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Setting up live chat in Zendesk Support (standard agent interface)

Aimee Spanier
  • Edited
Zendesk Documentation Team

我的计划是什么?

This article details how to install and configure Zendesk Chat-Support integration from within Zendesk Support. For information about setting up Chat-Support integration from Zendesk Chat, seeSetting up Zendesk Support from Zendesk Chat.

Note that the information in this articleonlyapplies to accounts that are:

  • Using the standard agent interface
  • Are adding a new Zendesk live chat account from within their Zendesk Support-only account

Itdoes notapply to accounts that are:

  • Using the Agent Workspace
  • Using Zendesk Suite
  • Linking an existing Chat-only account with an existing Support-only account.

This article contains the following sections:

Installing Zendesk Chat in Zendesk Support

In order to set up Zendesk Chat from within Zendesk Support, you must be a Support administrator.

To activate and install a new Zendesk Chat trial in your Support account

  1. Click theZendesk Productsicon () in the top bar and selectChat.
  2. Click激活Chat trial.
  3. Your Zendesk Chat account is created and opens automatically.
  4. In the welcome window that appears, follow the introductory slides until you are prompted to fill in your Display name and other details, then clickNext.
  5. The next slide will show you your Chat widget code which you can use to embed Chat support on your website - You can either copy and paste it into your site code now, or leave it for later and click 'Go to Visitor List' to open the dashboard.

To serve chats you can:

  • Click theZendesk Productsicon () in the top bar and selectChat, or
  • Download theZendesk Chat appfrom the marketplace allowing you to handle chats from a window within the Support agent interface.

Setting up agents' chat permissions

When you create a Chat account from within Support, how you manage chat permissions depends on the type of Support account you're using:

  • Newer Support accounts with Admin Center manage permissions in the Admin Center. SeeSetting roles and access in Admin Center.
  • Older Support accounts manage permissions in the agents' Support profiles. See the procedure below for instructions.
The number of agents you can give chat permissions to depends on your Chat subscription. You can purchase Chat licenses for all or just some of your Zendesk Support agents. You can also have Chat agents who aren't agents in Zendesk (seeTo make someone a chat-only agent, below).

Note that when you create a Chat account from within Support, your Zendesk Support account owner and administrators will become the Zendesk Chat account owner and administrators.

To turn chat permissions on or off for an agent

  1. Open the user's profile.
  2. Toggle theZendesk Chatfield to On or Off.
    Note:You can only turn chat permissions on for as many agents as your Chat subscription allows. You can view your Chat subscription details inAdmin Centerby clicking theAccounticon () in the sidebar, then selectBilling > Subscription.
  3. To change the agent's alias that appears Chat, edit theChat Namefield.

Chat-only agents have full agent access to Chat but only have limited access to Support. Chat-only agents are not available to customers using Zendesk Suite.

Chat-only agents can:

  • Create and view tickets
  • Add private comments to tickets

Chat-only agents cannot:

  • Edit tickets
  • Be made the assignee on a ticket
  • View reports

To make someone a chat-only agent

  • Open the user's profile.
  • UnderRole, selectChat-only Agent.

Navigating Zendesk Chat in Support

After you set up Chat-Support integration, the Chat icon appears in two places:

  • Join, leave, or respond to chat conversations by clicking the Chat top toolbar icon.
  • Access the Chat dashboard, which contains Chat settings and account details, by clicking the Products icon and selecting Chat.

Configuring ticket creation options

You can configure different settings for how tickets are created for both chats and offline messages, as well as whether chat transcripts appear in the ticket as a public reply or private comment.

To configure ticket creation

  1. From the Chat dashboard, selectSettings > Account > Zendesk Support tab.
  2. UnderTicket Creation -- Chats, select settings for chat tickets:
    • Automatic Ticket Creation:To automatically create a Support ticket when a chat starts, selectAutomatic. For agents to manually create tickets, selectManual.

    • Transcript Visibility:SelectPublicorPrivateto determine how the transcript is added to the ticket.

      Private comments are visible only to agents, while public comments are also visible to ticket requesters and any other end users that are CCed on the ticket. Details about the visitor's location, IP address, and referring URL are also automatically added to tickets, but are always added as private comments.

    • Ticket Assignment:SelectFirst Agentto always assign tickets created from chats to the first agent who served the chat, regardless of whether the chat was transferred to another agent. SelectLast Agentto assign tickets to the agent who ended the chat. Note that with this option, tickets are still initially assigned to the first agent and are reassigned to the last agent only after the chat has ended.
  3. UnderTicket Creation -- Offline Messages, also configure theAutomatic Ticket CreationandTranscript Visibilitysettings as described above.
  4. ClickSave Changes.

