Changing the default privacy of ticket comments

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Your agents reply to customer tickets by adding comments to them. They can do this either through the Zendesk Support web interface, or by responding to the ticket using email or another messaging channel.</p>
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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;
Settings</span>
</div>
<p class="p">Your agents reply to customer tickets by adding comments to them. They can do
this either through the Zendesk Support web interface, or by responding to
the ticket using email or another messaging channel.</p>
<p class="p">This article includes these sections:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_pp1_tcm_x4b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_xwn_pcm_x4b">About public and private comments</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_k3f_q1f_hlb">Making agent comments private by default</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="p">Related articles:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_wcc_4yq_2jc">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10702126155674" target="_blank">Configuring agent
access to tickets when the agent is the
requester</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_xwn_pcm_x4b">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">About public and private comments</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You can configure ticket comments in one of two ways:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_xwn_pcm_x4b__ul_jz1_ts2_hlb">
<li class="li">
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Public:</strong> Ticket comments can be seen by the
customer. Public comments are written on the
<strong class="ph b">Public reply</strong> (or messaging channel) of the
ticket comments field. For example, here's where
agents can add public replies from the ticket
interface</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_xwn_pcm_x4b__image_qwx_fmm_x4b" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/comment_public_reply.png" width="450"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">Private:</strong> In general, private comments (known as
<em class="ph i">internal notes</em>) can be seen by agents, but
cannot be seen by the customer. These are great for
discussing tickets internally with your team without
having to involve the customer. However, on
Enterprise plans, admins can <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10702126155674" target="_blank">configure agent
access to private comments</a> and agent-only
fields on tickets they request. For example, here's
where agents can add private comments from the
ticket interface:</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_xwn_pcm_x4b__image_lgs_kcl_fhb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/cc_comments_internal2.png" width="450"></p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_k3f_q1f_hlb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Making agent comments private by default</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">By default, when an agent adds a comment, the comment becomes public. For
example, if the agent wants to add a private comment to the ticket
from the ticket interface, they must first select <strong class="ph b">Internal
note</strong>. If they forget, the customer will see what they
write.</p>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> There’s one exception to the <strong class="ph b">Public by default</strong> setting. Tickets
that only have internal notes and no public comments will always default to internal notes,
even if the setting is turned on. </div>
<p class="p">If you prefer, you can configure ticket comments from agents to be
private by default. Then, when an agent adds a comment from the
ticket interface, they will need to select a public channel (such as
email) instead of an <strong class="ph b">Internal note</strong> if they want the customer
to see the comment. </p>
<p class="p">If CCs are enabled, you can also change the default comment privacy for
end user CCs. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408843795482" target="_blank">Configuring CC and follower
permissions</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Settings to make agent comments private by default do not apply to
channels that are considered <em class="ph i">live</em>, including chat, messaging,
and social media. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5924725590682" target="_blank">About channel switching logic
in the ticket composer</a>.</p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To configure private ticket comments as the default</strong></p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_k3f_q1f_hlb__ol_rcd_5s2_hlb">
<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" id="topic_k3f_q1f_hlb__d8e1660" 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; Settings</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Comment options for agents</strong> to expand it.</li>
<li class="li">Deselect both of these options: <strong class="ph b">Set composer to public by
default</strong> and <strong class="ph b">Allow agent comments via email to
be public by default</strong>.</li>
</ol>
<div class="note note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> For information about comment privacy when email replies are involved,
see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408842992538" target="_blank">Understanding when email
replies become public or private comments</a>.</div>
</div>
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