Keep Your Inbox Clean with Auto-Close: Automatically Close Inactive Chats

Keep Your Inbox Clean with Auto-Close: Automatically Close Inactive Chats


Inbox full of ghosts? Let Auto-Close do the haunting.

Ever stared at your support inbox wondering why half the chats are just… sitting there? No reply, no closure, just hanging like unread messages from a advertising company.

Let’s fix that.

With Auto-Close, you can set a timer to close inactive conversations automatically. It keeps your inbox clean and helps your team stay focused on what matters.

What is Auto-Close? 

Think of it like the support team’s version of putting the dishes away after dinner.

When a conversation goes quiet (no response from the customer), Auto-Close steps in, waits for a set time, and wraps it up for you. You decide how long is “too long.” Could be 10 minutes. Could be 24 hours. Either way, once the clock runs out, Auto-Close quietly shuts the door. No mess. Just a cleaner inbox.

Why use Auto-Close?  

Save your team’s time. No more manually closing chats that have gone cold.
Set expectations. A clear close message shows customers you’re not ignoring them, you’re just staying efficient.
Stay compliant. Platforms like WhatsApp only allow replies within 24 hours. Auto-close helps you stick to the rules.
Spot trends. Auto-closed chats give you insights into where customers drop off.

Auto-Close isn’t a one-size-fits-all feature.

You can adapt to the platform, the agent, and even the bot.

Let’s break it down:

You’ve got a WhatsApp chat going. The customer asks something, and your agent replies. But then… silence. You’ve set the auto-close timer to 30 minutes. The countdown begins. If the customer doesn’t respond by then, poof! The conversation closes.

For bots, the clock starts as soon as they send a message. You can choose from presets like 5, 10, 15 minutes or 24 hours. If the user doesn’t reply, the bot closes the chat.

Different businesses, different beats.

Let’s say you run:
  • An e-commerce store: Sometimes it's clear people want quick answers to specific questions like “Where’s my order?” or “What’s your return policy?” Use short timers like 5–10 minutes in these cases to keep your queue fresh.
  • A SaaS company or IT support desk: Users might need time to try your suggestions. Give them breathing room with timers between 30–60 minutes.
  • A healthcare or financial service: The stakes are higher here. A customer might pause mid-chat to check a report or talk to someone else. Use conservative timers, 60 minutes or more, and send occasional re-engagement messages like, “Still there? We’re here to help.” 

You’ve got the feature. Now make it work smarter.

  • Keep WhatsApp chats within the 24-hour window.
  • Use short timers for FAQs, longer ones when handling complex questions.
  • Always give a gentle nudge before closing: “We’ll close this chat in 10 minutes. Reply to keep it going!”
  • Review your auto-closed chats regularly. You might spot patterns like when people usually drop off, or which agents get longer pauses.

FAQ time

​
Can agents override auto-close?
Absolutely. Closed chats can be reopened anytime from the Closed section.

What if I reply just before the chat auto-closes?
The timer resets! The chat stays open as long as the conversation is active.

Can I set different timers for each channel?
Yes. WhatsApp, Messenger, LINE; you can set up timers for each to match their rules.

What happens if a chat is manually turned into a ticket before auto-close?
Let’s say a customer chats with you, and you manually convert it to a ticket before auto-close kicks in. That conversation becomes part of a new ticket. When auto-close runs later, it closes the chat thread, not the new ticket. The chat and ticket are now separate.
   

Let’s hear from you  

Do you have a sweet spot for your timers? Or a clever workaround your team uses? Maybe a bot trick that saved the day?

Share your Auto-Close success stories (or disasters turned into lessons) in the comments.

Your tweak might just be someone else’s "aha!” moment.



      • Topic Participants

      • Raj R

      • Sticky Posts

      • Zoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences

        Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynote

      • WhatsApp pricing changes: Pay per message starting July 1, 2025

        Starting July 1, 2025, WhatsApp is shifting from conversation-based pricing to per-message billing. That means every business-initiated message you send will count. Not just the first one in a 24-hour window. Pricing updates on the WhatsApp Business Platform

      • Live Webinar - Work smarter with Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace integration

        Hello customers! Zoho Desk and Zoho Workplace are coming together for a webinar on 14th May, 2024. Zoho Workplace is a suite of productivity apps for email, chat, docs, calls, and more at one single place. Zoho Desk is closely integrated with a few tools

      • Apple iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 updates for Zoho Desk users

        Hello Zoho Desk users! Apple recently announced the release of iOS 17 and iPad OS 17. These latest OS updates will help you stay productive and efficient, through interactive and seamless user experiences. Zoho Desk has incorporated the updates to help