Assigning Support tickets based on the agent who handled a chat

Note:This setting only affects tickets created from chats handled in the standalone Zendesk Chat dashboard. This does not affect tickets created using Chat in Zendesk Support, as described above.

You can set up who tickets created from chats are assigned to in an agent's profile. Agents can do this themselves or administrators can set it up in an agent's profile. If you don't enter this setting, tickets aren't automatically assigned to anyone.

To edit who chat tickets are assigned to for yourself

  1. From the dashboard, navigate toSettings > Personal.
  2. Click theZendesk Supporttab.
  3. Enter a Zendesk agent's email in theZendesk Support Emailfield.
  4. ClickSave Changes.

To edit who chat tickets are assigned to for someone else

  1. From the dashboard, navigate toSettings > Agents.
  2. Click the name of the agent whose profile you want to edit.
  3. Enter a zendesk agent's email in theZendesk Support Emailfield.
  4. ClickSave Changes.

Making Zendesk Chat available to end users

You can make the Zendesk Chat widget appear to end users in a few different ways:

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    29 Comments

    • myuen

      Parts of this article appear to be outdated. For example, the following needs to be done via the Admin center as far as I can tell:

      To turn chat permissions on or off for an agent

      Open the user's profile.
      Toggle the Zendesk Chat field to On or Off.

      Also, why do I (as one of the managers) need to use up a chat license just to manage the chat side of things? Please consider adding an "admin only" role that allows a manager to, well,managechat agents and chat settings without using an actual chat license for that role.

      Thanks!

      1
    • Elissa Tikalsky
      Zendesk Digital Resources Team

      Hello@...

      Thank you so much! You are absolutely correct. I've sent this off for updates and we should get that fixed pretty quickly.

      Thank you for the heads up!

      Elissa

      0
    • Merle Wilhelm

      Good evening,

      I would like to send our chat client an email with our transcript after we finish our conversation. This scenario should run automatically.

      I saw that I can use Pipping, but I can't find it in our settings. Also, I am not sure if I can use this tool with different customers.

      Thank you

      Merle

      0
    • Matt Farrington-Smith

      HiAimee Spanier@...——我认为这一部分也是过时的。我看不出the settings mentioned under theTo configure ticket creationsection.

      Any ideas where it moved to?


      I'm also missing "History" I believe?

      0
    • Brett Bowser
      Zendesk Community Manager
      Hey Matt,

      From that screenshot you shared, can you select the Account option and then see if you see the Zendesk Support tab from there?

      Let me know!
      0
    • Matt Farrington-Smith

      ThanksBrett Bowser

      No dice! (Should it matter if I'm using my Premium Sandbox)? I would still expect all of the settings etc. to show here.

      0
    • Matt Farrington-Smith

      Bumping my replyBrett Bowserfor visibility.

      I've also noticed the following is missing:

      1. In your Chat dashboard, go toSettings > Widgetand click the形式tab.
      0
    • Brett Bowser
      Zendesk Community Manager
      Hey Matt,

      It could be that you're trying to access it from your Sandbox account. Do you see the options in your production account by chance? I'm wondering if your Sandbox isn't on the same plan level as your production.

      Let me know!
      0
    • Matt Farrington-Smith

      ThanksBrett Bowser——我们的烤鸭rprise Suite, so surely our Sandbox (Premium) should be the same?

      0
    • Brett Bowser
      Zendesk Community Manager
      Hey Matt,

      I'm going to create a ticket on your behalf so our Customer Care team can look into this with you.

      You'll receive an email shortly stating your ticket has been created.

      Cheers!
      0
    • Neil Bhammar

      Hi there - we have a zendesk account, but don't use it heavily yet. We are now looking at implementing Zendesk Chat on our SaaS Web Application.

      WIth Zendesk Chat, am I able to see who is signed in/on our platform at any time and proactively reach out to a specific user via the chat widget at any time?

      Eg. IfXYZ@gmail.comis on the platform and I was hoping to message them about something I noticed in their account, can I initiate that interaction using Zendesk chat? Thanks.

      0
    • Dane
      Zendesk Engineering
      Hi Neil,

      As long as the widget is embedded on a page, you can use theVisitor liststo initiate aproactive chat.

