Adding the On-hold ticket status to Zendesk Support

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<div class="note fastpath">
<span class="fastpathtitle">Location: </span> <span class="ph">Admin Center &gt; Objects and rules &gt; Tickets &gt; Fields</span>
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<p class="p">The On-hold status is optional and only available if you activate it for the Support ticket interface. On-hold is an internal ticket status for tickets that require input or resolution from a third party. On-hold status is visible to agents only, not end users. For end users, tickets that are set to On-hold are always displayed as Open.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_uky_q21_34b__image_ot1_p2z_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/onhold_lotus.png" width="300"></p>
<p class="p">On-hold gives you another level so that you can more accurately track who currently has responsibility for a ticket. For example, imagine that your company produces a product that includes components from partners and other suppliers. If you have tickets that require their input, and for which the assigned agent can do nothing but wait, setting the ticket to On-hold provides a way for distinguishing between tickets that are the responsibility of agents and those that are waiting for a third party.</p>
<p class="p">If you track your agents' performance, using the On-hold status allows you to filter out all On-hold tickets from performance tracking. You can also use the On-hold status to create a workflow for tickets that require input or a resolution from a third party. On Support Professional and Enterprise you have an additional reporting metric called <strong class="ph b">On-hold time in hours</strong>.</p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following sections:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_uky_q21_34b__ul_ffm_r2z_kxb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_kdz_5qn_b3">Activating and deactivating the On-hold status</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_zqr_jfz_kxb">Activating the On-hold status category for custom ticket statuses</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_k1x_pb4_b3">Using the On-hold status in views and SLAs</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xbh_gxn_b3">Using the On-hold status in your reports</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_3d3_yzn_b3">How the On-hold status works with ticket sharing</a></li>
</ul>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_kdz_5qn_b3">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Activating and deactivating the On-hold status</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Admins can add the On-hold status to the Support ticket interface. The On-hold status is deactivated by default.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To activate or deactivate the On-hold status</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_kdz_5qn_b3__ol_zqk_s2z_kxb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_kdz_5qn_b3__d8e1100" 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">Tickets &gt; Fields</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Beside the <strong class="ph b">Status</strong> field, click the options menu, then select <strong class="ph b">Edit</strong>.
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> If custom ticket statuses were activated without the On-hold status having been activated previously, the Status field doesn't appear in the list. See <a class="xref" href="#topic_zqr_jfz_kxb">Activating the On-hold status category for custom ticket statuses</a>.</div>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_kdz_5qn_b3__image_o5f_z2z_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/status_field_edit.png" width="600"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Under Field Values, select <strong class="ph b">Enable On-hold status</strong>.
<p class="p">If you are disabling this option, deselect <strong class="ph b">Enable On-hold status</strong>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Update field</strong>.</li>
</ol>
<p class="p">The On-hold status is added to the list of ticket statuses between Pending and Solved. On-hold status is visible to agents only, not end users. For end users, tickets that are set to On-hold are always displayed as Open in the Help Center customer portal.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Community Tip!</strong> Check out this tip to see how to <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4910920686618-How-can-I-create-reminders-on-tickets-that-are-on-hold-" rel="noopener" target="_blank">set reminders for On-hold tickets</a>.</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_zqr_jfz_kxb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Activating the On-hold status category for custom ticket statuses</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">If you've <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412575841306" rel="noopener" target="_blank">activated custom ticket statuses</a> without the On-hold status having been activated previously, you can activate it from the Ticket statuses page.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To activate or deactivate the On-hold status category</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_zqr_jfz_kxb__ol_p3f_nfz_kxb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_zqr_jfz_kxb__d8e1131" 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">Tickets &gt; Ticket statuses</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click the <strong class="ph b">Options menu</strong>(<img class="image" id="topic_zqr_jfz_kxb__image_r3f_nfz_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/options_menu_icon_verticle_sm.png">), then select <strong class="ph b">Status category settings</strong>.
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_zqr_jfz_kxb__image_cyn_pbq_mxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/cts_sort_statuses.png" width="250"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">Select <strong class="ph b">Activate On-hold ticket status category</strong>.
<p class="p">If you are deactivating this option, deselect <strong class="ph b">Activate On-hold ticket status category</strong>.</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Save</strong>.</li>
</ol>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_k1x_pb4_b3">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Using the On-hold status in views and SLAs</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You create new views, or edit existing views, to track tickets that are On-hold. You can select On-hold as the value of the <strong class="ph b">Status</strong> condition and also use the <strong class="ph b">Hours since on hold</strong> condition.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" height="149" id="topic_k1x_pb4_b3__image_spf_vfz_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/onhold_view.png" width="420"></p>
<p class="p">The On-hold status is added to the Status condition between Pending and Solved. This means that the condition statement <strong class="ph b">Status less than On-hold</strong> will return tickets that are Pending, Open, or New and <strong class="ph b">Status greater than On-hold</strong> will return tickets that are set to Solved or Closed.</p>
<p class="p">The <strong class="ph b">Hours since on hold</strong> condition allows you to specify the hours that have passed since the ticket's status was set to On-hold.</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_xbh_gxn_b3">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">Using the On-hold status in your reports</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">On Support Professional and Enterprise, you can use the On-hold status in a number of different ways using Explore:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_xbh_gxn_b3__ul_tnj_zfz_kxb">
<li class="li">The metric <strong class="ph b">On-hold tickets</strong> in the Tickets dataset displays the number of tickets that are currently on-hold.</li>
<li class="li">The metric <strong class="ph b">On-hold time</strong> displays the total time (in minutes or hours) that a ticket was in the on-hold status.</li>
<li class="li">The metric <strong class="ph b">On-hold time - Business hours</strong> displays the total time (in minutes or hours) that a ticket was in the on-hold status taking into account any business hour you've configured.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">On-hold time is also included as a value in the <strong class="ph b">Ticket status</strong> attribute. You can use the <strong class="ph b">Ticket status</strong> attribute to break down a metric by each status. On the Zendesk Support pre-built Explore dashboard, Ticket status is used in a number of the reports on the <strong class="ph b">Unsolved tickets</strong> tab.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image" id="topic_xbh_gxn_b3__image_unj_zfz_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/current_backlog_ticket_status_graph.png" width="400"></p>
<p class="p">When you add the On-hold status, it will also affect the <strong class="ph b">Requester wait time in hours</strong> and <strong class="ph b">Current backlog</strong> metrics. The metrics will include the On-hold state in their calculations.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Note:</strong> The <strong class="ph b">Agent wait time in hours</strong> metric is not affected by the On-hold status. This metric is still defined as the cumulative time a ticket has been in a Pending state (awaiting a response from the requester).</p>
<p class="p">See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408827693594" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Metrics and attributes for Zendesk Support</a>.</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_3d3_yzn_b3">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">How the On-hold status works with ticket sharing</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">The On-hold status only affects ticket sharing agreements that use <strong class="ph b">Make public &amp; private comments; sync status</strong>. Because On-hold is an optional status in Zendesk Support, these ticket sharing agreements treat On-hold as Open.</p>
<p class="p">For example, if a shared ticket is set to On-hold by the sending account, the ticket is displayed as Open in the receiving account. This occurs even if the receiving account has the On-hold status activated. All other statuses will sync normally.</p>
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