Auto assignment and round robin

Turn it on

1. Go to Settings > Inboxes and click Configure next to the inbox.
2. Open the Collaborators tab.
3. Under Conversation assignment, switch on Enable auto assignment.
4. Pick the Auto assignment mode.
5. Click Save assignment settings.

Changing these settings needs an administrator or a role with the permission Manage inboxes.

The modes:

• Round Robin: conversations are shared among the available agents.
• Manual: conversations stay unassigned until someone takes them.
• Specific agent: every new conversation goes to the agent you pick under Assign all conversations to.

A new inbox starts with auto assignment on, in Round Robin mode and without a limit. Switching the toggle off works like Manual: new conversations wait in Unassigned and your team takes them from there.

Who takes part

Round robin shares a conversation among the agents listed under Agents in this inbox on the same tab. While nobody is listed, every agent in the workspace takes part.

A conversation that already has a team goes to that team's members instead. To stop that for a team, go to Settings > Teams, click Manage next to the team, click Edit, switch off Assign conversations to team members automatically and click Save. Its conversations then stay unassigned until someone takes them.

How round robin picks

A teammate gets new conversations only when both are true:

• Their status is Online. You set it in the user menu in the left rail under Your status. Away is a short break, Busy means nothing new, Offline means signed off. With working hours, Deskwoot sets it to Online when their hours start and to Offline when they end.
• Deskwoot is open on one of their devices: the dashboard in a browser or the phone app in the foreground. After 5 minutes without it, they show as Away in Settings > Agents and are skipped until they are back.

Among those, the conversation goes to the person with the fewest open and pending conversations in the whole workspace. Conversations reserved for them count too. Anyone at a limit is skipped.

Round robin runs when a new conversation arrives. In live chat, and for customer messages added through the API, it runs again with each customer message while nobody has the conversation. On every channel it also runs when a customer writes to an assignee who is not there, see When the assignee is not there below. In a live chat your AI bot answers, it runs when the bot hands the conversation to your team. Each assignment writes the line "Conversation auto-assigned to Anna" into the conversation, which only your team sees, and Anna gets a notification.

Conversation limits

Limits keep one person from getting too much: one for the inbox and two personal ones for each agent. All of them apply, and an empty field means no limit.

• Inbox limit: on the Collaborators tab of the inbox, in Round Robin mode, under Maximum concurrent conversations per agent. It counts the agent's open and pending conversations in this inbox. Allowed values are 1 to 200.
• Personal limits: in Settings > Agents, in the Capacity column, each agent has two fields. Live chat counts their open and pending conversations on every channel except email together, across every inbox: live chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS and the rest. Email counts only their emails, across every email inbox. So open emails never block a chat, and open chats never block an email. Allowed values are 1 to 200. Only administrators can change them.

Only open and pending conversations count. Resolving or snoozing one frees a slot.

The queue

When every agent who could take a conversation is full or not available, it goes to the queue, but only if a limit is set (the inbox limit, or the matching personal limit of one of the agents who could take it: Live chat for chats, Email for emails). Without any limit it waits in Unassigned, where anyone on your team can take it. One exception: a conversation taken from an assignee who is not there waits in the queue even without any limit, so the first agent who comes online gets it (see the next section).

• The queue is first come, first served for each inbox.
• A waiting conversation is handed out as soon as someone has room: an agent resolves or snoozes a conversation, a conversation changes owner, someone switches to Online, by hand or through their working hours, or comes back, or a limit changes.
• Only administrators see waiting conversations, marked In queue. They can assign one by hand at any time. Agents don't see them and get no notification until one is assigned to them.

When the assignee is not there

A customer who writes again does not wait for someone who has left. Each time a customer message lands in an open or pending conversation, also one it wakes from snoozed or reopens from resolved, Deskwoot checks the assignee. They count as not there when their status is Away or Offline, when Deskwoot has not been open on any of their devices for 5 minutes, or when they are no longer an active member of the workspace. Then:

• The conversation is unassigned, and a private note names who had it, for example "Last handled by Anna (offline). Back to round robin." The note is written in the language of your workspace.
• Round robin gives the conversation to a teammate who is online and has room, by the usual rules.
• If nobody can take it, it waits in the queue, also in an inbox without any limit. The first agent who comes online or switches to Online gets it.

Busy counts as there: a Busy agent who has Deskwoot open keeps their conversations and only gets nothing new. An automatic email reply, such as an out of office, hands nothing on. This works the same on every channel. In a live chat, the customer sees "You'll be connected with the next team member in a moment", or their place in the queue, until the next person joins.

If nobody else could ever take the conversation (for example, the assignee is the only agent in the workspace, or the only member of the team or inbox that round robin picks from), it stays with them, with no note and no queue.

