Take, take over and transfer conversations

Take a conversation

The card tells you who has the conversation and what you can do:

• Nobody has taken this conversation yet. Click Take it.
• Fynn is answering this conversation. The card shows the name of your inbox's AI bot. Click Take over from Fynn (with your bot's name). The bot stops answering this conversation.
• Anna is handling this conversation. Click Take over to make it yours.
• Reserved for Anna, next up once they have room. It waits for a teammate who is at their limit. Take over makes it yours instead.
• Transferred to you by Anna. It becomes yours as soon as you have room. Click Take it now to start right away.

The reply box then opens with the cursor in it. A conversation that is already assigned to you, also by round robin, shows the reply box right away.

Taking and taking over need the permission to manage conversations, which the standard Agent role includes. Agents whose role only shows their own conversations cannot take other conversations, but they can use Take it now on a conversation transferred to them.

Write a note without taking it

Click Write a note on the card. The composer opens as a Private Note and the conversation stays with whoever has it. Back returns to the card while the note is still empty. See Private notes for more.

Transfer to a teammate

1. Open the conversation and click Transfer in the header.
2. Pick a teammate. The list shows each person's status and how many conversations they hold against their limit, for example 2/5.
3. Optional: write a note under Note (optional), up to 4000 characters. It is saved as a private note, and your teammate sees it above their reply box (Transferred by and your name) until they reply or dismiss it.
4. Click Transfer.

A teammate who has room gets the conversation at once. The person who has the conversation can always transfer it, whatever their role. Anyone else needs the permission to manage conversations.

Agents whose role only shows their own conversations can transfer their own conversations too. They also get Hand back in the header, which returns the conversation to the default reviewer set in their custom role (or to a person they pick) together with a short internal note.

You can also change the owner under Assigned to in the Details tab of the right panel, see Assigning conversations. A teammate at their limit gets the conversation reserved there too, only without a note. For how conversations are handed out automatically, see Auto assignment.

When the teammate is at their limit

A teammate at their limit shows At limit · next up in the list. If you pick them anyway:

• The conversation is reserved for them and becomes their next conversation as soon as a slot frees up. It counts toward their limit, so round robin does not fill that slot with something else.
• They see it in Mine marked Next up (see Inbox folders). Everyone else sees Reserved: Anna in the list.
• If no slot frees up within 15 minutes, the reservation ends and the conversation goes through auto assignment like any conversation nobody holds: round robin picks someone else, or it waits in the queue or in Unassigned. The person who transferred it gets a notification.

What the customer sees

In a live chat the customer sees "Anna left the chat", then "You'll be connected with the next team member in a moment", and "Ben joined the chat" as soon as the next person takes, opens or answers the conversation. Customers on email and the other channels see none of these lines.

While the customer waits for the next person, your teammates see Customer waits for an agent in the conversation header.

Frequently asked questions

Why can't I see the reply box?

The conversation is not yours yet. Click Take it, Take over or Take it now on the card. A private note is always possible with Write a note.

Does the phone app work the same way?

Not quite. In the phone app the reply box is always there. An unassigned conversation shows Take it above it, a colleague's conversation shows Take over, and your first reply to a conversation that nobody has taken makes it yours. Transfer is only in the web dashboard. See The Deskwoot iPhone app.

Does the customer see my transfer note?

No. The note is saved as a private note, which only your team sees.

What if my teammate is away or offline?

The dialog tells you, for example "Anna is away right now. The conversation still goes to them." Pick someone who is online if the customer should get an answer soon.

What happens after 15 minutes when nobody had room?

The reservation ends and the conversation goes to round robin, or waits in the queue or in Unassigned when nobody else can take it. It never goes straight back to the person who had it before the transfer. Whoever transferred it gets the notification "Anna had no free slot, #1234 went to the queue".

Can I still open a conversation after I transferred it?

Yes, unless your role only shows your own conversations. The reply box turns back into the card, and a private note is still possible.

Where do I see conversations that were transferred to me?

In your Mine folder and in the notification bell: "Anna transferred #1234 to you", with "Next up once you have room" when it waits for you, and the note below it. When a reserved conversation becomes yours, the bell says "A transferred conversation is now yours · #1234".

Does the customer see "left the chat" every time?

Only in a live chat, and only when they had already seen the first agent join or reply. A chat that round robin gave to someone who never opened it simply waits for the next person.