> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cntillion.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI helpdesk with human handoff > Centillion Helpdesk turns conversations your AI agent cannot finish into tickets. Set up teams, AI drafts and live takeover, and answer from one inbox. Centillion Helpdesk is an AI helpdesk with human handoff: when your agent cannot finish a conversation, it becomes a ticket or a live chat that a teammate answers. Use the **Escalations** action for a ticket your team can follow up on, or **Centillion live chat** when the customer needs someone in the conversation now. Helpdesk belongs to an agent, so each agent has its own tickets, its own statuses and its own team. ![Helpdesk inbox on the Conversations view with a website chat open and the Take over button](https://mintcdn.com/centillion/OVR3XViKbG9zMitv/images/helpdesk/helpdesk-01-inbox.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=OVR3XViKbG9zMitv\&q=85\&s=084801439edcd4cc9495ae957f0bb9bc) The Helpdesk inbox on Conversations, where a teammate can take over a chat from the agent. ## What it does * Creates tickets when the agent escalates, when email arrives, when a customer answers a campaign, when a teammate opens one, or through the API. * Hands a live conversation to a teammate on website chat, the iOS and Android SDKs, email, WhatsApp, SMS, Messenger and Instagram. The customer stays in the same chat. * Writes suggested replies for your team. A draft is never sent until a teammate clicks send, and it spends message credits like any other answer. * Routes tickets to teams by hand, by balanced workload or by round robin, with an open-ticket cap per teammate. * Runs triggers, macros (up to 300 per agent), tags (up to 500 per agent), custom fields, saved views, satisfaction surveys and reports. * Lets your team answer WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and email handoffs from a Slack thread, with up to five files of 25 MB each per reply where the channel accepts files (Instagram and SMS do not). ## What you need * A workspace on Standard and up. Helpdesk is one of the integrations those plans add. If you are new to the product, read [what Centillion is](https://cntillion.com/docs/introduction.md) first. * The Owner or Member role to turn Helpdesk on and change its configuration. Owners, Members and Support Associates can handle tickets and conversations. Support Associates can manage personal views and use saved macros, but only Owners and Members can change macros, shared views or Helpdesk configuration. Viewers have read-only access. See [workspace roles](https://cntillion.com/docs/workspaces/members.md). * An **Escalations** or **Centillion live chat** action, enabled on each channel where customers should be able to reach a person. ## Set it up ### Explore a sample inbox Before your workspace has activity, **Helpdesk inbox** opens with fictional tickets, customers, teammates and conversations. Try replying, writing a note, assigning a ticket or changing its status. These changes stay in the preview; replies are not delivered and file uploads and AI drafting are unavailable. You can explore it before creating an agent or enabling Helpdesk. Choose **Hide sample data** to return to your inbox or Helpdesk setup. This choice is remembered for this workspace in your browser. Samples also disappear automatically when the workspace receives real activity. They never become customer records or contribute to reports, usage or billing. **1. Turn on Helpdesk** Open **Helpdesk inbox** in the agent's sidebar. Choose **Hide sample data** if the examples are showing, then select **Enable Helpdesk**. The same button appears while you configure **Escalations** or **Centillion live chat** in **Tools**, and on every page under **Settings → Helpdesk** while Helpdesk is off. You need the Owner or Member role. **2. Choose the email address** Add and verify company addresses in **Settings → Email** first. Then open **Settings → Helpdesk → Email** to choose your support addresses, the deliverability alert contact, the display name and the signature. ![Helpdesk email configuration with the reply address list, Add email and the deliverability alert contact](https://mintcdn.com/centillion/hWC-069gfv-5h1TN/images/helpdesk/helpdesk-04-settings-email.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=hWC-069gfv-5h1TN\&q=85\&s=e11a6e745d2b836593bc10842b810fa8) Settings, Helpdesk, Email: the addresses Helpdesk replies from and the deliverability alert contact. **3. Invite members and build teams** Invite teammates from **Workspace settings → Members** and give support staff the Support Associate role. Workspace members appear under **Settings → Helpdesk → Members** once they have Helpdesk access. Enabling Helpdesk creates one team called General. Under **Teams & assignment**, choose **Create team** for more, add members, and pick each team's assignment strategy. **4. Connect the actions customers use** In **Tools**, configure **Escalations** for tickets that can wait, or **Centillion live chat** for someone to join now. Select the channels and choose **Save & enable**. You can save either action as a draft before Helpdesk is ready. **Save & enable** requires Helpdesk to be enabled and at least one channel selected. ### Turning it on Helpdesk is off until you switch it on. Support Associates and Viewers can ask an Owner or Member to enable it. Enabling it creates six statuses, one team called General and a trigger called **Route to default team**, which puts each new ticket without a team in General. Tickets stay unassigned until someone claims them. Translation and AI drafts start switched