Public and Private Threads in Tickets
A ticket is a digital record of a customer's issue or query. When ongoing communication occurs between the customer, support agents, consultants, or other stakeholders within the ticket, it forms a ticket thread. This thread contains the full conversation through emails and helps maintain context throughout the resolution process.
Agents can choose to send emails either as public or private.
Availability
Permission Required Users with the admin profile can enable private thread.
Check Feature Availability and Limits
Public thread
While replying to a ticket, when the recipient of the response matches either the primary or secondary contact associated with the ticket, the thread is automatically marked as public. This ensures that these parts of the conversation are visible to the recipient in the Help Center.
For example, a customer purchases a gift from an online store and raises a ticket to track the delivery status. Upon creating the ticket, the customer is listed as the primary contact, and adds the gift recipient as a secondary contact (Cc user).
When the support agent replies with an update on the shipment, as the email is addressed to both the contacts, the reply is automatically marked as a public thread. This means both the customer and gift receiver (Cc user) can view the update in their respective Help Centers.
Private thread
If an agent replies to or forwards a ticket to someone who is not the ticket’s primary or secondary contact, agents can manually mark the reply as private. Also, any ticket that is forwarded, regardless of who receives it, is always treated as a private thread.
Private threads are not visible to the ticket contact in the Help Center and no notification is triggered to the contact.
This option is useful when the agent wants to collaborate with someone outside the ticket conversation for advice, approval, or follow-up, such as a consultant or a peer.
For example, a customer raises a ticket about a discrepancy in his credit card billing. The support agent has to consult with an internal fraud investigation team to review transaction logs and verify potential issues, if any.
Since the fraud investigation team is not the primary or secondary contact on the ticket, the agent forwards the ticket details to the team using a private thread. This ensures that the discussion between the support agent and the fraud investigation team remains confidential and is not visible to the customer or secondary contacts in the Help Center, while still being documented within the ticket.
Note
- Threads that are not sent to the primary or secondary contact will be marked as private by default if the configuration is enabled. Check the how-to below for guidance.
- All forwarded conversations are marked as private by default.
- Workflow can be triggered for private conversations.
- Private conversations are considered for response time calculations.
To enable private thread configuration
- Navigate to Setup > Channels > Email
- Click Advanced Configuration.
- On the Email-Advanced Configuration page, enable Automatically set Ticket threads as private, if requestor is not the recipient.
Access your files securely from anywhere
Zoho CRM Training Programs
Learn how to use the best tools for sales force automation and better customer engagement from Zoho's implementation specialists.
Zoho DataPrep Personalized Demo
If you'd like a personalized walk-through of our data preparation tool, please request a demo and we'll be happy to show you how to get the best out of Zoho DataPrep.
- Zoho Workerly Home
- Forums
- Connect With Us:
- Zoho Recruit Home
- Forums
- Connect With Us:
Centralize Knowledge. Transform Learning.
All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.
New to Zoho Writer?
Create. Review. Publish.
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
You are currently viewing the help pages of Qntrl’s earlier version. Click here to view our latest version—Qntrl 3.0's help articles.
New to Zoho Survey?
Zoho Sheet Resources
Zoho Forms Resources
New to Zoho Sign?
Zoho Sign Resources
Sign, Paperless!
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
New to Zoho ZeptoMail?
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
New to Zoho Workerly?
New to Zoho Recruit?
New to Zoho CRM?
New to Zoho Projects?
New to Zoho Sprints?
New to Zoho Assist?
New to Bigin?
Related Articles
Private and Public Comments in Tickets
Collaboration is an essential part of resolving customer and internal queries efficiently. From looping peers in for an internal discussion based on the complexity of the issue to addressing the resolution to the customer, agents can make efficient ...Following, Commenting, and Viewing original email headers in Tickets
Following Tickets Following support tickets keeps you up-to-date with your activities. When you follow tickets, the email conversations, comments, statuses, and other details will display in your Notification Center. To follow support tickets In the ...Pinning Comments and Threads in Tickets
An important comment or thread in a ticket can be pinned to the top for easy access. For example, if a customer has provided their inputs and queries in a comment, and the agents have added multiple comments on top of it. The customer's comment with ...Adding Comments in Tickets in iOS
Comments is a platform for agents to discuss solutions and seek peer support within the help desk thus help in a seamless inter and intra departmental collaboration. To add comments to tickets Open the Zoho Desk app. In the Ticket Views page, select ...Ticket Views - Custom, List, Detail, Blueprint, and Archived Views
A ticket is a digital record that is created when a customer submits an issue or a query. It contains all relevant details about the person and the issue, such as contact information, issue description, and interaction history, which helps in ...
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources