Agent Availability

Updated Dec 15, 2025

Manage when agents receive new conversation assignments.

Setting Availability Status

Agents can be set to Available or Away:

Available: Agent receives new conversation assignments
Away: Agent won't receive new assignments but can work on existing conversations

Changing Availability

As an Admin:

Go to Settings > Users
Click on a user
Toggle the Availability switch

As an Agent:

Click the status indicator in the sidebar to toggle between Available and Away.

Auto-Away

Automatically set agents to Away after a period of inactivity. This helps ensure that inactive agents don't receive new conversations they can't respond to promptly.

Configuring Auto-Away

Go to Settings > Support > General Settings
Find the Auto-away for agents setting
Select a timeout period:
Never - Disabled (default)
10 minutes
15 minutes
30 minutes

How It Works

The system checks agent activity every 5 minutes
If an agent hasn't been active for longer than the configured timeout, they are automatically set to Away
Agents must manually set themselves back to Available when they return
Activity is tracked based on interactions within the application (sending messages, navigating, etc.)

Best Practices

10 minutes: For teams requiring quick response times
15 minutes: Balanced option for most support teams
30 minutes: For teams with longer average response times or agents who multitask

Impact on Assignments

When using automatic assignment (Round Robin or Least Loaded):

Only available agents receive new conversations
Away agents keep their existing conversations
When an agent becomes available, they start receiving new assignments again

Use Cases

Lunch breaks: Set away during breaks to avoid new assignments.

Focus time: Go away when working on complex issues.

End of shift: Set away before logging off to prevent last-minute assignments.

Training: New agents can be away while shadowing.

Forgotten status: Use auto-away to automatically handle agents who forget to set themselves as away.

Capacity Management

On Pro plans, you can also set capacity limits per agent:

Go to Settings > Agent Assignment
Set the default capacity cap
Override capacity for specific agents

Agents at capacity won't receive new assignments even if available.