Automatically classifying tickets with intelligent triage

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Intelligent triageuses AI to automatically classify new customer support tickets by topic, sentiment, language, and entities, such as product names. By incorporating these AI classifications into your workflows, you can automate repeatable requests, eliminate manual triage, guide agents in real time, and act quickly on high-risk tickets.</p>
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<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Use intelligent triage to automatically classify new tickets by topic, sentiment, and language, so you can route requests, reduce manual triage, and spot high-risk cases faster. Admins can configure each classification type, choose channels, exclude agent-created tickets, and show ticket context. It supports workflows, custom topics, entities, and agent updates.</p>
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<span class="attentiontitle"></span> Intelligent triage classifications are available on Suite and Support Professional plans and above. Using them in workflows requires the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5524125586330" target="_blank">Copilot add-on</a>.</div>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4964463770650" target="_blank">Intelligent triage</a> uses AI to automatically
classify new customer support tickets by topic, sentiment, language, and entities, such
as product names. By incorporating these AI classifications into your workflows, you can
automate repeatable requests, eliminate manual triage, guide agents in real time, and
act quickly on high-risk tickets.</p>
<p class="p"> This article describes how admins configure intelligent triage topic, sentiment, and
language detection settings. To configure entity settings, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6711181959194" target="_blank">Classifying unique information in tickets with entities</a>.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">This article contains the following topics:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_azh_xng_htb__ul_oc5_v4g_htb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_l5w_fr4_pgc">Understanding intelligent triage fields</a></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><a class="xref" href="#topic_fh4_brd_hgc">Configuring intelligent triage settings</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_jyk_2bl_hgc">Next steps</a></li>
</ul>
<p class="p">Related articles:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_azh_xng_htb__ul_mq2_yfj_fzb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9484697389210" target="_blank">Improving topic quality with personalized
recommendations</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8718789695002" target="_blank">Personalizing intelligent triage by creating
custom topics</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4685355428250" target="_blank">Viewing intelligent triage classifications in
tickets</a></li>
</ul>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_l5w_fr4_pgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Understanding intelligent triage fields</h2>
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<div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> If you purchased the Copilot add-on before June 11, 2026, you'll see "Intent"
instead of "Topic" in your ticket fields, views, triggers, automations, macros,
SLAs, queues, and the ticket API until later in 2026. Additionally, your intelligent
triage fields will continue to be custom fields and generate associated tags.</div>
<p class="p">Intelligent triage classifications are supported for tickets started with a public
comment by either an agent or end user. Classifications are made based on a ticket's
subject and the text of the first public comment.</p>
<p class="p">The Zendesk machine learning model automatically classifies your tickets when
intelligent triage is turned on, and populates the following standard fields: </p>
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<th class="entry nocellnorowborder" id="d89e118" style="vertical-align:top;">Field</th>
<th class="entry nocellnorowborder" id="d89e121" style="vertical-align:top;">What it classifies</th>
<th class="entry nocellnorowborder" id="d89e124" style="vertical-align:top;">Possible values</th>
<th class="entry cell-norowborder" id="d89e127" style="vertical-align:top;">Notes</th>
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<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e118" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Topic (Intent)</strong></td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e121" style="vertical-align:top;">What the ticket is about</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e124" style="vertical-align:top;">Prebuilt values that you can view on the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9488234915610" target="_blank">Topics page</a>, or
personalize with <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8718789695002" target="_blank">custom values</a>
</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e127" style="vertical-align:top;">Can be updated on each end user reply if dynamic detection is
configured. <p class="p">Topic values can only be <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9488233422746" target="_blank">edited from the Topic
page</a>, not ticket field settings.</p>
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<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e118" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Sentiment</strong></td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e121" style="vertical-align:top;">Feeling of the end user at the time they reached out</td>
<td class="entry nocellnorowborder" headers="d89e124" style="vertical-align:top;">Very Positive, Positive, Neutral, Negative, Very Negative. See
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4685355428250#topic_uqd_3kh_xcc" target="_blank">Viewing intelligent triage
classifications in tickets</a>.</td>
<td class="entry cell-norowborder" headers="d89e127" style="vertical-align:top;">Can be updated on each end user reply if dynamic detection is
configured. <p class="p">Calibrated for customer service contexts, meaning
that a ticket isn't assigned a negative sentiment just because a
customer has an issue.</p>
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<td class="entry row-nocellborder" headers="d89e118" style="vertical-align:top;"><strong class="ph b">Language</strong></td>
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" headers="d89e121" style="vertical-align:top;">The language the ticket is written in</td>
<td class="entry row-nocellborder" headers="d89e124" style="vertical-align:top;">Approximately <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821324826" target="_blank">150 languages</a>
</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d89e127" style="vertical-align:top;">Isn't updated on each end user reply. </td>
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<p class="p">Each field has an associated confidence field indicating how likely the
classification is accurate. Agents can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6298065502874#topic_vx1_4n3_fzb" target="_blank">update field values</a> if necessary.</p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408886739098#topic_z1x_mtp_xgc" target="_blank">Additional ticket fields for the Copilot
add-on</a> for the full list of the standard intelligent triage fields.</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Configuring intelligent triage settings</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can configure topic, sentiment, and language settings individually in Admin
Center.</p>
<p class="p">If you have a Suite or Support Professional plan, you must complete the onboarding
guide to set up intelligent triage. If you have the Copilot add-on and are setting
up intelligent triage for the first time, or haven't set up workflows yet, an
onboarding guide will appear to help you configure your settings and build your
first workflows. You can access the onboarding guide at any time from <strong class="ph b">Manage
settings</strong> on any classification type page.</p>
<p class="p">If you have the Copilot add-on, all classification types are turned on by default.
