About the ticket lifecycle and ticket statuses

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<p class="p" dir="ltr">Every ticket has a lifecycle. A ticket’s lifecycle consists of the
different stages it goes through from the time it’s created in Zendesk
Support until it’s closed. The different stages in a ticket’s lifecycle are
represented by standard ticket statuses. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">A ticket’s status can manually be updated by an agent or automatically
updated by a business rule depending on how your account has been
configured. When a ticket’s status is updated, it keeps requesters updated
on the progress of their support request and moves the ticket to another
stage in its lifecycle.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">This article provides an overview of the ticket lifecycle and standard
ticket statuses, how tickets are eventually closed, and exceptions to the
ticket lifecycle.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">This article contains the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jnl_pc1_vt__ul_sw5_znr_fdc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_lqf_myk_fdc">About standard
ticket statuses</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_cbq_nyk_fdc">Overview of the
ticket lifecycle</a>e</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_zxw_4yk_fdc">Understanding
how tickets are closed</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ufd_ryk_fdc">About reopened
and follow-up tickets</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Related articles:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jnl_pc1_vt__ul_fvj_b4r_fdc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832151834" target="_blank">Updating and solving
tickets</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882039450" target="_blank">Working with
tickets</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About standard ticket statuses</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Zendesk includes a set of standard ticket statuses which are
used to help you manage your ticket workflows. These statuses
represent the different stages of a ticket’s lifecycle.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">You can also <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412575861018" target="_blank">create custom ticket
statuses</a> if the standard statuses don’t meet your
needs. When custom ticket statuses are activated, then the standard
ticket statuses become ticket status categories. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412575841306-Activating-custom-ticket-statuses#topic_hmv_5kl_dwb" target="_blank">Understanding how custom
ticket statuses impact your account</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">In Support, ticket statuses have different colored visual
indicators that represent their status or the status category to
which they belong. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">There are six standard statuses or status categories:</p>
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<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__table_tlb_r4r_fdc" rules="all" summary="">
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<col style="width:19.880715705765407%">
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<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e124">Visual indicator</th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e127">Standard ticket status</th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d52e130">Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e124">
<img class="image" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__image_efn_v4r_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_color_open_orange.png" width="21"><p class="p">Orange</p>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e127">New</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e130">Indicates that no action has been taken on
the ticket. After a New ticket's status has been
changed, it can’t be set back to New.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e124">
<img class="image" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__image_vgv_v4r_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_color_open_red.png" width="21"><p class="p">Red</p>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e127">Open</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e130">Indicates a ticket has been assigned to an
agent and is in progress. It’s waiting for action
by the agent. </td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e124">
<img class="image" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__image_vnz_v4r_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_color_pending_blue.png" width="21"><p class="p">Blue</p>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e127">Pending</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e130">Indicates the agent is waiting for more
information from the requester. When the requester
responds and a new comment is added, the ticket
status is automatically reset to Open.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e124">
<img class="image" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__image_pgh_w4r_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_color_onhold_darkgray.png" width="21"><p class="p">Dark gray</p>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e127">On-hold</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e130">Indicates the agent is waiting for
information or action from someone other than the
requester. <p class="p" dir="ltr">On-hold is an internal
status that the ticket requester never sees. While
a ticket is set to On-hold, the requester sees the
status as Open. On-hold is an optional status, and
can be activated by an <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408889282458" target="_blank">admin</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">It’s similar to the Pending status in
that you, as an agent, can't proceed with
resolving the ticket until you receive more
information from someone else. </p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e124">
<img class="image" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__image_qml_w4r_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_color_solved_gray.png" width="21"><p class="p">Light gray</p>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e127">Solved</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e130">Indicates the agent has submitted a
solution.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e124">
<img class="image" id="topic_lqf_myk_fdc__image_hqq_w4r_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_color_solved_gray.png" width="21"><p class="p">Light gray</p>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e127">Closed</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d52e130">Indicates that the ticket is closed by the
system and the requester can no longer reopen it.
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Tickets can’t manually be set to
Closed.</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<p class="p">If your account was created on or after February 13, 2024, an additional
ticket status, In Progress, may be available depending on how your
admin has configured your account.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_cbq_nyk_fdc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Overview of the ticket lifecycle</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Throughout a ticket's lifecycle, both requesters and agents
often need to ask questions and seek clarification.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">As agents <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882039450" target="_blank">work with tickets</a>,
they’ll likely change a tickets’ status multiple times. Changing a
ticket’s status moves the ticket through the different stages of its
lifecycle until it’s eventually closed.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">The image below illustrates the stages of a ticket’s
lifecycle:</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cbq_nyk_fdc__image_sgk_5pr_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_lifecycle.png" width="600"></p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">For example, a ticket’s lifecycle might consist of the
following stages:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_cbq_nyk_fdc__ul_vlb_vpr_fdc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">A ticket arrives in Zendesk Support and is
automatically set to New.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">When an agent is assigned to the ticket, the ticket is
automatically changed to Open.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">The agent has a follow-up question for the customer,
so they set the ticket to Pending.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">When the agent resolves the issue, they set the ticket
to Solved.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Finally, after a certain number of days, the ticket is
automatically Closed and archived for later reference.
