Using macros to start side conversations

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<div class="note fastpath" style="margin-right: 0px;">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span> <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Workspaces &gt; Agent tools &gt; Macros</span>
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<p class="p">If <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832279962-Enabling-and-disabling-side-conversations" target="_blank">side conversations are
activated</a>, it's the perfect way to reach out to other
departments or external partners. However, for many teams, they can become
repetitive, especially if there’s a specific structure to the initial
messages. You can use macros to start side conversations to ensure that key
information is included automatically when the conversation is started. </p>
<div class="p">For example, let’s say that you want to start a side conversation with a few
things like:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_bnq_px1_z2b">
<li class="li">The requester’s initial message</li>
<li class="li">Some additional questions from the agent </li>
<li class="li">Some custom field values </li>
<li class="li">The originating ticket’s ID and URL</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">This article includes these topics:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_j4b_xng_gfb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_mt1_rng_gfb">About macros for side conversations</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_kk5_rng_gfb">Creating macros for side conversations</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_u4y_sng_gfb">Applying macros to side conversations</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="p">Related articles:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_h33_lpg_gfb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844187034" target="_blank">Creating macros for
tickets</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_mt1_rng_gfb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About macros for side conversations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can add a <strong class="ph b">Side conversation</strong> action to any macro and when it
runs, a new side conversation is started and immediately pops open.
Ticket information and some extra boilerplate text are added
automatically to the body by means of placeholders, leaving you to
add any additional recipients or information that you want to
include. </p>
<p class="p">There are a few important things to note about how this feature
behaves:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_mt1_rng_gfb__ul_kjx_kjg_z2b">
<li class="li">When you use a macro to start a side conversation, the macro is
not applied to any of the side conversations that are
already on the ticket. It is only applied to the new side
conversation that you're starting now. </li>
<li class="li">Keep in mind that your macro may include other actions that
change ticket fields. If you don't submit the ticket, those
changes will be lost. </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">There are three <strong class="ph b">Side conversation</strong> actions in macros:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_mt1_rng_gfb__ul_glh_v1c_glb">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Side conversation via email:</strong> When you add this action to
a macro, you can also enter the email addresses of the users
that you want to include in the email notification. <p class="p">If
you manually enter an email address into the
<strong class="ph b">To</strong> field, make sure that the email address
is correct. The email addresses you enter will
become the recipients of a side conversation when
the macro is used.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Side conversation via Slack:</strong> End users receive ticket
updates in Slack (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408844202778" target="_blank">Using Slack in side
conversations</a>).<p class="p">When you add this action to
a macro, you can specify only one Slack channel and
must enter its name manually. Enter an existing
Slack channel name so that it automatically
populates the "To" field in the side conversation
when you apply the macro.</p>
<p class="p">If you enter a
partial Slack channel name when adding this action,
the "To" field will display a list of all channels
that contain the partial name when the macro is
applied. You can then select the channel from the
list.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Side conversation via child ticket:</strong> When you use this
action, you create a side conversation on the original
ticket and a new child ticket is created (see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408836521498" target="_blank">Using side
conversation child tickets</a>).<p class="p">Note that you
can specify only groups that you have access to and
agents within those groups in the <strong class="ph b">To</strong>
field.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_kk5_rng_gfb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Creating macros for side conversations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Anyone (agents or admins) can create a personal macro for side
conversations. Administrators can also create shared macros for side
conversations. You cannot create macros for specific channels.</p>
<p class="p">You may want to use macros to start side conversations to ensure that key
information is included automatically when the conversation is
started. </p>
<p class="p" id="topic_kk5_rng_gfb__p_zcc_2lg_gfb"><strong class="ph b">To create personal macros for side
conversations</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_kk5_rng_gfb__ol_tzc_2vl_y2b">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_kk5_rng_gfb__d8e946" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_workspaces_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Workspaces</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Agent tools &gt; Macros</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Create macro</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Enter the macro name, and add actions for your macro as
described in <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832783642" target="_blank">Building macro action
statements</a>.</li>
<li class="li">In the <strong class="ph b">Actions</strong> section, choose one of the <strong class="ph b">Side
conversation</strong> actions from the drop-down list,
enter then enter a subject and your message. </li>
<li class="li">Fill in the <strong class="ph b">To</strong>, <strong class="ph b">Subject</strong>, and <strong class="ph b">Message</strong> fields
for information you regularly need or use.<p class="p">You can use
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408887218330-Using-placeholders" target="_blank">placeholders</a>
in these fields for information that you regularly
need or use.</p>
<p class="p">For example, this macro starts a
side conversation and includes the first message
from the requester, plus some information from the
original ticket: </p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" height="300" id="topic_kk5_rng_gfb__image_yc5_skg_z2b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/macros_with_side_conversation.png" width="850"></p>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> You cannot add images.
Markdown in agent signatures does not render in
emails sent through side conversations. </div>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Create</strong>. </li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_u4y_sng_gfb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Applying macros to side conversations</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Macros for side conversations create a new side conversation and
automatically add ticket information and some extra boilerplate to
the body of the message.</p>
<p class="p" id="topic_u4y_sng_gfb__p_bd4_2lg_gfb"><strong class="ph b">To apply macros to side conversations</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_u4y_sng_gfb__ol_pga_eew_uf">
<li class="li">From the ticket, click the <strong class="ph b">Apply macro</strong> button in the
bottom toolbar.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_u4y_sng_gfb__image_ayt_qv5_ft" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/apply_macro_button.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Typically, your five most commonly used macros from the past
week appear at the top of the macros list. <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_u4y_sng_gfb__image_ddh_xkg_gfb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/apply_macros_small.png"></p>
You can select one of
these, begin typing the name of the macro, or scroll through
the list to find the one you want to use. <p class="p">The most-used
macros display can be disabled, in which case,
you'll only see the all macros list. For
information, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408884166554#topic_jf5_2cc_dx" target="_blank">Disabling the most-used macros
option</a>.</p>
<p class="p">The actions defined in the
macro will be applied. If the macro updated the
ticket comment, you can edit the text before
submitting the ticket.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">When the macro with a <strong class="ph b">Side conversation</strong> action runs, it
immediately starts a single new side conversation with the
ticket information and boilerplate text specified by the
macro. The side conversation is not saved though until you
add a recipient and click <strong class="ph b">Send</strong>. <p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_u4y_sng_gfb__image_i53_clr_1fb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/thread_with_macro_message.png" width="400"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Add a recipient to the side conversation.</li>
<li class="li">If needed, change the subject of the side conversation and add,
remove, or change information in the message.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Send</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">If the macro updated any ticket fields, make sure that you also
submit the ticket. For example, if your macro starts a side
conversation and also changes a ticket's group, the side
conversation will be opened, but the ticket group change
will not be saved until you submit the ticket.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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