Ticket Management

Everything you need to know about creating, managing, and resolving tickets in Deskuss — from the client portal to the staff dashboard.

Opening Tickets

Clients can submit support requests through the Deskuss portal without needing a WordPress account. The process is straightforward:

1. Navigate to your site's Deskuss portal (default URL: /deskuss/)
2. Click the "Open a New Ticket" button
3. Select the appropriate department (e.g., Support, Billing, Technical)
4. Fill in the required fields — name, email, subject, and message
5. Optionally attach files (images, logs, documents) to provide context
6. Click Submit to create the ticket

File Attachments

Both clients and staff can attach files to tickets. Supported file types and size limits are configurable under Deskuss → Settings → File Uploads. Common defaults:

Viewing Tickets

Client View

Clients see a list of their own tickets on the portal. They can access this list by:

• Clicking the "Check Ticket Status" link on the portal
• Following the email auth token link sent to their inbox

The client ticket list shows subject, department, status, last updated date, and priority for each ticket.

Staff View — Ticket Queues

Staff members and managers access the ticket dashboard from WordPress Admin → Deskuss → Tickets. The dashboard organizes tickets into queues:

Replying to Tickets

Click any ticket in a queue to open the ticket detail view. From here, staff can compose replies using the rich text editor.

Rich Text Editor

Deskuss includes a full-featured WYSIWYG editor (Summernote or Redactor, depending on your configuration) that supports:

• Bold, italic, underline, and strikethrough formatting
• Ordered and unordered lists
• Code blocks and inline code
• Links and images
• Tables

Internal Notes

Staff can add internal notes to tickets that are visible only to other staff members — never to clients. Internal notes are useful for:

• Documenting troubleshooting steps taken behind the scenes
• Coordinating with other agents on complex issues
• Recording escalation context before transferring a ticket

Attachments in Replies

Both clients and staff can attach files when replying. Staff attachments can be marked as internal (visible only to staff) or public (visible to the client).

Ticket Detail View

The ticket detail page provides a complete picture of the ticket's lifecycle:

• Conversation thread — full chronological history of all replies, notes, and system messages
• Status changes — every status transition is logged (Open → Answered → Closed, etc.)
• Assignment history — tracks which agent or team was assigned and when
• Priority changes — shows if and when the priority was escalated or de-escalated
• Client information — name, email, total tickets, and account details

Closing & Reopening Tickets

Tickets can be closed by staff at any time. Once closed, the client receives a notification. If the client replies to a closed ticket, it is automatically reopened and moved back to the Open queue.

Auto-Close Settings

Deskuss can automatically close answered tickets after a configurable period of inactivity. This is set under Deskuss → Settings → Auto-Close:

Assigning & Transferring Tickets

Staff with appropriate permissions can assign tickets to individual agents, teams, or entire departments.

Assignment Options

• Assign to Agent — route the ticket to a specific staff member for direct handling
• Assign to Team — route the ticket to a group of agents who share responsibility
• Transfer to Department — move the ticket to a different department when it was opened in the wrong one

Assignment Workflow

1. Open the ticket detail view
2. Use the Assign dropdown in the ticket sidebar or header
3. Select an agent, team, or department
4. Optionally add an internal note explaining the reassignment
5. The newly assigned agent receives an email notification

Priorities

Every ticket has a priority level that helps staff triage and respond in the appropriate order:

Priorities can be set by clients when opening a ticket (if enabled in settings) or adjusted by staff at any time. The default priority for new tickets is Medium.

Canned Responses

Canned responses are pre-written reply templates that let staff answer common questions quickly and consistently. They've been promoted to their own dedicated guide — see Canned Responses for the full walkthrough, including placeholder variables, sharing/visibility, per-language variants, and library best-practices.

Quick Reference for the Reply Box

• Open the canned-response dropdown from the editor toolbar (or press Ctrl+. / ⌘+.)
• Type to filter; click to insert at the cursor
• Variables like %{ticket.user.name} and %{ticket.id} are filled in fresh on every insert

Draft Auto-Save

Deskuss automatically saves reply drafts as you type. If you navigate away from the ticket detail page or your browser crashes, your in-progress reply will be waiting for you when you return.

How It Works

• Drafts are saved every 30 seconds while the editor has content
• Drafts are stored in your browser's local storage — they are not saved to the server until you submit
• When you return to a ticket with a saved draft, a banner appears: "You have an unsent draft. Resume editing or discard."
• Submitting or discarding the reply clears the draft

Ticket Filters & Search

The ticket listing supports powerful search and filtering to help staff find tickets quickly.

Keyword Search

Use the search bar at the top of the ticket list to search across ticket subjects, message bodies, client names, and email addresses.

Filter Options

Multiple filters can be combined. For example, you can filter for Urgent tickets in the Support department that are currently Unassigned.

Automatic Filtering Rules

Beyond the manual search filters above, Deskuss can automatically process incoming tickets through rules you define — reject spam, route to a department, assign to an agent, set priority. These run before the ticket is ever created. See Filters & Pages → Ticket Filters for the rules engine reference.

Bulk Actions

Staff can select multiple tickets from the listing and perform batch operations:

Available Bulk Actions

• Change status — Close, Reopen, or mark as Answered
• Assign — Assign selected tickets to an agent or team
• Transfer — Move selected tickets to a different department
• Delete — Permanently remove selected tickets

Using Bulk Actions

1. Navigate to Deskuss → Tickets
2. Check the boxes next to the tickets you want to modify
3. Select an action from the Bulk Actions dropdown above the list
4. Click Apply

Client Access via Email Auth Tokens

Deskuss provides a seamless experience for clients who do not have WordPress accounts. When a client opens a ticket, they receive an email with a unique auth token link.

How It Works

1. Client opens a ticket and provides their name and email
2. Deskuss sends a confirmation email containing a secure, unique link
3. Clicking the link authenticates the client and displays their ticket list
4. The token remains valid for the duration configured in Deskuss → Settings → Auth Tokens
5. Clients can reply to their tickets, view status updates, and close tickets — all without creating an account

Auth Token Settings