on. All of that is yours to change. Turning Helpdesk off and on again keeps what you set up instead of creating it a second time. Under **Settings → Helpdesk**, a section with nothing in it yet shows its own list with a button to add the first item, such as **New trigger**. Shopify is the exception: until a store is connected, its page explains what the connection is for and offers one button to start. ### Start with human support Open **Settings → Helpdesk → Human handoff** and enable **Human-first conversations** to send new chat bubble, help page, iOS and Android conversations straight to your team before AI answers. No escalation action is required. This also selects **Pause AI when a ticket is created** and turns off **Resume AI when all tickets close**. A teammate must choose **Allow AI replies** to hand a conversation back to AI. Existing conversations with tickets keep their state. ![Human handoff settings with switches for human-first conversations and pausing AI on new tickets](https://mintcdn.com/centillion/hWC-069gfv-5h1TN/images/helpdesk/helpdesk-03-human-handoff.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=hWC-069gfv-5h1TN\&q=85\&s=2dc0727432adc22ee0300acdc116f302) Settings, Helpdesk, Human handoff: human-first conversations and when AI pauses or resumes. For email, turn off **Automatic replies** for each mailbox in [Email settings](https://cntillion.com/docs/helpdesk/email-settings.md). Voice, generic API chat and other connected channels keep their separate controls. Live handoff and manual takeover always pause AI. Creating a ticket normally requests asynchronous follow-up; the pause-on-ticket setting makes the Create ticket action pause its linked text conversation too. With automatic resumption enabled, AI can return only after the last open ticket closes. AI draft replies remain drafts until a teammate reviews and sends them. Track bugs affecting several customers with [product issues in Notion](https://cntillion.com/docs/helpdesk/product-issues.md). Resolving a product issue never resumes AI or closes its linked support tickets. ## Use it every day ### Where tickets come from **The agent escalates.** The agent has a tool for creating a ticket and decides when to use it. By default it does so when a customer asks for a person, or when it does not know an answer and the customer confirms they want help. It collects an email address first, explains that support will be in touch, and only then creates the ticket. It is told never to claim it made a ticket unless it really did. When the customer's contact came from a [connected CRM](https://cntillion.com/docs/customer-data/crm-integrations.md) with write-back on, every escalation adds a note to the CRM record (a completed task in Salesforce) with the ticket number, the subject and description of that request, and a link to the ticket. You control when this happens under **Tools → Escalations**, where you write the policy in plain language, choose which channels it applies to, and pick which details to collect. **The customer requests live support.** With **Centillion live chat** enabled, the agent can hand the current conversation to your team. It creates or reuses a ticket labeled **Live chat**, keeps the conversation history, and stops AI replies while your team handles it. **A teammate opens one.** The **New ticket** button, for a conversation that started somewhere else. You choose whether replies go out by email or WhatsApp. The description becomes a private note, and the team's assignment strategy chooses the owner. A Manual team leaves the ticket unassigned. **Email arrives.** Mail to a connected mailbox or to the Helpdesk address becomes a ticket. See [Email](https://cntillion.com/docs/channels/email.md). **A customer replies to a campaign.** Choose **Human takeover** in an [Outbound WhatsApp campaign](https://cntillion.com/docs/campaigns.md) to send each recipient's first reply to your team. Helpdesk must be enabled before you launch. The reply creates or reuses a ticket for the conversation and adds a campaign tag; new tickets use the campaign name in their subject. AI replies pause while your team handles the conversation. Closing its last open ticket or choosing **Allow AI replies** hands later messages back to the agent. If Helpdesk is turned off after launch, the agent answers as usual. **Your own systems.** A ticket can be created over the API. See the [API reference](https://cntillion.com/docs/api-reference/introduction.md). ### Taking over a conversation When a customer is mid-conversation with the agent and needs a person, open **Conversations** in the Helpdesk inbox, find the conversation and choose **Take over**. The agent stops answering that conversation immediately and you write the replies. Taking over opens a ticket for the conversation, assigned to you, or reuses the one already open for it. The customer stays exactly where they are, on the website or in WhatsApp, and never learns a new address. Takeover works on website chat, including Center Stage, the iOS and Android SDKs, email, WhatsApp, text messages (SMS), Messenger and Instagram. Slack conversations cannot be taken over. To stop the agent answering a Slack thread, open the conversation under the agent's **Logs**, choose **Pause conversation** from its menu, and reply in Slack yourself. On the website, the customer is told who joined: your first name and your profile photo, in their language. An app built on the iOS or Android SDK gets the same first name and photo, and shows them as its developers chose. On a messaging channel there is no announcement, so say hello, because to them the conversation has just gone quiet. If an email