Managing agents and roles

The two built in roles

• Administrator: All permissions, and the role can't be modified. Only administrators open Settings > Agents and Settings > Custom Roles. They see every conversation in the workspace.
• Agent: the default for everyone else. It includes Manage conversations (assign, resolve, reopen), Use LiveTranslate, Summarize conversations with Copilot, Manage contacts (create, edit) and Manage canned responses. Everything else is off, for example View reports. An agent sees their own conversations, the ones nobody has taken and the ones they are mentioned in or that were transferred to them.

Most teams get along with these two. When you need finer control, for example a team lead who may see reports but not billing, create a custom role in Settings > Custom Roles (Enterprise). A custom role replaces the Agent role with exactly the permissions you tick. See Custom roles and permissions.

The account owner

The owner is the first administrator of the workspace, usually the person who created it. Settings > Agents marks them with Owner. The owner has the same permissions as every administrator, plus a few things only they can do: make an agent an administrator, turn an administrator back into an agent, remove another administrator and delete the workspace. Any administrator can invite a new person as an administrator, though. Nobody can change the owner's role or remove the owner.

Change someone's role

1. Go to Settings > Agents.
2. As the owner, click Make admin next to an agent, or Make agent next to an administrator, and confirm.
3. To give an agent a custom role, pick it in the dropdown next to their name. Default gives them the standard Agent role again. The dropdown shows once at least one custom role exists, and only for agents.

The new permissions apply from the agent's next action. If they have the dashboard open, menu items appear or disappear after they reload the page.

Personal limits: Live chat and Email

The Capacity column in Settings > Agents has two limits for each agent. Both count the agent's open and pending conversations across every inbox.

• Live chat: every channel except email counts together, live chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS and the rest.
• Email: only emails count. Chats don't.

Enter a whole number from 1 to 200. The field saves when you leave it, and Deskwoot confirms with Capacity updated. Leave a field empty (No limit) for no personal limit. Because the two limits are separate, open emails never block a chat and open chats never block an email. The limit of the inbox applies as well. When every online agent is at their limit, new conversations wait in a queue that only administrators see, and Deskwoot assigns them as soon as someone has room. See Auto assignment and round robin.

Let an agent see teammates' conversations

On Enterprise, the Teammates column has the switch See other agents' conversations (Teammates). With it on, the agent sees every conversation and the Teammates section, like an administrator, from their next page load. Administrators show Always. If the agent's custom role already grants this, the column says so, and a role with Restrict view to conversations assigned to this agent always wins over the switch. On other plans the switch is locked.

Availability and last seen

Each agent shows Online, Away, Busy or Offline. For an agent who is not offline, pointing at the badge shows when they were last active. Away means the agent set themselves to Away, or Deskwoot has not been open on any of their devices for over 5 minutes. Round robin skips away agents, and they still get push notifications. With working hours, each agent can let Deskwoot set them to Online when their hours start and to Offline when they end. Every agent sets these hours for themselves, under Settings > Profile or in the iPhone and Android app.

Remove an agent

Click Remove next to the agent and confirm. Their conversations stay in Deskwoot and become unassigned, and they leave their teams. Any administrator can remove an agent. Only the owner can remove an administrator, nobody can remove the owner, and you can't remove yourself.

Suspended agents

When your subscription has fewer seats than you have agents, Deskwoot suspends the agents who joined last, never an administrator. They show under Suspended Agents and lose access to the workspace, and their open and pending conversations go to the owner. Add seats and they are active again.

The team in the iPhone and Android app

On the Business and Enterprise plans, More > Team lists your teams and Agents with their role and availability. Tap an agent to see their role.

• The owner can switch an agent between Administrator and Agent. The app asks first, with Make administrator or Change to agent.
• Everyone else sees the role read only, with the reason, for example "Only the account owner can make someone an administrator or change an administrator back to agent." Nobody changes their own role or the owner's.
• A custom role shows as "Custom role: " and its name. You give custom roles on the web.

Web only: inviting and removing agents, inbox assignment, creating teams, custom roles, the two personal limits and the Teammates switch. Manage agents on the web opens Settings > Agents in your browser.

Tips

• Give only what someone needs. Fewer permissions mean fewer accidental changes to important settings.
• Keep the number of administrators small. Enough that someone can step in during a holiday, few enough that changes stay easy to follow.
• Review roles when people change jobs, for example after a promotion or a move to another team.
• Name custom roles after what they do, for example "Team lead" or "QA reviewer".

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between Administrator and Agent?

Administrators see and change everything: billing, integrations, automation, custom attributes and the team. Agents get what they need for conversations, contacts and canned responses. Pick Agent unless someone needs the settings.

What happens to an agent's conversations when I remove them?

They stay in Deskwoot and become unassigned. Reassign or resolve the open ones first, so nothing gets lost.

What does Suspended mean?

Your subscription has fewer seats than agents. The agents beyond your seats lose access, and their open and pending conversations go to the owner. Add seats or remove agents to bring them back.

How fast do role changes take effect?

Right away. The agent's next action runs with the new role. Someone turned from administrator into agent loses the settings at once, and from then on sees only the conversations an agent may see. Buttons change after a page reload.

Can an agent see other agents' private notes?

Yes. Private means hidden from the customer, not from your team. Everyone who can see the conversation sees its notes.

Is there an Owner role above Administrator?

The owner is the first administrator of the workspace. They have the same permissions, and only they can turn an agent into an administrator or back, remove another administrator and delete the workspace. The owner can't be removed.

Can I limit an agent to specific inboxes?

The Collaborators of an inbox decide who round robin gives its conversations to, not who can see them. To limit what an agent sees, use a custom role with Restrict view to conversations assigned to this agent (Enterprise). See Custom roles and permissions.

Can one custom role be given to several agents?

Yes. Give the same role to as many agents as you like. When you edit the role, every agent who has it gets the new permissions. A role that is still given to agents can't be deleted, so give them another role first.