Chat Channels

Being able to offer chat possibilities to customers is a must-have for many organizations. Depending on the amount of customer chat requests and the organization’s structure, it must be possible to group chat requests.

OTRS offers chat channels with different permissions per channel, so it is, e.g. possible to have different chat channels for registered contract customers and public prospects.

Use this screen to add chat channels to the system. A fresh OTRS installation already contains a chat channel by default. The chat channel management screen is available in the Chat Channels module of the Chat group.

Chat Channel Management Screen

Manage Chat Channels

To add a chat channel:

1. Click on the Add Chat Channel button in the left sidebar.
2. Fill in the required fields.
3. Click on the Save button.

Add Chat Channel Screen

Warning

Chat channels can not be deleted from the system. They can only be deactivated by setting the Validity option to invalid or invalid-temporarily.

To edit a chat channel:

1. Click on a chat channel in the list of chat channels.
2. Modify the fields.
3. Click on the Save or Save and finish button.

Edit Chat Channel Screen

Chat Channel Settings

The following settings are available when adding or editing this resource. The fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory.

Name *

The name of this resource. Any type of characters can be entered to this field including uppercase letters and spaces. The name will be displayed in the overview table.

Group *

Select which Groups can access the chat channel.

Available to customer users

Select the checkbox if you want to display the chat channel for customer users.

Available to public users

Select the checkbox if you want to display the chat channel for public users.

Validity *

Set the validity of this resource. Each resource can be used in OTRS only, if this field is set to valid. Setting this field to invalid or invalid-temporarily will disable the use of the resource.

Comment

Add additional information to this resource. It is recommended to always fill this field as a description of the resource with a full sentence for better clarity, because the comment will be also displayed in the overview table.

Manage Chat Support

Note

The chat feature is enabled by default.

To enable or disable the chat feature:

1. Go to System Configuration screen.
2. Navigate to Core → Chat in the navigation tree.
3. Enable or disable the setting ChatEngine::Active.

When the chat feature is enabled, the Default channel is automatically created if it does not exist.

To review all chat related settings:

1. Go to System Configuration screen.
2. Search for the term ChatEngine in the search box.
3. Review the settings.

See also

Agents need to have at least ro permissions to the groups set up in the following settings:

• ChatEngine::PermissionGroup::ChatReceivingAgents
• ChatEngine::PermissionGroup::ChatStartingAgents