reply is waiting for its reply delay, takeover asks you to confirm that the pending reply will be cancelled. Confirming removes unsent automatic drafts. Your manual replies send immediately. When you are done, **Allow AI replies** in the ticket's menu hands the conversation back to the agent and closes the ticket. You can also take over from the agent's **Logs**. Select a chat log and choose **Take over** to open its Helpdesk ticket in a new tab. The log then shows **Taken over** and **View ticket**. If your browser blocks the new tab, use **View ticket** to open it. The link remains available after AI replies resume. Saved Playground conversations support manual takeover too. Taking one over pauses its AI replies, including an answer still being generated. The ordinary **Pause conversation** and **Resume conversation** controls cannot change an active takeover; use **Allow AI replies** in its ticket instead. Ended conversations cannot be taken over. A live chat handoff that nobody has joined yet shows **Waiting for an agent** in Conversations, and the ticket shows a banner while AI replies are paused. Choose **Join live chat** in either place to take the conversation. It reuses the ticket the handoff created rather than opening a second one. ### Centillion live chat Only enable live chat when teammates are available to reply. For requests that can wait for follow-up, configure Escalations instead. 1. Open **Tools** and configure **Centillion live chat**. 2. Enable Centillion Helpdesk if it is still off. 3. Give the action a name and write **When to use** instructions, such as urgent billing issues or an explicit request to speak to a person now. The default instructions ask the agent to try common questions first and confirm the customer wants live support. 4. Select the channels, then choose **Save & enable**. **Save** keeps a draft. If a procedure should control the handoff, turn on **Only use in procedures** and reference the action in an active procedure available on that channel. Live chat supports **Chat bubble**, **Help page**, **Center Stage**, **iOS SDK**, **Android SDK**, **Email**, **Instagram** direct messages, **Messenger** direct messages and **WhatsApp**. The three website channels are selected by default. Connected channels still need setup, and you choose which ones may use the action. API, phone, Slack, SMS and public social comments cannot invoke this live-chat action. After a successful handoff, the customer sees: > Your conversation has been sent to our support team. A teammate will join > shortly. You can keep sending messages here while you wait. The customer continues in the same chat while AI replies stay paused. Your team opens the **Live chat** ticket in the inbox, reads the existing thread and replies there. Assignment rules apply, and teammates can add internal notes and change the status as with other tickets. When [live alerts](#live-alerts) are on, a website handoff also alerts your team, and a handoff on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram or email is posted to your Slack channel, where your team can [answer it from the thread](#answering-a-handoff-from-slack). Test on a supported customer channel by asking to speak to someone now. Confirm that the inbox shows a **Live chat** ticket, send a reply from Helpdesk, and check it reaches the customer in the original conversation. ### Drafts written by the agent Enabled when Helpdesk is first turned on. The agent writes a suggested reply and waits. It is never sent automatically. A teammate reads it, edits it, and clicks send. Drafts and AI Compose use the agent's selected model and spend message credits like any other answer. The workspace allowance and the agent's optional credit limit both apply. An owner can recharge the workspace or adjust an agent's limit; otherwise, wait for the monthly reset. ![AI draft replies settings switched on, with an example question, a generated draft reply and the Draft reply with AI button](https://mintcdn.com/centillion/hWC-069gfv-5h1TN/images/helpdesk/helpdesk-02-ai-draft-replies.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=hWC-069gfv-5h1TN\&q=85\&s=82ff52b96403f57436e2a67720c4d97b) Settings, Helpdesk, AI draft replies: try a sample draft before teammates use it on tickets. ### Translation Translation starts enabled. Helpdesk detects the latest customer message's language and offers translation when it differs from your preferred language. You can also translate explicitly while reading a ticket. ### Notes, messages and the timeline A **message** goes to the customer. A **note** is internal and never leaves Helpdesk. The timeline records everything that happened and who did it, and it survives people leaving the workspace. Use the formatting toolbar for bold, italic, links, lists and text colors in replies and notes. Email replies keep the formatting; channels that accept only plain text receive the text without formatting. #### Attachments Drop files anywhere on the reply or note composer, or use the attachment button. Up to five files per reply or note, 25 MB each, 125 MB in total. Email, WhatsApp and private Messenger replies can carry them out to the customer. Instagram direct messages, Slack, text messages, and public comments on Facebook or Instagram cannot, so send a link there instead. Note attachments stay internal whatever the channel. The composer accepts all file types. The customer's channel can impose lower size limits or reject a file type, so check delivery before sending the file again. Files a website visitor attaches in the chat widget come with their messages: they appear on the conversation in **Conversations**, and on the