Agents never manually close the ticket and setting a ticket
to the Closed status is not an option.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">A ticket doesn’t necessarily move through the stages of its lifecycle in
order though. Its status can often change back and forth between
Open, Pending, and On-hold depending on the complexity of the
support request.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cbq_nyk_fdc__image_jw2_gxr_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_status_lifecycle_2.png" width="600"></p>
<p class="p">A ticket may also change from Solved to Open if a requester replies to
the solved ticket. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_ufd_ryk_fdc">About reopened and follow-up tickets</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">For example, the stages of a tickets lifecycle might occur in
the following order:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_cbq_nyk_fdc__ul_pk1_cqr_fdc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">A ticket arrives in Zendesk Support and is
automatically set to New.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">When an agent is assigned to the ticket, the ticket is
automatically changed to Open.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">The agent has a question for the requester and sets
the ticket to Pending.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">The requester replies and the ticket is reset to
Open.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">The agent must confirm something with another
department internally and sets the ticket to On-hold. </li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">After confirming, the agent sends the resolution to
the requester and sets the ticket to Solved.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">The requester does not understand the resolution and
replies to the ticket, which sets it back to reopened</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">In this example, the agent must follow up and move the ticket
through the various stages of its lifecycle again until it’s
eventually closed.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_zxw_4yk_fdc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Understanding how tickets are closed</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The final stage in a ticket’s lifecycle is being closed. A ticket being
closed means that the requester can no longer reopen it and it can’t
be modified, except in certain cases (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7335734335258" target="_blank">Modifying closed
tickets</a>).</p>
<p class="p">Tickets can’t manually be closed. Instead, tickets are closed with an
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835051546" target="_blank">automation</a>, which is a
predefined business rule. Automations automatically change the
ticket’s status to Closed, or, if custom ticket statuses are
activated, it moves the ticket to the closed state.</p>
<p class="p">An admin creates automations and determines how long tickets remain in
the solved state before being closed. The default automation setting
is that a ticket is closed automatically four days after it has been
solved. If an admin deactivates the automations that close tickets,
the tickets will be closed automatically 28 days after they're
solved. This 28-day rule is a <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408894213018" target="_blank">system ticket rule</a>
that can't be changed and any business rules created to close
tickets longer than 28 days won't be honored.</p>
<p class="p">While requesters can no longer reopen closed tickets, they can create a
<a class="xref" href="#topic_ufd_ryk_fdc">follow-up
request</a> that references the original, closed, ticket.
Agents can also create a follow-up for a closed ticket. </p>
<p class="p">You can view closed tickets by searching for them or by creating views of
closed tickets. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408888828570-Using-views-to-manage-ticket-workflow" target="_blank">Using views to manage ticket
workflow</a>. You can also delete closed tickets if you
have permissions to delete tickets. To delete tickets in bulk,
admins can use the API. See the <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/ticketing/tickets/tickets/#bulk-delete-tickets" target="_blank">Bulk Delete Tickets</a>
endpoint.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_zlx_pyk_fdc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">About closed tickets solved with a custom ticket status</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When custom ticket statuses are <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412575841306" target="_blank">activated</a>, any
tickets that are solved with a status in the Solved status
category retain that ticket status even after they are
closed. This helps provide context of how or why a ticket
was solved.</p>
<p class="p">For example, if a ticket is solved with a custom ticket status
named "Refund processed" and it’s then closed, the ticket
retains the "Refund processed" ticket status. The ticket is
still in the closed state though.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_zlx_pyk_fdc__image_pqm_hsr_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/custom_status_solved_closed.png" width="400"></p>
<p class="p">There are also visual indicators that a ticket is closed. For
example, if you have a view that includes closed tickets,
then closed tickets are identified by an icon (<img class="image" id="topic_zlx_pyk_fdc__image_ww1_qsr_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/custom_status_closed_icon.png" width="25">). You can hover
over the icon to view additional information:</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_zlx_pyk_fdc__image_mgc_rsr_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/custom_status_closed_hover.png" width="400"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ufd_ryk_fdc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">About reopened and follow-up tickets</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Reopened tickets and follow-up tickets are exceptions to the
typical ticket lifecycle.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Reopened tickets are created when a requester responds to a
solved ticket with a new comment. For example, the requester may
disagree that their issue was resolved or something new occurred
that invalidated the resolution.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">When a ticket is reopened, it’s automatically assigned to the
agent who solved the ticket. An admin may <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887018778" target="_blank">set up a trigger</a> that
resets the ticket’s assignee field so that another agent can work on
the reopened ticket though. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Follow-up tickets are automatically created when there is a
response to a closed ticket. A follow-up ticket is a new ticket that
references the closed ticket and includes most of its data. Agents
can also create follow-up tickets from the Agent Workspace.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Tickets that are follow-up requests for a closed ticket are
marked as such. For example:</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_ufd_ryk_fdc__image_nvk_fxr_fdc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ticket_closed_followup.png" width="400"></p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408883882522-Creating-a-follow-up-for-a-closed-ticket" target="_blank">Creating a follow-up for a
closed ticket</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>