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Configuring business hours

Updated Oct 20, 20266 min read
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Business hours tell Deskwoot when your team is actually working, per inbox. Outside those hours, customers who write in get your unavailable message, and SLA policies that opt in to business-hours mode send no missed-target alerts. Each inbox has its own schedule and timezone, so a weekend-only WhatsApp inbox can coexist with a Mon-Fri email inbox in the same account.

Introduction

Business hours in Deskwoot define when your team is online for each inbox. Deskwoot uses that schedule to show your availability in the live chat widget, to send an unavailable message when a customer writes in outside those hours, and to hold back missed-target alerts for SLA policies set to business hours only. Configuring them correctly ensures your customers receive accurate expectations about response times and that your team is not alerted for deadlines nobody could have met.

Setting Your Hours

Business hours are part of the Startup plan and up. Follow these steps to configure them for an inbox:

  1. Navigate to Settings > Inboxes, open the inbox and switch to its Business Hours tab.
  2. Switch on Business Availability, write the Unavailable message for visitors and pick your time zone under Select timezone.
  3. For each day of the week, set the Availability switch to indicate whether your team is working that day.
  4. For each available day, set the start time and end time to match your team's working schedule, or tick All day.
  5. If your team operates the same hours on multiple days, configure each day individually to ensure accuracy.
  6. Click Save Business Hours once you are satisfied with the configuration.

How Business Hours Affect Your Workspace

SLA Alerts

SLA policies are part of the Enterprise plan. A policy with Only during business hours switched on sends no missed-target alerts while the inbox is outside its business hours. The SLA time itself runs on the clock, nights and weekends included: a ticket that arrives on Friday evening and is still unanswered on Monday morning shows as overdue, and the alert goes out once your hours begin.

Auto-Response Behavior

When a customer reaches out outside of your defined business hours, Deskwoot automatically sends your unavailable message letting them know when to expect a reply. Without your own text, it sends a default message that lists your hours. This keeps customers informed and reduces frustration caused by unanswered messages.

Best-Practice Tips

  • Review hours quarterly. As your team grows or shifts change, revisit your business hours to keep them aligned with actual availability.
  • Account for holidays. If your team takes specific days off, update your business hours in advance so SLA alerts and auto-responses remain accurate.
  • Coordinate across channels. Ensure the hours you set reflect availability across all channels. Live chat, email, and social. So customers get a consistent experience.
  • Start conservative. It's better to set slightly narrower hours and consistently beat expectations than to promise availability your team can't deliver.

Common Pitfalls

  • Forgetting to save changes: After adjusting your hours, always confirm the save action. Unsaved changes will not take effect.
  • Leaving all days toggled on: If your team doesn't work weekends, make sure Saturday and Sunday are toggled off. Otherwise, customers get no unavailable message on those days and SLA alerts keep going out.
  • Mismatched time zones: Double-check that the times you enter correspond to the correct time zone for your team. A mismatch can cause auto-responses and SLA alerts to go out at the wrong time.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I don't configure business hours?
If business availability is switched off, Deskwoot treats the inbox as available around the clock. No out-of-office auto-responses are sent, and SLA alerts go out at any time of day.
Can I set different hours for different days?
Yes. Each day of the week has its own toggle and time range, so you can configure unique start and end times for every day. For example, shorter hours on Fridays.
Do business hours affect live chat availability?
Yes. Outside of your configured hours, the chat header in the widget shows your team as away, and customers who write in get your unavailable message as an automatic reply. They can still send messages, and your team picks them up when you are back.
How do business hours affect SLA timers?
Only when the SLA policy opts into business-hours mode (Only during business hours on the policy, an Enterprise feature). Then Deskwoot sends no missed-target alerts while the inbox is closed. The time still counts on the clock: a 4h response target on a ticket received at 5pm Friday on a Mon-Fri inbox is overdue by Monday morning, and the alert goes out once your hours start. Policies that don't opt in alert around the clock.
Can I configure public holidays?
Not as a separate holiday calendar today. Workaround: on the day of the holiday, toggle the whole-day off in the schedule, or just leave the inbox running and reply when you're back. A proper holiday calendar (one-off and annual recurring dates) is one we'd build if customers ask.
Where do I set business hours?
Inbox Settings → Business Hours. Each inbox has its own enabled flag, weekly schedule (per-day open/close times or 'closed all day'), and timezone. Save and the SLA + out-of-office logic respects the new schedule immediately.
Can different inboxes have different hours?
Yes. That's the default: each inbox carries its own businessHoursEnabled, businessHoursSchedule, and businessHoursTimezone. Email can run Mon-Fri 9-5 Berlin while WhatsApp runs Sat-Sun 10-2 Berlin in the same account.
What happens to live chat outside business hours?
A new conversation gets your unavailable message as an automatic reply. Without your own text, Deskwoot sends a default message that lists your hours. When Fynn or another AI bot answers the chat, the bot replies instead. Customers can still type and submit; the message stays in the inbox and a human picks it up when hours resume.
Do AI bot responses pause outside business hours?
No. The bot keeps replying 24/7, which is the whole point of having a bot. Outside business hours it tells customers that nobody from the team is available right now and that they can leave a message, instead of offering to connect them. Most teams leave the bot always-on; the bot covers off-hours and only escalates to humans when it can't answer.
How do I set up half-days?
Use the per-day range. E.g. Saturday 10:00 to 14:00 for a half day. Each weekday has its own openTime / closeTime; no need to copy the same pattern across the week. You can also flag a day as allDay (24-hour open) or disabled (closed).
What timezone is used for business hours?
The timezone configured on the inbox. Defaults to UTC; almost every customer changes this to their actual location. The schedule strings are evaluated in this timezone; if your team is in Berlin, set the inbox to Europe/Berlin.
Do business hours affect automation rules?
No, automation rules run on event triggers regardless of the time of day. If you want a 'reply only outside business hours' automation, you'd combine the rule's conditions with a content-based filter; out-of-office replies are handled by the dedicated out-of-office message field on the inbox instead.
What if I forget to update hours when daylight saving changes?
We handle DST automatically based on the inbox's configured timezone. 9am local stays 9am local across the time change.
Can I see whether a given moment is inside business hours?
In the live chat widget, yes: the status dot in the chat header shows whether your team is available right now. The out-of-office reply firing is another signal. The dashboard itself doesn't show a live status badge for an inbox today.

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