Configuring idle timeout and disconnection settings for unified agent statuses

<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">
Unified agent statusis part ofomnichannel routingand provides a way for agents
to control their availability for email, voice, and messaging from a single
menu. However, there are situations in which Zendesk can infer and automatically
update an agent's status, such as lengthy periods of inactivity or a detected
disconnection. Admins can use the Status timeouts page in Admin Center to
configure the desired idle timeout and status as well as the disconnection
status for each unified agent status.
</p>
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Configure idle timeout and disconnection settings to manage agent availability
across channels. Set idle timeout to update agent status after inactivity,
and adjust disconnection status for network or session disruptions. Customize
statuses to suit your team's workflow, ensuring agents are marked as
away or offline when needed. This helps maintain accurate agent presence
and improves response management.
</p>
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<div class="body">
<div class="p">
<div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span>
<span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Objects and rules &gt; Omnichannel routing
&gt; Status timeouts</span>
</div>
</div>
<p class="p">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5133523363226" target="_blank">Unified agent status</a>
is part of
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409149119514" target="_blank">omnichannel routing</a>
and provides a way for agents to control
their availability for email, voice, and messaging from a single menu.
However, there
are situations in which Zendesk can infer and automatically update an
agent's status,
such as lengthy periods of inactivity or a detected disconnection. Admins
can use the
Status timeouts page in Admin Center to configure the desired idle timeout
and status as
well as the disconnection status for each unified agent status.
</p>
<div class="p">
This article contains the following topics:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_tjg_3l1_cwb__ul_ukg_wc1_4vb">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_qzr_5hq_rgc">Considerations for configuring idle timeouts and disconnection behavior</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_wwb_5l1_cwb">Configuring a status's idle timeout behavior</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_zh3_gh3_jgc">Configuring a status's disconnection behavior</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_qzr_5hq_rgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">
Considerations for configuring idle timeouts and disconnection behavior
</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">
Consider the following when modifying a status's idle timeout and
disconnection
behaviors:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_qzr_5hq_rgc__ul_jrf_yhq_rgc">
<li class="li">
Updates made to a idle timeout behavior won't be reflected
for agents
currently working on tickets until they refresh the page.
</li>
<li class="li">
In the event that a disconnection event occurs while an agent
is in an idle
status, the disconnection status overwrites the idle status.
</li>
<li class="li">
If an agent is removed from a group while using a custom
unified agent
status that is restricted to that group, when they become
idle or
disconnected, their status changes to Offline.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wwb_5l1_cwb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Configuring a status's idle timeout behavior</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
The idle timeout and disconnection settings can be configured individually
for each
unified agent status. Idle timeout is turned off by default and must
be selected if
you want Zendesk to infer agent status based on session activity.
For the purposes
of idle timeout, <em class="ph i">inactivity</em> is defined as no
mouse or keyboard interactions
within the Zendesk tab of a browser. However, even if
an agent is idle by this definition, updates to an agent's status
by the API cause
the idle timer to reset.
</p>
<p class="p">
In most cases, the default idle status is
<em class="ph i">Keep current status</em> and no idle
timeout value, but, if you turned on idle timeouts prior to September
8, 2025, your
unified agent statuses inherit a default idle status of
<em class="ph i">Away</em> or
<em class="ph i">Offline</em> and an idle timeout of
<em class="ph i">10 minutes</em>.
</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_txd_yg3_jgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Configuring an idle timeout for a status</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
To turn on and configure an idle timeout for a status, you must
change the
unified agent status's idle status to anything other than
<em class="ph i">Keep current
status</em>.
</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To configure idle timeout for a status</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_txd_yg3_jgc__ol_ght_fk1_cwb">
<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" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_objects_rules_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Objects and rules</strong> in the sidebar, select <strong class="ph b">Omnichannel routing &gt; Status
timeouts</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">
In the table of unified agent statuses, find the status
you want to
configure an idle timeout for.
</li>
<li class="li">
Select the preferred <strong class="ph b">Idle status</strong>.
This could be one of the
standard unified agent statuses (<em class="ph i">away</em>
or <em class="ph i">transfers only</em>)
or a custom unified agent status.
<p class="p">
Selecting <em class="ph i">Keep current status</em>
turns off idle timeout for the status.
</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
Under <strong class="ph b">Idle timer</strong>, enter
a value between 5 and 1440 minutes, after
which an agent is deemed inactive and their status should
be updated to
the configured idle status.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_c2m_yl1_cwb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Turning off a status's idle timeout</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Admins can turn off idle timeout for each unified agent status
individually.
</p>
<p class="p">
Make sure you inform agents if you disable the fallback status
for idle agents.
They will need to manually set themselves to
<em class="ph i">away</em> or <em class="ph i">offline</em> when
they are unavailable to receive work.
</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To disable idle status</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_c2m_yl1_cwb__ol_bzx_z2p_vvb">
<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" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_objects_rules_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Objects and rules</strong> in the sidebar, select <strong class="ph b">Omnichannel routing &gt; Status
timeouts</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">
In the table of unified agent statuses, find the status
for which you
want to turn off idle timeout.
</li>
<li class="li">
Change the <strong class="ph b">Idle status</strong>
to <strong class="ph b">Keep current status</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_zh3_gh3_jgc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Configuring a status's disconnection behavior</h2>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">
In addition to idle timeout, Zendesk can also infer session connectivity
based on the
following disconnection events:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_zh3_gh3_jgc__ul_hts_4tp_m5b">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
An agent closes the Agent Workspace without signing out (by
closing down their computer or browser window or putting
their computer to
sleep)
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">An agent’s connection is lost due to a network outage</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">
It's generally considered a best practice to configure the disconnection
status to
keep an agent's current status only in cases where the agent's status
is related to
PTO or already offline.
</p>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> A disconnection event is different
from a Zendesk session
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832533274" target="_blank">expiring</a> or a logout.
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_avy_tp3_jgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Configuring a disconnection status</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
To turn on and configure a disconnection status, you must set
the unified agent
status's disconnection status to anything other than
<em class="ph i">Keep current
status</em>.
</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To configure a status's disconnection status</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_avy_tp3_jgc__ol_upf_xv3_jgc">
<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" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_objects_rules_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Objects and rules</strong> in the sidebar, select <strong class="ph b">Omnichannel routing &gt; Status
timeouts</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">
In the table of unified agent statuses, find the status
you want to
configure an idle timeout for.
</li>
<li class="li">
Select the preferred
<strong class="ph b">Disconnection status</strong>. This
could be one of
the standard unified agent statuses (<em class="ph i">away</em>,
<em class="ph i">transfer only</em>,
or <em class="ph i">offline</em>) or a custom unified
agent status.
<p class="p">
Selecting
<em class="ph i">Keep
current status</em>
turns off the disconnection status.
</p>
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested2" id="topic_bnw_1w3_jgc">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title8">Turning off a status's disconnection status</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Admins can turn off the disconnection status behavior for each
unified agent
status individually.
</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To disable a status's disconnection status</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_bnw_1w3_jgc__ol_cnw_1w3_jgc">
<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" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_objects_rules_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Objects and rules</strong> in the sidebar, select <strong class="ph b">Omnichannel routing &gt; Status
timeouts</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">
In the table of unified agent statuses, find the status
for which you
want to turn disconnection status.
</li>
<li class="li">
Change the <strong class="ph b">Disconnection status</strong>
to
<strong class="ph b">Keep current
status</strong>.
</li>
<li class="li">
Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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