ticket's timeline once the conversation becomes a ticket or you take it over. See [Files from visitors](https://cntillion.com/docs/channels/website.md#files-from-visitors). ### Customer history A ticket's **Customer history** lists every ticket for the same Contact, on any channel and in any queue, newest first. A verified website visitor keeps the Contact their [identity](https://cntillion.com/docs/customer-data/identity-verification.md) names. A WhatsApp or text message (SMS) from a number already on one Contact joins that Contact, so its tickets appear in the same history. If two Contacts share the number, the message still reaches the agent but starts a separate Contact until you correct the duplicates. Taking over that conversation asks you to correct them first. ### Statuses Six to start with: * **New**: nobody has looked yet. * **On You**: waiting on your team. * **On Customer**: waiting on them. * **On Hold**: parked. * **Closed**: done. * **Cancelled**: not going to be done. You can add your own. Each one you add has to map onto one of those six kinds, so that automation keeps working when you rename things to suit your team. Under **Settings → Helpdesk → Ticket statuses**, edit the internal label, customer label, color and description. Each category keeps one default and at least one active status. Archived statuses remain visible on existing tickets but cannot be selected for new status changes. Tickets also have a priority. See [Priority and tags](#priority-and-tags). There are no SLA timers. ### Assigning work Three ways to hand a ticket to someone, set per team: * **Manual.** Tickets stay unassigned until a teammate claims them. This is the default. * **Balanced.** The available teammate with the fewest open tickets. * **Round robin.** The available teammate who has waited longest for one. New teammates start Away. Manual availability is set on **Members**; scheduled teammates follow their shift hours and time off. Automatic assignment considers available members of the ticket's team and respects the team's open-ticket cap. Closed and Cancelled tickets do not count toward that cap. Balanced assignment breaks a workload tie by choosing the member least recently assigned a ticket. If nobody is eligible, the ticket stays unassigned. **Assign to next available shift** can instead choose a scheduled member whose shift starts soonest, excluding members currently on time off. Coming online does not automatically assign queued tickets. With **Unassign on reply** enabled, a customer reply retries assignment for an unassigned ticket or replaces an unavailable owner; an available owner stays assigned. Closed and Cancelled tickets are skipped. Manual assignment can choose a teammate regardless of availability or capacity. Reassigning a ticket keeps its status. ### Priority and tags Every ticket has a priority, from **No priority** through **Low**, **Normal** and **High** to **Urgent**, set from the ticket details. Tags label tickets for filtering. Add up to 20 per ticket from the details panel. Admins can create a tag there by typing a new name. Admins manage tags under **Settings → Helpdesk → Tags**. Names use lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, and each tag shows how many tickets carry it. **Archive** retires a tag without removing it from past tickets, and **Restore** brings it back. An agent can hold up to 500 tags, archived ones included. The ticket list can show **Priority** and **Tags** columns, sort by priority, and filter on either. The tag filter includes **Untagged**. Select several tickets to change their status together. The Create ticket action can also tag the tickets it creates. In the action's details, add up to five tags and tell the AI when each one applies. If the escalation lands on a ticket that already exists, the tags are added to it. ### Custom fields and saved views Custom fields let you record things the standard ticket does not have, such as an order number or a plan. Seven kinds, including text, number, date and a list you define. Saved views are filters you keep. Five come with Helpdesk, and you can build your own for yourself or share them with your team. Views can include the priority and tag columns and sort by priority. Filter by a custom field using the controls for its type, such as text matching, number comparisons, date ranges or selected options. These filters can be saved in a view. Support Associates can edit personal views; Owners and Members can also edit shared views. ### Macros Macros are shared replies. Owners and Members create them under **Settings → Helpdesk → Macros**. Teammates who can handle tickets can insert one from the lightning button above the reply box. The formatted text lands in the reply or note for you to edit before sending. A macro can include variables such as `{{customer.first_name}}`, `{{ticket.number}}` or `{{human_agent.name}}`. Add a fallback after a bar, `{{customer.first_name | there}}`, for when the value is missing. A variable Centillion does not recognize stays in the text as written. A macro can also add tags to the ticket when you insert it. Each agent can hold up to 300 macros. Attach up to five files to a macro, within the [attachment limits](#attachments). Inserting the macro copies those files into the ticket's editable draft. ### Finding a conversation **Conversations** lists the newest first. **Filters** narrows them by channel, status, sentiment, dates, a word the conversation contains, the agent's confidence, thumbs-up or thumbs-down feedback, or voice sessions only. Filters search every conversation, not only the ones on screen, and **Load more conversations** pages back through older matches. Confidence, feedback and voice apply to website and API chats only. On a ticket, **View conversation** opens the original transcript beside the ticket, including replies from your team, without leaving the queue. Choose **View full conversation** to open it in Conversations. #### Conversation logs Under the agent's **Logs** tab, **Search messages** matches message text and contact details in the loaded chat logs. Press `/` to focus search and Escape to clear it. **Filter conversations → Conversation state** narrows the list to ongoing, paused, taken over, waiting, or ended chats, alongside the channel, date, confidence, feedback, and contact filters. The **Details** tab links to the contact search and any linked ticket, and lets you copy the conversation ID. Use a conversation's menu to export its transcript as JSON, CSV, or PDF. **Export all** uses the filtered list; **Select** lets you choose several conversations to export together. PDF export downloads the transcripts directly. #### Flag an issue for review In the workspace or agent's [Conversations](https://cntillion.com/docs/workspaces/conversations.md), open a transcript and choose **Flag issue** beside a message. Describe what needs attention, then choose **Add to Helpdesk**. This adds the original message and your notes to the linked open ticket, or creates an internal review ticket when there is no open ticket. Flagging an issue does not pause AI, take over the conversation, send a customer message or run ticket automations. Helpdesk must be enabled, and your role must allow managing it. ### Live alerts Your team can be told the moment a visitor is chatting in the website widget, so someone can join while they are still there. Open **Settings → Notifications** and, under **Live alerts**, choose when to alert: * **Every new conversation**: as soon as a visitor starts chatting. * **Only escalations**: when the agent hands a visitor to a person. Alerts are off until you choose one. Each goes to two places: * **The dashboard.** Anyone in the workspace with the dashboard open sees a card in the corner with a **Join** button. It disappears once someone has joined. * **Slack**, if the agent has a Slack connection. Pick the workspace and the channel, then invite the agent's Slack app to that channel: in Slack, open the channel and type `/invite` followed by the app's name. **Send test alert** checks it works. Without a Slack connection, the settings link to Channels. Either setting also posts a conversation on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram or email to Slack when the agent hands it to your team. Those conversations raise no alert when they start, and their handoffs go to Slack only. Your team can answer the customer from there, as [Answering a handoff from Slack](#answering-a-handoff-from-slack) explains. An alert shows the visitor's first message, the page they are on, their language, and their name or email if they have given one. **Join** opens the conversation in the dashboard and takes it over in one click, after signing in if you need to. Only members of the workspace can join. If a teammate got there first, you see who, and the Slack message is updated to say who joined. Joining needs the Helpdesk to be on for the agent. ### Answering a handoff from Slack A customer on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram or email has no chat window for a teammate to join. When the agent hands one of those conversations to your team with **Centillion live chat**, Centillion posts the handoff to the Slack channel chosen under **Live alerts**. That happens when alerts are set to **Every new conversation** or **Only escalations** and a Slack workspace and channel are picked. These handoffs go to Slack only and show no card in the dashboard. The message shows what the customer wrote, the agent's summary of the request, the customer's name, email and phone when Centillion has them, the ticket number, and an **Open ticket** button. While your team has the conversation, whatever the customer writes next is added to the message's thread, including what they sent in the seconds after asking for a person. On email this needs a Helpdesk address: an email sent to a connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox during a handoff is not added to the thread. To answer, reply in the thread and tag the app, for example **@Centillion**; the handoff message shows the tag to use. Your reply goes to the customer on their channel with the files you add to it, without the tag, and it appears in the ticket under your name, the same as a reply typed in Helpdesk. A mention of a person or a channel is written out as plain words, a link keeps its address, and an emoji is sent as the emoji. Messages without the tag stay in Slack, so the team can talk about the case in the same thread. The channel's own rules still apply, including the 24-hour window on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram. Nothing is posted back when a reply goes through. When one is not sent, or Centillion cannot confirm that it was, the thread says so. [Troubleshooting](https://cntillion.com/docs/troubleshooting.md#a-reply-in-the-slack-thread-was-not-sent) lists what it can say. #### Allowing replies from Slack Answering from the thread needs more Slack permissions than posting. Once a Slack workspace is picked, the **Live alerts** card says whether replies are allowed. If they are not, it shows **Allow replies from Slack**, and each handoff message tells your team to answer from the Helpdesk. A handoff posted that way stays that way: once replies are allowed, a reply in its thread is still not sent, and the thread says to