Announcing user suspension from messaging channels only

Announced on | Rollout starts | Rollout ends
April 21, 2026 | April 21, 2026 | April 27, 2026

We are excited to announce enhancements to the suspend user feature in messaging. This update gives agents greater flexibility when managing disruptive users by enabling suspension from the messaging channel only. Previous capability still remains available – agents can suspend across all channels at once if they prefer to do so.

This announcement includes the following sections:

What is changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What is changing?

Previously, if you wanted to suspend a user from your messaging channel, you had to block them across all support channels. This update lets teams to restrict disruptive messaging behavior while still allowing those users a path to reach out through other channels, such as email.

With this enhancement, agents can now choose how broadly a suspension applies:

Messaging channel only suspends a user from messaging while keeping other support channels open for legitimate requests.

All channels suspends a user across every channel.

This update  builds on recently-released capabilities for suspending an end user:

Suspending an end user from messaging

Adding "Additional Comments" to the suspended users table to enhance visibility

Why is Zendesk making this change?

Customers want to restrict disruptive behavior in messaging while still allowing blocked users to access support through other channels. This is especially important for teams with an appeals or review process, where a suspended user may have a legitimate request that is better handled through email or another channel.

This feature also supports Zendesk's broader Chat-to-messaging migration program, ensuring teams have the operational tools they need to confidently manage users after migrating to messaging, without sacrificing the flexibility they relied on in live chat.

What do I need to do?

This feature is available for accounts with messaging enabled on the improved messaging backend.

To get started, see our user suspension articles:

Suspending and unsuspending end users

Understanding and allowing user suspension

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.