      • Zoho Desk Cheat Sheet For The Year-End

        Check out these Zoho Desk best practices to end this year on a high and have a great one ahead! #1 Set Business (Holiday) Hours - If you have limited working hours, please make sure you restrict your business hours or set them as holidays for the coming days. Let your customers know when you will, and won't, be available. #2 Update the Annual Holiday List - Check the holidays for the new year and update the holiday schedule. Usually, holidays from the current year will be carried over for the next

        • Recent Topics

        • Modifying Three Dot Menu Options

          Is there a way to modify the three dot menu options that display in a Report header? They currently display: Show As (List, Calendar, Timeline), Print, Import, Export. I'd like to remove the Show As and Print options, since they aren't applicable for

        • Request for Light/Dark Mode

          Would love the ability to switch between Light and Dark mode similar to Zoho CRM. https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/community/topic/introducing-dark-mode-light-mode-a-new-look-for-your-crm

        • Help - Zoho CRM notification on mobile (IOS/Android)

          Hello Community! Can I get the IOS/Andoid CRM app to notify me of events, calls, etc. due as I can with MANY other apps?   I am running the free Zoho I would like this to be native to the Zoho CRM app. I do not want to write a sep. mobile app

        • Zoho Books - Hide Convert to Sales Order if it can't be used.

          Hi Books team, I noticed that it is not possible to convert a Quote to a Sales Order when a Quote is not yet marked as accepted. My idea is to not show the Convert to Sales Order button when it is not possible to use it, or show it in a grey inactive

        • Hide Inactive Social Sign-In Providers from Login Screen

          Hello Zoho Team, We hope you are doing well. Currently, Zoho One allows admins to configure security policies and enable or disable Social Sign-In options for third-party providers such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook,

        • How do I bulk archive my projects in ZOHO projects

          Hi, I want to archive 50 Projects in one go. Can you please help me out , How can I do this? Thanks kapil

        • Cross-Data Center Collaboration and / Or allowing users to choose DC

          Dear Zoho Cliq Support Team, We are writing to request a significant enhancement to Zoho Cliq that would greatly benefit our geographically dispersed development team. Current Challenge: Currently, Zoho Cliq automatically routes users to specific data

        • Zoho Flow - Update record in Trackvia

          Hello, I have a Flow that executes correctly but I only want it to execute once when a particular field on a record is updated in TrackVia. I have the trigger filters setup correctly and I want to add an "update record" action at the end of the flow to

        • New Mandatory One-Click Unsubscribe Link Overshadowing Custom Unsubscribe Link

          I was recently informed by Zoho CRM Support that they are now mandated by the large email service providers like Google and Yahoo to provide a one-click unsubscribe option in the header (not the body) of all mass emails. I have a custom unsubscribe link

        • Supervisor Rules - Zoho Desk

          Hi, I have set up a Supervisor Rule in Zoho Desk to send an email alert when a ticket has been on hold for 48 hours. Is there a way to change it so that the alert only sends once and not on an hourly basis? Thank you Laura

        • Kaizen #190 - Queries in Custom Related Lists

          Hello everyone! Welcome back to another week of Kaizen! This week, we will discuss yet another interesting enhancement to Queries. As you all know, Queries allow you to dynamically retrieve data from CRM as well as third-party services directly within

        • Are there default/pre-built dashboards in Zoho Desk?

          Hi, I am looking for some pre-built dashboard templates in Zoho Desk, similar to what we can find in CRM/Projects, etc Thank you

        • Advance PDF creation from CRM data

          I'm trying to create a PDF export of data in the CRM. My problem is I want a pretty complicated format for the data. I'm trying to export multiple modules worth of data, with nested one-to-many relationships between the modules. Along with that, I want

        • Simplified Call Logging

          Our organization would like to start logging calls in our CRM; however, with 13 fields that can't be removed, our team is finding it extremely cumbersome. For our use case, we only need to record that a call happened theirfor would only need the following

        • Send / Send & Close keyboard shortcuts

          Hello! My team is so close to using Zoho Desk with just the keyboard. Keyboard shortcuts really help us to be more efficient -- saving a second or two over thousands of tickets adds up quickly. It seems like the keyboard shortcuts in Desk are only for

        • Journey Email - Ignored Contacts

          I have a journey setup which simply sends a string of emails over time. For some reason I am getting large amounts of the contacts who enter the first email being ignored and I can't find anywhere in reports or audit logs why these contacts are not

        • Zadarma + Zoho CRM Integration – Missed Calls Saved as Contacts Instead of Leads

          Hello everyone, I’m looking for input from anyone with experience using the Zadarma + Zoho CRM integration. Currently, I’m seeing that missed calls are automatically being created as Contacts instead of Leads. From a CRM perspective, this doesn’t make

        • Is it possible to register webhooks in Zoho CRM using API?

          Hello, I am trying to register a webhook in Zoho CRM programmatically (using the API). Specifically, I want to register a webhook that is fired when new Contacts are created in the CRM. I was able to setup a webhook using the UI, by creating a rule that

        • Is it possible to hide fields in a Subform?