answer that one from the Helpdesk. Handoffs posted afterwards are answered from their thread. Until replies are allowed, you choose the channel by its id. Afterwards you pick it from a list of public channels. To use a private channel, enter its id before allowing replies. An Owner or Member chooses **Allow replies from Slack** and approves the extra permissions on Slack's page. This reconnects Slack, so the agent stops answering mentions until you turn **Automatic replies** back on for the Slack connection under **Channels**. [Slack](https://cntillion.com/docs/channels/slack.md#permissions) lists the permissions and what Centillion receives once they are granted. Sending files takes one more permission, to read them. A workspace that allowed replies before Centillion sent files sees **Allow files from Slack** on the same card, which reconnects Slack the same way. Until an Owner or Member chooses it, a reply with a file is not sent, and the thread says so. #### Slack reply limits * **Who can reply.** Centillion recognises the person replying by the email address on their Slack profile. It has to match the email of an active member of this agent's Helpdesk, which is the address they have in your Centillion workspace. A reply from anyone else is not sent, and the thread tells them so. * **Only a tagged reply is sent.** A message in the thread reaches the customer only when it tags the app. Everything else stays in Slack: it is not sent and not added to the ticket's notes, and the thread says nothing about it. * **Files go with the reply.** The limits are the Helpdesk's: up to five files, 25 MB each and 125 MB together, of the kinds the composer takes. The customer's channel can be stricter: WhatsApp takes JPEG and PNG images up to 5 MB, MP4 videos and audio up to 16 MB, and documents, while text messages (SMS) and Instagram take no files. When a file breaks one of these limits, or Slack has nothing to download for it, none of the reply is sent and the thread says which file and why. The text and each file reach the customer as separate messages, so a send that fails partway can leave them part of the reply: the thread then says the delivery could not be confirmed, so check the ticket before sending it again. * **Edits change nothing.** Editing or deleting a reply in Slack changes nothing for the customer, and the thread says nothing about it. * **Custom emoji arrive as their names.** An emoji you added to your Slack workspace has no character to send, so the customer reads its name, such as `:partyparrot:`. * **The agent does not answer in the thread.** Tagging the app there sends your reply to the customer. The agent does not read it as a question, even while **Automatic replies** are on for the Slack connection. * **Replies from Helpdesk stay in Helpdesk.** The thread shows the customer's messages. A reply a colleague sends from the ticket does not appear there, so check the ticket before answering twice. * **The thread ends with the handoff.** After **Allow AI replies** on the ticket, replies in the thread are no longer sent. If the agent hands the conversation over again, it opens a new thread and the old one stays closed. A teammate joining the chat from Helpdesk does not end the thread. * **One Slack workspace, one agent.** A Slack workspace connects to a single agent. Connect it to the agent that owns the WhatsApp number, the Facebook Page, the Instagram account or the mailbox. * **Website alerts work differently.** A reply in the thread of a website alert is not sent to the visitor. Use **Join** there. ### Email addresses and presentation You can select several support addresses under **Settings → Helpdesk → Email**. Replies use the selected address the customer wrote to, then the first selected address if there is no match, or the generated agent address if none is selected. A support-associate display name uses the teammate who writes the reply; a custom name stays the same for the whole team. The saved signature applies to AI and teammate emails. See [Helpdesk email settings](https://cntillion.com/docs/helpdesk/email-settings.md) for the address checks, preview, and complete setup. [Email channel settings](https://cntillion.com/docs/channels/email.md) control spam detection, blocked senders, the AI disclaimer, and the automatic reply delay. ### Satisfaction surveys Under **Settings → Helpdesk → CSAT surveys**, turn on surveys to email the customer after a ticket closes. Choose thumbs, five stars or five smileys, and customize the positive and negative labels. The email links to a page where customers can rate the reply and add a comment. Opening the link never records a rating on its own, so mail scanners cannot answer for the customer. Links work for 30 days. Edit the email canvas to preview the logo, formatted introduction, rating choices and footer together. Thumbs have positive and negative labels; stars and smileys have labels at the low and high ends. Sent surveys keep the rating scale and presentation they were sent with when you later edit the settings. Choose a delay between 1 minute and 30 days after closing, a verified sender address, an optional logo, and the subject, introduction and footer. The introduction supports Markdown. A ticket is not surveyed when it is reopened before sending, has no customer email, came from WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram, never got a reply, carries an excluded tag, or is outside the activity window. The same address is not surveyed again within the cool-down period. Results appear on the ticket, under **Satisfaction**, and in **Dashboards → Helpdesk → Open detailed Helpdesk analytics** under **Customer satisfaction**. It