Automatically releasing agent capacity for inactive messaging conversations

Configuring the automatic release of an agent’s messagingcapacityallows admins to specify how long a conversation can remain active without input from an end user before it’s considered inactive. Depending on youromnichannel routing configuration, marking a conversation as inactive can remove the ticket from an agent’s capacity, allowing another conversation to be routed to them without requiring them to manually update the ticket status.


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Configuring the automatic release of an agent’s messaging capacity allows admins to specify how long a conversation
can remain active without input from an end user before it’s considered inactive.
Depending on your omnichannel routing configuration, marking a conversation as
inactive can remove the ticket from an agent’s capacity, allowing another conversation
to be routed to them without requiring them to manually update the ticket status.
This article describes how admins can configure the auto-release capacity
settings, including the inactivity period and the ticket and messaging session status
when a ticket becomes inactive. Additionally, admins can send up to three reminders to end users when their
conversation becomes inactive.
This article contains the following topics:
About active and inactive messaging tickets
Considerations when using the capacity release settings
Configuring the auto-release capacity setting




About active and inactive messaging tickets

In conversational support, there’s a concept of active and inactive tickets.

Active tickets are those with recent responses from the end user.

Inactive tickets are those that haven’t had a response from the end
user in a specified period, or that have a status other than New or
Open. By default, Zendesk defines a messaging ticket as inactive
when an end user hasn’t sent a reply in the last 10 minutes.
Note: The
capacity release settings, including the inactivity period, apply only
to messaging conversations already assigned to agents. All unassigned
messaging conversations have a default inactivity period of 10
minutes.


The ticket’s activity classification, as well as the ticket status applied to
it, can impact routing, business rules, and an agent’s capacity.



Considerations when using the capacity release settings

Consider the following when turning on and configuring the automatic
release of agent capacity:


If you don’t use the auto-release capacity settings, Zendesk applies a
default inactivity period of 10 minutes without a response from the end
user.
The auto-release capacity settings are applied to all open messaging tickets
currently assigned to agents and to those that are created or reopened after
these settings are saved.
When using the default inactivity period and the messaging activity routing setting
for omnichannel routing is turned off, a messaging ticket no longer counts
towards an agent’s capacity when it becomes inactive, but the ticket's
status doesn’t change.

Inactivity reminders are available
for the Web Widget, iOS and Android SDKs, and Zendesk-supported social
messaging channels.
The auto-release capacity setting provides a powerful way to manage agent
capacity when used with omnichannel routing, but can also be used
effectively with other business rules that rely on changes in ticket status.
You must be an admin to configure the auto-release capacity setting.
To avoid any unexpected behavior, we recommend turning on the auto-release
capacity setting during a low-volume time.
It can take up to 10 minutes for updates to the auto-release capacity
setting to begin working.
If an AI agent is in use, inactivity reminders are sent to end users from
that AI agent, and the avatar and bot name associated
with it are displayed with the message. If no AI agent is in use, the logo associated with the Web
Widget appears with the message.





Configuring the auto-release capacity setting

Admins can use the auto-release capacity setting to help agents manage their capacity
and help end users remember to keep a conversation active if they want. These
settings can also help business rules, such as triggers, to run more effectively on
tickets because they alter the ticket status when a conversation becomes inactive.
The change in ticket status is captured in the ticket’s audit events:

When omnichannel routing is configured not to
count inactive conversations toward agent capacity, the capacity release
settings can increase efficiency by automatically releasing an agent's capacity
without requiring them to manually alter the ticket's status.
Auto-release capacity and inactivity reminders are turned on and configured by
default. The default configuration sends three reminders with simple message
text.

The initial reminder is sent after five minutes of end-user
inactivity, and updates the ticket’s status to Pending.
The second reminder is sent after another five minutes of end-user
inactivity, and does not update the ticket’s status.

The third and final reminder is sent after one additional minute of
end-user inactivity, and updates the ticket’s status to Solved.


You can keep these default settings, customize them, turn off reminders, or
turn off automatic capacity release.


Note: For accounts created after May 19, 2025, the auto-release capacity setting is
turned on by default. Accounts created before this date need to turn on
automatic capacity release before they can configure this setting and the inactivity reminders.


To customize the messaging capacity release settings
In Admin Center, click
Channels in the sidebar, then select Messaging and social >
Messaging.
Click Manage settings.
In the Advanced section of the Messaging settings page, click Capacity
release. Make sure Turn on auto-release capacity is
selected.

Under Inactivity period, enter a whole number from 3 to 15. This is
the time in minutes a conversation can go without a reply from an end user
before it is considered active. This time is measured from any agent’s last
sent message after the initial ticket assignment. If the agent sends
multiple messages, the time is counted based on the first message the agent
sent after the last message from the end user.

Under Ticket status for inactive conversations, select a status to
automatically apply to inactive tickets. You can select Pending, On-hold,
Solved, or a custom status mapped to these
ticket status categories. New and Open statuses can’t be used. Triggers
using the selected status as a condition will fire when the new status is
applied.
Under Remind customers about inactive conversations:

Select Do not remind if you don't want to send any
messages to end users when a conversation becomes inactive.
Select End messaging session after conversation becomes
inactive to automatically end the messaging
session.
Select the number of reminders (up to three) you want to send to
end users before a conversation becomes inactive. See Sending conversation
inactivity reminders to end users for more
information about using this setting.


Note that if you select Solved as the ticket status for the initial
inactivity period, you will only be able to select Do not remind
or 1 reminder.

Click Save settings.




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