Creating custom Chat roles and assigning users

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<p class="p">You can create your own custom chat roles and assign those roles to any agent. Custom roles enable you to define agents' responsibilities, so they align with your organizational structure and workflow.</p>
<p class="p">Custom roles are used in conjunction with default roles. For information about Chat default roles, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882929946" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Understanding default roles in Zendesk Chat</a>.</p>
<div class="p">This article cover the following topics:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_efd_nnr_d1b__ul_zpq_3kd_k1b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_apr_rvc_k1b">Understanding the predefined Chat roles</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_atq_tvc_k1b">Creating custom roles</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_dh3_bwc_k1b">Assigning custom roles to agents</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_hxr_5pp_p2b">Assigning shortcut roles</a></li>
</ul>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_apr_rvc_k1b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Understanding the predefined Chat roles</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Zendesk Chat offers four predefined roles: owner, administrator, agent, and agent (limited). Each role is permitted access to different Chat features and functionalities. The owner and administrator roles are not customizable. You can customize the agent role permissions, but these settings will be applied to every user with the agent role. If you would like to assign different sets of permissions for individual agents, you will need to use custom roles (see <a class="xref" href="#topic_atq_tvc_k1b">Creating custom roles</a>).</p>
<p class="p">For details on adding agents in Zendesk Chat, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408894143898" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Creating agents and departments</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Below is an overview of the available predefined roles. For more information on the predefined Chat roles, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882929946" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Understanding and managing roles in Zendesk Chat</a>.</p>
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<div class="tablenoborder">
<table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" class="table" frame="border" id="topic_apr_rvc_k1b__table_kgc_tvc_k1b" rules="all" summary="">
<caption><span class="tablecap"><span class="table--title-label">Table 1. </span>Predefined agent roles</span></caption>
<colgroup> <col style="width: 53.91705069124424%;"> <col style="width: 46.08294930875576%;"> </colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
<tr class="row">
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d48e119">Name</th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d48e122">Description</th>
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</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e119">Owner</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e122">By default, the owner is the person who created the Chat account, but you can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824174490" rel="noopener" target="_blank">change the account owner</a> at any time. In addition to agent and administrator privileges, the account owner can upgrade or downgrade the account's plan, change billing information, access invoices, and cancel the account on the Chat account management page.
<p class="p">You cannot modify permissions for the owner role.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e119">Administrator</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e122">Administrators have access to of all the same privileges as regular agents (see <a class="xref" href="#topic_c1c_vvc_k1b">Chat role permissions</a>). They can also edit settings in <strong class="ph b">Widget</strong> and <strong class="ph b">Account</strong>, manage agents, triggers, and departments, and delete chats from History.
<p class="p">You cannot modify permissions for the Administrator role.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e119">Agent</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e122">Agents have restricted feature access. The owner and administrators can set their privileges in <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> &gt; <strong class="ph b">Roles</strong> &gt; <strong class="ph b">Agent</strong> (see <a class="xref" href="#topic_c1c_vvc_k1b">Chat role permissions</a>).
<p class="p">While the agent role privileges can be modified, any settings you edit on the predefined agent role will be applied to all users assigned the agent role. If you would like to give individual agents different privileges, you will need to use custom roles.</p>
</td>
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<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e119">Agent (limited)</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e122">Agents with this limited role can serve social messaging conversations and chats in the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408821259930" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Zendesk Agent Workspace</a>. This role is available only when the Zendesk Agent Workspace is enabled and the Social messaging add-on is activated on the account.</td>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_atq_tvc_k1b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Creating custom roles</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">To apply unique permissions to different sets of agents, you will need to create custom roles. Custom roles can help you focus agents' workflow and align their privileges with their support responsibilities.</p>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> Custom roles are included in your number of allowed agents.</div>
<!-- <p class="p">
You can watch this video for an introduction to using custom roles in
your Zendesk Chat or read the instructions below:
</p>
<div class="bodydiv training_videos_embedded">
<div class="bodydiv video_sp176ebgn9">
<div class="bodydiv training_videos_caption">What's Good: Roles and permissions (1:45)</div>
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<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To create a new custom role</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_atq_tvc_k1b__ol_o5h_x2d_k1b">
<li class="li">From the dashboard, select <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong>&gt;<strong class="ph b">Roles</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Next to the Search box, click the <strong class="ph b">Add Role</strong> button.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_atq_tvc_k1b__image_xzm_vg2_k1b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/chat_role_agent_list.png" width="500"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Enter a name and description for the new role.</li>
<li class="li">Select the different permissions for the user role. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_c1c_vvc_k1b">Chat role permissions</a> below for descriptions of each permission.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Create Role</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">You can edit the role any time by selecting it from <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> &gt; <strong class="ph b">Roles</strong>. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_dh3_bwc_k1b">Assigning custom roles to agents</a> for information on changing an agent's role.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Chat role permissions</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When creating custom user roles, you can choose from a list of permissions to define what agents can do.</p>
<div class="p">
<div class="tablenoborder">
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<caption><span class="tablecap"><span class="table--title-label">Table 2. </span></span></caption>
