Using autoreplies to recommend articles in email notifications (Legacy)

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<p id="docs-hc-snippet" style="display: none;">Autoreplies with articles are automated responses to customer support requests sent via email, that include up to three recommended articles from your help center. These responses use the autoreply with articles trigger action to identify relevant articles and add them to your notification email.</p>
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<div class="note attention" id="topic_ynl_pnk_jhb__note_msz_qpl_f2c">
<span class="attentiontitle"></span> <span class="ph">This article describes functionality that moved into
legacy status on July 31, 2025. On December 10, 2026, this functionality will no
longer be available. For more information, see <a href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10487730059034" target="_blank">this announcement</a>.</span>
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<p class="p">Autoreplies with articles are automated responses to customer support requests sent via email,
that include up to three recommended articles from your help center. These responses use the
autoreply with articles trigger action to identify relevant articles and add them to your
notification email.</p>
<p class="p">This article includes the following topics: </p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ynl_pnk_jhb__ul_vg1_ysl_kxb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wwy_znk_jhb">Understanding the end-user experience</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_llx_14k_jhb">Setting up autoreplies with articles for email notifications</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wgc_b4k_jhb">Testing email notification results</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">Related articles:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ynl_pnk_jhb__ul_jt3_vpl_f2c">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408820951450" target="_blank">Using autoreplies to recommend articles in web forms</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wwy_znk_jhb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Understanding the end-user experience </h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">When you configure autoreplies with articles for email notifications, the end user receives an
automated email response to their support request. The email includes a list of recommended
articles, along with other information provided by the placeholders used in the
<code class="ph codeph">autoreply with articles</code> trigger action.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_wwy_znk_jhb__image_umm_srf_4qb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/answerbot_email-callout.png" width="300"></p>
<p class="p">In the email, the end user can read the top suggested article in its entirety, and click any
of the following options: </p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_wwy_znk_jhb__ul_wxm_ls4_3bc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Suggested article links</strong> opens the help center article in a new tab. From there, the
user can read the article, click to see their help request, and indicate whether it helped them
answer their question: <p class="p">
<img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_wwy_znk_jhb__image_fll_vk4_3bc" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/answer_bot_in_article_popup1.png" width="300"></p>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Request number</strong> opens the request in a new tab. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Yes, close my request</strong> opens the article in the help center and close the help
request. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">No</strong> opens a feedback screen requesting more information about why the article didn't
help. This screen is optional for the end user. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Yes, close my request</strong> on any of the suggested articles opens the article in the help
center and closes the help request. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">No</strong> beneath the top article opens an optional feedback window asking for more
information about why the article didn't help. </li>
</ul>
<p class="p">End users can return to the email and access the links as often as they like. Suggested
articles are sent in the language defined in the end user's profile, when available.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">Setting up autoreplies with articles for email notifications</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Before you can set up autoreplies, you need a <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408846795674" target="_blank">help center
with articles</a> that can address your customers' questions. When your help center is
ready, you can turn on autoreplies.</p>
<p class="p">To send a list of recommended articles, your email notification triggers must include the
<code class="ph codeph">Autoreply with articles</code> action. You can add this action to existing triggers,
such as the default <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828984346#topic_ksk_znr_5t" target="_blank">Notify requester and CCs of received request</a> and <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828984346#topic_zh3_wx5_d3b" target="_blank">Notify requester of new proactive ticket</a>. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408882237722" target="_blank">Managing triggers</a>.</p>
<p class="p">Autoreply triggers can run at any time, but will run only once on a ticket. </p>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To set up autoreplies with articles for email notifications</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb__ol_f1q_djm_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" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb__d9e1351" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/icon_ai.png">
<strong class="ph b">AI</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">AI agents &gt; AI agents</strong>.</span>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Manage autoreplies</strong>. </li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Get started with autoreplies</strong>. If autoreplies are already activated, this
option doesn't appear. You can stop at this step and create your triggers later – autoreplies
with articles will not be sent until you create the trigger.</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Create triggers</strong>. An admin page to create a new trigger opens.</li>
<li class="li">Configure the trigger conditions for requests submitted via email. For example: <div class="p">
<ul class="ul">
<li class="li"> Ticket &gt; Ticket | Is | Created </li>
<li class="li"> Requester &gt; Role | Is | (end-user) </li>