shows the CSAT score, response rate and coverage against the previous period, why tickets were not surveyed, and paginated responses with the teammate who handled each ticket. Thumbs-only results show the percentage of positive responses. Results that include stars or smileys show the average on a five-point scale. A positive thumbs rating or a score of 4 or 5 counts as a positive response. ### Analytics **Dashboards → Helpdesk → Open detailed Helpdesk analytics** reports, for the period you pick, tickets created and solved, the unsolved backlog at the end of each day, tickets by channel, and the median first response time, response time and time to close. Each figure is compared with the period of the same length just before it. Filter by channel, assignee or team. Response times count replies from your team, not the agent's. A ticket that was closed, reopened and closed again counts once in the period's solved total, though the daily chart shows each day it closed. Dates are in UTC. Choose a preset or custom date range and show the previous period on comparison charts. **Team performance** lists solved tickets, tickets replied to, replies sent, CSAT and median response times for each teammate, with team totals. ### Shopify orders Connect a Shopify custom app under **Settings → Helpdesk → Shopify** with your store's `myshopify.com` domain and an Admin API access token. The app needs the `read_orders` and `read_customers` scopes. Shopify shows orders older than 60 days only after it approves protected customer data and `read_all_orders`. Tickets then show the customer's orders, matched by email or phone. Look up a different email or phone from the panel when the customer wrote from another address. Open an order for its items, totals, shipping address and tracking. Macros can insert details from the latest order, such as `{{shopify.last_order.number}}` or `{{shopify.last_order.tracking_url}}`. ### Triggers Under Helpdesk settings, rules that run on a ticket after it exists. Conditions can check status, assignee, team, channel, priority or tags. Actions can set a status or priority, add or remove tags, assign someone, add a note, send an email or Slack notification, or call a webhook. For email, choose the requester, assignee, assigned team, a specific teammate or team, or a custom address. Set the subject and formatted message, and insert ticket variables where needed. For Slack, choose a connected workspace and a channel, or enter a channel ID. Temporary delivery failures retry automatically; invalid destinations and other permanent failures stop retrying. Enabling Helpdesk creates an active **Route to default team** trigger for new tickets without a team. It uses the current default team's assignment strategy. Escalation creates the ticket; Helpdesk triggers run after creation or an update. ### Webhooks Helpdesk can post ticket data to a URL of yours, with your own headers and body format. A webhook fires because a trigger's action names it. There is no list of events to subscribe to, so the trigger is where you decide when it goes out. A body template picks values with placeholders such as `{{ticket.priority}}` or `{{ticket.customer.externalId}}`. To send the whole report, use `{"deliveryId": "{{deliveryId}}", "ticket": {{ticket}}}`. Under `ticket` you get: * `id`, `number`, `subject`, `channel`, `statusId`, and `messageText`, the customer's latest message. * `url`, the ticket in your inbox, and `conversationUrl`, the conversation in Conversations, when the ticket came from one. * `priority` (none, low, normal, high or urgent), `statusCategory`, `description`, `createdAt` and `updatedAt`, as the [Helpdesk API](https://cntillion.com/docs/api-reference/endpoint/create-helpdesk-ticket.md) returns them, and `tags`, the names of the ticket's tags. When a trigger changes the priority, the status or the tags, the webhook it sends carries the new values. * `customer`: `id`, `externalId`, `name`, `email`, `phoneNumber`, `attributes`, and `verified`, which is true when a signed identity proved who the customer is (see [Identity verification](https://cntillion.com/docs/customer-data/identity-verification.md)). * `fields`: each custom field with its `id`, `label`, `type` and `value`, in the order of your fields. A choice field gives the chosen option's name, an image field a link. * `attachments`: the files the customer sent, the latest 50, each with `name`, `contentType`, `size` and `url`. Links to attachments and the dashboard open only for signed-in members of your Helpdesk. An attachment link opens while this workspace is the one selected in the dashboard. An image field filled with an outside URL keeps that URL. Each delivery is signed. The request carries `X-Centillion-Signature`, a delivery ID, a timestamp and an idempotency key, so you can verify it came from Centillion and ignore a repeat. A delivery gets up to five attempts in total, spaced a minute, five minutes, half an hour and two hours apart. A `Retry-After` header from your endpoint is honoured, up to six hours. Only failures worth repeating are retried: a connection that never landed, a timeout, a rate limit, or a 500 from your side. A 400 or a 404 is taken at face value and not sent again, so a webhook pointing at the wrong path fails once rather than four more times. ### Escalation platforms The Escalations card lists Centillion Helpdesk, Zendesk, Salesforce, Intercom, Zoho Desk, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Help Scout, Gorgias and Odoo. Choose Centillion Helpdesk to configure ticket creation in your inbox. For Zendesk email support, create or edit a **Create ticket** action and choose **Zendesk** under **Helpdesk destination**. For an internal or self-managed deployment, connect an administrator-owned confidential OAuth client from your own Zendesk account. Centillion pauses the email conversation while your team answers the Zendesk ticket, then resumes when it is Solved or Closed. Follow [Zendesk email handoff](https://cntillion.com/docs/helpdesk/zendesk-email.md) for setup and a complete test. Salesforce supports the case and live chat actions described below. The other external platforms use a **Contact us** dialog. Contact the Centillion team to arrange their connection and ticket routing. ### Salesforce support Connect **Channels → Salesforce**, then choose Salesforce as the destination in **Tools → Create ticket**. Set its name, usage instructions, and channels, then save and enable it. Centillion Helpdesk retains the conversation while Salesforce receives a case with the customer details and transcript. Slack, Zendesk Messaging, Instagram and Messenger are incompatible with this ticket destination. Previews do not create remote cases. On the Salesforce channel, the same action marks the existing case **Escalated** for human review and stops automatic replies. It keeps the case and owner; clear **Escalated** after review to allow new automatic responses. Draft mode does not execute escalation or other actions. **Salesforce live chat** hands Chat bubble, Help page and Center Stage conversations to Salesforce Enhanced Chat and Omni-Channel. Enter the deployment URL, DeveloperName and OrganizationId in its action builder, using the org connected to the agent. Both Salesforce support actions accept **Only use in procedures** when an active procedure should control execution. Live chat transfers the text history, pauses AI replies, and synchronizes text messages in both directions. **End Chat** in Salesforce resumes AI replies. Attachments and interactive Salesforce message components are not rendered. Follow the [Salesforce setup guide](https://cntillion.com/docs/channels/salesforce.md#live-chat) for the package, signing-key configuration, permissions and a live test. ## Limits and good to know * There are no SLA timers. * Surveys are sent by email only, and never for WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram tickets. * Shopify is read-only: orders cannot be edited, refunded or cancelled from Helpdesk. * Slack conversations cannot be taken over, and API, phone, Slack, SMS and public social comments cannot invoke the live-chat action. * Human-first conversations cover the chat bubble, the help page and the iOS and Android SDKs. Email uses each mailbox's **Automatic replies** switch. * A reply or note carries up to five files, 25 MB each and 125 MB in total. A ticket takes up to 20 tags. * An agent holds up to 500 tags and 300 macros. * Analytics dates are in UTC, and response times count your team's replies only. ## Questions ### Does the agent ever send a draft reply by itself? No. An AI draft waits on the ticket until a teammate reads it, edits it and clicks send. This holds with human-first conversations too. ### Will the customer know a person has joined? On the website, the customer sees your first name and profile photo, in their language. Apps built on the iOS or Android SDK get the same name and photo. On a messaging channel there is no announcement, so say hello. ### When does the AI start answering again? **Allow AI replies** in the ticket's menu hands the conversation back and closes the ticket. With **Resume AI when all tickets close** on, AI also returns once the last open ticket closes. Human-first conversations turn that setting off, so a teammate has to choose **Allow AI replies**. ### Which plan includes Helpdesk? Standard and up. Helpdesk configuration, enabling escalation actions and the Helpdesk API all check for it. ### Can my team answer from Slack instead of the inbox? Yes, for handoffs on WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and email. Reply in the handoff's thread and tag the app. The reply reaches the customer on their channel and appears in the ticket under your name. ### Can I take over a Slack conversation? No. Open the conversation under the agent's **Logs**, choose **Pause conversation**, and reply in Slack yourself. ### Do AI drafts cost credits? Yes. Drafts and AI Compose use the agent's selected model and spend message credits like any other answer. The workspace allowance and the agent's credit limit both apply. ## Try it Turn on Helpdesk for one agent, enable **Centillion live chat** on your website, and ask to speak to someone. A **Live chat** ticket opens in the inbox, and your reply reaches the customer in the same chat. > [card] [Start free](https://app.cntillion.com/sign-up?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=article\&utm_campaign=helpdesk) > > Start on the Free plan, or take a seven-day trial of a paid plan. Your agent is live on your site in an afternoon. > [card] [Book a demo](https://cal.com/patrick-turricelli-smgfks/15min?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=article\&utm_campaign=helpdesk) > > Fifteen minutes with the team, on your own use case. Or ask the assistant on this page. ## Related > [card] [What Centillion is](https://cntillion.com/docs/introduction.md) > > How the agent, its channels and the helpdesk fit together. > [card] [Website chat](https://cntillion.com/docs/channels/website.md) > > Put the agent on your site and let customers reach your team from it. > [card] [Helpdesk email settings](https://cntillion.com/docs/helpdesk/email-settings.md) > > Support addresses, address checks, preview and signature. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.