<colgroup> <col style="width: 50%;"> <col style="width: 50%;"> </colgroup>
<thead class="thead" style="text-align: left;">
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<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d48e319">Permissions</th>
<th class="entry cellrowborder" id="d48e322">Options</th>
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<tbody class="tbody">
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Visitor List and Visualization</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b__ul_oqm_pgd_k1b">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Visitors Seen</strong>: Agents can view one of the following types of visitors:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b__ul_qnd_tgd_k1b">
<li class="li">All visitors</li>
<li class="li">Department</li>
<li class="li">Personally serving</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Proactive Chatting</strong>: Agents can view chats in one of the following ways:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b__ul_xlx_vgd_k1b">
<li class="li">
<strong>Initiate and view chats</strong>: Allows agents the ability to see visitors and manually select and prioritize certain visitors from the visitor's list. When this is enabled agents can serve chats over their specified limits</li>
<li class="li">
<strong>View chats</strong>: Allows agents the ability to see all active chats in the visitor's list. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong>Personal chats only</strong>: <span>Allows agents to see only chats assigned to them.</span>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Visitor Information</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b__ul_wlw_zvc_k1b">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">User Information</strong>: Agents can edit visitor name, email, and phone.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Notes</strong>: Agents can edit notes.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">History</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b__ul_mmw_zvc_k1b">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">View Past Chats</strong>: Agents can view one of the following types of past chats:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_c1c_vvc_k1b__ul_vmw_zvc_k1b">
<li class="li">All chats</li>
<li class="li">Department</li>
<li class="li">Personal</li>
<li class="li">None</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Edit Chat Tags</strong>: Agents can add/remove tags for past chats in History.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Visitor Banning</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<strong class="ph b">Manage Visitor Bans</strong>: Agents can temporarily ban visitors via browser cookies while in a chat or manage more permanent bans by IP.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Analytics</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<strong class="ph b">Analytics and Email Reports</strong>: Agents can access Analytics and Email Reports under personal settings.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Monitor</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<strong class="ph b">View Monitor</strong>: Agents can view real-time metrics on Monitor across the whole account.</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Agent Management</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<strong class="ph b">Departments</strong>: Agents can edit department details and add or remove agents from a department.
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Agent Chat Limits</strong>: Agents can set chat limits for gents if agent limits are enabled.</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="row">
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e319">Shortcuts</td>
<td class="entry cellrowborder" headers="d48e322">
<strong class="ph b">Manage Shortcuts</strong>: Agents can add, edit, and delete shortcuts that can be used by anyone while chatting with visitors.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_dh3_bwc_k1b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Assigning roles to agents</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can assign a role to an agent by editing their profile, or you can assign a role to multiple agents at the same time. Agents with the disabled status will not be enabled by changing their role.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To change the role of a single agent</strong>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_dh3_bwc_k1b__ol_epp_rhd_k1b">
<li class="li">From the dashboard, select <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong> &gt; <strong class="ph b">Agents</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Select the agent you would like to edit the role of. You will be redirected to the agent's user profile.</li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Role</strong> field at the bottom of the profile and select a role.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_dh3_bwc_k1b__image_gwx_zn2_k1b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/Select_individual_user_role_profile.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Save Changes</strong> button.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">The agent role will be updated.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To change the role of more than one agent</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_dh3_bwc_k1b__ol_wpx_1jd_k1b">
<li class="li">From the dashboard, select <strong class="ph b">Settings</strong>&gt;<strong class="ph b">Agents</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">Select the checkbox next to the names of the agents you want to update.</li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Actions</strong> button above the agents list, then select <strong class="ph b">Set Role</strong>.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_dh3_bwc_k1b__image_fp2_342_k1b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/Set_Role_Multiple_Agents.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Select a role from the <strong class="ph b">Roles</strong> drop-down list.
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_dh3_bwc_k1b__image_vlc_k42_k1b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/Reassign_Agent_Role.png"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Set</strong>.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p">The agents will be updated with the new role.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hxr_5pp_p2b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Assigning shortcut roles</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p" dir="ltr">At the bottom of the role details page, There are four permission levels for agents and administrators working with shortcuts:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_hxr_5pp_p2b__ul_sjp_cqp_p2b">
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">All shortcuts</strong>: Can add and edit personal, department, and global shortcuts.</p>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">Department</strong>: Can add and edit personal and department shortcuts.</p>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">Personal</strong>: Can add and edit personal shortcuts.</p>
</li>
<li class="li" dir="ltr">
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><strong class="ph b">None</strong>: Unable to add or edit any shortcuts.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p" dir="ltr"><img class="image" height="191" id="topic_hxr_5pp_p2b__image_tjp_cqp_p2b" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/QgUKxx3-ItP9dro6gc9RrMh7gvmteqOxxy-vYqC8TGbVMY2mo1ODfWkDROtzekrsO4vCl3qKj3n8PtlDNaBH2GgflAvuo-9pu8apPkCIjU53IVdoLWpOQvbR1emBl2G9k4jVzZk7" width="624"></p>
<p class="p">For more information on shortcuts, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408832184346-Inserting-common-phrases-with-shortcuts" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Inserting common phrases with shortcuts</a>.</p>
</div>
</div>
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