Working with tickets

Replying to tickets: public replies vs internal notes

Updated

The reply composer at the bottom of every ticket has two modes. Picking the right one is the most common source of "oops" moments for new agents, so it's worth understanding the difference cold.

Public reply

The default. Sends a message to the customer through the same channel the ticket came in on — email, WhatsApp, or the portal. The customer sees this verbatim. The composer is styled with a light background to remind you it's customer-facing.

Public reply behaviour:

  • Sends an outbound email (or WhatsApp message) automatically.
  • Stamps firstResponseAt if this is the first agent reply (drives your SLA reporting).
  • Sets the ticket status to pending (waiting on the customer) — or closed if you used "Send and close".
  • Updates the contact's lastSeenAt and the ticket's lastAgentReplyAt.

Internal note

Click the Note toggle to switch the composer to internal-note mode. The composer changes to a yellow/warning style so the difference is unmistakable.

Internal notes:

  • Are not visible to the customer. The portal hides them; outbound email doesn't include them.
  • Don't change the ticket status or SLA timers.
  • Support @-mentioning teammates. The mentioned agent gets a notification, with a link straight to the ticket. Names are resolved server-side from your help desk's membership — the client can't inject arbitrary names.

Use internal notes for:

  • Handoff context ("Sales wants this customer on the Pro plan — check before quoting.")
  • Internal Q&A ("@Alex — do we still support legacy widget v1?")
  • Documenting a decision and its reasoning, especially for tickets that might come back.
  • Pasting screenshots or logs you don't want the customer to see verbatim.

Sending tips

  • The composer supports TipTap-flavoured rich text — bold, italic, links, lists. The customer email uses the rendered HTML, the plain-text part is auto-stripped.
  • Drag-and-drop files anywhere in the composer to attach. Files are virus-scanned on first open.
  • Ctrl/Cmd+Enter sends. Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Enter sends and closes.
  • Drafts persist per-ticket — switch tabs, come back, your in-progress reply is still there.
  • The CC field autocompletes from the thread participants and your tenant contacts.

Common mistakes

  • Pasting customer credentials in a public reply. Always use an internal note for sensitive context.
  • @-mentioning yourself. The system suppresses self-notifications, but it still creates noise.
  • Forgetting to switch back. If you sent a note and your next reply needs to be public, double-check the composer's colour before hitting send.