      Hope this helps!
      0
    • Manisha Prajapati
      • Edited

      Hi Zendesk support team,

      I am making an android live chat app using Zendesk SDK, but I am unable to send custom chat from my existing app. Zendesk SDK will take care of all chats.

      So can you please give me Zendesk SDK access so I can change it or provide API for sending chat, and be able to change UI customization?

      Kind Regards,
      Alpesh

      0
    • Greg Katechis
      Zendesk Developer Advocacy

      Hi Manisha! Please view our documentationherefor the Chat SDK on Android.

      0
    • Manisha Prajapati

      Thank for the reply Greg,

      I have already explored zendesk documentation and am able to start the chat session, but I want to send the first chat message once the chat session starts.


      Below is my code snippet:

      Chat.INSTANCE.init(this,ZENDESK_CHAT_ACCOUNT_KEY)
      findViewById


      Please provide me a code snippet for the first chat message once the chat session starts.

      0
    • Manisha Prajapati
      • Edited

      I have tried with the below code for sending a custom chat message to existing chat session but not works.

      Chat.INSTANCE.init(this,ZENDESK_CHAT_ACCOUNT_KEY)
      findViewById
      0
    • Greg Katechis
      Zendesk Developer Advocacy
      0
    • Manisha Prajapati

      Greg Katechis

      chatProvider().sendMessage(String message)not working
      0
    • Manisha Prajapati

      Greg Katechis
      I am able to chat using MessagingActivity and am able to chat with Answerbot.

      But I want to send a custom chat message to messaging activity from my existing activity not from the message activity of zendesk chat SDK.

      0
    • Eric Nelson
      Zendesk Developer Advocacy
      Hi Manisha,

      Can you provide more context on what you mean by "my existing activity not from the message activity"?

      Thanks!
      0
    • Dave Dezellem

      Hello,

      We run multiple brands and I would like how end users interact with chat to be different between the brands. For example, for one Brand I would like to use a custom form. Is this possible?

      Seems like when I click on chat settings from the Web Widget it takes me to the chat settings for the current Brand and there isn't a way to customize these by Brand.

      0
    • Dave Dyson
      Hi Dave,

      There are guidelines for setting up live chat in a multibrand environment here:Multibranding Zendesk Chat
      0
    • Manisha Prajapati
      • Edited

      Eric Nelson

      Launch Live chat using below code:

      Chat.INSTANCE.init(this,ZENDESK_CHAT_ACCOUNT_KEY)
      MessagingActivity.builder()
      .withBotAvatarDrawable(R.drawable.ic_klipsch_connect_logo)
      .withToolbarTitle("Live Chat")
      .withBotLabelString("Klipsch")
      .withEngines(ChatEngine.engine())
      .show(it.context, chatConfiguration)


      Then after I want to send a custom message to MessagingActivity using the below code from my existing activity, not MessagingActivity. but not able to send custom messages.

      Chat.INSTANCE.providers()?.chatProvider()
      ?.sendMessage("Hello World!")

      Thanks!
      0
    • Eric Nelson
      Zendesk Developer Advocacy
      Hey Manisha,

      Are you getting an error message or anything? To be able to assist we'd need an actual sample application (we talk about getting support on the sdk'shere) with your implementation of the code in place so we can debug from there. I'd suggestcontacting supportand providing us with the sample application via that ticket.

      Thanks!
      0
    • Manisha Prajapati

      Hey Eric,

      我已经创建了一个支持的票https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/5128932003866-POC-Sample-Live-chat-application-using-not-able-to-send-custom-chat-message

      Please look at this and respond their.

      0
    • Judy Correia

      Regarding the automatic ticket creation feature:

      1. Whether this feature is set to automatic or manual is there an impact to metrics reported in the Zendesk Chat dashboard in Explore?

      2. What are the benefits of automatic vs manual?

      0
    • Dane
      Zendesk Engineering
      Hi Judy,

      1. The chat engagement dataset will still show data even when no ticket is created. However, any data related to a ticket will not be available for that chat.
      2. This is for a personal standpoint, I prefer for that setting to be set to automatic. That way, I can utilize Support to add additional details for all the chat I take. But, if your company has a high chat volume that only requires simple support or no additional data will be needed, I suggest set it to manual.

      0
    • Chan Xiang Bin

      Hi,

      Appreciate if you could assist on the below

      0
    • Aimee Spanier
      Zendesk Documentation Team
      I've updated the broken link. Thanks for catching it!
      0

    Pleasesign into leave a comment.

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