Table of Contents

Department Settings & Configuration

Organizing your support team into departments ensures that user inquiries are handled by the right experts. You can configure department behavior under Settings > Miscellaneous.

  • Display in dashboard: Shows the department list in the chat dashboard, forcing users to select a department before starting a conversation.
  • Display images: Shows the department image instead of the default department color.
  • One conversation per department: Restricts users to one active conversation per department at a time.
  • Labels: You can rename the default “Department” and “Departments” labels to suit your business needs (e.g., “Teams” or “Groups”).

Workflow Logic! Agents assigned to a specific department can only access conversations, users, and agents within that department. Unassigned agents see everything.

How to Assign a Department

Departments can be assigned to a conversation automatically or manually via:

  • Q&A Set Data: Configure your chatbot to assign departments based on user answers.
  • Flow Actions: Use the flow builder to trigger assignment.
  • Code: Use the JavaScript variable var SB_DEFAULT_DEPARTMENT = ID; on specific pages.
  • Dashboard Selection: Force the user to choose from a list before chatting.

Smart Queue & Routing

When enabled, the system automatically distributes user conversations among available (online) agents proportionately. Admins are excluded from automatic assignment.

Activated when an agent’s chat limit is reached. Users receive a message indicating their position and estimated wait time (Position × Response Time). If a user leaves the queue for more than 1 minute, they lose their spot. Note: Conversations from apps like WhatsApp ignore agent limits and are assigned immediately.

Assigns conversations immediately to online agents. If “Disable online status check” is active, offline agents also receive assignments. Agents can manually route conversations using the Agents Menu in the right panel. Unassigned conversations remain visible to admins until an agent comes online.

Email Piping Integration

Email piping allows you to sync email addresses so messages sent to your support email appear directly in the chat dashboard. Agents can reply from the dashboard, and users receive the reply via email.

Requirement: The server must have the php5-imap module installed. For Gmail/Google Workspace, you must use an App Password and allow less secure apps if using a custom domain.

  • Delimiter: Use the delimiter option (### Please type your reply above this line ###) to cut out quoted replies and prevent duplicate message content.
  • Attachments: Full support for email attachments.
  • Reply-To: If the email contains a reply-to attribute, it serves as the primary user address.

System Optimization: Pusher & Cron

Cron Jobs

Cron jobs process emails and other scheduled tasks. While the cloud version runs this automatically every 60 minutes, you can trigger it manually every minute for faster email processing.

*/59 * * * * wget /include/api.php?piping=true

Pusher (WebSockets)

Activate Pusher to replace HTTP AJAX requests with WebSockets. This drastically improves performance, server load, and real-time responsiveness (typing status, online status, message delivery).

Direct Messages & Automations

Direct Messages: Send single messages via Chat, Email, SMS, or WhatsApp to individual or all users.
Automations: Run multilingual automatic tasks when specific conditions are met (e.g., “User visits pricing page” -> “Send discount code”).

  • Conditions: Set criteria like city, country (English name), language, or custom variables.
  • Restrictions: Automations run once per user. They are not compatible with external messaging apps (WhatsApp, Messenger).

Newsletter Integrations

Synchronize user emails collected via registration forms or follow-ups with your preferred marketing platform.

Mailchimp

Get the Key from your Mailchimp account API settings. Get the List ID (Audience ID) from the audience settings.

Amazon S3 Attachment Storage

Configuration Steps

1

Create IAM User

Log in to AWS Console. Go to IAM > Users > Add new user. Create a user and assign it to a group with AmazonS3FullAccess permission policy.

2

Generate Keys

Go to the user’s “Security credentials” tab. Create an access key (select “Application running outside AWS”). Copy the Access Key and Secret Key into the chat settings under Miscellaneous > Amazon S3.

3

Create Bucket

Create a new S3 bucket. Important: Uncheck “Block all public access” and check “ACLs enabled” with “Bucket owner preferred”. Enter the bucket name and region into the chat settings.

Saved Replies (Canned Responses)

Speed up agent workflow with pre-written messages. Manage them at Settings > Admin > Saved replies. Agents can quickly insert them by typing # followed by the reply name, or ## to open the full list.

Tickets Management System

The Tickets App provides a structured alternative to the real-time chat widget. It allows users to create conversations, track status, and send messages through a dedicated user interface, functioning similarly to a traditional support desk portal. This is ideal for managing inquiries that do not require immediate, real-time responses.

Installation & Activation

To enable this functionality, navigate to Settings > Apps in your dashboard. Select Tickets from the list and enter your license key to install and activate the module. If you are operating on the Cloud Version, simply click the Active button to enable the feature immediately.

Displaying the Tickets Interface

Depending on your installation type (WordPress, PHP, or Cloud), there are specific methods to render the tickets area on your website. Choose your platform below for instructions.

For WordPress sites, displaying the tickets area is incredibly simple. Just insert the following shortcode into any Page, Post, or Custom Post Type where you want the interface to appear:

[sb-tickets]

Modify your existing chat embed code by adding the &mode=tickets attribute to the script URL.

<script id="chat-init" src="https://chat.devad.io/account/js/init.js?id=YOUR_ID&mode=tickets"></script>

Alternatively, you can force the tickets view on specific pages by inserting this Javascript snippet before the chat loads:

<script>SB_TICKETS = true;</script>

Configuration Notice! You cannot run the standard Chat script and the Tickets script on the same page simultaneously unless you use the global variable method SB_TICKETS = true; to override the view.

Categorized in:

CHAT App, Settings Area,