Zoho Desk allows you to set a limit on how long your agents can sit idle before their availability status changes from Online to Offline. The way we detect inactivity is pretty straightforward. We have a timer that starts ticking once an agent stops interacting with the app. Stops interacting here refers to when an agent hasn't fiddled with the mouse, keyboard, or the screen (by touching / tapping). Agents will become Online again when they perform one of the actions mentioned above. This feature is handy when you want to assign tickets only to agents who are online or wish to create a more meaningful report of your agents' availability.
For instance, if Agent A steps away from their desk for a break, and the timer reaches 15 minutes of inactivity, their status switches to Offline. This ensures that new tickets are assigned to online agents, enhancing customer support efficiency. When Agent A returns and interacts with the app, their status switches back to Online, allowing them to resume their support tasks. This feature improves customer service responsiveness and provides valuable data for analyzing agent availability.
Some key benefits of configuring idle timeout for agents:
- Efficient ticket assignment: By automatically changing an agent's status to Offline when they are idle for a specified period, Zoho Desk ensures that new tickets or customer inquiries are assigned to agents who are actively online and available to respond promptly. This minimizes the chances of tickets remaining unattended due to agents being away from their desks.
- Enhanced customer experience: Timely responses to customer queries are crucial for delivering a positive customer experience. With Zoho Desk's idle timer feature, you can ensure that customers receive timely assistance from agents who are actively engaged and ready to address their concerns.
- Improved productivity: The idle timer encourages agents to stay engaged with the application, minimizing distractions and helping them focus on their support tasks. This can lead to increased productivity and a more efficient use of their work hours.
Availability
Permission
By default, Support Administrators can set idle timeout for agents. Agents with Manage General Settings permission in their profile can set idle timeout.
Check Feature Availability and Limits
To configure idle timeout
- Go to Setup > Customization > General Settings.
- Click Agents under the General Settings sub-menu.
![](https://help.zoho.com/galleryDocuments/edbsn271a3cbb18362617c74ef33eb522670a6b96d2e9dcc94b16f931d237dd50627c0ce4f94d69e74f5075f2e2ee13e0898b?inline=true)
- Toggle on Idle Timeout on the General Setting page.
- Select how many minutes agents should be idle before their status changes. You can choose a time interval ranging from 5 minutes to 8 hours and 55 minutes, in 5 minute increments.
The default value is 15 minutes. - Click Save.
Your settings will be saved instantaneously.
![](https://static.zohocdn.com/zoho-desk-editor/static/images/file.png)
Note: Idle timeout setting is applicable to all agents across departments.