Canned Replies Overview

Canned replies are predefined responses for frequently asked questions that can be used to quickly and efficiently respond to tickets and live chats. For example, if a company is experiencing some service interruption, a canned reply can be created by management that discretely relays information about the outage, ETA for the service resuming, where to go for more information and more. This makes it easy for front line agents to quickly disseminate information to end users, especially at times when call, ticket and chat volumes can be higher than normal.

However, canned replies don't have to be used for issues. They can also be used for relaying consistent messaging about a new product release, about new features that have been added to a product or service, or even efficiently answering common questions about things like store hours, how long a promotion lasts, sales information, and much more.

To access canned replies, log into the management interface with your agent account. Then select Canned Replies from the Navigator. All of the canned replies in the root folder that are assigned to a department you belong to will load in the content pane. To view the canned replies that are assigned to just your agent account, click the My Canned Replies tab in the content pane. Canned replies that are assigned to a specific agent are only available to that agent. For example, agents may create their own canned replies for issues they normally see on a day-to-day basis. They can then use those canned replies to quickly reply back to a customer. Canned replies that are assigned to "Everyone" can be used by every agent.

Navigating Canned Replies

In general, the following details are available for each canned reply in the content pane:

Title - The title of the canned reply.
Assigned To - The agent or department to which the canned reply is assigned. This determines which agents or departments have access to the canned reply.
Language - The language assigned to the canned reply.
Flags - Whether the canned reply is flagged as a draft or not. (NOTE: This line appears next to the Language, not as a separate line.)

Performing Canned Reply Actions

In general the following options are available from the content pane toolbar:

Search - Allows you to perform a basic search on the items listed in the content pane.
Sort - Sorts the list of replies in ascending or descending order based on the selected option, such as subject, type, status, etc. Clicking on Reset Sort Order will return the sort order to its default status.
Actions (…) - Click this button and select the appropriate option to select all canned replies, move canned replies, copy canned replies or change the status of canned replies.

Select All - Selects all canned replies in the content pane.
Mark - Click this button and select the appropriate option to change the status of (or "flag") the selected canned reply(s).
Public - Marks the canned reply as public. Public canned replies are visible to administrators and agents.
Draft - Marks the article as a draft. Drafts are only visible to administrators and agents.

Move - Moves the selected canned reply(s) to another folder.
Copy - Copies the selected canned reply(s) to another folder.
Delete - Deletes the selected knowledge base articles. For more information, see Deleting Canned Replies.

Using Canned Replies

As mentioned, canned replies can be inserted into ticket replies as well as during a live chat. Regardless of where you use canned replies, they're inserted into replies the same way:

When in a live chat or replying to a ticket, click the Actions (...) menu.
From the dropdown menu, click Insert Canned Reply. This will load the Canned Replies modal window which lists the available canned replies you can use.
Click on the Title of the canned reply you want and its contents will load. To insert it into your chat, simply click the Insert button. (Alternatively, you can double-click the desired canned reply and it will be pasted into your messages text box.)
If need be, you also have the ability to edit the canned reply prior to inserting it into your live chat.
Once the reply has been added, you can add to it or simply send it along as your response.