Announcing more control over agent status updates from external site visits

Announced on | Rollout on
August 25, 2026 | August 25, 2026

We’re excited to announce the general availability of new controls in Zendesk Workforce Management (WFM) for automatic agent status updates when agents visit external sites.

A new Update agent status setting on the extension tracking configuration page lets admins control which tracked activities trigger automatic status updates.

This announcement includes the following topics:

What is changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What is changing?

Previously, when the Zendesk WFM Chrome extension started an activity from a configured URL mapping, it automatically updated the agent’s status to the status associated with that mapping.

With these controls, admins can choose when activities tracked by the Zendesk WFM Chrome extension update an agent’s status in Zendesk Support. This provides greater flexibility for organizations that want to track agent activity while retaining control over how and when agent statuses change.

Key highlights:

Existing behavior is preserved: Automatic status updates are enabled by default, so existing configurations continue to work without any action from admins.

Global control: Admins can turn automatic status updates on or off for Extension Tracking.

Flexible configuration: Admins can apply automatic status updates to all mappings, selected mappings only, or configured unmapped URLs.

Per-mapping control: When using selected mappings, admins can choose which individual URL mappings update agent status.

Bulk management: Admins can enable or disable automatic status updates for multiple mappings at once.

Tracking-only workflows: When automatic status updates are disabled, the Chrome extension continues to track the agent activity without changing the agent’s status in Support.

Configuration is preserved: If admins disable and later re-enable automatic status updates, previously selected mapping settings remain intact.

Why is Zendesk making this change?

Customers asked for more flexibility in how Extension Tracking interacts with agent statuses. Although automatic status updates support many workflows, some organizations need to manage agent availability manually or update statuses only for specific activities.

With these new controls:

Admins can align extension tracking with their organization’s existing operational workflows.

Agents’ activity can be tracked without unintended changes to their availability.

Organizations can choose which activities should affect an agent’s status.

WFM teams can use extension tracking to monitor activity without automating status updates.

Fewer unnecessary status update requests are sent when automatic updates aren’t needed.

What do I need to do?

No action is required. This feature is automatically available to all Zendesk WFM customers who use the Zendesk time tracker extension. The Update agent status setting is enabled by default, and existing URL mappings will continue to update agent statuses automatically.

To learn how to install the extension and customize automatic status updates, see Tracking agent time spent outside of Zendesk.

If you have feedback or questions related to this announcement, visit our community forum, where we collect and manage customer product feedback. For general assistance with your Zendesk products, contact Zendesk Customer Support.