<li class="li"> Ticket &gt; Channel | Is | Email </li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
<li class="li">Next, configure the trigger action. The action needs to include <code class="ph codeph">Notify by &gt;
Autoreply with articles | (requester)</code> to establish that all tickets meeting the
conditions will send your autoreply email to the ticket requester. The autoreply email field
appears: <p class="p">
<img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb__image_nrz_4kb_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/autoreply_wirth_articles_action.png" width="600">
</p>
</li>
<li class="li">Fill out the email subject and body text to include in the autoreply email. Use the
placeholders listed below to customize the email text.<ul class="ul" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb__ul_cbp_ykb_kxb">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">{{autoreply.article_list}}</strong> (required). You must include this placeholder for the
feature to work. This placeholder adds a list of up to three articles that best match the
request, links to those articles, and inserts buttons the end user can use to choose which
article solved the request. <div class="note">
<span class="notetitle">Note:</span> This placeholder includes two pieces of text that are
determined by the user's profile language: The header <em class="ph i">Do any of these articles answer
your question?</em>, and the two buttons located underneath each suggested article <em class="ph i">Yes,
close my request</em> and <em class="ph i">View article</em>.</div>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">{{autoreply.first_article_body}}</strong> (optional). This placeholder renders the first
matching article (full HTML) into the email body, allowing end users to read the article and
solve their problem without needing to leave the email experience. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">{{autoreply.article_count}}</strong> (optional). This placeholder allows you to create an
optional condition to send different body copy to customers based on how many articles are
returned, for example:
<pre class="pre codeblock"><code>
{% if autoreply.article_count &gt; 0 %}
Here are some great articles that may help:
{{autoreply.article_list}}
{{autoreply.first_article_body}}
{% endif %}
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">In the section <strong class="ph b">Configure labels and test autoreply</strong>, click <strong class="ph b">Configure and test</strong>
to filter the list of help center articles offered based on <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408845739162#topic_bdk_l1k_jhb" target="_blank">labels</a>: <p class="p">
<img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb__image_pgz_flb_kxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/configure_labels_and_test_autoreply.png" width="500">
</p>
<div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_llx_14k_jhb__ul_qgz_flb_kxb">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket brand</strong>: Select a brand to run the test on. The brand selected here is
purely for testing purposes, and will not be added to the trigger you are creating. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket subject</strong>: Enter a subject to test the articles returned when a ticket is
filed with this subject. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket description</strong>: Enter a short description of seven or more words, written
from the ticket submitter's perspective. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Search articles by label</strong> (optional): Enter any <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835056154" target="_blank">article labels</a>you want to use to filter the results. As you type
into the tag field, available labels beginning with the same word or characters are
displayed. Any articles with the selected labels are considered in autoreplies. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Show suggested articles</strong> for a list of articles the user may receive if these
labels are applied when submitting a similar ticket. If the results are acceptable, click
<strong class="ph b">Done</strong> to save the trigger. If the results are not acceptable, edit the entries and try
again, or click <strong class="ph b">Cancel</strong>. </li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Create</strong> (if you're creating a new trigger) or <strong class="ph b">Save</strong> (if you're updating
an existing trigger).</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wgc_b4k_jhb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">Testing email notification results </h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To test autoreply results</strong>
</p>
<ol class="ol" id="topic_wgc_b4k_jhb__ol_q2t_vsk_chb">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_llx_14k_jhb">Create a new autoreply with articles
trigger</a>, or open an existing trigger already configured for autoreplies with articles. </li>
<li class="li">At the bottom of the Actions section on the trigger's edit page, click the <strong class="ph b">Configure and
test</strong> button. </li>
<li class="li">In the testing window, fill out the
following information: <div class="p">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_wgc_b4k_jhb__ul_ljd_hpn_dhb">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket brand</strong>: Select a brand to run the test on. The brand
selected here is purely for testing purposes, and will not be added to the trigger you are
creating. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket subject</strong>: This field is used to test the articles returned when a ticket is
filed with this subject. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Ticket description</strong>: Enter a short description of seven or more words, written from
the ticket submitter's perspective. </li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Search articles by label</strong> (optional): Enter any <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408835056154" target="_blank">article labels</a> you want to use to filter the results. As you type
in the field, available labels beginning with the same word or characters are displayed. Any
articles with the selected labels are considered in autoreplies. </li>
</ul>
</div>
</li>
<li class="li">Click <strong class="ph b">Show suggested articles</strong> to display a list of articles your user might receive
in an email notification, for a ticket with the labels and ticket information applied. </li>
<li class="li">If the results are acceptable, click <strong class="ph b">Done</strong> to save the trigger. If the results are
not acceptable, edit the entries and try again, or click <strong class="ph b">Cancel</strong>. </li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
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