Customizing your chat widget

You customize the Deskwoot chat widget under Settings > Inboxes. Open your live chat inbox with Configure. Most options below live in its Settings tab; the pre-chat form has its own Pre Chat Form tab and chat triggers sit in the Configuration tab. Changes save to the inbox and show up in the widget the next time it loads, so you can keep a tab open on your site to check your work.

How do I change the widget color and theme?

Set the Widget Color to match your site. That one color drives the chat bubble, the header, and the send button, so picking the right hex value does most of the visual work. If you leave it blank, the widget uses Deskwoot blue.

You also pick a theme: light (the default) or dark. Dark is handy when your site is dark and a bright white panel would clash. The header keeps your brand color in both themes.

Choose where the launcher sits with the position setting: bottom-right or bottom-left.

What languages does the widget speak?

By default the widget is set to auto, which means it reads the language of the page the widget runs on and renders its built-in labels (buttons, placeholders, status text) in that language. Deskwoot ships those labels in 10 locales: English, German, Portuguese (Brazil), Hindi, Arabic, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. Arabic also flips the layout to right-to-left.

If you serve one audience and want to lock the widget to a single language regardless of the page language, change Widget language from auto to that locale.

Auto-detect only covers the fixed interface strings. Your own welcome text and greeting are separate. On the Business plan and above you can translate those into any of the 10 locales in the same settings (Translate from English fills them with AI), and the widget serves the version that matches the visitor.

How do I set the launcher title and welcome message?

The launcher title is the short tooltip that appears next to the floating button, for example "Chat with us". Keep it to a few words.

The welcome message is the heading and tagline a visitor sees the moment they open the widget. Write a real greeting that sets expectations, something like "Hi there! We usually reply within a few minutes." You can also set a greeting that arrives as a first message in the conversation, and a separate out of office message for visitors who open the widget outside your business hours (in the Business Hours tab, Startup plan and above).

The reply time setting controls the small "we typically reply in..." line so visitors know what to expect before they type.

Can I hide the chat bubble?

Yes. Turn on Hide chat bubble and the floating launcher disappears from your site. Use this when you want to open the widget from your own button or link instead of the default bubble. Your site code calls the widget open method, and the conversation panel slides in without the bubble ever showing.

On the Enterprise plan you can also hide the "Powered by Deskwoot" badge in the widget footer under Branding. That toggle is separate from the help center white-label switch. See White-label your help center for the help center side of it.

How do I set a custom avatar?

Every incoming message in the widget shows an avatar. By default Use the assigned agent's profile picture is on, so visitors see the photo of the agent they talk to. If you want the inbox to have its own face instead, upload a Custom Avatar (JPG, PNG or GIF up to 2 MB) and turn that switch off. The custom avatar is also used when an agent has no profile picture. This is useful when one team has its own branding, or when you want a friendly photo rather than a logo on chat replies.

Can I show help articles in the widget?

Yes, on the Startup plan and above, if you have a published help center. The widget has a Help Center tab, and the Conversation tab can show a short "Suggested" rail of featured articles. You have two ways to fill it. Curate it by picking specific articles (up to 4, in the order you choose), or turn on Rotate articles automatically and the widget pulls 4 random published articles for you. Random is the default when you have a help center but haven't picked anything yet. Only published articles ever appear, so a draft can't leak into the widget.

What is cookieless mode?

Turn on cookieless mode (Startup plan and above) and the widget stops storing anything in the visitor's browser: no cookies, no localStorage, no sessionStorage. This helps if your privacy or cookie-consent rules don't allow non-essential storage before a visitor opts in. The tradeoff: the widget recognizes the visitor only for the current page session, and the conversation history is not kept when the page reloads, so each session starts fresh. Leave it off if you want conversation continuity across page loads, turn it on if your compliance posture needs it. Even with cookieless mode off, the widget stores nothing for a new visitor until they open the chat or send a message.

Pre-chat forms, file upload, and emoji

Turn on the pre-chat form (Startup plan and above, in the Pre Chat Form tab) to collect a name, email, phone, or custom fields before a conversation starts. It helps you recognize returning customers and follow up by email if the visitor leaves. The file upload button lets visitors share screenshots and documents, and the emoji picker lets them add emoji to messages. Both are on by default and can be switched off under Features in the Settings tab.

Proactive chat triggers

Chat triggers are messages that pop up on their own based on rules you set, for example after 10 seconds on the pricing page. They are configured per inbox in the Configuration tab. You set a time delay, target specific pages or returning visitors, and write the message. Triggers are a good way to start a conversation before the visitor goes looking for the bubble.

Frequently asked questions