          Since layout rules cannot be used with Subforms, is there another way, or is it even possible, to hide fields in a subform based on a picklist fields within said subform? For example, if the Service Provided is Internet, then I do not want to see the

        • Calls where the local audio is shared, have echo

          When another user is sharing their screen with audio, I get echo from my own voice. We tested this with multiple users, with different audio setups, and there's no obvious way to fix it. Is this a bug you could look into, or are we missing something?

        • Power of Automation :: Automatic removal of project users once the project status is changed.

          A custom function is a software code that can be used to automate a process and this allows you to automate a notification, call a webhook, or perform logic immediately after a workflow rule is triggered. This feature helps to automate complex tasks and

        • Systematic SPF alignment issues with Zoho subdomains

          Analysis Period: August 19 - September 1, 2025 PROBLEM SUMMARY Multiple Zoho services are causing systematic SPF authentication failures in DMARC reports from major email providers (Google, Microsoft, Zoho). While emails are successfully delivered due

        • Cannot update Recurring_Activity on Tasks – RRULE not accepted

          Hello, I am trying to update Tasks in Zoho CRM to make them recurring yearly, but I cannot find the correct recurrence pattern or way to update the Recurring_Activity field via API or Deluge. I have tried: Sending a string like "RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1"

        • Update application by uploading an updated DS file

          Is it possible? I have been working with AI on my desktop improving my application, and I have to keep copy pasting stuff... Would it be possible to import the DS file on top of an existing application to update the app accordingly?

        • Minimise chat when user navigates to new page

          When the user is in an active chat (chatbot) and is provide with an internal link, when they click the link to go to the internal page the chat opens again. This is not a good user experience. They have been sent the link to read what is on the page.

        • Image Upload Field | Zoho Canvas

          I'm working on making a custom view for one of our team's modules. It's an image upload field (Placement Photo) that would allow our sales reps to upload a picture of the house their working on. However, I don't see that field as a opinion when building

        • Reports: Custom Search Function Fields

          Hi Zoho, Hope you'll add this into your roadmap. Issue: For the past 2yrs our global team been complaining and was brought to our attention recently that it's a time consuming process looking/scrolling down. Use-case: This form is a service report with

        • Zoho Projects app update: Voice notes for Tasks and Bugs module

          Hello everyone! In the latest version(v3.9.37) of the Zoho Projects Android app update, we have introduced voice notes for the Tasks and Bugs module. The voice notes can be added as an attachment or can be transcribed into text. Recording and attaching

        • zurl URL shortener Not working in Zoho social

          zurl URL shortener Not working in while creating a post in Zoho social

        • In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to sh

          Hi In the Zoho CRM Module I have TRN Field I should contain 15 digit Number , If it Contain less than 15 digit Then show Alert message on save of the button , If it not contain any number not want to show alert. How We can achive in Zoho CRm Using custom

        • Power of Automation::Streamline log hours to work hours upon task completion.

          Hello Everyone, A Custom Function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as to when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:-

        • Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

          Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.

        • Custom report

          Hello Everyone I hope everything is fine. I've tried to To change the layout of the reports, especially the summary page report, and I want to divide summary of each section in the survey but I can't For example: I have a survey containing five different

        • Zoho Journey - ZOHO MARKETING AUTOMATION

          I’ve encountered an issue while working with a journey in Zoho Marketing Automation. After creating the journey, I wanted to edit the "Match Criteria" settings. Unfortunately: The criteria section appears to be locked and not editable. I’m also unable

        • How to create a Service Agreement with Quarterly Estimate

          Hello, I'm not sure if this has been asked before so please don't get mad at me for asking. We're an NDIS provider in Australia so we need to draft a Service Agreement for our client. With the recent changes in the NDIS we're now required to also include

        • Change Currency symbol

          I would like to change the way our currency displays when printed on quotes, invoices and purchase orders. Currently, we have Australian Dollars AUD as our Home Currency. The only two symbol choices available for this currency are "AU $" or "AUD". I would

        • Python - code studio

          Hi, I see the code studio is "coming soon". We have some files that will require some more complex transformation, is this feature far off? It appears to have been released in Zoho Analytics already

        • How to update Multiple Users field in Quote Module from Deal Module

          Scenario : Deal Module having Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) which having more than 1 User and through Deluge Script I need to get that Users Details and need to put into Multiple User Field (Presales Engineer) of Quote Module. Note: Both Module

        • Generate a link for Zoho Sign we can copy and use in a separate email

          Please consider adding functionality that would all a user to copy a reminder link so that we can include it in a personalized email instead of sending a Zoho reminder. Or, allow us to customize the reminder email. Use Case: We have clients we need to

        • Auto-sync field of lookup value

          This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.

        • Next Page