The inbox settings still decide:

• In Specific agent mode, the agent you picked keeps their conversations, whatever their status.
• In Manual mode, with auto assignment switched off, or in a team that does not assign automatically, the conversation is unassigned and waits in Unassigned for anyone to take.
• In a live chat your AI bot still answers, the conversation is unassigned and the bot keeps answering. Round robin runs when the bot hands it to your team.

An open conversation whose last message is the customer's is also handed on without a new message, by the same rules, within a minute of its assignee choosing Offline or once Deskwoot has not been open on any of their devices for 15 minutes (Away alone is not enough for this).

Reservations come first

When someone transfers a conversation to a teammate who is at their limit, it is reserved for that teammate (see Take, take over and transfer conversations). When a slot frees up, the reservation goes to them before anything in the queue, because that customer has already waited once. It does not matter whether that teammate is Online: they were picked by name.

A reservation counts toward the teammate's limit, so round robin does not fill the slot it waits for. If no slot frees up within 15 minutes, the reservation ends: round robin picks someone else, or the conversation waits in the queue or in Unassigned, and the person who transferred it is notified.

The person who gave it up is skipped

When a conversation is unassigned, or it was transferred away and the reservation runs out, round robin leaves out the person who had it for as long as the conversation waits. That also holds when the queue hands it out later. So a customer who just saw "Anna is no longer in the chat" never lands with Anna again straight away. If nobody else can take it, it waits in the queue or in Unassigned.

Specific agent mode

In Specific agent mode, every new conversation goes to the agent you picked, whatever their status and without a limit. You can only pick an agent listed under Agents in this inbox. If that agent is removed from the inbox or suspended, new conversations go round robin until you pick someone else.

What the customer sees

In the live chat widget, a waiting customer sees their place above the message box, for example "You're number 3 in the queue. The next available agent will be with you." At the front of the line it reads "You're next in line. An agent will be with you shortly." The number moves up as the queue moves, and the line disappears when an agent gets the conversation.

When the agent takes, opens or answers the conversation, the customer sees "Anna is now in the chat". After a transfer, the customer sees "You'll be connected with the next team member in a moment" until the next person joins. Customers on email and the other channels see none of these lines, only your replies.

Frequently asked questions

Does auto assignment work on every channel?

Yes, for live chat, email, WhatsApp, Telegram, LINE, SMS, X and the API. On every channel it runs when a new conversation arrives and when a customer writes to an assignee who is not there. While nobody has the conversation, only live chat and the API run it again with later customer messages. You set it for each inbox separately.

Why does an agent show as Away although they chose Online?

Deskwoot has not been open on any of their devices for more than 5 minutes: the dashboard is closed, the laptop sleeps or the app is in the background. Their choice stays Online, and they are back in the rotation as soon as they open Deskwoot again.

Do agents keep their conversations when they go Away, Busy or Offline?

Busy agents keep them. Away and Offline agents keep them until the customer writes again: then the conversation goes to a teammate who is online, with a private note that says who had it. The same happens when Deskwoot has not been open on any of their devices for 5 minutes. An open conversation whose last message is the customer's goes on without waiting: within a minute of choosing Offline, or once Deskwoot has not been open on any of their devices for 15 minutes (Away alone keeps it until the customer writes). If nobody else could ever take a conversation, it stays with them. See When the assignee is not there above.

Why are conversations not being assigned?

Check Settings > Agents. The Availability column shows what round robin sees. Also check that auto assignment is on for the inbox, the mode is Round Robin, the team of the conversation allows automatic assignment and nobody is at their limit. In a live chat your AI bot answers, nothing is assigned until the bot hands the conversation over.

Can I give one agent more conversations than another?

There is no weighting. Round robin always prefers the person with the least work, so someone who resolves faster gets more. You can give each agent different personal limits for Live chat and Email in Settings > Agents, which cap how many conversations they hold at once.

Why don't agents see conversations that wait in the queue?

Nobody has room for them yet, so they belong to nobody. Administrators see them marked In queue and can assign one by hand. Agents see a conversation as soon as it is assigned to them.

Does a reopened conversation get assigned again?

Resolving keeps the owner, so a reopened conversation stays with them while they are there. If the customer's reply reopens it while the owner is Away, Offline or has not had Deskwoot open for 5 minutes, it goes to a teammate who is online. In live chat, a conversation without an owner goes through auto assignment again with the customer's next message.

Can I take a conversation from the queue myself?

Administrators can take a waiting conversation or assign it to someone else at any time. Taking it yourself works even when you are at your limit. A teammate who is at their limit gets it reserved as their next one.