Proper ticket assignment is key to having clear ownership, faster replies, and no “orphan” conversations. In Commslayer, there are two main ways to assign tickets to agents:
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Manual Assignment
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Auto-Assignment
Both methods can be used together: manual assignment is the foundation, while auto-assignment helps you distribute new incoming tickets efficiently across your team.
1. Manual Assignment (Recommended Base Practice)
Manual assignment is the first action an agent should take when they open a ticket. This ensures that every conversation has a clear owner from the very beginning.
How to manually assign a ticket to yourself
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Open the ticket you want to work on.
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Go to the right sidebar menu.
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Click on Assign agent.
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Select your name from the list.
Once assigned, you can reply and manage the ticket as the owner.
What if I forget to assign the ticket?
If an agent replies to a ticket that is still unassigned, Commslayer will automatically assign that ticket to the last person who responded.
This means:
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Ideally, you should always assign the ticket to yourself first.
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If you forget, your reply will still create ownership: the ticket will be automatically assigned to you as soon as you respond.
This behavior helps keep the queue clean and prevents tickets from staying unassigned after someone has already taken action on them.
2. Auto-Assignment of New Tickets
If you want new incoming tickets to be distributed automatically among your agents, you can enable auto-assignment at the inbox level.
How to enable auto-assignment
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Go to Settings.
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Click on Inboxes.
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Select the inbox you want to configure.
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Go to Agent Assignment.
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Enable Auto-assignment.
Once enabled, Commslayer will automatically assign new incoming tickets in that inbox to agents who:
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Are collaborators of that inbox, and
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Are online at that specific moment.
Capacity limit: maximum number of conversations per agent
To avoid overloading a single agent, you can configure a maximum number of active conversations that can be assigned to each agent. This acts as a capacity limit.
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When an agent reaches this limit, they will temporarily stop receiving new auto-assigned tickets.
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As they resolve, close, or otherwise reduce their active load, they will become eligible again for new auto-assigned tickets.
Practical Examples
Let us assume:
You have 4 agents assigned as collaborators in the same inbox.
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Auto-assignment is enabled.
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All other settings are standard.
Scenario 1: 3 out of 4 agents are offline
- Only 1 agent is currently online.
Result: All new incoming tickets will be auto-assigned to the single online agent (until they reach their capacity limit, if set).
Scenario 2: 2 agents online, 2 offline
- 2 agents are online, 2 are offline.
Result: New incoming tickets will be distributed between the 2 online agents according to the auto-assignment logic and their capacity limits.
Offline agents are never included in auto-assignment, even if they are collaborators of the inbox.
Important Note on Scope of Auto-Assignment
When auto-assignment is enabled, it applies only to new incoming tickets; it is not retroactive.
Any tickets that are already unassigned in your inbox will not be automatically distributed.
To handle existing unassigned tickets, agents should use manual assignment (assign to themselves or colleagues).