Creating custom unified agent statuses

<div class="article-banners" translate="no">
<div id="docs-wmp-link">
<a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5411234991258-plan" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What's my plan?</a>
</div>
<div class="article-banner" id="suite_pee">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>All Suites</strong>
</td>
<td>Professional, Enterprise, or Enterprise Plus</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="article-banner" id="support_pe">
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<strong>Support</strong>
</td>
<td>Professional or Enterprise</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<div id="docs-ai-summary">
<p id="docs-ai-summary-toggle">Verified AI summary <span id="up-triangle">◀</span><span id="down-triangle">▼</span></p>
<p id="docs-ai-summary-content">Create custom unified agent statuses to manage availability across email, voice, and messaging channels. This feature allows you to define statuses that fit your team's workflow, with options to set availability for specific groups. Customize statuses to control agent presence and streamline omnichannel routing, ensuring that agents are available when needed and offline when not. This feature is available on Professional and Enterprise plans.</p>
</div>
<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; Agent statuses</span>
</div>
</div>
<div class="p">
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> This feature has the following plan restrictions:<ul class="ul" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__ul_ftp_3yg_4vb">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Team and Growth don't support custom unified statuses.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Professional supports up to five custom unified statuses.<p class="p">For
customers who purchased individual plans for email, chat, and voice
support, each of your product subscriptions must be on Professional
plans or above to use this
feature.</p>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">Enterprise supports up to 100 custom unified statuses.</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<p class="p">Unified agent status is part of <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409149119514" target="_blank">omnichannel routing</a> and allows agents to control
availability for email, voice, and messaging from a single menu. There are four default
agent statuses: online, away, transfers only, and offline, as well as a customizable
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5286614817562" target="_blank">fallback status that's used when agents are
idle</a>. </p>
<p class="p">If you meet the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409149119514#topic_zlk_c3p_m5b" target="_blank">requirements</a> to use unified agent statuses and
are on a Professional or Enterprise plan, admins can also define custom unified statuses
to suit their workflows. When defining custom agent statuses, you can choose whether
it's available to all agents in your account or only select <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408894175130" target="_blank">groups</a> of agents.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">To add a custom agent status</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__ol_hpg_xvp_m5b">
<li class="li" dir="ltr"><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" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__d9e1778" 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, then select <strong class="ph b">Omnichannel routing &gt; Agent
statuses</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">On the Agent statuses page, click <strong class="ph b">Create agent status</strong>.<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__image_dtq_fwp_m5b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ocr_agent_status_list.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">On the <strong class="ph b">Create agent status</strong> page, configure the following:<ol class="ol" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__ol_jpg_xvp_m5b" type="a">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Name</strong>: Give the new status a short, unique name. The name
can't exceed 100 characters. <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5360039903898" target="_blank">Dynamic content is supported</a> if
you want the status to be displayed in the agent's local language.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Description</strong>: Optionally, give the new status a description
that helps you identify it.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Channel routing &gt; Email</strong>: Define the agent's availability
for incoming <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409149119514#topic_psx_hxk_3yb" target="_blank">email tickets (including web form, side
conversations, and API)</a> when this custom status is active.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Channel routing &gt; Talk:</strong> Define the agent’s availability for
incoming calls when this custom status is active.</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<strong class="ph b">Channel routing &gt; Messaging</strong>: Define the agent's
availability for incoming Messaging conversations when this custom status is
active.</li>
</ol>
<p class="p">The <strong class="ph b">Status</strong> section shows a preview of how your agent’s icons will
look depending on the selected status.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__image_ufy_3kp_tvb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ocr_custom_status_icon_preview.png" width="100"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Under <strong class="ph b">Groups</strong>, select one of the following options:<ul class="ul" id="topic_cfq_zrn_vrb__ul_yxh_ytw_qbc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">All groups</strong>: Makes the custom status available to all agents in your
account.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Only selected groups</strong>. Restricts access to only the groups you select
in the accompanying drop-down field.</li>
</ul>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Custom statuses created prior to June 10, 2024 are available to all
groups unless an admin <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5133588225690" target="_blank">edits the status</a> to restrict access by
group. After this date, admins must specify group accessibility for each status
they create.</div>
<p class="p">If an agent is removed from a group while using a
restricted status, their <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5286614817562" target="_blank">idle and disconnect statuses</a> fallback
to <em class="ph i">Offline</em> rather than the configured idle and disconnect statuses.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">When you are finished, click <strong class="ph b">Create agent status</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<script id="docs-schema-markup" type="application/ld+json">{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "TechArticle",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410525357594",
"url": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410525357594-Creating-custom-unified-agent-statuses",
"headline": "Creating custom unified agent statuses",
"description": "You can create and configure custom unified agent statuses to manage agent availability across email, voice, and messaging channels, with options to restrict status access to specific groups based on your plan.",
"articleSection": "Team members and groups",
"datePublished": "2021-11-08T19:41:24+00:00",
"dateModified": "2025-09-08T13:01:05+00:00",
"inLanguage": "en-US",
"mainEntityOfPage": {
"@type": "WebPage",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410525357594"
},
"author": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"publisher": {
"@type": "Organization",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
},
"isPartOf": {
"@type": "WebSite",
"name": "Zendesk Help",
"@id": "https://support.zendesk.com/hc/"
},
"about": {
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "Zendesk",
"@id": "https://www.zendesk.com"
}
}</script><script id="fast-path-script">
//<![CDATA[
const fast_path_style = document.createElement('style');
fast_path_style.innerHTML = `#article-body .fastpath{font-size:.9em;background-color:#f3f3f3;border:1px solid #d3d3d3;padding:10px 10px 8px;margin-bottom:16px}#article-body .fastpath::before{content:none!important}`;
document.head.appendChild(fast_path_style);
//]]>
</script><script id="ai-summary-script">
//<![CDATA[
const ai_summary_style = document.createElement('style');
ai_summary_style.innerHTML = `#styled-article-body{padding:0 0 0}#article-body #docs-ai-summary{background-color:#f3f3f3;border:1px solid #d3d3d3;padding:10px 10px 6px;margin-bottom:16px}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle{font-size:.9em;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:4px;cursor:pointer;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle #up-triangle{margin-left:auto;padding-right:10px;display:none}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-toggle #down-triangle{margin-left:auto;padding-right:10px}#article-body #docs-ai-summary #docs-ai-summary-content{font-size:.9em;padding-left:25px;padding-right:25px;margin-bottom:12px}`;
document.head.appendChild(ai_summary_style);

const toggleAISummary = () => {
const summary = document.getElementById("docs-ai-summary-content");
const upTriangle = document.getElementById("up-triangle");
const downTriangle = document.getElementById("down-triangle");
if (summary.style.display === "none") {
summary.style.display = "block";
upTriangle.style.display = "none";
downTriangle.style.display = "inline";
} else {
summary.style.display = "none";
upTriangle.style.display = "inline";
downTriangle.style.display = "none";
}
};

document.getElementById("docs-ai-summary-toggle").addEventListener("click", toggleAISummary);
//]]>
</script>