suspend end users. If you’re on a Suite Enterprise plan, you can create a custom role to permit non-admins permission to suspend end users.

To configure a role to allow messaging user suspension

1. In Admin Center, click People in the sidebar, then select Team > Roles.
2. Select or create a custom role to configure for end-user suspension.
3. Scroll to the People section on the role’s configuration page.
4. For End-user profile access, select one of the following:
   • Add and edit within their own organization, which allows agents to suspend end users who are part of the same organization.
   • Add, edit, and delete for all end users, which allows agents to suspend any end user.
   Note: Selecting Read only allows agents to view the Suspended user list and details for each suspended user, but does not permit them to suspend users.
5. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Suspending messaging users

If an agent’s role allows them to suspend messaging users, they can do so within a ticket in Agent Workspace, or from the end user’s profile.

This section includes the following topics:

• Suspending messaging users in tickets
• Suspending messaging users in their profile

Suspending messaging users in tickets

Agents can suspend users directly from that ticket’s interface during an ongoing conversation with them.

Suspending a user from a messaging ticket:

• Adds the Suspended tag to the user’s profile and their user essentials card.
• Turns off the messaging channel option in that ticket’s composer. Agents can no longer add messages to the conversation.
• Prevents user messages in that ticket’s conversation from being added to the ticket.

If your account is using multi-conversations, messaging users can continue to interact with any other ongoing conversations as if they have not been suspended. This means that messages in these conversations from suspended users will be viewable by agents, and added to the conversation’s ticket.

Users will no longer be able to send messages in a conversation when one of the following events occur:

• The conversation’s ticket status is updated to Pending, On-Hold, or Solved.
• The conversation’s ticket is Closed.
• An agent ends the related ticket’s messaging session.
• The conversation becomes inactive.

Note: End users are not notified automatically when they are suspended. Admins should instruct agents to communicate the suspension with an in-channel message or create a macro to avoid end-user confusion.

To suspend a messaging user in a ticket

1. In the ticket interface in Agent Workspace, click the Ticket options menu ().
2. Select Suspend user.

   

3. Select a reason for suspending the user and enter an optional description.

   

4. Click Suspend user.
5. Refresh or reload your browser page to ensure the Suspended tag is applied across the UI.

Suspending messaging users in their profile

Agents can suspend users from their user profile in Zendesk Support.

Suspending a user from their profile:

• Adds the Suspended tag to the user’s profile and their user essentials card.

If your account is using multi-conversations, messaging users can continue to interact with conversations as if they have not been suspended. This means that messages from suspended users will be viewable by agents, and added to the conversation’s ticket.

Users will no longer be able to send messages in a conversation when one of the following events occur:

• Each conversation’s ticket status is updated to Pending, On-Hold, or Solved.
• The conversation’s ticket is Closed.
• An agent ends the related ticket’s messaging session.
• The conversation becomes inactive.

Note: End users are not notified automatically when they are suspended. Admins should instruct agents to communicate the suspension with an in-channel message or create a macro to avoid end-user confusion.

To suspend a messaging user in their user profile

1. Open an end user's profile using one of the following methods in Support:
   • Click the Search icon (), then search for the end user you want to view.
   • Click the tab for the ticket requester's profile in a ticket.
   • Click the end user's name on the customer page.
2. Click the user options menu in the top right, then select Suspend.

   

3. Select a reason for suspending the user and enter an optional description, then click Suspend user.

   

4. Refresh or reload your browser to ensure the Suspended tag is applied across the UI.

Unsuspending messaging users

You can unsuspend users from their profile page or from the Suspended users list.

To unsuspend a user on their profile page

1. Open an end user's profile using one of the following methods in Support:
   • Click the Search icon (), then search for the end user you want to view.
   • Click the tab for the ticket requester's profile in a ticket.
   • Click the end user's name on the customer page.
2. In the upper left corner of the profile page, click Unsuspend.

   

The end user is immediately unsuspended. There may be a delay before conversations can proceed as usual.

To unsuspend a user from the Suspended users list

1. In Support, click the Customers icon () in the sidebar.
2. Click Suspended users in the left sidebar.
3. Click the Options menu () and select Unsuspend.

   

   The end user is immediately unsuspended. There may be a delay before conversations can proceed as usual.

Viewing suspended messaging users

You can identify suspended end users in the following ways:

• The “Suspended” tag appears next to their name on the Customers page and the user essentials card.

  

• The suspended status is indicated in the upper left corner on the end user's profile page.

  

  To view the Suspended users list

  1. In Support, click the Customers icon () in the sidebar.
  2. Click Suspended users in the left sidebar.

Managing suspended messaging users

If you have permission to edit end-user profiles, you can perform several actions to an end user’s entry on the Suspended users list.

To update a suspended user on the Suspended users list

• Click the Options menu () and select one of the following options:
  1. Edit, to edit the suspension reason or comments.
  2. Unsuspend, to remove the suspension from the end user’s profile.
  3. Delete, to permanently delete the end user. This action can’t be undone.

Additionally, you can search for suspended users on the Customers page using the is_suspended term.

For example:

• is_suspended:true Otis returns all users named Otis who have been suspended.
• is_suspended:true returns all users who have been suspended.

If you've just suspended a user, it might take a few minutes for the suspended user to be displayed in the list. Wait for a few minutes, then refresh your browser page.