Otherwise, classifications are turned off by default. To turn off these settings,
see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9678056232858" target="_blank">Turning off topic, sentiment, language, or entity
settings</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To configure intelligent triage settings</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc__ol_gh4_brd_hgc">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"> 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_fh4_brd_hgc__image_yh4_zpr_ljc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_ai.png">
<strong class="ph b">AI</strong> in the sidebar, then select the classification type you want to
configure: <strong class="ph b">Topic</strong>, <strong class="ph b">Sentiment</strong>, or <strong class="ph b">Language</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Manage Settings</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">(Topic and Sentiment only) To update a ticket's classification based on the
latest end user message, select the checkbox under <strong class="ph b">Dynamic
classification</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc__image_hh4_brd_hgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/copilot_intent_dynamic_detect_setting.png" width="600"></p>
<p class="p">On email and async channels, classifications are reevaluated based
on the latest message. On messaging channels, classifications are
reevaluated based on the entire conversation. Dynamic classification applies
to only new tickets created after you turn this setting on. </p>
</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Channels</strong>, configure the channels you want to classify:<ul class="ul" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc__ul_ih4_brd_hgc">
<li class="li">For <strong class="ph b">Email and async</strong> channels, click the drop-down, then select or
deselect the channels.<p class="p">The Web form, Email, and Web service (API)
channels are selected by default. If you create tickets via <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824097050#topic_amm_zbh_bhb" target="_blank">channel integrations</a>,
select Social messaging.</p>
<p class="p">The Closed tickets channel is for
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8421655952026#topic_q4r_vk5_ncc" target="_blank">follow-up
tickets</a>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">For <strong class="ph b">Messaging</strong> channels, click the drop-down, then select or
deselect the channels.<p class="p">The Web Widget, WhatsApp, and Facebook
Messenger channels are selected by default.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Select the <strong class="ph b">Voice</strong> checkbox to classify post-call
transcripts.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc__image_jh4_brd_hgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/copilot_intelligent_triage_channel_settings.png" width="600"></p>
<p class="p"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6170157307162" target="_blank">Call transcription must be turned
on</a> and transcripts must be shown on tickets to be
classified.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">To exclude tickets created by agents, select the checkbox under <strong class="ph b">Exclusion
conditions</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc__image_kh4_brd_hgc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/Copilot_intelligent_triage_settings_exclusions.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">(Topic and sentiment only) To display a ticket's topic or sentiment, select the
checkbox under <strong class="ph b">Ticket context</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_fh4_brd_hgc__image_twf_prb_gkc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/copilot_it_ticket_header.png" width="600"></p>
<p class="p">To view how this information appears to agents, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4685355428250" target="_blank">Viewing intelligent triage
classifications in tickets</a>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_jyk_2bl_hgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Next steps</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">After configuring intelligent triage, complete your setup by:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_jyk_2bl_hgc__ul_gbl_n3r_ljc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6711181959194" target="_blank">Creating entities</a> to classify unique
information in tickets, such as product names</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8718789695002" target="_blank">Creating custom topics</a> to personalize
intelligent triage for your specific business needs</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6298065502874" target="_blank">Configuring the agent experience</a> to
control how agents can see and update intelligent triage fields</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5222280338202" target="_blank">Creating workflows</a> based on
intelligent triage classifications to automate ticket routing, deflection, and
prioritization.</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4662504732954" target="_blank">Creating views</a>, <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4973607684506" target="_blank">setting up routing</a>, and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/7934147095066" target="_blank">analyzing performance</a> using
intelligent triage classifications</li>
</ul>
</div>
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