How to create new tickets from backend and reply to the tickets
This section provides a comprehensive guide for support staff on how to efficiently create and manage tickets from the backend. It outlines the necessary steps for creating a ticket, including assigning it to the appropriate customer, setting status, priority, and assignee, as well as adding optional details like tags and reminders. Additionally, the section covers various methods for replying to tickets, both from within the backend interface and via email, offering flexibility in communication and ensuring a streamlined support process.
How to create new tickets from backend
- To create a new ticket from backend, go to Customers -> Help Desk MX.
- Press the Create new ticket button.
- For ticket creation, you are required to fill in only the following fields - all others are non-mandatory:
- To: contains the email of the customer for whom the ticket is created. If the customer is registered, you can type their name in this field, and the email will be automatically selected.
- Subject: the subject of the ticket.
- Status: the initial status of the ticket. Statuses listed in this dropdown can be defined in the Statuses section.
- Priority: the initial priority of the ticket. Priorities listed in this dropdown can be defined in the Priorities section.
- Assignee: the staff member responsible for the ticket. Members are defined in the System -> Permissions -> All users section. To appear in the list, members must be assigned to the appropriate departments in the Departments section.
- An initial reply is not required at the stage of ticket creation, but you can leave a message in the Reply area. Refer to How to reply to a ticket for more details.
- If the ticket includes tags, navigate to the Additional tab and enter them in a comma-separated format in the Tags field.
- You can also set up a periodic reminder for the ticket using the Follow up tab. Refer to the How to set a reminder for the ticket subsection for more information.
- Press the Save button to save the ticket.
If no initial reply is made, only two events will trigger upon ticket creation: New ticket created and Ticket was changed.
If an initial reply is made, three events will trigger: New ticket created, Ticket was changed, and New reply from staff.
Use these events strategically to create your Workflow rules and automate workflows effectively.
How to reply to the ticket
You can reply to a ticket using either the Help Desk backend interface or by email through special notifications sent to staff for each customer reply.
Using the backend interface
When you open a ticket, the General tab is divided into two areas: a left-sided panel with the To and Ticket summary sections, and the Reply area, where the Public reply section allows you to reply to the ticket.
There are four main reply options:
- Public reply: a standard reply visible both in the backend and frontend. The content will be sent to the customer as an email notification.
- Internal note: a private note visible only in the backend for Help Desk agents. This option is used for internal communication.
- Message to third party: when selected, an additional field for a third-party email appears. This is useful for adding external parties, such as the customer's developers, to the ticket. The third party will receive an email notification, and this reply will be visible in the frontend.
- Internal message to third party: when selected, an additional email field appears, but the reply will only be visible in the backend. This option is used for internal communication.
If you have Quick responses, you can use them in the reply area via the Quick responses dropdown menu.
Quick responses are store-dependent. If you do not see certain pre-defined quick responses in the dropdown menu, navigate to the Additional tab and check the Store view field. This will display the store view from which the ticket was placed (by default, Default store view).
Then go to Help Desk MX -> Quick responses and select a record. The Store View field should match the same store view (or All Store Views).
Using email notifications
This type of reply is only available when one or more Email gateways have been configured and registered in their Departments as Sender emails. Whenever a customer or third party replies to a ticket, an email notification will be sent to the agent's mailbox.
Simply reply to that email, and the response will be added to the ticket via the Gateway.
Ensure your sending mailbox is not a Gateway. Any emails originating from Gateway mailboxes will be skipped to avoid infinite email cycles due to "conversations" between Gateways.
If using a custom Notification template, ensure the variable {{var ticket.getHiddenCodeHtml() | raw}} is present in the template. Otherwise, the fetch procedure will interpret the reply as a new ticket request, creating a separate ticket.